I’ll second White Lightning’s endorsement of the SF Bay Area “Cheesesteak Shops”. There are branches in San Francisco and Oakland (I’ve been to both), plus apparently Berkeley and Walnut Creek as well.
I lived in Philadelphia for a short while, and have at least tasted the Real Thing. The Bay Area ones seem perfectly fine to me. Since I’m not a Philly native, no-one who really cares about cheesesteaks is going to listen to my opinion in any case, but there it is.
In any case, I doubt if anyone in the above places would dream of putting mayo on any of the available cheesesteaks.
I am the God of Cheesesteaks, having made them for seven years plus. I would put one of mine against Pat’s, Geno’s, and Tony Luke’s any day of the year.
And I’m from the Harrisburg area. Find your way here and I’ll prove it.
Since you haven’t corrected pilot141 can we assume his account of making a cheesesteak is correct? Or do you have a different recipe? And this hoagie bun is what exactly?
It’s pretty chose. Strictly speaking, for “authenticity” you need Cheez Whiz, although that’s always been a matter of dispute. The traditional roll in question is made by Amoroso’s bakery, although that also is in dispute. Here is what they look like. Let’s just say that if you served that in Philly you wouldn’t be chased out of town, since that’s really the only standard, whether the surly Philly folk will eat them or not.
What we used to do is this: We would get rib meat in what was more or less large hunks, line up the grain and create large slabs of beef, freeze it solid, and then slice it thin on a slicer. Not too thin, mind you, roast beef is a good comparison, or maybe ham.
Then you throw it on a grill, cook it up until brown, throw some fried onions on it, drown it in cheese (whatever you wanted), and from there you could desecrate it with whatever nasty stuff appealed to you.
In my prime I could take 15 orders at a time, have three different conversations, and have the waiting time down to about three minutes no matter how far back in line you were.
As I said, I’m awesome. Ask Jonathan Chance or Weirddave and they’ll tell you.
And Pinole, and the Pinole branch is actually surprisingly good. I’ve never been to the Walnut Creek one, but the SF, Oakland (Grand Ave) and Berkeley (lower University) are all palatable.
Damn, I thought everyone put mayo on cheese steak. I am from Florida, tho. I have had a cheese steak in Philly, and it was good.
Lately, I’ ve been spending a lot of time in North Central PA (Coudersport). Everyone one there seems like like mayo on everything, including cheese steak. Of course, this is a town where the only vegetables you can get at a restaurant come batter fried, french fries on salad are standard.
Please tell me you’re joking about the ketchup on the hot dog thing. I don’t know a single person who does not put ketchup on a hot dog. I like mine like that with mustard and onions also.
Note that the original poster who commented on no ketchup is also from Chicago. Many hot dog places in town, when asked for a hot dog with “everything”/“the works” will dump all sorts of things on it (mustard, onions, celery salt, peppers, etc.) but not ketchup, even if they have it in the restaurant for use with hamburgers and fries. If you ask for it specifically, you’ll at least get a quizzical look and a mental judgement that you’re from out of town.
Me, I put ketchup on my hot dogs, but that’s because I’m from Wisconsin originally, and I eat veggie dogs anyway - they hardly count.
Got it from a local pizza place around the corner. To be specific I got a pizza steak, which for those not in the know is a cheese steak with pizza sauce on it. My steak also had provolone cheese with a slightly toasted roll. Plus tons of dripping grease.
What a fantastic lunch, although my arteries would disagree.
Ahhhh, the many things you can desecrate a cheesesteak with. My personal favorite addition recently has been pepperoni which, in addition to effectively doubling the volume of my poor abused heart’s screams of agony is actually quite tasty.
As far as cheese goes I’ve never cared to much for a 'whiz steak…I make them with a mix of American and Provelone and have yet to get any complaints.
Hell, now that I think about it, why would anyone want to challenge me? I beat Perfection, I won the Cheesesteak Challenge, and I schooled you at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. I’m already king of the world, what else is left?
Does anyone here know where to find a good cheesesteak in New York City? (NOT BB’s. Bleck.) I’ve been dying for one for years, and never have a chance to go to Philly. (Yes, I’ve had the real thing. Many times.) Is there anything in New York that even comes close?
Absolutely false. There are some things in this world that are black and white, to which there is a “right answer” and a wrong one. Ketchup on hot dogs is one of them.
Although if by “to each their own” you mean that some people have the right to be wrong, I agree. That doesn’t make it any less wrong though.
