The Best Beef Around

As residents of the North Shore, roast beef sandwiches are a staple of the culinary experience. Tourists always seem to come for the clams and lobster, but the roast beef is just as culturally significant. A spectacular combination of a perfectly toasted bun, heaps of thinly sliced beef stacks high, and melted cheese holds the mass of deliciousness together. Every bite is better than the next. You finish the masterpiece, sauce covering your face, hands dripping with scraps of leftover beef, and all you can think about is the next time you can eat one. 

This delicious goodness comes in many different variations from many different places around here. Of the many places scattered around the North Shore, five were selected from in or around the Ipswich area for convenience. The five places were: Zeno’s Roast Beef, Ipswich House of Pizza, Pomodoris, Nick’s Roast Beef, and Kelly’s Roast Beef. 

To keep consistent reviews, the places were ranked in five different categories; Beef Quality (BQ), Sauce Ratio (SR), Sauce Taste (ST), Bun Taste (BT), and Bun Crisp (BC). These five categories were each ranked 1-5, with 5 being the best, and 1 being the worst. As the rankings were done by just one person, the reviews are somewhat subjective, as everyone may have different rankings, but the reviews were meant to be as unbiased as possible. A junior beef 3-way (Sauce, mayo, and cheese) was ordered from each restaurant to stay consistent, and the results are as follows:

	Zenos	Nicks	Kelly’s	IHOP	Pomos
BQ	5	5	4	4	2
SR	4	4	3	4	3
ST	5	5	4	4	3
BT	4	4	4	3	3
BC	5	4	3	3	3
Total	23/25	22/25	18/25	18/25	14/25

The restaurant with the best score was Zeno’s Roast in Ipswich. After taking home the trophy, one of the owners of Zeno’s, Eleni, was interviewed. She was asked what goes into making the best roast beef sandwiches. “To me, a great roast beef sandwich has to be fresh beef thinly sliced, warm, just the right amount of sauce and mayo.” Seems simple enough, however, there are slight differences between each place, as there seems to be a wide variety of roast beef quality. To get another opinion on the matter, Ipswich High School senior, Eliot Donovan was asked what he thinks is the best place to get a roast beef sandwich. “My favorite place to get a beef is Zeno’s. I really like the good crunch in the bun and love the amount of beef.” Another opinion confirming the results seems to solidify the findings. 

Saying which beef is best is a hard question to answer. Everyone likes roast beef differently. Whether you get it with lettuce, get a plain 3-way, or a completely different idea, that’s what makes the process so great. Living on the North Shore, roast beef is a cultural classic, so wherever you go, you are sure to get a wonderful dining experience.