According to Wikipedia,
An Italian beef is a sandwich of thin slices of seasoned roast beef, dripping with meat juices, on a dense, long Italian-style roll, believed to have originated in Chicago, where its history dates back at least to the 1930s.[1] The bread itself is often dipped (or double-dipped) into the juices the meat is cooked in, and the sandwich is typically topped off with Chicago-style giardiniera (called "hot") or sauteed, green Italian sweet peppers (called "sweet").About 80% of the Italian Beefs I ate came from Portillo's. That's because when I first got to Chicago and lived in the city I was primarily interested in trying out as many different Chicago-style pizzas as I could. I didn't find out about the Beefs until I was in the suburbs. Fortunately Chicago suburbs are better than most suburbs because they have places like Portillo's. Just about everything is awesome at Portillo's. I discovered Al's #1 Italian Beef late in my stay, and their Beefs are at least as good, very possibly better. But Portillo's has something called the Beef and Cheddar Croissant, which is an Italian Beef with cheddar cheese in a soaked croissant. Not something you want to eat every day if you want to keep your arteries unclogged. But once you've had it, it's something you'll have to have on occasion.
Here in Columbia, Pickleman's makes a reasonable facsimile of an Italian Beef. Just order the Beef with peppers and au jus.*
*Now personally I don't think an authentic Italian Beef can really be associated with anything called "au jus." That's for a French Dip sandwich. The French Dip sandwich was invented in Los Angeles, where fancy Los Angeles people must like to take the tip of their little sandwich and dip it in their precious little cup of au jus. In Chicago, you dip your whole sandwich in the meat juice, or else pour the juice all over the sandwich. That said, whatever you call it, you need some to put on your sandwich.
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