Yikes!
I’m personally a fan of Jim’s Steaks, over Pat’s. Fourth and South St? Fifth? It’s been a while.
Lest we ignore the details, the Cheesesteak Experience is a hollow one at best without two seriously important details.
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Cheez Whiz isn’t the deal. American Cheese is the deal. YELLOW American Cheese.
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Fried onions. They’re sauteed hot and fast, so that they take a soft moist golden cast and flavor, not a more browned crispy variety one might expect to be served over cooked livers.
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For the "load it up, Vito ! " folks in the crowd, sometimes you can get mushrooms over top as well. I eschew that, it makes the cheesesteak too mushy and oogey to eat.
Aside from Pat’s and Jim’s. we can all bow our heads to pay homage to Lee’s Hoagie House. They do an extremely fine cheesesteak. I’m gonna wind up in Philly this afternoon, and by gum I might just make a side-trip on my way from Washington, and drop off I-95 in Cenner City and get to Jim’s. Yep. Yep. Jim’s. YUM.
Cartooniverse
Quick recipe -
Not exactly a cheesesteak but pretty good. I think this is more of an Italian beef. Kinda same same.
Buy a pound or two of sliced roast beef at the deli.
Two cans Campbells French Onion soup
Couple green peppers, couple of red or yellow.
Big onion.
Hot peppers if you lean that way. I like Jalapenos.
Slice everything up. Including the beef.
Put the whole mess in a deep fry pan, big pot, whatever, and let her rip for a half hour or so.
Serve on hoogie rolls. Oh, and put cheese on it.
Howyadoin,
Isn’t that the place with the medical… umm… “oddities”?
That’s pretty frickin’ hardcore…
-Rav
I think the best are the “imitation” cheese steak sammiches, like the ones served up in Berkeley at The Cheesesteak Shop in Berkeley. Thin beef, onions, sweet and hot cherry peppers, and white 'mercan cheese on a soft but slightly stale roll. Best after it’s been rolled up for a while. I got a card.
Better yet;
That beef sandwich I’ve only had in a New York City Italian deli. It’s made of beef cooked to death in a yummy broth and served in a soft roll which is then dipped in the hot broth. The broth has good stuff in it. Damn good eatin, but I don’t remember what it’s called. Not french dip. French dip hides it’s head in shame if you mention of these.
I’ll swap you 5 PCS’s for 1 of those. Anyday. 
The Cubanos I ate in Harlem weren’t bad either.
I’m hungry.
Peace,
mangeorge
Ohhhh do I miss cheesesteaks!!!
I spent 3 1/2 years in south/central Jersey, and (heresy!) got most of my steaks from Gaetano’s. They used white American cheese, and a “small” was too big for one sitting. But oh, were they good…this time of year was the best: run over at noon on Sunday for a steak, bring it home to eat while watching football with the windows open. As the late game starts, re-heat that beast for a great snack…drool.
I cringe when I think that my only option now is that abomination known as Texadelphia. Ugh.
What the hell is THAT???
I realize that it wasn’t “authentic” by any stretch of the imagination, but the best cheesesteak I ever had was in a little restaurant in Provo, Utah, many years ago. Instead of Cheese Whiz, they used an entire brick of Philly brand cream cheese.
Mmmmmm…
Barry
I live in Philly myself, and am a big fan of Jim’s as well. And I like Geno’s better than Pat’s. But Pat’s has a special place in my heart since they filmed that scene in Rocky there.
I also find it difficult to believe that one can grow up in Philly and not ever hear of a cheesesteak.
Now the point. Have any Philly Dopers heard of this: Go to South Street and get a cheesesteak at Jim’s. Any style will do, but I think plain is recommended. Take your steak with you and then go to Lorenzo’s for a slice (there is only one style available there). Take previously purchased cheesesteak and wrap it with the slice. Enjoy!
Note: This apparently only works with Jim’s and Lorenzo’s:)
Yeah, for one sitting you have to get the “mini.” I watched a friend of mine eat a whole “small” one time - it looked like it hurt (so good).
And don’t worry about that heresy thing, you don’t have to go to the city to get a good cheesesteak.
Cartooniverse, Texadelphia is a restaurant that attempts to serve cheesesteaks “with a Texas twist!” This means that your steak comes with tortilla chips and salsa on the side. The buns appear to be day-old Kroger bakery rejects, they skimp on the ingredients…ahhhh, let’s just say that the steaks leave a LOT to be desired.
PaperBlob, I think I’d be hurting too if I ate a small Gaetano’s in one sitting!
I’m originally from Philly.
NEVER mention cheesesteaks and the Mutter Museum in the same sentence.
Take this from the guy who mines tonsil stones.
(Ay…Yo! Ya want a side order of babies floatin’ in fo’maldehide wif that steak?)
<------laughing hard here. I think it might read, " Ay…Yo ! Ya want a side order of babies floatin’ in fo’maldehyde wif that steak, hon???
Which would be insulted? Aren’t they both much loved local institutions?
The steak used should be a rib-eye steak. The cheese should be Cheese Whiz. The roll should be Amoroso’s. And the onions grilled. And only Heinz ketchup.
I was only at Pat’s once. But Rick’s Steaks in the Reading Terminal Market is great also. And the cheese fries are the best if you let the drippings from your sandwich fall on the fries.
[homer] mmmmmm… Cheesteak drippings…[/homer]
Thought all you cheesesteak aficionados (and rookies) might enjoy this article about four high school students who search for the perfect cheesesteak as their senior project. Craig LaBan, the Philadelphia Inquirer’s restaurant critic, mentored them:
From the article:
"The truth is that a transcendent steak must exist in perfect harmony, an ethereal melding of cheese and onion and juicy meat, swirling at the height of its flavors through your roll at that very moment you take a bite. Call it the perfect storm of steaks.
Jeffrey Steinberg has his own name for this elusive trait: Good Drip."
Couldn’t have put it any better myself.
You guys keep mentioning Cheese Whiz. You are talking about that yellow stuff inna jar, right?
I’ve heard of that. I know some people who have done it. I am in awe of the fact that there hearts don’t simply stop right then and there.
On a Cheesesteak-ey note, I’m a vegetarian for health reasons, and a true Philly cheesesteak is the only thing that’s ever truly tempted me. They’re so bad, yet so good! Also, I was in Kentucky two years ago, and the group I was with ate dinner one night at a genuine ‘country kitchen’ restaurant. One of the menu items was a “Philly cheesesteak”. No one else was from the Philly region, thus, no one understood why I nearly started crying upon seeing this. Unless it’s cooked on a disgustingly grimy grill by an equally-greasy Italian guy, it’s NOT a cheesesteak.
mangeorge I believe so. The nasty stuff.
That would be correct. Except it comes in a large foodservice-size can.
Y’know what’s disappointing?
Pat’s has–in theory–a policy whereby if you order incorrectly, they kick you out of line and make you do it again. (I swear, they’re the original soup nazis.) You are instructed to state 1) type of cheese and 2) “with” or “without,” as in “onions.” I HAVE seen it happen, where some poor schmoe takes his sweet time in ordering and is told to leave.
I haven’t seen it lately. I usually go with my dad, who is an embarassment to watch place an order: “Yeah, I’ll have two cheesesteaks with cheese…provo–no, American cheese–onions…ummm…”
I’ve never seen dad get the boot. Either they pity the poor guy, or they’ve relaxed the policy.