The Roast Beef sandwich is easily one of the 5 best things about living in the North Shore/North of Boston area. I lived South of Boston for a few years, and between the lack of acceptable RB sandwiches and those damn little pizzas, it was a really trying time, dining-wise. I knew I needed to get back above the Pike.

Around here, everyone has their favorite place for Roast Beef, and they’ll swear by it. But to help all the Hi-Toppers who may want to open their minds- or cards on the table, just to try to start arguments- I’m going to be reviewing some of the hot spots for Roast Beef sandwiches in the area.

Here at Hi-Top Athletics, we like to use the official HTTA 13 point scale (patent pending). But with food reviews, I just feel that isn’t enough. I want to give the best possible review to the #regularguys and #regulargals out there, so for simplification purposes, I use a 130 point scale for all food reviews.

I’ll be reviewing the same order each place: Super Beef, Onion Roll, Am cheese, Mayo.  I know you’re gonna say “Le Cap, you have to go 3-way!”  First of all, go do your own reviews. Secondly, au contraire, many of these places use bottled BBQ sauce, some may make their own. It makes it too uneven of a playing field. So I find this the most pure way to judge the RB sandwich on its merits.

I’ll begin with Billy’s.

REVIEW:

Two Bites, everyone is aware of the stipulations.

Look:  Alright, to the eye, this looks like a Super Beef should. If you don’t think to yourself “No way I can finish that, it’s like 2 lbs of RB”, then it’s not a proper Super Beef.

Roll: Perfectly toasted onion roll. Good bun to beef ratio. I should be able to pick the thing up without the bun flopping worse than a French soccer player.

Beef: Perfectly rare…too many of these places overcook and dry out the beef, this is among the best at keeping it nice and juicy. Billy takes pride in his meat, and he wants you to enjoy it as much as he does.

Overall: I have to say, I feel like this whole thing is going to go downhill from here. I should have started somewhere else. If I had a buddy on death row, and they wanted a Roast Beef sandwich for their last meal, this might be the one I get them. This is going to be a tough sandwich to beat.

Rating

124.5/ 130