Buona

With a whopping 21 locations, it's all too easy to dismiss Buona as a chain—but that'd be a mistake. The family-run, Chicago-born operation is steeped in rich history: As the story goes, Joe Buonavolanto Senior (nephew of Mr. Beef's Carl Buonavolanto) took out a second mortgage on his home to make his meaty dreams a reality. Buona's beef recipe, which hasn't been touched in 30 years, was dreamed up by Joe's wife, Peggy, and has been passed down through generations of Buonavolantos. The meat here is perfectly seasoned and topped with char-kissed green peppers before it's stuffed into a crusty bun and dunked in jus. You drooling yet?