Regular Combo Beef & Sausage

Regular Combo Beef & Sausage at Al's Italian Beef

alsbeef.com

A

This is a once-a-year kind of sandwich, and by that I mean I'll probably die if I eat it more often than that. But it's so good. Al's classic Italian beef, super tender and savory meat sliced thin enough to melt into your face and saturated in "gravy," is augmented here not only with provolone, hot giardiniera and sweet peppers but also a char-grilled spicy pork sausage. You can't really see the link in this pic but it's there, lurking beneath the meaty, saucy mountain, piled into a soft, delicious roll. It's almost impossible to pick this thing up and eat it like a proper sandwich; you're better off knife and forking your way to glorious gutbomb satisfaction. Worth the effort, and the occasional splurge.

Chili Cheese Grilled Dog

Chili Cheese Grilled Dog at Burger King

bk.com

F

Pretty genius, actually ... the other fast-food burger chains don't do dogs. Why not throw this mess on the menu for a couple bucks? Some sucker will tack it on to their Whopper meal order. Some sucker indeed.

Chick'n Shack

Chick'n Shack at Shake Shack

shakeshack.com

A

This fried chicken sandwich craze isn't going away any time soon, and that's fine by us ... as long as quality chains like Shake Shack are jumping on the bandwagon and churning out delicious as-they-should-be birdwiches. Originally a special limited-time dish before being joyfully added to the full-time Shack menu, the Chick'n Shack is a 100 percent all-natural cage-free chicken breast with a thin but crunchy outer layer of goodness, planted on a cushy potato bun with lettuce, pickles, and buttermilk-herb mayo. The chicken is thick and juicy, the crust packs a proper amount of crisp texture to balance the soft bun in every bite, the good-sized pickle coins provide ample brine support, and the mayo feels more like a ranch-type sauce than a mayo. The sauce pleasantly brings this sandwich together. It's no surprise the Shack does chicken right ... this hip franchise has established itself as one of our most consistent sandwich stops.

The French Dip

The French Dip at Therapy

therapylv.com

B-

It's hard not to order a French dip for lunch when you see it on a menu, even if you're having lunch in a place that probably doesn't specialize in French dips ... say, a hip downtown bar, where you should probably get a charred kale salad or baked ricotta gnudi or a chicken and red velvet waffle slider. But really, don't you just want a French dip? This one is serviceable, bolstered by delectable horseradish cream and high quality roast beef. The jus was savory and fine, as well, but there was something missing. It was the hoagie roll. It wasn't toasted well, as advertised, and you need a little more crisp, toasty goodness on your French dip if it's going to stand up to all that juicy meat and an extra dip. Whatever. Still not going to get the salad.

Lahm Bi Ajeen

Lahm Bi Ajeen at Khoury's

khouryslv.com

A

It's compact, simple and sublime. It doesn't look like much—and this terrible photo doesn't help—but the traditional Lebanese sandwich at Las Vegas' foremost Lebanese restaurant is a jewel. A thin, flat disc of Khoury's outstanding pita bread dough is crisped in the oven and folded around a spectacularly spiced combination of ground lamb, tomatoes and onions. You cannot stop eating this thing. Bite after wonderful bite yields familiar pizza/calzone/panini textural association, but the tastebuds get blown by the rich, fresh, diverse and savory notes inside this crispy concoction. This could become an everyday addiction.

Fatburger

Fatburger at Fatburger

fatburger.com

A

How is it possible that in more than five years of allsandwich we've never reviewed one of our all-time favorite burger joints? Crazy, huh? Yet here it is, for the first time, the classic Fatburger. This is the Medium Fatburger, to be precise, since these days they come in five different sizes; it's plenty big, though. It's got the works—mustard, relish, onions, pickles, tomato, lettuce, mayo, plus added cheese—decorating a 5.3-ounce patty of fresh, beef, griddled to near crispyness on the outside. (The Large Fat is a half-pounder, and then it just gets crazy from there.) I've been eating Fatburgers in Las Vegas for more than 20 years and it's always good; its consistency is second only to In-N-Out. It's a messy delicious treat—the combination of condiments and the overwhelmingly beefy flavor are the defining factors here—and combined with a thick milkshake and thick-cut "fat fries," this is pure fast-food bliss. We might not have reviewed it until now, but we've been eating it all along.