Lunch at Portillo's Hot Dogs

Today's the perfect day to post about our meal at Portillo's in Chicago, because its National Italian Beef Day. The Italian Beef Sandwich originated in Chicago and has thin slices of seasoned beef. Its simmered and served au jus on a long Italian style roll. These juicy and drool worthy sandwiches have been around since the 1930's. 

They were on our list to try during our trip and Chicago has many spots to get them. My husband's co-worker recommended Portillo's and they had really good reviews. They also serve cold beer, Chicago style hot dogs, salads, shakes, and chocolate cake. A Chicago style hot dog has mustard, chopped white onions, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, pickled sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. No ketchup needed on these dogs. 

What a packed house this place was! We'd never seen such a busy restaurant and there were three different lines to order food. One line for the hot food, one for salads, and one for the beer and other drinks. We ended up skipping the drinks and dessert, since all three lines were really long. 

We'd never had an Italian Beef Sandwich and we were excited to try it, so my husband and I shared one since the small one is on the bigger side. We had our sandwich with sweet, oven roasted peppers, too. At Portillos's, the beef is slow roasted for four hours, thinly sliced, and served on Turano French bread. We also ordered fries and a side salad. These sandwiches are definitely messy, but definitely delicious. I went through so many napkins, but it was worth it. The beef was perfectly seasoned and the bread was really soft, too. The fries were the crinkly kind I like and they tasted really good with the sandwich. 

This is such a popular spot for locals and tourists. I got no beef with this place. Head to Portillo's Hot Dogs and you won't be disappointed.