Years ago when I was living in Chicago, I got a sandwich that knocked me on my ass! It was from Philly's Best and it was a Chicken Philly Cheesesteak on Garlic Bread. Soooooooo good. This was a magical feast, one that I had to share with friends and colleagues... well, I shared the excitement. I made them buy their own damn sandwich.
Zoom ahead to today. My family embarked on our summer vacation which is a road trip to Tanglewood (via Philadelphia and Princeton, NJ), Boston, and NYC. With the idea of going through Philadelphia, we decided to stop and get an authentic Philly Cheesesteak.
First problem - where to go? Naturally, the first suggestions were the legendary dueling neighbors of the south side Geno's and Pat's. Being the info-hounds that Fatima and I are, we consulted many sites on the internet for thoughts, opinions, blogs, and reviews. My, oh my, there are many places to get a Cheesesteak in Philadelphia. The thing that turned me off of those two locations was the lack of parking and the suspect neighborhood. Our car, filled with a week and a half of stuff, with our two kids, I was strangely turned off.
Consulting the pantheon of food reviews, Zagat, we saw many places with high marks for food, and of course, record lows for decor (who cares what the walls look like, its the taste I care about). Out of 30, we saw 22's, 23's, and 24's. But it was the 25 and glowing reviews of Tony Luke's, as well as its close proximity to I-95 that said " 'ats the place".
As we approached this "legendary" (aren't they all?) steakery (and hot doggery for Max), with the line-up of people in front, including a woman with a walker who had to be at least 134 years old and some guys with painted faces getting ready for the Phillies game that day, we were ready. Despite some of the things I read online about having your order ready when its time "One, whiz, wit" i knew I was from out of town, and couldn't hide it. I just spoke plain english (as opposed to "Palin english" - I love a good typo) and ordered for the family and that was that.
As we waited and staked out a table, we noticed a small t.v. crew there filming what I later found out to be a segment of Man vs. Food for the Travel Channel. Then we saw a 5 lb. Cheesesteak brought out to be consumed by one guy... and it was. Feh!
Then the moment of truth. My first authentic, "no-kidding" Philly Cheesesteak wit' fried onions, and extra whiz. First bite...
Not so much.
I was so used to the gloriousness that I knew of that Chicken Philly on Garlic Bread, and even the version I get now at work from Charley's Steakery with lettuce, pickles, cooked onions, mayo and mustard, that this tasted bland. The meat was a bit dry, missing lots of spice, the whiz was erratically spread over (and dripping as my shorts will now show), and while it was good bread, who the hell get's a cheesesteak for the bread???
However, as we were dissecting it in the car, on the way out of town, Fatima and I were glad we tried it, can put a check in the box, and never go out of my way again to try that. Bring me back the chicken and tons of condiments.
If I happen to get a truckload of crap from my readers (both of you) on how I went to the wrong place, school me! Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice... um.. third times the charm?
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The following songs randomly were shuffled while still deigesting lunch 7 hours later:
"Man Overboard", The Flower Kings, Untold the Future
"4 Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes: IV. Storm", London Symphony
"Petrushka", Spirit of Atlanta, 1988 DCI Finals
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps", The Beatles, The White Album
"Pictures: Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks", Burning River Brass, Russian Carnival
"Pines of Rome: IV. Pines of the Appian Way", New York Phil, Sinnipoli cond.
"Christ lag in todesbanden" (Stokowski), Bournemouth SO, Stokowski Bach Transcriptions
"Seven Seas", Echo and the Bunnymen, Songs to Learn and Sing
