The North Shore 3-Way: Beef Country’s Essential Sandwich

Written By Jennifer Rockwell

Before the Italian beef, beef on weck, or French dip, there was the North Shore 3-Way: a gloriously messy Massachusetts original built around hot, thin-sliced roast beef. It is the sandwich that turned a simple counter order into regional shorthand—and it is the inspiration behind Roasty’s Boston: 3-Way in Portland.

The story most often starts at Revere Beach in 1951. Frank McCarthy and Ray Carey ran what became Kelly’s Roast Beef as a hot dog stand near the beach. According to the long-told origin story, a canceled wedding at a nearby function hall left behind roast beef. Rather than waste it, the pair sliced it thin, put it on rolls, and sold it from the stand. It reportedly sold out in an hour. Whether treated as strict history or delicious local legend, that improvisation helped launch one of New England’s most devoted sandwich cultures.

A North Shore roast beef is not deli roast beef. The ideal version starts with beef cooked rare to medium-rare, shaved thin, piled high, and served warm. The roll matters: a soft onion roll, typically griddled or toasted, should hold the meat without stealing its spotlight. The sandwich’s beauty is its contrast—tender pink beef, salty melted cheese, creamy mayo, sweet-tangy barbecue sauce, and a roll with enough structure to keep the whole thing together for at least the first few bites.

Order it “three-way,” and you get the defining trio:

  • American cheese

  • Mayonnaise

  • James River barbecue sauce

That barbecue sauce is central to the regional identity. It is not smoky Texas sauce or vinegar-forward Carolina sauce; it is tangy, lightly sweet, and designed to coat the beef. In North Shore beef shops, ordering a “three-way” is so common that no further explanation is needed. It is simply the default language of Beef Country.

At Roasty’s, our Boston: 3-Way follows that essential formula: warm roast beef, sharp American cheese, Kewpie mayo, and James River BBQ on an onion roll. We use sharp American for more cheese flavor and Kewpie for its rich, silky texture, while keeping the soul of the North Shore original intact.

It may sound like an unlikely combination to the uninitiated. Then you take one bite: rich beef, creamy mayo, melted cheese, tangy sauce, toasted onion roll. Suddenly, three ways feels like the only way.

Jennifer Rockwell