Hoagies, Cheesesteaks, Pork Italiano

[Tim Dolan]

All this talk about proper sandwich terminology made me want to get back to the places that started it all. And after taking a whole five minutes to figure out how to upload pictures from my camera phone, I present the classic head-to-head...

Pat's, Whiz witout...

Geno's, Whiz witout, WAY too much ketchup and some hot sauce, courtesy of my sloppy brother...

You can't tell from these pictures, but the Pat's steak had much more meat on it, although it was a bit more gristly and a tad overcooked. Also although I ordered this steak wit out, I still had a bunch of loose onions in there. I know it's tough to complain about this when everything is cooked on the same griddle, but it happens ALL THE TIME at Pat's. I swear everytime I've gotten a steak from there, it's had some onions in it. And I hate onions.

Geno's, on the other hand, was a bit skimpier on the steak, but wasn't overcooked or gristly and managed to keep out any onions. You know, like how it was ordered. Anyway, I've been to both of these places enough times (though tonight was my first time in a WHILE) that the complete opposite has happened at both places. Oh well. While my brother and I (and most of the city) both completely agreed that both steaks are good but there is certainly better, it was nice to get back down there just to see how things are going.

Expect more haphazardly taken pictures of various sandwiches now that I can upload from my phone...

[lancastermike]

All this talk about proper sandwich terminology made me want to get back to the places that started it all.  And after taking a whole five minutes to figure out how to upload pictures from my camera phone, I present the classic head-to-head...

Pat's, Whiz witout...

Geno's, Whiz witout, WAY too much ketchup and some hot sauce, courtesy of my sloppy brother...

You can't tell from these pictures, but the Pat's steak had much more meat on it, although it was a bit more gristly and a tad overcooked.  Also although I ordered this steak wit out, I still had a bunch of loose onions in there.  I know it's tough to complain about this when everything is cooked on the same griddle, but it happens ALL THE TIME at Pat's.  I swear everytime I've gotten a steak from there, it's had some onions in it.  And I hate onions.

Geno's, on the other hand, was a bit skimpier on the steak, but wasn't overcooked or gristly and managed to keep out any onions.  You know, like how it was ordered.  Anyway, I've been to both of these places enough times (though tonight was my first time in a WHILE) that the complete opposite has happened at both places.  Oh well.  While my brother and I (and most of the city) both completely agreed that both steaks are good but there is certainly better, it was nice to get back down there just to see how things are going.

Expect more haphazardly taken pictures of various sandwiches now that I can upload from my phone...

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I don't quite know if I should comment on this being from far away from the neighborhood, but KETCHUP on a cheesesteak?

[monavano]

I take my cheesesteak with "sauce" (marinara), so I'm going to give a pass on the ketchup!

I know how you feel about onions. I have a love/hate thing with onions. I cook them all the time, but they have no place on my hoagie or cheesesteak. With hoagies, it's a taste thing. With cheesesteaks, it's a texture thing. Go figure.

Grissle would just ruin a cheesesteak for me. Was either meat tender??

Edited March 25, 2008 by monavano (log)

[DTBarton]

A cheesesteak without fried onions is like a day without sunshine. And a little raw onion on an Italian hoagie (or sub where I came from) is a wonderful thing.

Onion bashing! What's this world coming to?

[Tim Dolan]

I don't quite know if I should comment on this being from far away from the neighborhood, but KETCHUP on a cheesesteak?

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I'd say putting ketchup on a cheesesteak is just as normal as putting ketchup on a cheeseburger, although the picture above does have way too much of it. The hot sauce, on the other hand, you could argue is on the fringe. Even still, I've spiked my steaks at Dalessandro's with tabasco more times than I can rememer. To me it's like a substitute to an actual pepper. As for the condiments at Geno's, there were only peppers, ketchup and hot sauce available. Anything outside of those three I would consider to be completely out of left field.

[Tim Dolan]

I take my cheesesteak with "sauce" (marinara), so I'm going to give a pass on the ketchup!

I know how you feel about onions. I have a love/hate thing with onions. I cook them all the time, but they have no place on my hoagie or cheesesteak. With hoagies, it's a taste thing. With cheesesteaks, it's a texture thing. Go figure.

Grissle would just ruin a cheesesteak for me. Was either meat tender??

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Geno's meat was more tender throughout the entire steak (or at least my half). Pat's had a few pieces of steak that were probably sitting on the griddle for an hour and managed to find a way into my sandwich. I hate gristle as well, but sometimes you just gotta suck it up .

[KatieLoeb]

Tim:

Whilst I'm appreciative of you taking one for the team in checking out those most touristy and truly sucky of the cheesesteak venues in town, I'm still surprised you wasted a perfectly good meal opportunity on such low caliber fare. Tony Lukes or Shank's & Evelyn's weren't far away and I'm fairly certain you could've done better. Maybe not at 2:30AM, but you didn't mention what time of day your outing took place. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume none of the better alternatives were open then. Because I know for a stone cold fact you have better taste than that. Yes I do.

[Tim Dolan]

Tim:

Whilst I'm appreciative of you taking one for the team in checking out those most touristy and truly sucky of the cheesesteak venues in town, I'm still surprised you wasted a perfectly good meal opportunity on such low caliber fare.  Tony Lukes or Shank's & Evelyn's weren't far away and I'm fairly certain you could've done better. Maybe not at 2:30AM, but you didn't mention what time of day your outing took place.  I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume none of the better alternatives were open then.  Because I know for a stone cold fact you have better taste than that.  Yes I do.

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Sometimes you need a foray into the mediocre to appreciate the good stuff. But it was kind of late, around 11, so Shank's was out. And it was my brother's idea for the head-to-head so I threw him a bone.

Edited March 26, 2008 by Tim Dolan (log)

[john b]

No photos, but I had my first Chink's experience on Saturday (what a good weekend--DeLorenzo's on Friday and Chink's on Saturday). I now have a new favorite cheesesteak. It pretty much perfect--warm roll, crisp on the outisde and soft on the inside, really good (sliced, not chopped) meat, the perfect meat/cheese ratio (most places use too much cheese for my liking, since you can barely taste the meat). I don't do onions (it's a texture thing), but they looked and smelled really good on my buddy's steak--a nice mixture of the really brown and crispy, carmelized onions with the lesser cooked white onions.

They use syrups to make cherry, vanilla and chocolate sodas (no prefab cherry Coke). Yum.

I'm guessing by the looks of the place that things haven't changed much since it opened in 1949, which is a very cool thing.

Edited April 1, 2008 by john b (log)

[jmbrightman]

No photos, but I had my first Chink's experience on Saturday (what a good weekend--DeLorenzo's on Friday and Chink's on Saturday).  I now have a new favorite cheesesteak.  It pretty much perfect--warm roll, crisp on the outisde and soft on the inside, really good (sliced, not chopped) meat, the perfect meat/cheese ratio (most places use too much cheese for my liking, since you can barely taste the meat).  I don't do onions (it's a texture thing), but they looked and smelled really good on my buddy's steak--a nice mixture of the really brown and crispy, carmelized onions with the lesser cooked white onions. 

They use syrups to make cherry, vanilla and chocolate sodas (no prefab cherry Coke).  Yum.

I'm guessing by the looks of the place that things haven't changed much since it opened in 1949, which is a very cool thing.

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Is it true they only use American cheese? That makes me not want to go.

[KatieLoeb]

No pics, but I ran into an old coworker in the Italian Market today and we both ended up at George's Sandwich Shop, 900 South 9th Street for a bite. I decided to have what she was having, which was the BBQd Veal with Long Hot Peppers. Oh Baby. What a truly delcious sandwich. Tender chunks of veal in a spicy thin gravy falling apart, piled on a crusty long roll with pan juices and some hot peppers. Damn! I'd have never ordered that had I not seen hers, but it is worth a trip by itself.

[Jeff L]

That sounds really tasty Katie. I've walked by that place so many times without even thinking about eating there. It just looks kind of scary to me, not the cleanest looking place you know what I mean?

[Andrew Fenton]

Definitely give George's a try. I haven't tried the BBQ veal (though I will, now), but have had a few other sandwiches, all of which were good. And they have tripe sandwiches! It's not like I want to eat a tripe sandwich every day, but it's nice to know that there's one available for me at a moment of need.

[tino27]

The roast pork sandwich at George's is also very, very good. It was kind of funny actually. I had seen George's Sandwich Shop during a PBS special and happened to be in Philly visiting a friend. We were just casually walking down 9th Street, checking out the Italian Market. Suddenly I look over and there it was. I had to stop for a sandwich and I'm darn glad I did.

[KatieLoeb]

Whilst George's isn't a temple of hygiene, I think it is up to Heallth Department codes enough to stay in business and serve up those yummy sammies. It's really fine and quite good. As tino27 mentioned, the roast pork is pretty damned good also. I've not tried the tripe sandwich (I prefer my tripe in smaller less noticeable doses like in Pho), but I'm of the understanding that it's outstanding for those that enjoy that sort of thing. I can vouch for the sausage and pepper sandwiches too. I haven't had one in a while, but they're really good. George's is a nice change from Lorenzo's pizza on the corner when I'm shopping 9th Street.

[mrbigjas]

Whilst George's isn't a temple of hygiene, I think it is up to Heallth Department codes enough to stay in business

come on now y'all, they've had no critical violations on its last couple of health department inspections, which is more than you can say for many other places everyone likes. look here:

http://welcometophilly.com/food/index.php?...s+sandwich+shop

it's fine to eat at george's. they make good food.

[john b]

No photos, but I had my first Chink's experience on Saturday (what a good weekend--DeLorenzo's on Friday and Chink's on Saturday).  I now have a new favorite cheesesteak.  It pretty much perfect--warm roll, crisp on the outisde and soft on the inside, really good (sliced, not chopped) meat, the perfect meat/cheese ratio (most places use too much cheese for my liking, since you can barely taste the meat).  I don't do onions (it's a texture thing), but they looked and smelled really good on my buddy's steak--a nice mixture of the really brown and crispy, carmelized onions with the lesser cooked white onions. 

They use syrups to make cherry, vanilla and chocolate sodas (no prefab cherry Coke).  Yum.

I'm guessing by the looks of the place that things haven't changed much since it opened in 1949, which is a very cool thing.

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Is it true they only use American cheese? That makes me not want to go.

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It was definitely American on my steak. I don't know if they have any options.

[Rich Pawlak]

Chink's uses American cheese and only American cheese.

[Jeff L]

This is too funny. Today we met with a couple executives from Ohio at Criniti's. (again) After we got the business part out of the way, they were asking us about what makes Philly special food-wise. As we were just 10 blocks from Tony Luke's, I offered to grab them a few roast pork w/rabe to travel. These guys never heard of broccoli rabe and I told them to just trust me. I can't wait to hear back from them tomorrow. I'm still thinking about their plane ride home with that awesome smell and the looks they must have gotten from other passengers.

[jmbrightman]

Chink's uses American cheese and only American cheese.

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I don't get that. Why not offer provolone? It seems like some weird line drawn in the sand. My preference is a pizza steak - do they pass on that as well?

[Holly Moore]

Tradition - the way he started doing steaks neigh 60 years ago. I'm a Whiz guy - I tried Chink's. I liked it. One must broaden one's cheese palate beyond provolone and/or whiz.

Here is their full menu Chink's

Along with a good steak sandwich, Chink's serves perhaps the best milk shake in the city.

[john b]

Chink's uses American cheese and only American cheese.

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I don't get that. Why not offer provolone? It seems like some weird line drawn in the sand. My preference is a pizza steak - do they pass on that as well?

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My buddy, who grew up down the street from Chink's, told me this: Chink's makes steaks like this--sliced beef, with onions and/or cheese. Nothing else. Back in the day, if someone came in and asked for a steak with sauce, or peppers, or 'shrooms, etc., Chink would stop cooking, pull the cigar out of his mouth, look at them and tell them if they wanted that sh*t on their steak they could go somewhere else. And he was dead serious. My guess is that the current owner is carrying on the tradition.

[KatieLoeb]

Did everyone see this in today's Inky?

After 45 Cheesesteaks the Best Were....

John's Roast Pork topped their list, in agreement with Craig Laban. Steve's Prince of Steaks was #2. Steve's is most defintely one of my favorites. And the Grey Lodge Pub was #5!!! Congrats to Scoats and the hardworking staff over there. It's the only place I can think of you can have a beer with your steak too. A damned fine beer from a very large selection. That's an amenity no one else can claim.

edited because I dunt spel so gud.

Edited April 5, 2008 by KatieLoeb (log)

[Rich Pawlak]

Gotta give props for Macnow's exhaustive work and zeal. Grey Lodge got bumped from 4th to 5th once Macnow and crew got to John's Roast Pork. Cant argue with almost any of his picks.

[jtnicolosi]

Do you think our society has become a bit obsessed with "the best"? In Philly Weekly you have the "50 best bars", in Philly Mag the "50 best restaurants", in Philly Inq the "top 45 cheesesteaks", etc. I find myself tiring of it.

Yes of course there is some standard here, some objective level at which food can be judged, but at some point, isn't a bit like trying to name the "100 most beautiful people in the world" or the "100 greatest films"? Subjectivity must enter into the picture. Someone could genuinely prefer #3 to #1 or #18 to #4. I suppose you could say, "yes, it's true, but so what, the writers are giving their subjective opinions." The problem is, these opinions effect business, either emotionally or financially. It just seems too specific, to decide that #1 is better than #2, or 3. If given forty five cheesesteak joints, would it not be preferable to simply say ten of them are really great, ten are good, and fifteen are ok?

So does anyone agree, or is my perspective skewed because I'm in the business?

Edited April 5, 2008 by jtnicolosi (log)