Al's #1 Italian Beef - Countryside

5321 S. LaGrange Rd
Countryside, IL, 60525
708-354-2333
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Rated
2.5
Based on 2 reviews
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Al's #1 Italian Beef - Countryside Overview

From its humble beginnings in the West Loop, to its appearance as a featured dish at Hillary Rodham Clinton's 50th birthday party to landing in the pages of Gourmet, Al's #1 Italian Beef has had quite a journey. "People would smell the charcoal cooking the sausages and peppers and they would come to the corner of Lafln and Harrison", said owner Chris Pacelli of the original 1938 curbside stand. "Now we use machines that shave the beef so thin you can see through it".

Store Hours:

Other Information:

Monday:9am-11pm Delivery:Yes
Tuesday:9am-11pmDelivery Charge:$ 2.00
Wednesday:9am-11pmParking:
Thuresday:9am-11pm
Friday:9am-11pm
Saturday:9am-11:30pm
Sunday:Closed

Reviews of Al's #1 Italian Beef - Countryside Restaurant:

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kepnick
1 Total Review
Review added: July 4, 2008

kepnick's Ordered:

one sweet dipped and one hot dipped

kepnick's Review:

Funny taste- hot was good but not as good as I thought it would be.

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BerwynMuscle
7 Total Review s
Review added: May 7, 2008

BerwynMuscle's Ordered:

1 dipped and hot, 1 dipped and sweet. 1 large fry

BerwynMuscle's Review:

I was sick of seeing how Al's claims to be the best beef in Chicago and had to try it myself.

We tried the sweet beef first and was not impressed at all. It tasted "funny" to say the least. My dad summed it up as "Al's number one tastes like number 2". Our opinion changed when we tried the hot. The weird flavor that was over powering on the sweet beef went well on the hot.

After further tasting we came up with the special ingredient is mace, a spice used in Indian and Asian food, not really normal in a beef. Another site I read thought they used cinnamon.

If you go to Al's I would steer clear of anything other than a hot beef. We were all happy with the hot beef but the sweet was not eaten until we put some hot sauce on it to mask the weird taste. This review will be a little low, just because the weirdness of the flavor. I will give them another shot and see what I think.

George may eat here again.

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