Friday,
May 18, 2007
Why Can't
THe ANNOTICO Report
How
difficult is it to make a Philly Cheesesteake
RIGHT???? It's just steak, onions, cheese and slap it
onto bread.
Of
course , you have to use the thinnest of minute
steak, chopped up real fine on the grill, a healthy dose of grilled onions, two
slices of provolone cheese on a long roll.
But
the deepest secrets are in the bread and the wrap.
An
Amoroso roll
-- crusty outside with soft guts perfect for sopping up extra juices.
It's not unlike a chunk of good Gonnella bread.
Swaddling
the sandwich in two layers of
paper-lined foil wrap -- sometimes seen here around an Italian
beef -- incubates it just so, letting the assortment of flavors melt
into each other. NO Styrofoam carryout box !!!!!
And DON'T
be adding mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato,any
salad greens, green or red peppers, mushrooms, marinara sauce, or god
forbid I need not mention ......ketchup.!!!!!!!
And
even changing cheeses, like when John Kerry tried to order a
"Philly" with Swiss cheese on the campaign trail, Philly
laughed.
The
origins of the "Philly" goes that in 1930, Pat Olivieri
(of Pat's King of Steaks, one of the disputed "best cheesesteaks"
in
When it comes to
replicating Philly exports, relocated reporter learns there's
no tastes like home
Daily
Southtown, Chicago
Sun-Times News Group
By
Lauren FitzPatrick
May
17, 2007
Mayonnaise is to
a Philadelphia Cheesesteak what ketchup means to a
The
search for an authentic Philly Cheesesteak sent our
writer around the Southland looking for a taste of hime.
Yet, on my quest
as a native Philadelphian in search of a cheesesteak
in my adopted homeland, mayonnaise somehow became a regular offering, joining
lettuce and tomato.
Here's the deal,
Southland. A cheesesteak is cheese and chopped-up,
paper-thin grilled minute steak on a long roll. Period.
Anything extra changes the order -- and even the name. Want onions? Try asking
for a "cheesesteak with (or "wit' "
per the common vernacular). Mushrooms change the order to a "mushroom
steak with cheese." Marinana sauce turns it into
a "pizza steak."
But across the
Southland, a cheesesteak or Philly steak came with
standard onions, red or green peppers, mushrooms in addition to provolone
cheese.
And while each
sandwich spot got something right -- the bread or the meat, the texture or the
taste -- nobody nailed it.
So
much for that glorious taste of home.
A
My mother taught
me at a young age that the right bread made the cheesesteak.
In
I still have my
own hometown joint, Barry's, on my speed dial, in case I find myself starving
in my childhood neighborhood, Roxborough, an outlying
community of Philadelphia not unlike Mount Greenwood, what with its
agricultural magnet school and an inordinately high percentage of police and
public school teachers living there.
Barry -- whose
phone number spells out 487-FAST -- whips together a gem of a sandwich in two
sizes, and triple wraps anything I tell him is coming with me on an airplane.
His steak is whisper-thin, coated in cheese and grilled onions. Sometimes I ask
for extra sauce.
The Philly Steak
ekes onto menus everywhere, from neighborhood joints on
The story goes
that in 1930, Pat Olivieri (of Pat's King of Steaks,
one of the disputed "best cheesesteaks" in
The sandwich
spread all over the city.
Our
kind of cheesesteak,
With Barry's on
my mind from a recent visit with my family, I ran around the Southland looking
for a great cheesesteak. Turned up four places that
pushed something they called a Philly Steak, not bothering with the big
sit-downs like Applebees. Here's the skinny:
Mall food's for
suckers in a hurry. But two Southland mall joints so heavily advertised
themselves as "Straight outta South
Philly," where most of
So
in last place, Steak Escape
at
Third place goes
to Great Steak and Potato,
in Orland Square Mall's food court. Meat entirely too chunky.
Same Styrofoam problem. Also, they asked if I wanted
mayonnaise, a giant faux pas. And $6.99 is still way too expensive.
I guess second
place goes to a relatively new joint on
That leaves first
place for Chicago Cheese
Steak,
Four steaks
later, my advice overall to everyone in the Southland who ever dreamed of
grilling a little taste of heaven here is: Don't bother.
You'll likely
succeed in making a tasty sandwich. After all, it's hard to screw up steak,
onions, cheese and slap it onto bread. And if you use the thinnest of minute
steak, chopped up on the grill, a healthy dose of grilled onions, two slices of
provolone cheese -- or Cheese Whiz as my special gentleman friend prefers when
he visits my family with me -- chances are you'll make a really tasty steak
sandwich.
But the
probability of capturing Barry's magic is slim to none. Dial (215) 487-FAST and
get on a plane if a glorious steak sandwich is what you crave.
Meanwhile, eat a
Isn't that what
gives each place its soul?
Steak
joints reviewed
1.
2. Steak N Bake,
3. Great Steak
and Potato, Orland Square Mall food court,
4. Steak Escape,
Ford City Mall food court,
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed and are Fully Archived
at:
Italia
The
ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed at
Italia
Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com
Blogspot: http://annoticoreport.blogspot.com
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net