Just a little while back, in 2008, my nephew Roy, from Maine, was visiting. Will (who was 18 at the time), Roy and I decided to put the ‘best Philly cheesesteak’ question to rest with a visit to South Philadelphia. We drove Winnie into the city and circled Passyunk Square a few times. It did not take long to score a place to parking off Federal Street on 10th. We made our way to Pat’s Steaks first, stood in line and after a reasonable wait, ordered one cheesesteak with cheese wiz and fried onions, cut in thirds. At a small outdoor table we crowded around the sandwich and started grading it. Presentation, roll, volume and taste. Eh. It was o.k. We have had, in fact, we have made better cheesesteaks. So on to Gino’s. Gino’s is right across the street from Pat’s and for some reason the line there was longer. Heading up East Passyunk and turning the corner at 9th we passed an assortment of locals as well as visitors to the City of Brotherly Love, we settled in at the end.
The line moved along and within twenty minutes we found ourselves next up at the window in which you yell in your order. I turned around to finalize our choice with Roy and Will, and when I turned back to the window there were two youths, mid-twenties, who hadn’t been there before, shouting their order up to the Gino’s counter guy.
“Really”, I said incredulously...
“If you are going to cut in line I think the least you could do is pay for our steaks”. They acted like they didn’t know what I was talking about, Huh? What? ‘scuse me? I casually repeated my statement, but by this time the Gino’s counter guy was back at the window and heard me. “Did they butt in line? Yo, did yous guys butt in?” Roy, Will and I just stood there waiting for them to flat out lie. But they couldn’t think that fast. The Gino’s guy told them to get in the back of the line, and pulled their cheesesteaks back from the window ledge. Yikes.
For that alone Gino’s should have won the cheesesteak challenge, but they didn’t. That steak went down fast, as we kept watching each other’s back… you never know. We high tailed it to Winnie, jumped in, zipped west on Tasker, then north on Broad.
Roy and Will didn’t need a reminder about good manners, but that experience was a memorable opportunity to observe karma in action. And most of the time, that is kind of fun. As far as the best Philadelphia cheesesteak on that day in 2008, we could only be certain that it wasn’t on Passyunk.
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Will, having the complete Philadelphia experience. Tailgating pre-Phillies game; Lee’s Hoagies, Walt Wit beer (Philadelphia Brewing Company) and a solid sterling silver Guardian Cuff which reads ‘The Dude Abides’. Order Yours Here.
Once again,
I have closed my facebook and instagram accounts,
so any and all sharing of this blog is greatly appreciated.
Thanks for walking with me.
Amy
So far I’ve had a vote for Dallesandro’s on Henry Avenue. Where did you get your most excellent cheesesteak?