T. Luke Jr. v. B. Flay

[KatieLoeb]

I think this question was answered previously in the Geno's thread.

Speaking of cheesesteaks, tonight's Smackdown with Bobby Flay is cheesesteaks. Bobby is going mano a mano with Tony Luke's.

I know who my money's on.

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

I think this question was answered previously in the Geno's thread.

Speaking of cheesesteaks, tonight's Smackdown with Bobby Flay is cheesesteaks.  Bobby is going mano a mano with Tony Luke's.

I know who my money's on. 

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No surprise, though Bobby's sandwich looked pretty good. BTW, did you see the size of the bite Tony Jr took outta Bobby's steak? My uncle once told me about Tony Jr's grandfather Armando, and how he would put a turkey leg in his mouth, twist it, and it would come out clean. Until now, I thought it was apocryphal.

[Holly Moore]

At the start, when Bobby was talking about how popular the cheesesteak is in Philadelphia, all the signs read "Philly Cheesesteak." Obviously that portion was taped in NYC.

The cheesesteak purist in me was offended. First Bobby then Tony Jr. gunked up their cheesesteaks. Broccoli rabe, hot red peppers, and aged provolone for Tony and Cuban and jalapeno peppers, sauteed mushrooms, caramalized onions and a bechamel based provolone version of Whiz for Bobby. Tony Jr. had started out doing a whiz with, but got nervous when he saw Bobby's version. Would have been more interesting if Tony Jr. hadn't wussed out, going with the embellishments. I want to believe that a whiz with, on its own, could have kicked Bobby's ass. Both sandwiches did look highly edible though.

The judges were Ben Franklin and the Food Editor of Philadelphia Magazine. It was a "blind tasting." Let's see - one sandwich had broccoli rabe and the other sandwich had a bechamel based provolone sauce. Breaths there a Philadelphian who, without even tasting the sandwiches, wouldn't know which came from the South Philly guy and which came from the fancy pants New York City celebrity chef? Nothing against the judges, who made the right choice, but a couple of dudes and wenches grabbed off the streets of South Philly would have been more credible, cheesesteak expertise wise.

I never knew Tony Luke's baked their own bread. Impressive. Good thing for Bobby that he didn't go against Tony with a pork sandwich. Also good for Bobby that he didn't challenge Steve's Prince of Steaks for cheesesteaks.

First time I saw the show. The hooded bicycle messenger delivering the challenge was overkill. Maybe, if Bobby immediately got into a car and drove to Philly, but instead he got a few days to mess around in the Food Network's test kitchen.

Other than that though, a neat concept. Tony Jr. came off great as did Philadelphia.

[KatieLoeb]

I agree with some of what you've said, Holly. But certainly April White of Philly mag has a well trained enough palate to be a real judge in a cheesesteak competition. Ben Franklin's qualifications, I'm not so sure about...

Bobby was the one that started the "gussied up" cheesesteak competition with his overuse of veggies and that silly Provolone whiz. I will say, however, that I've had a Tony Luke's Cheesesteak Italiano and it's seriously the Mac Daddy of cheesesteaks. Imagine the best of both worlds between a cheesesteak and a roast pork Italiano. What could possibly be bad about that? Given that the fancy assed New Yawk City cheesesteak was making Tony nervous, he pulled out the big guns and blew Bobby away. No surprise here.

[mrbigjas]

I agree with some of what you've said, Holly.  But certainly April White of Philly mag has a well trained enough palate to be a real judge in a cheesesteak competition.  Ben Franklin's qualifications, I'm not so sure about...

have you seen the size of the guy lately? i think he's had his fair share of steaks...

[KatieLoeb]

have you seen the size of the guy lately?  i think he's had his fair share of steaks...

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This Ben was not Ralph Archibald, the usual Ben that you see at events around town. This Ben was a bit more *cough* gourmand looking than Mr. Archibald, at least at first glance.

Who knew there was more than one Ben Franklin impersonator running around Philly?

[Davydd]

I watched the show and I got very, very hungry.

[KatieLoeb]

Davydd:

We're spoiled here in Philly for sure. There's all manner of awesome sandwiches to be had. You need to come visit and give us an excuse to go get one, since we tend to take it for granted that we can always have one on a moment's notice.

[guzzirider]

I watched the show and I got very, very hungry. 

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So did I. Although I've had numous pork italians, I've never had a steak italian from TL's. On Friday (the day after the show premiered) I had to leave work early to take care of some things, and was able to stop by TL's around 2pm. Now, I've been there in the afternoon on a Friday before... no big deal, but on *this* day, the crowd was nuts... complete with an entire busload of photo-taking tourists, who I can only imagine were sitting in their hotel rooms watching the night before.

So, after waiting for the 25+ people ahead of me to get served (this is the *only* joint where I'll actually wait in line... sometimes) I had my hands on a steak italian. And now that I've had one, I think I may actually like it better than the pork italian. Whod'a thunk it? Good stuff.

And Holly, while I can see your point, I kinda think a wiz-wit against Bobby's sandwitch would have been one-sided... sort of an apples/oranges comparison. It's a darn good thing Food Network decided to use Tony Luke rather than Pat's or Geno's... if Bobby would have gone up against one of them, it would have made for a very boring show!

__Jason

[Mummer]

I watched the show and I got very, very hungry. 

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When you're in Philly 'burbs, Davydd, you can visit Mama's in Bala-Cynwyd for a monster cheesesteak. They work a big mess o' their house blend of cheeses into the meat as it's finishing, creating a cheesesteak log.

BTW, I recognized you're tenderloin avatar as something I ate frequently while I was at Purdue. Great sammie!