eagles, flyers, 76ers and philly cheesesteak, what's up with that?!

when you say philadelphia there are a lot of things that you can think of associated to it......... the eagles ......... the flyers ........... and ofcourse the 76ers

but as much as i enjoy sports, my interest lies more on how i would satisfy my palate and what would make my tummy happy...... you have heard of philadelphia creamcheese....... not sure if you have heard about tastykake -- something that i'm getting addicted to (cmon, you know i have an extreme case of sweet tooth, lol)......and ofcourse you definitely have heard of the philly cheesesteak!

there are several places that people go to when it comes to authentic cheesesteaks........ there's rick's, there's tony lukes, jim's and lot more but there are 2 really famous ones...... there's GENO's ....... that's geno's at night (pic left) and their controversial "no english no service" policy (pic at your right)....... click the photo for bigger view......

and there's PAT's..... pat’s is the oldest, passed down from the original pat olivieri who invented the chopped steak sandwich on a bun back in 1930........ geno’s is more recent, started in 1966 right across the street, with flashy neon lights...... so which one of this two do i prefer? PATS!!! handsdown! it's tastier compared to geno's...... the first time i tasted geno's i was like, "how come philly cheesesteaks are so famous? it tasted bland....... i like the philly cheesesteak i order from sidestreet vendors (at market street, near independence blue cross) better, even if they chop the meat to molecular size" .......... and then i tasted tony luke's, geno's way better than tony luke's........... but when i tasted PAT's, mmm-mmm! competition is over (for me atleast)! PAT's wins by 1,000 pogi points......... and their cheese fries, omg, just heaven! btw, thanks to joy for that photo....... i was so busy munching mine that i forgot to take a picture of my own philly cheese steak, haha.....

BUT, there's more to it....... you don't just go there and point....... there's a specific way of ordering philly cheesesteak...... here goes.....


phillycheese steak ordering 101.001 :

when ordering a cheesesteak, the idea is to let the cashier know
a) that you would like a cheesesteak,
b) what type of cheese you want (american, provolone or cheez wiz.....me love cheez wiz), and
c) whether or not you want fried onions.

you have to be as concise as possible while doing so......

locals have become so adept at this practice that they basically have it down to three words: saying “one wiz with” to the person behind the counter means that you would like one cheesesteak [denoted by the “one”] with cheez wiz as your choice of cheese [denoted by the “wiz”] and with fried onions [denoted by the “with”].

similarly, saying “one provolone without” would secure you a single cheesesteak [one] made with provolone cheese [provolone] and without fried onions [without]. and saying "three american with" will get you three cheesesteaks, each with american cheese and fried onions.

got it? now book yourself a flight to philadelphia and come here and let's test out your ordering prowess for real....... your philly cheesesteak is on me......

darn, now i'm hungry....