'26 · '24
Woburn · MA
Pete's Roast Beef
"Two-time champion. Nobody argues this one and nobody should."
Find on App →★ 2× Champion
Pat Bertoletti ate 46 three-way sliders in ten minutes at Game On! on Lansdowne Street and took the first Nondas Cup home to Chicago. Geoff Esper put away 43, Max Stanford 40.5, and all nine seats got a number on the board. 212.75 sliders went down in ten minutes, sanctioned by Major League Eating and presented by Nelectron Solutions. Badlands Chugs opened the day with a boot of James River in just over sixteen seconds, F-Buddies broadcast live from Lansdowne three hours before the first bite, and that episode is up now. Fourteen sponsors put it on. Meanwhile the app is on 2.3.0: share cards rebuilt to portrait at the sizes Instagram actually uses, with the photo framed by dragging it, and Champions Hub now opening on the App MVB race.
Every reviewed spot in your pocket. Find the nearest beef, see the rating, and read the verdict, wherever you are.
A soft bun, buttered and griddled. American cheese on the bottom. Thin-sliced rare roast beef piled high. James River BBQ sauce and mayo: that's a three-way.
It is not a deli sandwich. It is not a cheesesteak. It is its own thing, and people from Lynn to Gloucester will fight you about which spot does it best.
Six parts. One sandwich. Numbered 01 to 06 in build order: bottom bun first, top bun last. Out of order, it isn't a beef.
The build: bottom to top
Buttered, griddled, crown side up. The final word.
Applied to the top bun only. It meets the BBQ mid-bite. This matters.
Not Sweet Baby's. Not Bullseye. James River or the beef is forfeit.
Sliced paper-thin. Piled high. Pink in the middle or don't bother.
On the BOTTOM. Melts up into the beef. Non-negotiable.
Hit face-down on the flattop. The foundation of the republic.
Thou shalt have no other sauce before James River.
Pink in the middle. Rare. If it ain't pink, send it back.
The bun gets griddled. Butter, flattop, face down, gold edges. More shops are baking their own now, and some have gone to sub rolls. The shape is up for debate. The griddle is not.
Cheese on the bottom. It melts up into the beef. This is not a preference. It is architecture.
Know the order before you order. Beef + cheese + BBQ + mayo = three-way. There will be a test.
Thou shalt eat it hot. Within minutes of assembly. Standing in the parking lot counts.
Kelly's invented the North Shore roast beef sandwich. Kelly's is also one of the lower-ranked spots on this list. Both are true at the same time. Handle it.
The three-way was born at Bill & Bob's. Nondas Lagonakis built it, and had a direct hand in creating James River BBQ sauce. Know where it came from.
Thin-sliced. Paper-thin. Piled high. If it looks like a deli sub, something went wrong.
This is not a trend. This is not New England's answer to anything. The North Shore didn't invent this for you. It invented it for itself.
Every champion. Every town. Judged the same way.
"Two-time champion. Nobody argues this one and nobody should."
"Rt. 125's finest. The first two-time champion. Consistent as gravity."
"Sous-vide 16 hours, sliced by hand, served Saturday only. Worth every minute."
Pat Bertoletti ate 46 three-way sliders in ten minutes and took the first Nondas Cup home to Chicago. All nine seats got a number on the board. 212.75 sliders went down in ten minutes, sanctioned by Major League Eating and presented by Nelectron Solutions.
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