Best Philly Cheesesteak? Geno's or Pat's?

[hokie4redskins]

Anybody ever go to the Montego Bay Cafe in Adams Morgan about three years ago? They had the best steakncheese in the history of the world called the Port Royale. Sliced ribeye with gobs of provolone, the works. I've had Philly cheesesteaks and they were damn good, but nothing compared to the Port Royale. Can I get a witness? Unfortunately, the place shut down. I was devastated.

Just to describe how good it was, it converted a veegan friend of mine.

[China]

How about the most expensive cheesesteak?

Philly's $100 Cheesesteak

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― Sliced, sizzled and slathered with cheese ... the famous Philly cheesesteak serves as an iconic representation of our city and now, an expensive luxury.

That's because Chef James Locascio, of Rittenhouse Square's Barclay Prime, created Philadelphia's "haute" cheesesteak, an upscale version of the sandwich that includes butter poached lobster and shaved truffles.

"It's every ingredient you want to try in a life time in one," said Locascio.

Still, that kind of lavishness doesn't come cheap. For one cheesesteak, expect to pay $100. That is nearly 15 times more than the original.

"We made sure we had the best beef we could find, the best lobster and the right cheese," explains Locascio.

To get top of the line ingredients, Locascio says it costs $17 per pound for cheese, $21 per pound for Kobe beef and $900 per pound for summer truffles.

So who buys the costly sandwich?

On average, five or six customers order it per night and many share it as an appetizer.

Locascio says, "It all adds up, a quarter of a million dollars a year in cheesesteaks is pretty good."

With other steak shops selling their sandwich for about $7 a pop, you might say that's really good.

[dockeryfan]

After 45 cheesesteaks, the best were ...

By Peter Mucha

Inquirer Staff Writer

Barack Obama vows he shall return and sample a cheesesteak.

Just one?

Yesterday, sports talker Glen Macnow of WIP (610 AM) posted his nearly final rankings of 45 cheesesteaks sampled between West Chester to Atlantic City.

Only the order of the top six could change, pending a final on-air showdown at noon on Saturday, April 19.

Interestingly, ranked No. 1 was also the place that finished first with Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan after his 2002 whirlwind tour of 23 eateries:

John's Roast Pork on East Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia.

Sen. Obama, take note.

In his review, Macnow insisted reputation, including magazine raves and a national award, didn't influence him or his interns: "We were skeptical. No place can be that good. But, tell you what – one whiff of the aroma wafting from John's had us enticed. And one bite of the $7.76 cheesesteak, and we were in gastronomic heaven. This, my friends, is ecstasy on a toasted Carangi's roll."

Completing Macnow's Top 10:

2. Steve's Prince of Steaks, Philadelphia

3. Chink's Steaks, Northeast

4. Talk of the Town, South Philadelphia

5. Grey Lodge Pub, Northeast

6. Slack's Hoagie Shack, Northeast

7. Sonny's Famous Steaks, Old City

8. Tony Luke's, South Philadelphia

9. White House Sub Shop, Atlantic City

10. Dalessandro's, Roxborough

Click here for the rest...

I still like Pats because the cheese fries are amazing. Someone said cherry coke as well. Good call.

I think Talk of the Town is the one near the stadium. Hell, even a bad cheesesteak in Philly is pretty damn good.

[gbear]

My father in law and I went there in April for a day away from the maddness at our homes. We went specifically to go try both. Here's his write-up

This is a short letter about a nice short trip I took yesterday. I decided to add my wisdom to a controversy that has been brewing in South Philadelphia for more than 40 years. The controversy that anyone who lives in South Philadelphia knows, is: "Which is better: Pat’s or Geno’s?"

South Philadelphia is the home of the Philadelphia cheese steak sub sandwich. They were invented by accident in the 1930's by an Italian Immigrant named Pat Olivieri who got tired of eating the hot dogs from his food stand. One day he bought some steak and made a sandwich for himself. Just as he was getting ready to eat it, a taxi driver pulled up and asked how much for the sandwich. Pat, taken by surprise, said, "Five cents." As he was driving off, the taxi driver said, "Get rid of the hot dogs and sell these sandwiches." The cheese was not added until the early 1960's when an employee got tired of just steak on the sandwich. In 1966 Joe Vento opened a competing stand across the "X" shaped intersection of 9th and Passyunk. Joe hunted around for something "good" to name his stand, and noticed some graffiti. Thus, Geno’s Cheese Steak Sandwich Shop was "born." It is easy to see how the "big" question arose, "Which is better, Pat’s or Geno’s?"

Since the two stands are opposite of each other across the intersection, they have been in fierce computation ever since. No politician can be elected in South Philadelphia without a visit to one or the other. It is said that John Kerry lost South Philadelphia by ordering "Swiss" cheese on his cheese steak. (Everyone knows you always order Cheese Whiz. More about that later.)

Hey, since South Philadelphia is only two hours away, I had to find out. I am also a connoisseur of "fine" food stalls around the world, so I feel very qualified to be a fair and good judge. Without much difficultly, I convinced my son-in-law, G, to go with me. So we picked a day and equipped with a cooler, drove to South Philadelphia. We arrived shortly before noon and after parking walked up to the two food stalls. They are both alike in that you order your food through a window and eat it outside under canopies at picnic-like tables. Each shop has two windows, one for the sandwiches and one for fries and drinks. When you get up to the window you better know your order for the person at the window has no patience for an undecided person and will tell them to go to the back of the line to decide. You have a choice of only three kinds of cheese: American, Provolone, or Cheese Whiz. You can have onions or not. Your order is relayed (translated if necessary) to the person putting the sandwiches together, and by the time you finish paying for your sandwich, it is given to you. I ordered a cheese steak with Cheese Whiz and onions. The person taking the orders translated that for the person putting the sandwiches together as, "one, wiz, wit." (The second time I ordered, I said it correctly: "one, wiz, wit.")

The two stalls were both very busy. The line at 11:30 a.m. on this Saturday was about 30 people long. The line moved fast, and we soon had our food. These places are open 24 hours a day seven days a week. We started at Geno’s and shared our sandwich. The french fries were above average but not great. It is easy to know the political views of the owners of Geno’s. Geno’s will give you a bumper ticker that says "speak English." You can buy a tee shirt with the same message. You order "freedom" fries rather then French fries. There are support-our-troops signs all around. There is also a big picture of a policeman who was killed in a highly "racial" charged incident. Additionally, there are also a lot of other "decorations. There are pictures of hundreds and hundred of celebrities (mostly not so famous) having their cheese steak sub at Geno’s. They are on all vertical surfaces and cover the ceiling of the canopies. People were having their taking their pictures taken in front of the Geno’s sign, and there was a film crew for some international news organization filming the ordering window.

After eating, G and I walked through the Italian market which started on 9th Street right where we were. It was a great market, and G and I bought lots of stuff filling our arms with great food from the various stalls. I saw a spice store, and I went in and told the person running the store that I had not seen a spice stall like this one since I was in Egypt. (It has all the spices in jars and you scoop out what you wanted into small plastic bags and take them to the cashier where he would weigh them and collect the money. ) He and I started talking about markets throughout the world and discovered that we both liked the market in Istanbul as one of the best we have ever been to.

After two or so hours of walking around the market, we decided to go back to Geno’s and Pat’s and now try Pat’s. We got back and were shocked. Here it was now about 1:30 p.m. and the lines at both places were about twice as long as before. Are those places always busy? So G got in line at Pat’s, and I got in line at Geno’s. It turned out that the person in front of me was from some far away place and had driven here so he could try out both Pat’s and Geno’s. The person behind me was from New Jersey and also was trying to get both a Pat’s and a Geno’s. So the time spent in line went swiftly as we exchanged stories.

When I had my Geno’s to take home, I met with G and shared a Pat’s with him. He told me that there was a Hillary sign on Pat’s, so it is obvious that Pat’s and Geno’s do not share the same political views. G had bought me a sub from Pat’s so I could try them both at home and make a true and unhurried evaluation as to the great question of the day!

We drove by Independence Hall and then went home. Just today I have finished the two subs and the results are as follows:

Me: Pat’s is better. More steak, more flavor.

G: Geno’s is better. Better steak, steak not as tough. ***My (Gbear) wife agrees***

So it looks like if you want to know which is better, you will have to visit South Philadelphia and make your own mind up.

Now my goal is to get to Katz’s in Manhattan for their famous pastrami sandwich. (The owner says that if you finish it, they have not made it big enough. The person behind me in the Geno’s line had just been there.)

Cheers

[halter91]

DelAssandros is the bomb!!!

[DButz65]

Each of those places is just plain nasty, the steak they use is low grade, i think its steak ums meat? Whatever they put in those things is toxic..

I mean look at all those fugly philly people :laugh::laugh:

[Mark The Homer]

gbear - cool story, thanks! I want to try those out too. Some day...

[skinstzar]

Billy Cunningham's tavern in Conshohocken, I think the name has changed recently but the cheesesteak there was the best I ever had.

[Gary Clark Fan]

Go to Atlantic City- The White House Sub Shop.

For that matter - anywhere in South Jersey they serve AC soft rolls. Philly Cheesesteaks are a joke after you had one from there.

DAMN STRAIGHT! that place rocks ......... i didnt know anyone else knew about it. a great cheesesteak and their Italian sub rocks:applause:

[LeesburgSkinFan]

Billy Cunningham's tavern in Conshohocken, I think the name has changed recently but the cheesesteak there was the best I ever had.

I was there a couple weeks ago...it's now called the Baggataway Tavern.

[Bostic Hog]

I live in the Philly burbs and have gorged on many many cheesesteaks. Although Pats and Genos are the most famous (and right across the street from one another), I have some other thoughts.

My motorcycle group is in the middle of our cheesesteak tour (1 a week throug the summer). The first stop was Jims in the NE (sucks) and Del'Assandros (sucks). My favorites are:

Talk of the Town (Broad Street, near the Stadiums) -- used to go there before Phillies games for a great steak

Steve's Prince of Steaks (they opened 1 about 2 miles from my house in the burbs).

[GoSkins561]

Well I took the Pepsi challenge today... braved 40 degree temps and gusty winds for two cheesesteaks.

Stopped at Pat's... got a provolone with. Then I went across the street to Geno's and ordered the same thing. (o.k. I admit, I was too full to eat it right away... had to wait two hours. )

Have to say, Pat's is better. I thought Geno's was too clean, and the help was too nice. :laugh: But seriously I thought Pat's tasted better.

For those of you who've gotten a cheesesteak in Philly, which do you prefer? (If other, please list, as I am here often and I'd like to try all the spots)

I did the same exact thing once. My wife and I went to Bear Creek for a weekend, on the way back we stopped for some cheese steaks. I started with Genos, then went to Pats. I actually liked Geno's better because it was clean. All of the sauces open to the sidewalk at Pat's made my stomach turn.

edit.

I will also add, I have never had a cheesesteak with LTMO on it since my visit to Pat's and Genos. I only order my cheesesteaks with american cheese, fried onions and light mayo now.

[jnhay]

I'm sure most of you who live in Philly think Pats/Genos is over-rated... but as an outsider let me tell you that is a helluva good sandwich.

I'm sure if you came down to TN and ate at one of the large BBQ restaurants you would think it was great, but I would tell you it is over-rated.

SkinsNumberOne... I would definitely try Pats/Genos. I don't care what anyone says it is a dam good sandwich, and I think (correct me if I'm wrong somebody) that is where the whole cheesesteak thing started. Plus it is in a cool neighborhood, etc.... sure it is touristy to go there but screw it, I thought it was cool.

.......

I'm jealous of you. Apparently they're having/had some Pork Barbeque contest in Nashville? I heard it on the radio and wished I was there. :drool:

[zoony]

All of the sauces open to the sidewalk at Pat's made my stomach turn.

True story ...

I think it was my 3rd visit to Pat's .... I was in line and we noticed that the pigeons had gotten into the condiments. It was disgusting... they were litterally rolling around in the onions/peppers/sauces on the stand like rats :puke:

So I've ordered and I'm waiting for my sandwich... and I turn around just in time to see a lady (who hadn't noticed the pigeons earlier) putting condiments on her sandwich. Nobody said anything...