Roast beef shops north of Boston hand themselves the title. Customers decide if it sticks.
Roast beef shop signs keep using one word, and it isn’t “rare.”
FAMOUS.
Nick’s in Beverly puts it right in the name. Bill & Bob’s puts it on the sign. Jimbo’s in Reading had it in the name for years. You haven’t ordered yet, and the shop’s already famous.
Nick’s in Beverly. Says so right there.
After Kelly’s took off in 1951, The Boston Globe reports, dozens of shops opened across the North Shore, and many added “Famous” to their names.
Putting “Famous” on a sign is easy. Getting somebody else to say it is the hard part.
A Beef is the North Shore roast beef sandwich: rare roast beef, sliced thin and piled hot on a toasted, buttered roll. A Three-Way adds extra-heavy mayo, James River BBQ sauce and white American cheese. You’ll find them across Beef Country, our name for 66 Massachusetts cities and towns north of Boston.
Famous to Whom?
In Beef Country, famous doesn’t mean followers. A shop can be famous in your family without anyone outside your town having heard of it. Maybe it’s where you went after practice or your first stop home from college.
Name your shop out loud and someone will ask, “You drive all the way there?” Then you get their shop, directions, a family history and a rundown of what’s wrong with your judgment.
When Boston.com asked readers for their favorite roast beef shops in 2024, the answers named 71 shops. Kevin from Newburyport nominated the now-closed Beef Corral.
“Your first roast beef is always going to be your favorite,” he said.
The shop was gone. He was still putting in a word for it.
Kelly’s Went With “Original”
On its history page, Kelly’s leads with “The Original Roast Beef Since 1951.”
The way Kelly’s tells it, a canceled wedding left the founders with roast beef from the banquet hall where they also worked. They brought it to their hot dog stand on Revere Beach and served it sliced thin on grilled rolls. It was gone in an hour.
By the 1960s, the national chains had noticed. The Boston Globe reports that Arby’s modeled its sandwich on Kelly’s, and that Burger King and McDonald’s tried their own.
The company also calls itself “The Accidental Icon.” Nobody said “Original” meant modest.
Kelly’s on Revere Beach, where the story starts in 1951.
Paul Revere Had Longfellow
Kelly’s sits in Revere, a city named for Paul Revere. He never called himself famous either, but a poet took care of that.
In 1860, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:
Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
The poem gave Revere most of the credit, but he wasn’t the only rider. William Dawes and Samuel Prescott rode too. A British patrol stopped Revere after Lexington, and Prescott got through to Concord. Longfellow left them both out, which makes sense if you’ve ever tried rhyming Prescott.
Longfellow’s version became the one generations of schoolkids learned. Revere had a poet telling his story. A Beef shop has customers telling its story, usually while telling you where you should have gone.
Two lanterns meant by sea. Three should mean a Three-Way.
Patriots Day in Lexington. We added the Beef.
What the Counter Delivers
A Famous sign can get you into the parking lot. Whether you come back has more to do with the Beef they hand you.
Become a regular and the person behind the counter may know your order before you say it. That gives you something to recommend besides the sign.
Dripping James River, famous or not.
Quick Answers
What is a North Shore Beef?
A Beef is rare roast beef, sliced thin and piled hot on a toasted, buttered roll. Order a Three-Way and you’re adding extra-heavy mayo, James River BBQ sauce and white American cheese. Sizes and prep vary by shop.
What is Beef Country?
Beef Country is our name for 66 Massachusetts cities and towns north of Boston, up to the New Hampshire line, across five regions: Greater Boston, the North Shore, Cape Ann, the Seacoast and the Merrimack Valley.
Why do so many roast beef shops call themselves “Famous”?
The Boston Globe reports that many shops added “Famous” to their names as roast beef spread north of Boston after Kelly’s took off in 1951. It’s on signs all over the North Shore now, but the shop is usually the one that put it there.
Who finished Paul Revere’s ride?
Samuel Prescott. A British patrol stopped Revere after Lexington, and Prescott got through to Concord. Longfellow left him out of the poem.
Famous. Says Who?
Next time you order a Three-Way, decide whether you’d send a friend to that counter. A recommendation does more for a shop’s reputation than another coat of paint on the sign.
We don’t sell Beefs. We make tees, caps and sweatshirts for the people who love them.
The Sunday, with a Beef on the armrest.
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Saucy. Slightly salty. That’s how we roll.
Beef On™
