Philadelphia: Cheesesteaks

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by BrianR

What and where will it be, girl?

You can plan that far ahead? OK...worst case is I'll still be unemployed when you're up here, so we can go almost anywhere anytime. I'd initially say Amadeo's Too for steaks, or Micheal's Deli for hoagies....both being convenient to me.

And also to Tony, as I recall, but *he* has a job, of course. :-)

C'mon peeps...voice preferences, or it will be a Schulkyll Valley munch by default.

[Undertoad]

I'm merely anti-social.

[BrianR]

He is, that.

And yes, I can. With reasonable certainty.

I leave Florida this Friday, stay for a few days in VA with friends, then make my way north
to the frozen tundra that I have come to think of as PA.

Yes, that was a weather dig. Obligatory for me nowadays. I've been leaving my windows open
and wearing shorts and tee shirts for two weeks. Winter is over and spring has sprung.
I'll miss the weather here, except for a distinct lact of VFR. I'll never again fly to Atlanta over a
long weekend and take for granted that I can fly back again.

Anyway. Since I'm not familiar with those places, I'll need more locator data than just a name.

Brian

[BrianR]

I will be offline for a few days during my relocation process.

I may be able to log on just to check email, but maybe not.

Voice contact will work better.

Numbers to find me by request.

Mitch Parker has my numbers and will give them to whomever asks nicely.

Otherwise, see you all real soon!

Brian

[elSicomoro]

I had one the other night...

Santucci's--Knights Road Shopping Center at Knights and Woodhaven Rds.: I ordered a chicken cheesesteak and got a regular one. $5. It was alright...greasy enough, with just enough ketchup and mayo. It made me stomach sick later in the evening. Not sure if it was stress or a bad sandwich...I've had one from there before and it was pretty decent. (Incidentally, they have damned good pizza too.)

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by sycamore
I had one the other night...
It was alright...greasy enough, with just enough ketchup and mayo. It made me stomach sick later in the evening. Not sure if it was stress or a bad sandwich...

Well, of course it was the *mayo*. :-)

[middlefunger]

I used to live near Philly, in Wilmington, DE. I went to Abilene's downtown every week or so to see a band called Love Syndicate. Has anyone seen them (recently, or, at all)? If so, drop me a line, I'd like to know how they're doing. I know they're from the Wayne, PA area, and they used to host open mic night at the Gryphon in said town. Any help would be appreciated.

p.s., I know this is kind of random, but, the first night I saw them, I had my first cheesesteak ever, and it was GREAT! (I'm from MN and have returned there now, and can't get a good one to save my life)

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by middlefunger
I used to live near Philly, in Wilmington, DE. I went to Abilene's downtown every week or so to see a band called Love Syndicate. Has anyone seen them (recently, or, at all)?

Evidently they still exist, are still performing, and are cutting a studio album: http://www.lovesyndicate.com

[elSicomoro]

My God, I had my worst cheesesteak ever yesterday.

The location for this travesty was the cafeteria inside my office building in Fort Washington, PA. The food is so-so and overpriced. But, when you really need a bite to eat and forgot your lunch at home, it's there for you.

I immediately had low expectations for this cheesesteak, given that it was in our cafeteria. But even those meager hopes were dashed by this...thing.

I've seen some finely chopped steak in my short cheesesteak connoisseurship. But I suspect that this chicken was thrown in a blender on the "puree" setting. It wouldn't surprise me if it was that potted chicken that you buy in the store. (No...not THAT kind of pot. )

So, you just get the bun, chicken, and cheese. The bun was actually decent. Nice and warm, with no sogginess. I add my own ketchup and mayo, which may have made this particular steak edible.

$3.35 for said steak...and it was small. Maybe that was a good thing for this poor excuse called food.

[elSicomoro]

Villagio Pizza & Restaurant--9233 Frankford Ave. in NE Philadelphia: Villagio took the spot previously occupied by Pizzadelphia, which closed shop last summer.

A menu made its way to my door this past week, so I decided to sample their fare last night. First off, their service wasn't very good...the order taker seemed less than interested in taking my order. Then, they couldn't find my apartment. I won't hold that against them though...our complex is a bit confusing. I'm sure they'll figure it out if they stay in business long enough.

Now, to the cheesesteak--a buffalo chicken steak, with buffalo sauce and bleu cheese dressing. $4.95. The chicken was quite good--it tasted as if it had been marinated. It was chunked, much like Ishkabibble's on South St. It probably could have used a bit more cheese, dressing, and sauce though. On the whole, it was alright. I'd probably order one from them again.

[MaggieL]

chicken
mayo
buffalo sauce
bleu cheese dressing

"Oh, tempora! O mores!" :-)

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by MaggieL
chicken
mayo
buffalo sauce
bleu cheese dressing

No mayo. Adding that to the dressing would have been overkill, IMO.

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by sycamore


No mayo. Adding that to the dressing would have been overkill, IMO.

I was just enumerating and (tongue-in-cheek) bemoaning the unorthodox ingredients in a sandwich you persist in calling a "cheesesteak". :-)

I'm enough of a purist to consider mayo to be heresy. I guess once we start calling a sandwich with *chicken* in it a "chicken cheesesteak" all is lost anyway. How about a "salmon cheese steak"? After all, there *are* salmon steaks. I don't think I've ever seen chicken steaks.

This may go far in suggesting that the defining characteristics of a cheesesteak may be:

1) melted cheese (hopefully not bleu cheese), and
2) the *bread*, which must be a small Italian loaf supplied by a Mafia-owned business and
3) No vegetables besides onions (and in reform congregations, peppers)

This points up the futility of getting a cheesesteak outside of Philly, or for that matter, getting a real hoagie, since they are properly built on the same rolls, apparently only available in Philly and environs. Given the proposed definition above, a hoagie misses being a cheesteak only by virtue of having unmelted cheese, and various vegetable violations. Thus, a grinder is an even nearer miss, because it's cheese *is* melted...and a cheesesteak hoagie is still in vegetable trouble, which is why the adjective is "cheesesteak" and the noun "hoagie"; it cannont be a "hoagie cheesesteak", but rather a hoagie *containing * a cheesesteak.

But it's not a real cheesesteak. Cheesesteaks *are* a real religion, though. :-)

[elSicomoro]

So, I was at the cart at the SE corner of 5th and Market in Old City Philadelphia yesterday, getting one of their fabulous cheesesteaks that make me drool. (And a cheesesteak and 24oz. soda for $5 is a hell of a deal.)

There was a family there that ordered after me...they appeared to be tourists (which wouldn't be much of a stretch, given that Independence Hall is across the street). The mother ordered a chicken salad hoagie, and the grandmother a cheesesteak. Two guys work in this little cart, and they appear to be immigrants (since they converse in another language and have accents, but who really knows?). Anyway...the one guy looks at the grandmother and asks, "What do you want on your cheesesteak?"

Grandmother: "I'd like onions on it."

As the guy prepares to put the mustard on the bun, he looks at the mother and says, "Okay, so you wanted mustard and onions on it?"

Mother: "Oh no! I want lettuce on it."

Cart Nazi: *appears irritated* "Why did you just say that you wanted mustard on it?"

Mother: "I thought you were asking about the cheesesteak."

Cart Nazi: "No! I was asking about the chicken salad hoagie...so you want lettuce?"

Mother: "Yes."

Cart Nazi: *reiterates previous statement* "I was originally asking about the chicken salad hoagie."

Mother: *now appears irritated* "Well, we'll deal with it!"

Yes, the cart guy clearly fucked up here. And he looks eerily similar to the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. I thought he was going to throw the hoagie away and yell, "No hoagie for you!"

From here on out, I dub the gentleman with the mustache in the cart on the SE corner of 5th and Market in Old City Philadelphia Cart Nazi.

[That Guy]

'Round up in these parts, nothing beats
<a href="http://www.texadelphia.com"></a>

Can't go wrong if you order double meat, either.