#13 Hot Beef

Lucky number 13, a quarter of the way through the Tat's menu.  It's troubling, but my last few sandwiches at Tat's have been particularly unsatisfying. I was desperate for a return to normalcy, and my buddy Ethan wanted to grab lunch, so I headed in the direction of one of the sandwiches I had hoped would be a secret superstar: Hot Beef.

As a kid my grandfather would take me to an old-school cafeteria in San Francisco. It was down a long flight of stairs into a daylight basement with 20 foot tall ceilings, and full of old men having long retirement lifestyle lunches. My grandfather and I both religiously ate the hot beef sandwich - piles of prime rib carved thin by hand to order and piled onto an Italian roll and served with a side of jus.

Tat's menu says "Our own Roast Beef in au Jus w/ Provolone, horseradish, and hot peppers. Injected with fries..mmmmm..no charge"  The dude at the counter mentioned cutting the horseradish with mayo, so I said "yes" and of course injected it with fries.

This isn't my grandpa's hot beef, and much to my chagrin there's nothing in Seattle that remotely resembles that amazing cafeteria.  In spite of the high bar set by my nostalgia, the Tat's Hot Beef is a hell of a sandwich.  You can tell from the moment you see the pile of fries soaked in freshly melted provolone that it's going to make your day, and the rest doesn't disappoint.  This time the beef was plentiful, and the fries add a really great contrasting texture.  The jus is good and the roll was crisp and nicely toasted in parts from the broiler.

If you want to try something new off the Tat's menu this is the direction I'd point in. Next time I'll get it without the mayo and with extra horseradish, and there is definitely going to be a "next time" with this sandwich. We're going to become very, very good friends.