I made a rookie mistake at Mike's Italian Beef (8001 MacKenzie Road, Affton; 314-282-0007), the Affton sandwich shop based around Chicago's quintessential sandwich. After unwrapping the restaurant's namesake sandwich — a mammoth portion of tender, paper-thin-sliced, jus-soaked top-round nestled into a pillowy hoagie roll and smothered in piquant giardiniera — I knew I should probably grab some napkins before digging in. I'd ordered it dipped, after all, which meant that the bun, already saturated in the meat's cooking liquid, had been dunked in its entirety into even more au jus, guaranteeing an utter mess of an eating experience.
If I wanted to maintain any sort of decorum, I would have looked at the sandwich, understood the situation and walked 10 feet to one of the many napkin dispensers situated around the order counter. Instead, I glanced down at the beautiful specimen before me, with its glistening meat and vibrant minced vegetable trimmings, and caved. Just one bite, I told myself. Then, I'll get some napkins. Half a sandwich later and dripping in a mix of beef jus and giardiniera vinegar nearly up to my elbows, I realized my error: Get the napkins before you sit down. Otherwise, there is no tearing yourself away.
The sort of crave-inducing reverie the Classic Italian Beef sandwich elicits is what inspired co-owner Mike Roos to open Mike's Italian Beef in the first place. A Chicagoland native who moved to Waterloo, Illinois, in 2007, Roos often longed for the hot beef sandwiches that could be found in casual shops on just about every street corner in his hometown. In 2021, when he was presented with the opportunity to open an eatery of his own by his then-employer, Sedara Sweets & Ice Cream owner George Simon, it made sense that he would look to the food he missed so much as the basis for his first restaurant venture.
However, if you would have told Roos that he'd been opening an Italian beef restaurant back when he first moved to the bi-state area, he would have laughed. Back then, he was a recent high school graduate who had never cooked professionally. He wasn't even actively considering a career in the culinary field until about six years after the move, when he had an aha moment while watching the Food Network during a vacation. Roos isn't sure exactly what clicked — perhaps a show that connected with his childhood experiences watching his dad work in the food industry — but he recalls suddenly being filled with a sense of certainty surrounding his future. After returning home, he began researching culinary schools and began his studies at the now-shuttered L'Ecole Culinaire that following January.
While still in school, Roos began his kitchen career at the Country Club of St. Albans, then went on to a variety of culinary positions that gave him insight into a wide range of kitchen experiences — a pizzeria in Waterloo, an assisted living community, an independent school, Delta Queen Port of Call in Kimmswick, the BBQ Saloon in the Central West End, the Frisco Barroom (where he was the restaurant's opening sous chef). Eventually, he landed at Salt + Smoke, where he met a colleague who hooked him up with a second job working on the Sedara food truck.
While working for Sedara, he and Simon developed a close relationship — so close that when Simon turned to him one day and suggested they open up a restaurant together, Roos thought he was just joking with him. A couple of days later, Simon again brought up the idea, telling Roos that there was a vacant storefront in the Affton strip mall where Sedara Sweets & Ice Cream was located. Pick whatever cuisine you want, and we will make it work, Simon said. Within two days, Roos had a plan: He was going to open a restaurant based around his beloved Chicago-style beef sandwiches.
Roos admits he had never cooked an Italian beef sandwich before opening Mike's last January, though you'd never know that when you bite into the Classic. His painstaking research and experimentation has led to the embodiment of the form, especially noteworthy because of its tender meat and outstanding giardiniera, which serves as a delightfully crunchy counter to the rest of the soft, jus-soaked sandwich. Offered as either mild or spicy, the pickled vegetable condiment is searing enough as the former, and positively blazing as the latter; the heat is multi-dimensional thanks to its briny, vinegary taste.
The Italian beef may be the namesake dish, but it is just one of the restaurant's several outstanding sandwiches. A classic Reuben is piled high with corned beef and generously appointed with zesty Thousand Island and pleasantly pungent sauerkraut. A special shout out must be given to the gentleman working the grill responsible for the flawlessly toasted marble rye bread. He has a gift. A cheeseburger is an equally well-executed dish; made up of two smashburger patties and gooey American cheese, it can stand up to any diner smashburger in town.
A St. Louis-style cheesesteak subs in molten Provel for Philly's traditional provolone, with outstanding results. Haters, go on hating, but the way the especially gooey cheese melds into the seasoned steak-juice-soaked bread is otherworldly. Green peppers and onions add a snappy balance to the decadence. However, if I had to choose one sandwich to eat at Mike's it might just be the chopped cheese with mushrooms and onions. Here, chopped-up hamburger is seasoned with Cajun spices, seared on the flat top with onions and mushrooms, then covered in provolone and tucked into a hoagie bun. It's like making an entire cheesesteak-style sandwich out of the lacy crispies you get from the outer edges of a smashburger.
In keeping with its theme, Mike's offers several styles of all-beef hot dogs, ranging from a classic Chicago version dressed in onions, mustard, pickles, sport peppers, tomatoes and relish to a delicious New York-style dog topped with caramelized onions and kraut. No matter the garnish, I was impressed with the hot dog's snap and wonderful garlic- and paprika-heavy taste. Side dishes are also characteristic of this sort of shop — medium-cut fries accented with garlic and parmesan, battered onion rings, tangy mac and beer cheese and tater tots that are cloud-like puffs of potatoes, sour cream and cheddar cheese. However, the standout is the arancini, a Chicagoland riff on the Italian classic that features Mike's Italian beef and giardiniera wrapped into a deep-fried rice ball. The meat's rich jus mixes with the pungent giardiniera dressing, infusing the rice with spiced beef nectar.
The next time I go to Mike's Italian Beef, I'll know better: Order a second portion of arancini and make sure to get something to wipe my hands with before I dig in.
Open Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
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