Where’s the Beef on Weck?

A horseradish-
smothered sandwich infiltrates the land of the cheesesteak. Everybody knows that

Everybody knows that the Buffalo wing was invented in Buffalo, N.Y. (Specifically, at the Anchor Bar, where these days the chicken wings are about as good as TGI Friday's.) But the real culinary achievement of that region is a little roast beef sandwich called beef on weck. Weck, short for kummelweck, is basically a Kaiser roll with caraway seeds and pretzel salt baked in. And while you can find Philly cheesesteaks all over the country, finding beef on weck outside of Buffalo is pretty much impossible. Or so we thought.

When K.C. Kulp opened The Whip, an English pub in Coatesville horse country, he introduced beef on weck — a German immigrant sandwich — to a menu otherwise packed with bangers and shepherd's pie. “I remember growing up in Orchard Park, just outside of Buffalo, and I would go to the restaurant on the corner every weekend and load up on beef on wecks, absolutely smothered in horseradish,” Kulp says. His customers love it; it's the second most popular sandwich on the menu, next to the hamburger.

The beef is Dijon vinaigrette—marinated top round, slow roasted, and sliced thinly on a deli slicer. The rolls, which Kulp wanted to have shipped from Buffalo but found this cost prohibitive, are made by the Downingtown Wegman's. Before serving, the beef slices are reheated in au jus, into which the top of the bun is also dipped. As for toppings, don't even think of asking for anything but horseradish. “That's the way they do it in Buffalo,” says Kulp. “And that's how we do it here.”