Big Italian Beef from Portillo's - $5.79 + $0.30

950 East Ogden Avenue, Naperville, IL - (630)961-1151

Philadelphia may have their cheese steaks, but Chicago has their Italian beef. I honestly don't understand what makes these so good since it's just bread and beef with the optional sweet or hot peppers, but they are.

Now if you'll look at the picture and direct your attention away from the Italian beef for a moment and look at the wrapper, you'll see that it's soaked with juices and oil. That's the sign of a rockin' Italian beef.

With all those juices, any ordinary roll would end up soggy and disgusting, but these rolls somehow maintain a crispy outer shell and the inside stays nice and chewy.

I don't believe I've ever tried an Italian beef with sweet peppers so I can't tell you what that's like. Instead, I always go with the hot peppers because it adds a zesty kick that'll make you sweat slightly on your brow. God, I love that feeling.