One of the best pizzas I ever had was in Buffalo, NY at a place called Bocce’s Pizza. Pepperoni cups!
NY style is thin hand tossed crust, which is flexible, and kinda greasy. The edges are much thicker and a little crisp. Not a lot of toppings. You have to be able to bend the pizza sideways.
And sure New Toerks claim it has to be made with NY water, etc etc, but yeah, it is not really special.
Yes, they do make Chicago style outside Chicago, but that is much more rare. Same with NY style bagels… but your average bagel is not NY style. Same with cheesesteak, and do note even native Philadelphians argue which style of cheesesteak is 'real". (One style uses fake cheese from a can, yecch).
I don’t care so much about “authenticity”. It’s just that for the sandwich in the OP, the sandwiches I ate in Chicago set my expectations for what an Italian beef would be like, and the sandwich I got here did not meet those expectations. Maybe had never had one in Chicago I would have had no expectations going in, and I would have thought it was fine. Although I probably would have thought it was just a mediocre roast beef and pepper sandwich and not gotten it again.
Well neither of those are close to being the best in Philly. Whiz whether out of a can or their own recipe is by far inferior to places that use provolone.
I certainly agree that real provolone cheese is better than fake cheese out of a can. That is my favorite Cheesesteak.
But those two places- which in our humble opinions use the wrong “cheese”- are the Philadelphia benchmark for ‘authentic"- which goes to show that "real authentic’ may be inferior.
(Note that I am not a huge fan of the much touted NY style pizza either, it’s certainly okay if you want a quick hot bite, but many other styles are- imho - better).
Green chile cheesburgers and green chile chicken cheese just aren’t the same outside of Manny’s Buckhorn or the Owl Bar in San Antonio New Mexico.
My cheesesteak preference is actually American (with onions). Provolone just isn’t greasy enough.
Correct. Thus my comment above. A real Philly Cheesesteak is inferior to any good cheesesteak with provolone instead.
There’s a taco chain in central Florida, Jimmy Hula’s. They have the best tacos I’ve ever eaten, by far. Are they authentic? Hell no. (And yes, they have fish tacos!) But evolution can sometimes be good.
My wife and I went to London last spring, and had an amazing week of food and spirits. The other day I was reminiscing about a meal we had at Dishoom, a highly rated Indian restaurant, so I did a Google search to read some food reviews and see if there was any news of them ever possibly coming to the US.
I ran across a negative review where the writer and 3 friends went, and all ordered the same exact dish - a vegan full English breakfast. I loved getting full English breakfast while I was there, but that’s just a complete failure of ordering an appropriate dish.
Absolutely true, and a good example of the point of the OP. When my parents would come to visit me in Ontario, they’d always bring (among other things) a big solid hunk of real Montreal smoked meat from Dunn’s or Schwartz’s in Montreal. There was never anything like it available anywhere outside Montreal at the time, and probably still isn’t. I see that Costco has those little pouches of what is alleged to be Dunn’s smoked meat, but I highly doubt that this mass-market packaged stuff could be anywhere near the same. The stuff they brought just filled the kitchen with smoked-meat aroma when it was unwrapped, and we hand-sliced it as needed. Much the same was true for keilbassa, sourced from some ethnic Montreal deli. To this day I’ve never found anything like it anywhere else.
Montreal is generally a great source of fine food, combining the French love of food with the diversity of different ethnicities practicing in their own creations the culinary excellence that Montreal inspires.
My trip to Montreal a couple months ago was excellent in many ways, and the food was also most excellent and varied. However, I did manage to have an order of poutine at a sports bar that even I, who has never had poutine in my life, could tell was not representative of the dish, being fairly dry and light on the curds which didn’t seem very curdy anyway (anywhey?). I wouldn’t have been as disappointed had it been advertised as something like “fries lightly glazed with sauce and sprinkled with cheese”.
Yes.
There was a fantastic pastry place near me. I used to go and have breakfast there on Sundays and read the paper (remember those?). Great plum tarts. They sold the place, and the new owners wrecked it in six months. They dropped the pastries that were too difficult to make, and made the remaining ones smaller, and raised the prices. Then they closed.
Hmmm, what is just off I-25 on the drive between Colorado Springs and Cruces, perfect for an early dinner when doing a long drive every year or so… 
Although the Albuquerque Owl is still good eats, just not quite the same atmosphere.
@doreen Here’s an old-timey place on Long Island that has egg cream on its menu. Supposedly it’s kept its authentic menu, and from the outside it looks like a throwback to the 50s. I haven’t been inside. even though I’ve lived a few miles away from it for 27 years.
Menus | Hildebrandt’s in Williston Park, NY (hildebrandtsrestaurant.com)
Have you looked in Wheaton?
Pat’s is the original cheesesteak and it’s still owned by the same family. On that basis they can claim to be the most authentic. I can’t tell you if they have drifted from the original. If you ask anyone from Philly they will tell you Pat’s and Geno’s are for tourists. There are a long list of places that are better.
I too grew up in New Jersey (and attended undegrad in Philly), but I’ve been living in Florida for almost four decades. In all that time, I’ve been on a quest for a real Philly cheesesteak and hoagie. It’s been harder than finding a needle in a haystack, a decent governor in Tallahassee, or Beethoven finding his immortal beloved.
The closest thing to a hoagie I’ve found is the Italian Sub from Publix (one of their fine Pub Subs). It’s not bad, but you have to coach the deli guy on how to make it right. More oregano, more vinegar, more olive oil, capisce?
The best cheesesteak I’ve ever had here came from a fish market at the beach (down the shore), believe it or not. The owner is from NJ and he has a grill in the back where he makes all variety of fish sandwiches. What caught my eye, however, was the “Philly cheesesteak” listed at the end of the menu. I had to give it a try, and I’m glad I did. The owner told me he has his rolls shipped, then fresh-baked from Amoroso’s, which is legit. Despite a slight overtone odor of mackerel, the cheesesteak was excellent! It brought a tear to my eye.
Are there any particular places you have in mind? Wheaton’s not exactly a part of the area I’d have a lot of reason to go to, but I’d drive there in a heartbeat for a guava tart or turnover.
The Goldbergs say the best Philly Cheesesteak is in New Jersey…
Evidently, Anthony Bourdain has been there, too. Maybe we can get a local Doper to go try it. We went to Pat’s or Geno’s as tourists (I can’t remember, they are across the street from one another) and it was good, but I wish I knew of the places Philadephians preferred.