When Duff Goldman Takes Guy to His Favorite Pit Beef Joint
Sometimes the best food recommendations come from locals who know their city inside and out. When Triple D rolled into Baltimore, Guy Fieri didn’t just wander around looking for good eats — he went straight to Charm City Cakes to consult with cake legend Duff Goldman. The question was simple: where does a local go for iconic Baltimore food?
“Got to get pit beef,” Duff told Guy without hesitation. And the best place? Chaps.
21 Years of Charcoal Pit Beef
Chaps started in the most unlikely way. When Bob and Donna Ceger got married 21 years ago, Donna’s father gave them a little shack — originally meant for lawn tools — as a wedding gift. Since Bob loved to cook, they decided to set up a pit beef stand outside his nightclub. They started with just a grill, an exhaust system, and a register.
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That modest setup brought in so many fans they had to add a dining room. But the beef? That’s stayed exactly the same.
The Charcoal Technique That Sets It Apart
As the folks at Chaps put it: “If you don’t it’s not pit beef it’s a charcoal pit beef you’re not going to get it nowhere else.” They cook bottom round directly on the grill at 400-500 degrees. You can smell that smoke from as early as 6:00 in the morning.
The key is cooking to order. Medium rare, medium well — you get whatever you want. They pull the beef at the desired doneness, bring it to the edge of the grill, and slice it thin. The meat is so tender it just falls right apart, then gets piled high on a roll.
Guy actually got behind the slicer himself, pushing the meat through until it hit that rare sweet spot. “We’re almost tartar right there,” he noted — then that piece goes back on the grill while another comes off. “This is like tag team meat slicing,” Guy observed.
The Bulldog and Beyond
While the classic beef sandwich with white onions, salt, pepper, and bright horseradish is the star — Chaps sells a couple hundred a day — they’re putting everything on the pit. Turkey, ham, corned beef for killer Reubins, and sausage all get that smoky treatment.
Duff’s favorite? The Bulldog: pit beef topped with a couple slices of cheese and sausage. Guy’s reaction after biting in: “I didn’t think the pit beef could get any better that little sausage kicker.”
He also tried a combo with pit beef, ham, and corned beef — so overstuffed the bread wouldn’t even wrap around it. “The sweetness of the ham, that briny pickly spice on the corned beef, and then just a nice smoky flavor from the pit beef,” Guy described. “This is like sandwich engineering right here.”
Similar to how restaurants craft complex flavor profiles in dishes like 25-Ingredient Meatloaf & Lollipop Pork C, Chaps proves that layering quality ingredients creates something greater than the sum of its parts.
The Custom Build
For the grand finale, Guy built Duff a custom monster: pit beef, jalapeños, horseradish, ham, burger, hash, nacho cheese sauce, sausage, pickles, chopped beef, and turkey. When someone suggested cutting it in half, the response was immediate: “No no no don’t cut it — if you cut it it’s going to explode.”
Duff went for a double bite. The verdict? Pure satisfaction.
Whether you’re craving something smoky and meaty or prefer Southern comfort like a Honey Butter Chicken Biscuit, Baltimore’s Chaps proves that sometimes the best food comes from the simplest beginnings — a wedding gift shack and a love of cooking.
Find Chaps and other Triple D favorites in our restaurant directory.