“It’s Only Got One Side” — Guy Fieri Discovers Denver’s Most Refined Roast Beef

When Guy Fieri walked into El Portulino Salumi in Denver, Colorado, he found himself face-to-face with what he affectionately calls an “overachiever.” Owner Bill isn’t just making sandwiches — he’s crafting over 45 different salumi varieties, all house-cured, brined, and dry-aged on site. But it was the roast beef sandwich that stopped Guy in his tracks.

“The attention to detail they put into the meats, knowing how that’s gonna come out in a sandwich, is incredible,” Guy observed. And after watching the four-day process unfold, it’s easy to see why.

The Four-Day Journey to Sandwich Perfection

This isn’t your deli counter roast beef. El Portulino starts with inside top round, then brines it in a mixture of salt, fresh thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, and water. After bringing the brine to a boil and cooling it down, the beef takes a long soak before the real magic begins.

The meat gets sous-vide treatment — cooked in a hot water bath at 110 degrees for four hours. As Guy quipped upon learning this detail: “Hi, have you met my friend overachiever?” But they’re not done yet. The beef gets rubbed in beef tallow and black pepper, then roasted at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

The result? Meat sliced so impossibly thin that Guy delivered one of his classic lines: “You cut it so thin it’s only got one side.”

Building an Orchestra of Flavor

Like a Dynamite Short Rib Sandwich, this roast beef reaches greatness through its supporting cast. The onion jam alone takes three to four hours of caramelizing before getting processed with fresh thyme and sherry vinegar, then simmered with apple pectin and sugar.

Then there’s the apple cider gastrique — made from the cores and peels of apples used for the restaurant’s housemade applesauce, combined with locally made apple cider, apple cider vinegar, honey, and brown sugar. After simmering for hours and straining, it’s thickened with xanthan gum.

The sandwich comes together on a sliced baguette toasted on the flat top: onion jam on one side, horseradish on the other, melted cheddar cheese, that paper-thin roast beef bathed in housemade beef au jus, fresh baby arugula with salt and pepper, and a drizzle of that apple cider gastrique.

Guy’s Verdict

“When you can take something as simple as a roast beef and make it an orchestra of flavor like that, that’s when you’re doing it right,” Guy declared. He praised the balance of the sandwich — the juicy, tender roast beef, the sweetness from the gastrique and onion jam, the kick of horseradish, and the fresh pop from the arugula providing “a nice little crunch.”

For Guy, the apple cider gastrique was the element that pushed everything over the top: “Good sweetness, good savory, and it’s just delicious.”

Tips from the Kitchen

Brine before you cook: The combination of salt, fresh thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns creates depth before the meat ever hits heat.

Low and slow, then finish hot: Sous-vide at low temperature followed by a higher-heat oven finish gives you tender meat with a proper crust.

Don’t waste your scraps: Like the apple cores and peels becoming gastrique, there’s flavor hiding in what you’d normally throw away.

This level of sandwich craftsmanship proves that even familiar dishes can be elevated to something extraordinary — much like the attention to detail you’ll find in episodes featuring Some HOT Chicken 🔥 or Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Looking for more Triple D destinations? Check out our restaurant directory to find your next Flavortown adventure.