By Michael Nagrant

There are things, for all time, which are decidedly the essence of Chicago: the Belushis, Michael Jordan, The Second City, thick-fingered Old-Style-drinking dudes who pronounce the word sausage as "saah-sidge," the Sears—err, Willis—Tower, hot dogs dragged through the garden, and deep-dish pizza. The most underrated of these, or maybe the least known outside the shores of Lake Michigan, is the Italian beef sandwich.

When I arrived here in 2001, my realtor Joe Quartana, a second-generation Irving Park resident and a serious food lover who always "had a guy" whenever I needed something done, introduced me to the local delicacy. Quartana has since then helped me buy and sell three homes, but he changed my Chicago life not through realty, but when he bought me my first beef.

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Source: http://www.redeyechicago.com/