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2004 Top Ten Banner02
From its humble beginnings in the West Loop, to its appearance as a featured dish at Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 50th birthday party to landing in the pages of Gourmet, Al’s #1 Italian Beef... has had quite a journey. “People would smell the charcoal cooking the sausages and peppers and they would come to the corner of Laflin and Harrison,” said owner Chris Pacelli of the original 1938 curbside stand. “Now we use machines that shave the beef so thin you can see through it.”