PHILLY OR Pittsburgh

[Daniel]

We ended up driving down saturday, instead of friday night.. On the way down the turnpike we blew a tire completely.. The tire ended up falling off the car.. So we put a donut on the car and drove to a garage i know in Elizabeth New Jersey.. There i got a new tire and and went to a great little cuban cafe.. Alvarez. We had Mamey Shakes and Cuban Sandwiches.. After eating the sandwiches we were in PHilly like an hour later.. We went straight to Redding Terminal.. There we walked around a little bit.. I really wanted a beer and a cigarette.. We didnt get far when we saw the bar and by the bar was this huge Dungeoness Crab in a tank.. We ordered a three pound crab and a bunch of spicy jumbo shrimp.. We sat at the bar and happily ate the seafood.. We walked around for a little bit and we saw Bassetts Ice Cream.. I remember watching a show on this place.. I got a chocolate Double Milk Shake with rainbow sprinkles put in the bottom and she ordered a mint chocolate chip cup.. It was pretty good.. Not the best, but certainly not horrible. We then did our thing during the day and waited for a our reservation at Morimoto...

The next day, sunday starting at 9 am we did a cheese steak test. I will post that with pics later.

Edit: This weekend was a little hechtic with problems on Friday as well as the tire blowing out.. We have already planned on going back in a month or so.. Next time we will have a few more pics.. And Katie i will have my coupon.

Edited February 7, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[guzzirider]

I am looking foward to trying that twice fried fish, or the pork belly in congree, or the tuna pizza..

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If you are referring to the "10 Hour Pork Belly", I highly recommend it! It's like an entire pig's worth of flavor concentrated into a few tender bites... love it! Tuna pizza is a good app, too. The cripsy whole fish entree is really good... I forgot what type of fish it is, but they take four fillets off of it, and then form the rest of the fish into a basket shape and fry it. The fillets are served in the "fish basket" and you can eat everything... bones and all if you are so inclined. I really enjoyed that one.

I sort of agree with the desserts... they put something together for us once that wasn't on the menu, and it was odd... I don't recall exactly what it was now, but it was served in a champange glass. I thought it was OK, but it was definitely too far "out there" for some of our companions.

Next time you are there, ask about the cheese plate for dessert. I don't recall if it's listed on the menu or not, but they can do it, and it does rock!

Man... now I can't wait to go there on Valentines!

__Jason

Edited February 8, 2005 by guzzirider (log)

[Daniel]

When you go on Valentines Day, I would highly recommend that oyster fois gras sea urchin thing i spoke of.. Also, the waitress told me that they either give you three or four oysters depending on the size.. So even if you arent going to split them, tell them you are splitting it and ask for four smaller ones.. They did it for me.

Edited February 8, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[guzzirider]

Nice... I'll have to remember that... I love urchin! (and oysters, and foie gras!)

__Jason

[Daniel]

Well here is my review of the cheese steaks i ate.. We started around 9 am.. And ended up eating our last one at 11 am due to the fact that lazy old jims opens at 11. We also went to Tony Lukes to find it was closed as people had instructed us.. But we still had to try..

Firstly, I think they all used Amorosa Bread.. Jims got a delivery while i was standing online.. And the others tasted very similar.

I am not going to give it a point system.. I will flat out say, Pats is the best.. The meat is the most full of flavor.. And for me the construction of the sandwich is far superior at PATS. The way i get my cheese steak is with provolone and whiz wit onions... At Pats they put the provolone at the bottom of the bread.. They then put the meat on top of the provolone, and then put the cheese whiz on top of the meat.. This way the provolone protects the bread from getting soggy, and then the cheeze whiz can sink into the meat..

Genno's I didnt like the flavor of the meat as much, and to put the whiz on top of the provolone it gets lost.. The meat was too thick, a little dry perhaps, and just lack character.

Here is the line outside of Jims.. It was cool to see everyone waiting outside.. I was really hoping for this to be good.. You can also see the bread truck to the left of the line.

I loved how compact the sandwich was.. The meat was sliced a lot more thin then the other places.. It seemed more of a loose meat sandwich.. I liked the fact that i could get raw onions or fried onion, and that they served beer.. This was my second favorite place..

So my ranking so far would be:

1: Pats

2: Jims

3: A distant third Genno..

Edited February 9, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Daniel]

I also wanted to ask.. Down south street.. A block or two away from Jims. There was this pizza place that started with an L. There was a picture of a mystical woman holding a pizza i think. For some reason, me and my girl got a really good vibe about this place. Unfortunately it was closed.. Does anyone know what i am talking about.

[guzzirider]

Lorenzo's - http://www.hollyeats.com/Lorenzo.htm

Not my personal fav, but it is good. If you get a slice, you have no option for toppings... all you get is a basic slice of cheese pizzza... you know, the kind that tastes really, *really* good at the end of a night of drinking!

I've heard of folks getting a cheesesteak at Jims, and then walking over to Lorenzo's and getting a slice. They wrap the slice of pizza around the cheesesteak and eat it like that. Can't say I've tried it, but it sounds interesting.

__Jason

[Daniel]

Yeh.. I dont want to yuck anyone's good time.. But that pizza foldover maneuver sounds like the doings of someone higher then i have ever been.. I have one cheese steak left from the many i brought home with me.. I almost gutted it last night and put it on top of a fresh pizza dough I made last night..

[philadining]

The way i get my cheese steak is with provolone and whiz wit onions...

provelone and whiz?!? This is an absolutely brilliant construction, but I think it's prohibited by several city ordinances. It's OK, we won't turn you in.

It's already been reported in another thread here somewhere that Pat's and Gino's use rolls from different bakeries, neither of which is Amoroso's. And that's one of the big differences, it's a personal taste thing, but I think Pat's rolls are just perfect for a cheesesteak.

And you're a brave man, bringing cheesesteaks home with you. I feel that they have a half-life of about 5 minutes, and decrease in quality simply in the act of being wrapped up (they start to self-steam.) But I suppose a reheated cheesesteak is better than no cheesesteak at all. maybe wrapping them in pizza slices would preserve them somehow...

Thanks for your report, we look forward to part 2!

[mrbigjas]

Yeh.. I dont want to yuck anyone's good time.. But that pizza foldover maneuver sounds like the doings of someone higher then i have ever been.. 

you got that right. the lorenzos-jims challenge is not for the faint of heart, nor for the sober of brain.

[Daniel]

The way i get my cheese steak is with provolone and whiz wit onions...

provelone and whiz?!? This is an absolutely brilliant construction, but I think it's prohibited by several city ordinances. It's OK, we won't turn you in.

It's already been reported in another thread here somewhere that Pat's and Gino's use rolls from different bakeries, neither of which is Amoroso's. And that's one of the big differences, it's a personal taste thing, but I think Pat's rolls are just perfect for a cheesesteak.

And you're a brave man, bringing cheesesteaks home with you. I feel that they have a half-life of about 5 minutes, and decrease in quality simply in the act of being wrapped up (they start to self-steam.) But I suppose a reheated cheesesteak is better than no cheesesteak at all. maybe wrapping them in pizza slices would preserve them somehow...

Thanks for your report, we look forward to part 2!

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Yeh no doubt that there is going to be a 2nd report.. Also, i am doing that cross country driving trip soon.. So i will post my pittsburg leg here as long as i dont take a wierd route and end up in memphis after K.C.

But what i want to know is.. Does anyone think the placement of the cheese has anything to do with the sandwich? I think its a lot better move to take that spatula and rub it over the meat instead of spreading it along the bread..

[deprofundis]

Wow I've never heard of the pizza foldover or using 2 different cheeses on cheesesteaks. That sounds like an intriguing idea though. I'm surprised so many people prefer Pat's over Geno's. I always thought Pat's meat was tougher, but both do make a fine sandwich. As for Lorenzo's, their pizza is decent but there are better places. Lorenzo's however has the advantage of being open very late (3-4am) and having HUGE slices. Most people would have trouble eating more than 2 (maybe even 1).

[deprofundis]

But what i want to know is.. Does anyone think the placement of the cheese has anything to do with the sandwich? I think its a lot better move to take that spatula and rub it over the meat instead of spreading it along the bread..

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I think the secret is to distribute the cheese evenly throughout the sandwich. Spreading it over the meat is probably better than on the bread in this regard.

[herbacidal]

The way i get my cheese steak is with provolone and whiz wit onions...

And you're a brave man, bringing cheesesteaks home with you. I feel that they have a half-life of about 5 minutes, and decrease in quality simply in the act of being wrapped up (they start to self-steam.) But I suppose a reheated cheesesteak is better than no cheesesteak at all. maybe wrapping them in pizza slices would preserve them somehow...

Thanks for your report, we look forward to part 2!

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Actually, I've eaten Pat's cheesesteaks nuked the day after. Or it might have been toaster oven-warmed. But either way, it was reheated the day after and quite respectable.

[Daniel]

The way i get my cheese steak is with provolone and whiz wit onions...

And you're a brave man, bringing cheesesteaks home with you. I feel that they have a half-life of about 5 minutes, and decrease in quality simply in the act of being wrapped up (they start to self-steam.) But I suppose a reheated cheesesteak is better than no cheesesteak at all. maybe wrapping them in pizza slices would preserve them somehow...

Thanks for your report, we look forward to part 2!

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Actually, I've eaten Pat's cheesesteaks nuked the day after. Or it might have been toaster oven-warmed. But either way, it was reheated the day after and quite respectable.

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I preheat the oven.. I nuke for 30 seconds.. This way the meat gets some heat and you dont burn the bread waiting for the meat to heat up.

[Andrew Fenton]

I guess I just don't understand why you'd want to eat cheesesteaks two days in a row, let alone reheated cheesesteaks. The only way I can imagine it is as part of a "lost weekend", drunken bender, kind of scenario. In which case, yeah, it'd be a good way to go.

[herbacidal]

I've never eaten cheesesteaks 2 days in a row.

When I reheat them, they've been brought back for me by someone else.

[Daniel]

I guess I just don't understand why you'd want to eat cheesesteaks two days in a row, let alone reheated cheesesteaks.  The only way I can imagine it is as part of a "lost weekend", drunken bender, kind of scenario.  In which case, yeah, it'd be a good way to go.

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If you can understand why someone would want to eat it once, why would it be hard to understand why someone would want to eat it twice.

[Andrew Fenton]

If you can understand why someone would want to eat it once, why would it be hard to understand why someone would want to eat it twice.

Too much of a good thing; that's all. Plus, variety is the spice of... er, maybe that's allspice. Whatever.