The sign for Mr. Beef's hangs high above the deli's entrance. Established in 1979, this shop draws in customers with its authentic food and appearance in the series "The Bear." Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Famous for its inclusion in the hit Hulu series “The Bear,” Mr. Beef is a Chicago staple known for its Italian beef sandwiches. Though it opened back in 1979, the restaurant harkens back to an older style of restaurant focused on quality food, great service and a loyal community — a style that is unfortunately going out of style, Mr. Beef’s current owner Chis Zucchero said. But more on that later — we’ve got sandwiches to eat.
Chris Zucchero, the owner of Mr. Beef, stands proudly behind the counter of his sandwich shop. Photo by Finn Martin/BruinLife
The cooks tend the flames and the customers. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
The Italian beef, which Zucchero touted as Chicago’s root food, sets the standard for this kind of sandwich. Ordered dipped, served with hot and sweet peppers and handed off in an exchange of debit card for wax paper, the Italian beef is simply delicious — even though this wasn’t my favorite preparation of it. While dipped, the French bread still had quite a bit of chew to it — great for on the go, but a spongey roll dripping in au jus might suit a sit-down experience better. The beef was well seasoned with definite notes of pepper but was maybe a tad bit on the dry side. Despite there being two varieties of peppers, hot giardiniera and green bell peppers, they didn’t add too much other than texture. The giardiniera wasn’t spicy enough to cut through the fat of the sandwich and the bell pepper didn’t have the most prevalent flavor either. Even though the sandwich was a bit underwhelming, it was still enjoyable, and the sides were fantastic.
The Italian Beef sandwich is served dipped at Mr. Beef. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Chicago makes the best onion rings and I do not know why. The ones from Mr. Beef are frozen in individual bags for personal-sized servings that get tossed into the fryer upon ordering — genius. They come out greasy, salty, hot and fresh! Their battered crust is immaculate. For those who don’t know, the tell of a good onion ring is if you can bite through it without accidentally pulling out the entire onion — these are those. The exterior breaks with a satisfying crunch that gives way to a slightly sweet, onion-juiced interior.
Mr. Beef's onion rings and Pizza Puff are simply delicious. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
My second side dish was ordered on a whim because I’ve only heard legends about it — the Pizza Puff. This palm-sized beauty is exactly what it sounds like and it’s beautiful. I would say it’s like a Hot Pocket but that would be an insult to Hot Pockets by allowing them to think they could ever be this good. The puff pastry-esque dough is fried to golden-brown-delicious and is incredibly flaky. Inside this pizza-adjacent pocket is a velvety mix of mozzarella and a fennel-spiced and sausage-based marinara sauce. Chicago knows how to do pizza and the Pizza Puff, with its incredible mix of textures and deep flavors, is no different.
The line wraps around the deli. Customers can pay with cash or card — a new change to the formerly cash-only restaurant. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
With our meal happily consumed, Finn and I met up with Zucchero to learn more about the significance of Mr. Beef.
The house rules for Mr. Beef sit atop the counter, alongside a mock-up of one of their delicious sandwiches. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Remarking on the modernity of the food industry and its ever-growing conveniences with services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, Zucchero said that younger generations are becoming increasingly complacent when it comes to mediocre food. With only nine real Italian beef institutions left in the city, Zucchero said these restaurants are becoming time capsules for Chicago’s root food.
Grab your sandwich and bring it back to Mr. Beef Boulevard, a casual dining space where you'll eat in the company of family memories of the owners photographed on the wall. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Since the release of "The Bear," Mr. Beef has drawn in a new social media-driven crowd that packs the already popular line with a new wave of customers. Photographed by Finn Martin/BruinLife.
Speaking to his shop alone, Zucchero said that when people enter Mr. Beef, they abandon the modern-day sidewalks and travel back to a simpler time. The “Elegant Dining Room” houses old Kodak prints of Zucchero and his staff from decades past, back when a local photographer would come in and take pictures of the clientele. Beyond that, the smells of an Italian beef shop are equally as significant to the old school aesthetic and became the inspiration for why Christopher Storer created “The Bear” in the first place, Zucchero said. Having known Storer since he was four years old, Zucchero said that he always told him he would create something one day and that Mr. Beef would be the inspiration behind it. Zucchero said this was an inspired choice given that the Italian beef is not as accessible as the other city’s staple, pizza. However, with the increasing popularity of the show, which is entering into its fourth season this summer, Zucchero said that the publicity has only been beneficial to culture by allowing these fading institutions of the sandwich to prolong into the future.
