Canopy used to have excellent sandwiches and fries although one of them in Ellicott City burned down and once they reopened (more than a yr later) the quality seemed to go down.

Andy Nelson's....next please.

There is a place on North Rolling Road next to the I-70 overpass (the name escapes me) that is great. Your classic roadside shack, plus they give you a free slice as they cut the meat. Canopy's fries are better though.

Good call, because it beef is NOT barbecue.

My favorite is the one I do at home in the back yard over the Weber charcoal grill. It's fairly simple, but might take a couple of tries before you really get it right. And make no mistake about it, pit beef MUST be cooked over charcoal. There is no such thing as "pit beef" that is cooked on a gas grill.

Chaps is among the best.

Boog's at Camden Yards is a good one, although it's at ballpark prices.

I'm also a big fan of Bull on the Beach on Ocean City.

But the absolute best was at this hole in the wall stand on Rt. 50 on the shore heading down to OC. I cannot remember exactly how far it was after the bridge, but it was off on the left. Man I'm drawing a blank. Ayone else remember the place I'm talking about? This is going back about 25 years or so.

The one on North Rolling Road was Big Al's when I was growing up but I think it is now called Pioneer. Next to the package goods store, right?

Pit beef is barbecue

barbecue
1 a: a large animal (as a steer) roasted whole or split over an open fire or a fire in a pit b: barbecued food
2: a social gathering especially in the open air at which barbecued food is eaten
3: an often portable fireplace over which meat and fish are roasted

The pit beef tent outside of Poulet in Greenspring Station is fabulous.

The good ones seem to come and go, used to be one where windy valley used to be, by greenspring station, is it still there, that was good everytime I went.

Or the place further north on falls next to the old gas station, I think he is still there.

Charcoal Deli?

The one on Rolling Rd. is Pioneer Pit Beef. And it gets my vote as best pit beef sandwich. I work nearby at SSA so get to go there for lunch often.

Awesome gravy fries there too.

Also EL, to answer your question about why it's not "barbecue", ask any barbecue expert and they will tell you that there's a huge differrence between "barbecuing" and "grilling" (the act of cooking on a grill).

When you throw a few steaks or some burgers on the grill, it's actually "grilling." It is NOT "barbecuing."

"Barbecue" means to cook using indirect heat for a very long period of time (hours and hours) over a very low temperature heat, using real wood like hickory.

Pit beef on the other hand is grilled directly over a charcoal flame, and done so on a very high heat for relatively a short abount of time (about 30-40 minutes for a 4 lb bottom round roast cooked rare -meduim rare).

If anything, Pit Beef is "grilled", while barbecue is, well--barbecued.

Charcoal Deli is not barbecue because they"grill" their foods. i don;t think they barbecue them.

Chaps will even tell you that pit beef isn;t barbecue. Most pit beef places stick by that mantra.

Here's a good summary about the difference: http://www.bbqmyths.com/grilling.html

Chaps? Is that the place in the strip club parking lot?

Here's a great "how to" if you want to try pit beef at home. My method is similiar, but not identical, and I can tell you that after a couple of tries, it's very easy.

And note, the author explains in detail why Pit Beef can never be described as "barbecue."

http://foodnerd.org/2008/06/30/homemade-pit-beef-recipe-or-pit-beef-aint-barbecue-wake-up-sheeple/

Yes, Chaps is in the strip club parking lot and the pit beef there is delicious. I also suggest the hot dog with the pit ham over it.

chaps is definitely my favorite. there's also a house in timonium that suspposedly has excellent pit beef, but i couldn't find it the one free day i had to go up there, and haven't been since.
anyone?

The Food Network's "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" did a feature on Chaps. Here's the YouTube video if anyone cares to watch it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKzNlADtck8

BBT's on Main Street in Reisterstown

My vote is for Chap's.

Guess the strip club isn't the only place you can get a piece of meat...

Pioneer Beef on Rolling Road is simply the best Pit Beef in the Baltimore area. There's a reason why there is always a long line there.

During the Baltimore Ravens home games, the Baltimore City Fire Fighters union hall (which is just a few blocks from the stadium) has big tailgate party which is open to the public. Their specialty is their Pit Beef sandwiches, which are definitely terrific.

The best place for your money is the Charcoal Grill at the corner of Putty Hill and Old Harford.

I also tried Baltimore Que for the first time yesterday and must say they make a pretty mean sandwich. I wish they would cook their cornbread sides a little bit more, but otherwise very impressed.

Smokey's in Eldersburg for the best pit beef.

It is my opinion that barbeque is slow cooked with smoke. Pit beef is closer to barbeque than ribs cooked in the oven but still not the same thing.

Yeah, there's no way pit beef is BBQ. That said, it's great. In the city, the only I've ever found is at the Saturday Farmer's Market under the JFX.

My question is, has anyone ever found Buffalo-style Beef on Weck (or Wick) around here? With the salty, seeded rolls it comes on it's even better than pit beef.

Go back to Buffalo.....seeded or unseeded sliced rye bread is just as good, better really, than a kemmelweck roll. But everybody is going to say you need "Wonderbread" for pit beef.....to each his own. White bread is OK for stuffing or feeding birds; that's it.

BBQ is like love – it is what you think it is. And don't try to tell anybody else that they are wrong.

Baltimoregal -- I thought that Wegmans would be the place to go (being based in upstate NY), but their selections were slim. A search of their website turned up a "Beef on Kimmelweck" sandwich and a "Beef on Wick" tray, both available in Prepared Foods. However, the tray did not come with the weck [wick] [kimmelweck] rolls, and it didn't look like you could buy a bag of those rolls in their bakery area.

Amanda C. nailed it. The definition of "barbecue" is very location-dependent, and global fundalmentalist assertions about it should be avoided.

Actually, global fundamentalist assertions about nearly anything should be avoided.

Aside to Donny B: in Texas, barbeque is beef more often than pork.

Shorty's on Falls Road above Broadway/Padonia Roads does a good job with southern style pit beef, ham, pulled pork piled high. He caters, too.

There is a place past Chaps on Pulaski in the parking lot of a rundown bar named Little Texas. Everything on the menu is fantastic. I know Chapps gets alot of praise because of it being in a strip club, and it was featured on the food network, but it is the equivalent of going to Genors or Pats in Philly for a cheesesteak, a tourist trap. Try this little roadside stand you will not be dissapointent.The baked bbq beans are great, the meats are delicious, and they hand cut their own fries. I wish I had the name of the place, but everytime I'm there I'm too busy concentrating on my next order.

I think Shorty's has moved to Owings Mills but definitely worth a second! His pit ham is the best ever!

I used to work at Valley View Farms, so I'm a bit partial to Andy Nelson's. I still have to agree that Shorty's stand outside of Windy Valley General Store (not sure where it is now) is the best pit beef you can get.

Look, someone needs to say it, so I will. Boog's is overrated at best. It's almost never hot, and doesn't have any real seasoning to it at all.

Quite frankly, the best B-more pit beef is at the farmer's market Sundays under the Jones Falls. Don't know the name, but it's on the far end and, well, holy crap it's good.

If you separate pit beef from bbq, there is going to be some overlap, because most bbq places serve pit beef and vice versa.

But I love both (although I put them under the same umbrella) so much that, ultimately, in my mind, two lists are better than one.

Charcoal Deli in Cockeysville.

I live in Hunt Valley and work near Woodlawn, so I have eaten at Pioneer, Andy Nelson's and the Charcoal Deli quite frequently. The pit beef at Pioneer is clearly superior to Charcoal Deli and Andy Nelson's and is highly recommended even if you have to go out of your way a bit.

Okay, let me stoke the flames a bit.

You know, there isn't that much to pit beef. While you can vary a lot in BBQ (meat? cut? wood? smoked how long at what temp? sauces? Marinade first or not? rub? etc.), there just isn't that much to vary in pit beef--it's the same slab of beef thrown over pretty much the same pit. So what we're REALLY dealing with is everything else--the bread/roll, the condiments, the sauces, the atmosphere, etc. Famous Dave's could do a stupendous and by-the-book "pit beef" but it would be rejected by the purists because it came from a chain, right?

Haven't been to Pioneer for long enough that I can't pass judgment anymore; Chaps was my default when I worked in that side of town, and it still has terrific varieties (is there a combination not on that board?).

We started this conversation with a vote for Andie Nelson, and we're ending it there. Melt in your mouth pit beef, and don't forget to top it with the slaw.

I go to Beefalo Bob's in Pasadena. The sandwiches are huge. The meat is juicy and well seasoned. And the fries aren't bad either. Plus for a dollar they'll give you a bag of scraps for your dog

For those who are looking for the Chaps experience, Beefalo is also next to a strip club, McDoogals, and from what I understand it is better than the Gentleman's Gold Club.

i like chaps the best. always great and very consistent

I'd say the best argument for not calling pit beef "barbecue" is that doing so would just be confusing. If someone invites you out for barbecue and ends up serving you pit beef, you might feel sorely disappointed, even if it did come from Chaps.*

*I vote for Chaps, because I really like their fries.

Andy Wargo's in Forest Hill. While the Pit Beef is awesome, it's the fresh homemade roll that make it the best.....

Who cares what you call it? It's meat, it's all good. Wouldn't it be great if people were this passionate about things that matter. Oh heresy, what am I saying?

A small note. If someone invites me over for a barbecue, I'm not expecting any particular style or technique of meat cooking. It's a general term for a gathering outside with cooking. God help us, I guess you could even have a vegetarian BBQ. For me, BBQ = Picnic + Fire.

Beefalo Bob's is very good, and I didn't know they had a retail location. I've only had their stuff at catered events and at the Towsontown Festival. They have a pulled beef bbq that is excellent.

"The pit beef tent outside of Poulet in Greenspring Station is fabulous.

I agree..have not been there in a while, is it still open? The best thing is that you can get rare beef, at least you could the last time I was there.

As I've said many times, just don't call sloppy joe BBQ. Other than that, I don't mind a loose interpretation.

Baker's Pit beef in Middle River. Best pit beef and it's cheap. Huge sandwiches and friendly people.

Picnic + Fire = A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread -- and Thou

There is a pit beef trailer in an industrial park across from the mega WalMart on Washington Blvd. The beef is always good as wella s the homemade sides. I've been to Chaps many times and it's hit or miss. When it's good it's excellent, but I've had sandwiches that were sliced with the grain which makes for a tough sandwich.

I have to chime in here and say that I think my Dad makes the best pit beef anywhere. He and the rest of the crew serve up the only pit beef (and Eastern Shore-style barbecue chicken) that I will eat. It makes me ready for the county fair just thinking about it.

Robert of Cross Keys got it right. Bakers! Their family run and only open Thursday thru Saturday. But, it's well worth it!

And, Pit Beef is definitely BBQ! It's a hell of a lot more than direct or indirect heating. Plenty of peopel cook whole pigs on direct heat and I challenge anyone to tell them it ain't BBQ.

Isn't Picnic + Fire called a "cookout" in the Baltimore/Mid-Atlantic area?

"Barbeque = Picnic + Fire" is more of a West Coast thing?

Down here, people have a "Fish Fry" or a "Shrimp Fry",depending on what they caught that day.

Joe- where do you get the best cheesesteak in Philly? Personally I love Geno's.

I like the pit beef at Chargoal Grille on Old Harford and Putty Hill, but Andy Nelson's is in a class by itself.

Baltimoregal, a small local chain called Glory Days (there's one on Joppa Road in Towson and I think one another down near DC) does Beef on Weck sandwiches (on what appear to be real kimmelweck rolls). They're excellent, especially with the horseradish sauce (which, for me, is key to any great pit beef sandwich).

Beefalo Bob's has a place in Pasadena on Mountain Road. Very good. There is also Jumper's Hole Grill in Pasadena that has very good pit beef.

I though Beefalo Bob's moved to Fort Smallwood Road, and primarily only does catering.

I can't believe more haven't stepped up for Charcoal Grill in Parkville! Def the best!

Andy Nelson's is really good too though. Really, is there such a thing as BAD pit beef? Don't think so.

The best pit beef is made by Pecker's grandma, Memama. But, as she says, sometimes there's things in life more important than pit beef.

SZ, try the pit beef at the Corner Stable or the Forest Diner. Horrible beyond belief.

There are two Beefalo Bobs. The sit down is on Fort Smallwood Road, while Mountain Road is just take-out.

As for Greenspring Station, I've never seen pit beef there. It may be good, but normally pit beef is in working class areas. Something is wrong when it ends up in Ruxton.

Ruxton? Pit fillet, maybe?

I will chime in for Charcoal Grill -- the meat is SO tender!

There is a small place I want to mention, tho, the Old Smokehouse (I think!), a pit meat place attached to the back of Harold's produce stand on Joppa Road east of Loch Raven. They were closed for a few months, but now they're open Thursday-Saturday. They serve good pit beef, turkey and ham, and tasty bbq beef and pulled pork sandwiches. It's fun to get some good produce at Harold's, then swing around back and grab a samwich.

I can't believe none of us mentioned Big Bad Wolf on Harford Road in Hamilton. I moved away from that neighborhood a couple years ago, so I forgot to mention them when I posted earlier. But they always had excellent pit beef sandwiches, among other things (they might be straddling the pit beef/barbecue line, but their food is terrific).

Mason Dixon Dude. your Beef on Weck is available every day at the Glory Days Sports Bar in Towson, on E. Joppa Road where the old BEndix Factory was

The best was the guy who set up on Keswick and 33rd outside Benjamins on weekends. This goes back several years. He hand carved the beef cutting out the gristle. No machine for him. He also used to give burnt ends out and would smother the beef with some kind of liquid spice soaked in a sponge. Anyone know if he's around at a different location?