Philadelphia: Cheesesteaks

elSicomoro · 07-05-2001, 12:38 AM

I am reviving this thread, being both the King of Torresdale and a cheesesteak conoisseur.

Another entry for superb cheesesteak...along with being the cheapest cheesesteak I've had yet: Pizza City--Red Lion & Academy Rds. Chicken cheesesteak, no onion or peppers, ketchup, mayo, footlong, full of chicken and cheese--$3.05.

Worst cheesesteak I've had since living in the city of Philadelphia: New Station Pizza--3804 Morrell Ave. Tartar-style sauce for mayonnaise??? On a cheesesteak? Blecch!!!

For some reason, I have developed a cholesterol and sodium-filled obsession with cheesesteaks. They're quite a unique experience...much like toasted ravioli and pork steaks in St. Louis.

alphageek31337 · 07-05-2001, 12:57 AM

Toasted ravioli...blech! Ravs are either boiled and served with a healthy dollop of sauce made by an old woman who's name ends in a vowel and uses the phrase "sonamumbitcha", or pork-stuffed and fried. There is *no* other way.

elSicomoro · 07-05-2001, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by alphageek31337
Toasted ravioli...blech! Ravs are either boiled and served with a healthy dollop of sauce made by an old woman who's name ends in a vowel and uses the phrase "sonamumbitcha", or pork-stuffed and fried. There is *no* other way.

Bite your tongue!

Toasted ravioli is one of the greatest accidents of the 20th century...one that has paid handsome dividends to all the Italians back home on the Hill.

Hubris Boy · 07-05-2001, 05:33 PM

IMHO, you'd be hard-pressed to beat Jim's Steaks on South Street. Maybe it's the black-and-chrome decor, maybe it's the South Street location, maybe it's the Cheez Whiz... Whatever it is, it's the best I've ever had!

Amusing story: I once drove from Baltimore to South Street on a Friday night solely for the purpose of getting cheesesteaks from Jim's. I had to pay off a bet I'd made w/ a buddy of mine, you see. Silly me... I thought Green Bay's defense would be able to stop the Vikings on the previous Monday night.

elSicomoro · 07-05-2001, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hubris Boy
IMHO, you'd be hard-pressed to beat Jim's Steaks on South Street. Maybe it's the black-and-chrome decor, maybe it's the South Street location, maybe it's the Cheez Whiz... Whatever it is, it's the best I've ever had!

I've had Jim's I think...not bad. A friend of mine from DC had them Saturday night as his first ever steak...not a good experience for him.

I personally think that the 3 best places to check out if you're a rookie are:

--Geno's (9th and Passyunk)
--Phillip's (24th and Passyunk)
--Jimmy's All American (Ridge Ave. near the Wissahickon Rail Station)

I had PhilaDeli (5th and South) a few weeks ago...not bad, but poor service.

I am generally a chicken kind of guy, so I'm also a big fan of Ishkabibble's (4th and South).

Quote:

Amusing story: I once drove from Baltimore to South Street on a Friday night solely for the purpose of getting cheesesteaks from Jim's. I had to pay off a bet I'd made w/ a buddy of mine, you see. Silly me... I thought Green Bay's defense would be able to stop the Vikings on the previous Monday night.

You from Bawlmer?

warthog · 07-07-2001, 01:00 AM

I reckon it was about four years ago that me 'n my kinfolk packed up the pickup truck and headed on down to a new life in North Carolina. It's a beautiful place to live, and we haven't looked back since, but there are just some things you can't get here.

Gone are the days of soft pretzels sold at a busy intersection, by a man who probably just urinated in the woods and didn't wash his hands. Gone, too, are the cholesterol sandwhiches native to Philadelphia. That's right, though there are many stores that profess to sell a delicious "Philly Steak-N-Cheese", those heaping piles of meat dripping with a cheese-like substance on an authentic Amoroso roll are long behind. Sure, I get to drive up once or twice a year to visit family and partake of the holy cheese steak. But it is no longer a regular part of my diet.

Yes, I can get Tastycakes and Habberset Scrapple here. We're not totally uncivilized.

Incidentally, those sandwhiches they sell here as "Philly Steak-N-Cheese" are more closely related to the cheesesteak hoagie (and a poor knockoff at that).

North Carolina is not without its own culinary secrets. If any of y'all ever come down, look me up, and I'll point you to the best of the best log-burning backwoods barbecue places. Forget what you think you know about BBQ. Real BBQ comes from a pig, not a cow. Real BBQ is slow cooked over hickory or oak coals for upwards of 18 hours or more. Real BBQ is served with a vinegar based sauce. And that slop they serve at Red, Hot, and Blue is about as close to BBQ as a cheese steak you'd buy at McDonald's.

Undertoad · 07-07-2001, 10:39 AM

Hey wow! Welcome back, Wart-man!

warthog · 07-07-2001, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Tony Shepps
Hey wow! Welcome back, Wart-man!

Mellow greetings, Reverend Wonder Toad. Imagine my surprise when I tried to telnet into cellar.org and didn't find waffle waiting there. I'm glad to see that the BBS merely metamorphosed into a butterfly (I never liked waffle anyway, but I digress).

So here I sit in the land of duct taped pickup trucks and PhD's who say "y'all", working on the preliminary steps of writing a Renegade BBS clone in Perl. It got me to wondering if any of the old school BBS's in Philly that I used to visit are still around.

I know most of the others are gone. Did IoAI finally disappear?

Verily I say unto you (yeah we have a lot of southern baptists here too) it warms my heart to see that you are still keeping the torch lit. If my own BBS were still up (taken down in 1994 or 1995), 2003 would be the 20 year anniversary. Makes me feel so Geeky (yes, with a capital "G").

Undertoad · 07-07-2001, 02:55 PM

Geeky? Naw man, you were actually ahead of yer time.

As far as IoAI - Institute of Artificial Insanity, for the uninitiated - I know that Craig kept things going longer than just about anyone else, but I don't think he's still going. He does have a website up at www.bulldada.com, but it's nothing but typical Craig stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Craig is more entertaining than most human beings out there.

vsp · 07-13-2001, 03:28 PM

Being the Suburban Boy that I am...

The best cheesesteaks I know of right now are from Drexel Hill Style Pizza in (logically enough) Broomall. It's on West Chester Pike right near its intersection with Route 320.

Get the Royal Steak - two kinds of cheese, sauce, mushrooms, onions and peppers. Killer.

There used to be a good cheesesteak place in Raleigh, NC (TJ's Philly Grill), which was run by an expatriate from Chester. This was back in my late-college years ('92-93), though, so it's probably long gone.

jeff. who contributed a big picture of John Kruk to their walls...

vsp · 07-13-2001, 03:35 PM

Vinegar-based barbecue is tolerable, but a sad substitute for REAL BARBECUE BEEF WITH REAL TANGY TOMATO-AND-MOLASSES-BASED BARBECUE SAUCE FROM REAL MOOING COWS.

Been there. Came back. Liked it here better.

jeff. "Bring me a live cow! I'll eat what I want, and ride the rest home."

warthog · 07-13-2001, 06:45 PM

...if your idea of barbecue includes the charred flesh of a cow served with a catsup based sauce.

Now being a lover of all sorts of cooked meat, I do have to say I enjoy eating charred cow with the catsup based sauce. But that still doesn't make it Barbecue.

I refer you to The Lexington Collection, written by North Carolina native Dave Lineback. That's my Mustang you see in the writeup for Allen & Son BBQ, one of the premeire log-burning BBQ joints in the Old North State.

Allen & Son doesn't have the best BBQ in the state but they do have the best hush puppies. Golden brown and crispy on the outside, shaped like a golfball. The inside is a soft cornbread mildly sweetened and with little bits of onion as a bonus.

Hubris Boy · 07-13-2001, 09:18 PM

(Yes, one word, just like my grandfather taught me.)

WHAT is all this talk about beef? A true southerner knows that real BBQ can only be made from a pig!

I used to have this "discussion" all the time with an ex-girlfriend from Ft. Worth: Texans believe that "beef barbeque" is a redundancy, whereas TRUE southerners KNOW that it is an oxymoron.

BTW warthog- thanks for the link. I enjoyed it!

elSicomoro · 07-13-2001, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by vsp
Being the Suburban Boy that I am...

Actually, I forgot to add my newest steak offering here...which occurred at *gasp!* The King of Prussia Mall on Tuesday. I went to the Starlight(?) in the Cafe Court and decided to order the Chicken Cheesesteak Hoagie. First, I saw it was $5.50, and second, this WAS a mall after all. But then I got the sandwich. Folks, this was NOT a sandwich. There was a bun at the bottom, with cheese, ketchup, mayo. lettuce, and mayo. But then came the chicken...I kid you not, there was a mountain of chicken on this puppy!!! I couldn't really even it as a sandwich...more like a fork and knife!!! I was left with a plateful of chicken at the end. Well worth the $5.50!

(On a side note, I hit Philip's on Passyunk this afternoon...excellent as usual, with enough grease "to make it honest" (as my fiance would say).)

elSicomoro · 07-14-2001, 12:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Hubris Boy
WHAT is all this talk about beef? A true southerner knows that real BBQ can only be made from a pig!

And you haven't had real BBQ until you've had a barbequed pork steak (which I believe may only be a St. Louis and Chicago thing).

For some reason, a bbq'd pulled pork sandwich is sounding delicious right now...

07-05-2001, 12:38 AM	#1
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	Cheesesteaks I am reviving this thread, being both the King of Torresdale and a cheesesteak conoisseur. Another entry for superb cheesesteak...along with being the cheapest cheesesteak I've had yet: Pizza City--Red Lion & Academy Rds. Chicken cheesesteak, no onion or peppers, ketchup, mayo, footlong, full of chicken and cheese--$3.05. Worst cheesesteak I've had since living in the city of Philadelphia: New Station Pizza--3804 Morrell Ave. Tartar-style sauce for mayonnaise??? On a cheesesteak? Blecch!!! For some reason, I have developed a cholesterol and sodium-filled obsession with cheesesteaks. They're quite a unique experience...much like toasted ravioli and pork steaks in St. Louis. Last edited by elSicomoro; 07-05-2001 at 12:46 AM.

07-05-2001, 12:57 AM	#2
alphageek31337 Enemy Combatant/Evildoer Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 263	Toasted ravioli...blech! Ravs are either boiled and served with a healthy dollop of sauce made by an old woman who's name ends in a vowel and uses the phrase "sonamumbitcha", or pork-stuffed and fried. There is no other way. __________________ The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. ---Friedrich Nietzsche

07-05-2001, 05:33 PM	#4
Hubris Boy Keymaster of Gozer Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Patapsco Drainage Basin Posts: 471	My $.02 IMHO, you'd be hard-pressed to beat Jim's Steaks on South Street. Maybe it's the black-and-chrome decor, maybe it's the South Street location, maybe it's the Cheez Whiz... Whatever it is, it's the best I've ever had! Amusing story: I once drove from Baltimore to South Street on a Friday night solely for the purpose of getting cheesesteaks from Jim's. I had to pay off a bet I'd made w/ a buddy of mine, you see. Silly me... I thought Green Bay's defense would be able to stop the Vikings on the previous Monday night. __________________ "Never understimate the power of stupid people in large groups."

07-07-2001, 01:00 AM	#6
warthog Alphabetarian Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: North Carolina Posts: 12	y'all can't get those here I reckon it was about four years ago that me 'n my kinfolk packed up the pickup truck and headed on down to a new life in North Carolina. It's a beautiful place to live, and we haven't looked back since, but there are just some things you can't get here. Gone are the days of soft pretzels sold at a busy intersection, by a man who probably just urinated in the woods and didn't wash his hands. Gone, too, are the cholesterol sandwhiches native to Philadelphia. That's right, though there are many stores that profess to sell a delicious "Philly Steak-N-Cheese", those heaping piles of meat dripping with a cheese-like substance on an authentic Amoroso roll are long behind. Sure, I get to drive up once or twice a year to visit family and partake of the holy cheese steak. But it is no longer a regular part of my diet. Yes, I can get Tastycakes and Habberset Scrapple here. We're not totally uncivilized. Incidentally, those sandwhiches they sell here as "Philly Steak-N-Cheese" are more closely related to the cheesesteak hoagie (and a poor knockoff at that). North Carolina is not without its own culinary secrets. If any of y'all ever come down, look me up, and I'll point you to the best of the best log-burning backwoods barbecue places. Forget what you think you know about BBQ. Real BBQ comes from a pig, not a cow. Real BBQ is slow cooked over hickory or oak coals for upwards of 18 hours or more. Real BBQ is served with a vinegar based sauce. And that slop they serve at Red, Hot, and Blue is about as close to BBQ as a cheese steak you'd buy at McDonald's. __________________ -=[warthog]=-

07-13-2001, 03:35 PM	#11
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	And just for the record... Vinegar-based barbecue is tolerable, but a sad substitute for REAL BARBECUE BEEF WITH REAL TANGY TOMATO-AND-MOLASSES-BASED BARBECUE SAUCE FROM REAL MOOING COWS. Been there. Came back. Liked it here better. jeff. "Bring me a live cow! I'll eat what I want, and ride the rest home."

07-07-2001, 10:39 AM	#7
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Hey wow! Welcome back, Wart-man!

07-07-2001, 02:55 PM	#9
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Geeky? Naw man, you were actually ahead of yer time. As far as IoAI - Institute of Artificial Insanity, for the uninitiated - I know that Craig kept things going longer than just about anyone else, but I don't think he's still going. He does have a website up at www.bulldada.com, but it's nothing but typical Craig stuff. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Craig is more entertaining than most human beings out there.

07-13-2001, 03:28 PM	#10
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Being the Suburban Boy that I am... The best cheesesteaks I know of right now are from Drexel Hill Style Pizza in (logically enough) Broomall. It's on West Chester Pike right near its intersection with Route 320. Get the Royal Steak - two kinds of cheese, sauce, mushrooms, onions and peppers. Killer. There used to be a good cheesesteak place in Raleigh, NC (TJ's Philly Grill), which was run by an expatriate from Chester. This was back in my late-college years ('92-93), though, so it's probably long gone. jeff. who contributed a big picture of John Kruk to their walls...

07-13-2001, 06:45 PM	#12
warthog Alphabetarian Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: North Carolina Posts: 12	You might be a Yankee... ...if your idea of barbecue includes the charred flesh of a cow served with a catsup based sauce. Now being a lover of all sorts of cooked meat, I do have to say I enjoy eating charred cow with the catsup based sauce. But that still doesn't make it Barbecue. I refer you to The Lexington Collection, written by North Carolina native Dave Lineback. That's my Mustang you see in the writeup for Allen & Son BBQ, one of the premeire log-burning BBQ joints in the Old North State. Allen & Son doesn't have the best BBQ in the state but they do have the best hush puppies. Golden brown and crispy on the outside, shaped like a golfball. The inside is a soft cornbread mildly sweetened and with little bits of onion as a bonus. __________________ -=[warthog]=-

07-13-2001, 09:18 PM	#13
Hubris Boy Keymaster of Gozer Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Patapsco Drainage Basin Posts: 471	Damnyankees! (Yes, one word, just like my grandfather taught me.) WHAT is all this talk about beef? A true southerner knows that real BBQ can only be made from a pig! I used to have this "discussion" all the time with an ex-girlfriend from Ft. Worth: Texans believe that "beef barbeque" is a redundancy, whereas TRUE southerners KNOW that it is an oxymoron. BTW warthog- thanks for the link. I enjoyed it! __________________ "Never understimate the power of stupid people in large groups." Last edited by Hubris Boy; 07-13-2001 at 09:23 PM.

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