Navy Pier now home to one of Chicago’s best new Italian beefs — and possibly also one of the oldest
Years before the hit FX show, “The Bear” made the humble Italian beef suddenly hip last year, I’ve been hunting for Chicago’s best version. I’ve scoured classic beef stands, waited in line at numerous Italian delis and even spotted some creative interpretations from our city’s best chefs.
One place I never thought to look? Navy Pier. The tourist mecca offers tremendous views, and the food options have improved over the past decade, but the notion that a great Italian beef lurked near a Ferris wheel was not on my radar.
Yet halfway down the pier, Ciccio Italian Beef dishes out a version unlike any in town. While most shops shave the beef paper thin, Ciccio’s beef is slightly thicker, yet stunningly tender and almost steak-like. Instead of a soft and squishy roll, this one features a crackly crust that gives way to a supremely tender interior that soaks up the beefy juices without turning to mush. Whether or not it’s the best in the city is debatable, but it’s a fascinating new option.
Turns out, Ciccio owner Mario Ferraro is no newbie to the Italian beef game. In the 1970s, Ferraro even ran Mia’s Beef and Sausage at 1729 N. Cicero Ave.
Ferraro also said his father, who went by the name Sam Ferraro, started selling Italian beef in 1935. If true, that was three years before Albert Ferreri opened Al’s Bar-B-Q (now Al’s #1 Italian Beef) in 1938, making Ferraro one of the earliest documented Italian beef vendors. (The origin of the Italian beef is heavily disputed, but the earliest known claim is that Pasquale Scala first sold the sandwich sometime in the 1920s.)
Ferraro’s dad immigrated to Chicago from Italy in the mid-1930s and almost immediately started selling food. “During the Depression, my dad made beef sandwiches at the South Water Market,” Ferraro said, referring to the old produce market south of Little Italy. “Then in 1937, he got into the banquet business.” Victoria Banquets and Catering did well for the family, with Mario Ferraro even taking it over in the 1980s.
Ferraro decided to retire in the 2010s, but it didn’t go well. “I didn’t like retirement,” Ferraro said. “I sold real estate with my daughter, but that was boring. So I got the beef recipe that my dad started with, and I’m having fun again.”
To get the kind of bread he remembered using in the 1970s, Ferraro oddly went with a Canadian bakery. “I could not get the bakers around here to make the old-fashioned crunchy roll,” Ferraro said. “I was looking for what we used to serve. It was crunchy when you bite in. It absorbs the gravy but doesn’t disintegrate.”
Ferraro said the thicker slices of beef work because of the cut he’s using. “No one uses the type of meat I do,” Ferraro said. “(The slices) taste like mini steaks.” Though I politely asked for the full recipe, Ferraro declined, saying, “That’s going to stay a secret.”
While Ferraro is happy about the online response, he’s most excited to hear from in-person customers. “Once they taste it, they give me a thumbs-up,” Ferraro said. “That’s what I was hoping for.”
Ciccio Italian Beef, Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand Ave., 312-877-5639, cicciobeef.com
