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Bostonians are known for their love of roast beef?
By adamg on Wed, 07/08/2015 - 1:34pm
There's this guy opening a roast-beef restaurant in Washington, DC who says his recipes were inspired by his time in Boston:
Beef n Bread is a fast casual down to earth sandwich shop inspired from living in Boston (what pizza is to New Yorkers, Roast beef is to Bostonians) I lived there like 4 years. ...
Via Mike the Mad Biologist, who used to live here, too.
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Comments
what pizza is to New Yorkers,
WTF is that guy talking about?
Maybe his reference was Buzzy's
Really surprised I got the first reference in to Buzzy's. Especially to the ones from away who were in college somewhere in Boston years back, this was their reference. But not a good one when compared to others cited here.
Buzzy's, at 1am, in late July, when I was in college
Roger was trying to rebuild his convertible GT6. Usually sometime after midnight he'd come upstairs and say "I finally fixed the [insert name of random part here]. I'm hungry - I'll drive us to Buzzy's!"
Two of us would cram into the car (one in the passenger seat, one cruched in the 'baby seat') and drive the mile or so to get our #1 combos. We'd sit on the car eating onion rings and roast 'beast' dripping with BBQ sauce, and watch the diverse and usually entertaining late-night crowd that was drawn like moths from all over the city by the smell of fry oil and melted American cheese. Still drunk clubbers, late-shift and dog-tired hospital staff, cops, ladies of the eve, insomniacs, and students like us.
Then the car wouldn't start up and we'd end up pushing it back home. This happened at least a dozen times. Burning those calories right away is probably why I didn't die from an arterial blockage before I was twenty.
God, I miss Buzzy's!
Roast beef
Anyone who is able reproduce the recipes of the Golden Gate in China Town will get my business .
Golden Gate does roast beef?
Tell me more please. Love their food.
Thanks
2nd that!
2nd that!
I was very confused by some
I was very confused by some of the "famous" local roast beef places until I finally figured out that nobody orders the roast beef at any of them. It's always seafood, or pizza, or something else.
Not even my cat wanted anything to do with the beef from certain popular joints, and she used to beg for Arby's.
Yep
Alamo Roast Beef in Medford has the best fish sandwich I've ever had. Eventually they added "& Seafood" because who are they kidding?
Totally agree
The fish sandwich at Mike's Roast Beef in Everett is awesome!
Not so much IN Boston
But around, oh yeah. Kelly's Roast Beef is great but the real, crown-jewel gem of the North Shore is Nick's Roast Beef. Never got why a true-blue Roast Beef joint like those couldn't really last in the city yet thrive in the burbs.
totally agree
have you tried Roast Beast on Comm Ave. between BU and Allston? They do the North Shore style beef. It's good but nothing will ever compare to Harrisons in North Andover. And for anyone that says Roast Beef isn't a Boston thing.. get out of their ivory tower and explore a little.
Maybe it's a north-of-Boston thing
Roast beef is very popular in the northern suburbs, the Merrimack Valley and on the North Shore. It's like a staple up there. Salem probably has at least a dozen roast beef places, and this roast beef is not like the Kayem roast beef that you would purchase a the supermarket deli. It is a little drier much leaner and not nearly as salty. It is sliced thin while hot and served on a buttered and grilled onion roll, sometimes "three way" (cheese, BBQ sauce and mayonnaise).
Agreed
for the most part. I tend to notice it on the North Shore a lot more, but even in Eastie we have Royal, as well as Beachmont Roast Beef on the Revere/Eastie border.
There was also a Kelly's in Allston and a place (the name escapes me) on West Broadway in Southie until a few years ago, and Roast Beast in Allston is still a thing as far as I know.
Roast beef
Roast Beast is still there and turning out some tasty sandwiches.
And long before there was the Kelly's branch in Allston, there was Riley's Roast Beef (now Mitti's, at the corner of Harvard and Brighton.)
South Boston
Liberty Bell
My Favorite
Now a memory, space to be filled in by condos.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Not to mention....
...Liberty Bell was total shit.
"What pizza is to New Yorkers _____is to Boston"
There is no correct answer to that fill-in-the-blank....except maybe anger? hate? general stand-offishness? I say this with pride btw....
Buzzy's
Who can forget Buzzy's Roast Beef? Now the valet parking area for the Liberty Hotel.
AKA
Buzzy's Fabulous Gross Beast.
Boston real estate developers
Boston real estate developers never pass up the chance to turn something great into something boring and expensive.
Royal
Royal sells things other than seafood? Huh.
Yup
Royal is actually my favorite of the roast beef joints. They do the super on an onion roll, and their fries are phenomenal.
joking
But I hit there Sunday for some whole fried clams since Belle Isle is closed whenever I try to make the trek over there by foot. Fool me twice...
Oooh
are the clams good? I'm not a huge seafood guy (and obviously not a native New Englander) but love fried clams!
oh
They were quite good. It's tough to screw up fried clams, but as I sat out on Constitution Beach eating them, I had no complaints!
Southie had Liberty Bell
Southie had Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
Liberty Bell
Roastbeef they have one in Melrose
I think so.
I grew up mostly on the South Shore, and I've been living in a northern suburb for the past six years. I may have been unobservant, but I never saw roast beef-specific restaurants on the South Shore - and they're everywhere up north!
Extremely local phenomena
Roast beef joints started on the North Shore by Greek sub-shop owners. It's definitely Not Greek food, but a little niche that became popular in the area. Lean, rare RB smothered in St James River BBQ and everyone does slight variations on the same thing, right down to using the same names for everything (Junior, Large & Super, etc). Kelly's is an exception because it's not as lean and Bill n Bobs used to be good but is owned by crooks who get ever-decreasing quality ingredients.
roast beef in the merrimack valley
where. exactly?
Can't think of the name, but
Can't think of the name, but there's a place in Lowell on Route 38 near Tewksbury that my friends and I would hit up from time to time. Good as heck too.
EDIT: Jillie's is the name.
in North Andover
Harrison's is terrific, Rt. 125
e.g.: Jillie's in Lowell (on
e.g.: Jillie's in Lowell (on Rogers, between Shedd Park and 495), Mikey's in Billerica (on Boston Rd. across from Cook St.), Simard's in Wilmington (on 38 just a bit north of the train station)
Roast Beef North, Bar Pizza South
The north shore can keep its roast beef. We've got bar pizza.
bar pizza-north
Hey now! The Squire's got pizza!!
Who Knew?
From this article from 2012:
Welcome to Kelly's. How can I help you?
I'd like a small 4lbs roast beef sandwich with extra mayo, a mountain of fries and a double mountain of onion rings.
Would you like something to drink?
Yeah, a keg of diet coke. I'm watching my figure.
Don't you know
that, when you eat a chocolate bar, you're also supposed to have a Diet Coke with it. Because the two naturally offset each other.
Plus, a true New England roast beef sandwich consists only of roast beef with special sauce served on a toasted hamburger bun. No mayo or other nonsense on it.
There better be plenty of
There better be plenty of horseradish in that sauce.... just sayin'
About that special sauce
Its made with mayo.
Funny, I could never taste
the mayo in it.
Barbecue Sauce
My favorite is roast beast on a toasted bun, just a slight touch of barbecue sauce.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Well ...
If you bike there and do some swimming, then bike back to Watertown, you'll just about balance that out. :)
Kind of like how I will only approach Kane's in Saugus on two wheels (a 17 mile round trip).
I'd say that's accurate.
I love roast beef. 90% of people I know love roast beef, so yea, no issues with that statement.
The north shore roast beef
The north shore roast beef sandwich is absolutely a thing and not something you can find in areas too far from Boston.
Kelly's Roast Beef probably being the most famous place making them, but not necessarily the best. I am a big fan of Beachmont Roast Beef very close the Blue Line stop of the same name. Only sauce and cheese for me though, no mayo.
Nothing like a roast beef
Nothing like a roast beef sandwich at 2:30am after closing time. I can't speak for now a days, but going out for roast beef after a night on the town was definitely a thing.
Bill and Bob's was packed during the wee hours. I don't think it's still a "thing" but it was back in my wild crazy days.
One Word
Buzzy's
(Assuming you're old enough)
Jail and Buzzy's
That was my first thought too. The first 10 years we lived in Boston, we were on the North Slope. Buzzy's was always hot stuff, always perking, and ever popular with late night/early morning drunks. If you plugged roast beef into the Boston equations, Buzzy's was a big factor.
Another word
Mur-Mac's
Their meal special: a roast beef sandwich (the likes of which will never be duplicated), fries, a soda, and an ice cream sandwich.
I think they closed in the mid-2000's, but they were the bomb in the '70s/'80s.
DA' BEEF
North Shore Rules! Route 1 Saugus -- Jolly Jorge's, Full of Bull, Bill & Bob's (squeezed in next to Kappy's by rte 99), Bun on the Run (I think this was one of the guys from Bill & Bob's after they sold out to some Mideastern guys and they opened up a new space for a short while next to Augustines's where Jimmy's is now), Kelly's (obviously -- but better to go Revere Beach after the bars get out and have a bottle launched at your head, a la John Malkovich).
Buzzy's driving home after a night at the Rat. Riley's (in Allston or over in Chelsea - now a Pollo Campero). Dear god...I'm drooling....
Growing up on the west coast,
Growing up on the west coast, the only establishment I ever saw that prominently sold roast beef sandwiches was Arby's and, way back when, Rax. I definitely wondered about all the roast beef places when I first moved here.
Wow, Rax
Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time...a long time...
I had to go look at Wikipedia to find out it still exists (chiefly in Ohio). There was one not far from where I grew up in the deep South.
Equating to the NY/pizza
Equating to the NY/pizza thing is a stretch, but there is some correlation between good roast beef sandwiches and this area. I'm also assuming that like so many people from Boston, when this guy says Boston he really means "THE GREATER BOSTON AREA", which can cover up to half of New Enlgand depending on the user. Off the top of my head there's Roast Beast, Mike's, Nick's, Kelly's, Buzzy's (RIP), are all roast beef centric, and then you have places like Cutty's and Real Deal, sandwich centric places that will always have a roast beef of that sort (e.g. hot, thin sliced, sauce, ideally toasted onion roll).
Kipos Roast Beef
in Wakefield is my current favorite place to satisfy my ocassional roast beef cravings (two junior roast beefs with sauce, toast the buns, but nothing else on them). OK, so they're only about ten minutes from my house, but they still make a sandwich that easily stacks up against the ones I used to get at Bill and Bobs back in my high school days.
Chicken parm sub at Kipos
Their chicken parm sub is probably the greatest in the world. I also like their roast beef sandwiches 3 way with bacon
Liberty Bell
There used to be a Liberty Bell in Wakefield ... On Main St almost to Melrose. It's it still there? Good option
Kipos Roast Beef
Kipos is owned by my uncle and that man is a perfectionist. Not just saying that because we're related but his food is genuinely good!
It's definitely a North Shore/Merrimack Valley thing
My mom grew up in Lawrence I remember when I was little taking a "road trip" from our home in Londonderry NH to this established place in Lawrence that is no longer there because my mom was craving roast beef.
not a Lowell thing...
not to my knowledge. Greek, Cambodian, and Vietnamese food, well before roast beef. Elliot's hot dogs even....
I remember being taken to
I remember being taken to Lawton's as a kid for a hot dog or a chicken barb. Always thought we were in danger of that place just falling into the canal.
Bishop's
It's gone now.
(No subject)
Don't you know, our Boston
Don't you know, our Boston Chicken is internationally renowned as well!
Don't forget about Buzzy's
in Charles Circle where part of the new MGH campus and Liberty Hotel occupy space that was once housed Buzzy's and the Charles Street Jail. It was there until as recently as the early 2000s.
Here's a good read by the last owner: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/316551
It was always packed on a Friday and Saturday night after the bars closed, as there was a severe lack of dining options overnight. Oh wait, there still is...
Yorkshire Pudding!
Paging my grandmother....
The old Full of Bull on Rt1
The old Full of Bull on Rt1 in Sagus beat them all.
Skampa
Skampa on Cambridge St in East Cambridge is pretty good ...
Love Skampa!
That's the one Beef / Seafood place where I get the roast beef instead of fish and chips. (Not that the seafood's bad, but why would you go there for that when Courthouse is just a few storefronts down?)
buzzy's/jay leno/ 2am allston to revere runs
kelly's in revere (when it was the only kelly's) was open most nights until about 4 AM. many nights that started on harvard ave would end up on revere beach eating roast beef sandwiches . there would usually be a couple of dozen hammered people from all different walks of life (and areas of greater boston) lined up, waiting for sandwiches. it could be 5° below zero and there would be 10 people in line for sandwiches at 3am right across from the freezing ocean wind. saw quite a few fights there.
I have heard that jay leno bought the original buzzy's sign. I never ate there, the place was filthy.
- Makes wildly inaccurate
- Makes wildly inaccurate claim about the city or city's culture
- Takes position of expertise from living here for "4 years"
Has to be a BU grad.
It seems the person who wrote
It seems the person who wrote his claim has chimed and backed from his experience by the number of joints around the area. How about you chill back from attacking BU in everything direct and indirect?
Seriously?
You just described yourself more than the author.
This is more of a North of Boston thing, but you are further from the mark than the author. You might do well to get out of your neighborhood once in a while and stay off the expressways when you do.
Originally from Buffalo, NY
and grew up with Beef on Weck (served only with au jus and horseradish ... don't forget to scrape all that salt off the bun!), so sort of take the beef thing seriously. Friends/family who've come to visit have all turned up their noses at roast beef sandwiches here; patiently told them to not knock things until they've tried them.
There's so much to be said for a Kelly's sandwich with that toasted and buttered bulkie / lettuce / tomato / mayo / horseradish combo ... to be eaten on the beach, while sharing the fries with the gulls.
[i]Buffalo Beau Fleuve[/i]
" ...it is possible that the area was called "Buffalo" as a result of French fur traders and American Indians having called the creek "Beau Fleuve," or "Beautiful River," in French,[23][24] "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo,_New_York#History
" 23. ^ Jump up to: a b You asked us: The 868–3900 line to your desk at the Star: How Buffalo got its name, Toronto Star, Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Toronto Star, September 24, 1992, Stefaniuk, W., Retrieved April 23, 2014. "
" 24. ^ Jump up to: a b Worldly setting, sophisticated choices, atmosphere at Beau Fleuve, Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY: Berkshire Hathaway, March 19, 1993, Okun, J., Retrieved April 23, 2014. "
" 25. ^ Jump up to: a b 'Beau Fleuve' story doesn't wash, Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY: Berkshire Hathaway, July 21, 2003, Retrieved April 23, 2014 "
YESSSS
I am from Buffalo too and that is exactly how I eat my roast beef sandwiches here!!
gulls
more like the gulls kicking you in the nuts and taking your sandwich. Those bastards are nasty. Rats with wings.
Then there was Elsie's Roast
Then there was Elsie's Roast Beef in Havard Sq, and for a while where Uno's is by Fenway. Can't vouch for the quality of the beef but the sandwich, toppings and sauce was pretty tasty when you wanted it!
Elsie's Deli!
Not Roast Beef. Home of the Fresser!
Roast Beef on Kummelweck !
Where around Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Brookline or nearby are the Kummelweck Rolls available?... Any German bakeries around?...
Roast Beef on Kummelweck !
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef_on_weck
I wish I knew, Mr. The Szak.
I wish I knew, Mr. The Szak.
The air freight from buffalo foods dot com is steep.
I've been told that there's a decent Polish/German contingent in Chelsea, as well as in Southie, but haven't really explored either area. There's a doughnut shop in Salem that advertises pączki, but haven't looked in to see if they carry any other good things like weck, platzek, etc.
You might try Karls in
You might try Karls in Peabody.
http://www.karlssausage.com/
weck rolls
wegmans might be able to help you out. I was really happy to get monks bread and webers mustard locally. The Harp across from the garden also has a Buffalo menu during Bills games, I don't remember a beef on weck, but I remember my visiting Dad being pretty pleased with fried balogna and I've heard hushed tales of imported Mighty Taco.
I think you guys just don’t know what you got!
With all due respect when I say Boston I mean to say Greater Boston Area, not specifically Boston city alone. After all if I just say Salem MA no one would know. So just like NY Pizza, it’s not divided in Brooklyn, Queens or Bronx. It’s just NY Style Pizza. But If I just say MA, that just doesn’t do it.
Anyway I think you guys don’t know what you got. I traveled all over America and I have never seen anywhere this many Roast Beef joints, and I can bed on for sure that “Greater Boston Area” has the most freshly made Roast Beef place in whole America.
I lived in Methuen and left the area around 2002 and I remember going Harrison’s Roast Beef in North Andover many times and some others.
On my last visit to Boston few months ago I tried some of the other Roast Beef places below for more inspiration.
Nicks Roast Beef
Billy’s Famous Roast Beef
Royal Roast Beef & Seafood
Sammy’s Roast Beef
Sam Lagrassa’s
Peter’s Super Beef
Beachmont Roast Beef
Roast Beast
Cuttys
Common wake up and know what you got! You got the best Roast Beef sandwiches in America.
Thanks
Thank you!
You're obviously not just some douche. Thanks for taking the time to respond and if I do say, you have done some gut busting homework. Best of luck.
You're from Methuen and didn
You're from Methuen and didn't mention Royal House next to the rotary?? Best roast beef anywhere. Mino's in Lynn is a very close second. Also, never buy a roast beef unless it's from an angry Greek.
Different concept but
it you want to talk quantity, you can get Italian Beef just about anywhere in Chicago. Makes me homesick after nearly 45 years in Boston. A lot crappy, but many great. Spalla in Natick has the real deall.
--gpm
OMG
I accidentally revealed my actual name (or so you think)! Fortunately so late in this thread that nobody will ever see it. From now on, I am Southside Georgie.
--gpm
Well Said, Well, Spoken, Sir!
Well Said, Well, Spoken, Sir!
If only Skampa would prepare Roast Beef on Kummelweck !
If only Skampa would prepare Roast Beef on Kummelweck !
https://www.google.com/search?q=skampa+cambridge&tbm=isch
Beef on Weck at All Star Sandwich Bar Beef isn't quite what is prepared in Buffalo New York !
http://www.allstarsandwichbar.com/hallFame.htm
DeMoulas Market Basket offers NYDP New York Deli Patrol More Flavor Per Pound, a good sliced roast beef
http://www.moreflavorperpound.com/roast-beef.html
Beef on weck heaven!
When I went to Buffalo (technically East Amherst, Getzville etc.) last year, Anderson's on Sheridan Blvd. had an unbelievable beef on weck, served with bracing fresh horseradish. The day we went to Niagara Falls, we stopped at Sean Patrick's on Millersport Highway on the way back and I got another beef on weck that was just as good.
I suppose you could approximate a kummelweck roll by taking a regular bulkie roll, moistening it with water, and then rolling it in coarse salt and caraway seeds. Otherwise, Wegmans may carry them in their Chestnut Hill or Westwood stores.
All Star is Okay, but too
All Star is Okay, but too expensive for the quick little sandwich that it should be. (cf: Charlie the Butcher, Cheektawarsaw, NY.)
Maybe he spent a lot of time
Maybe he spent a lot of time at Roast Beast.
How about....
What pizza is to New Yorkers, honking your horn at cars that let pedestrians cross the street is to Bostonians??!!
I love this city but, holy shit, I'm frequently amazed at how rushed/miserable a sizeable portion of the population is.
I've seen lots of Boston drivers....
... blast their horn at school buses letting little kids off.
Still looking for Kummelweck Rolls !... Any other bakeries?
Still looking for Kummelweck Rolls !... Any other hints, tips, pointers or bakeries to try?
Growing up in a Boston
Growing up in a Boston neighborhood I can say most everyone I know would agree with me that Pizza is or was a big deal in Boston even more than Roast Beef.