Philly Cheese Steak
Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, forget about the calorie count and stand in line with the locals. I am told that in Philadelphia there are three places that sell worthwhile Philly Cheese Steaks. Two of them are right across the street from each other and I am told this is where the tourists go. I am told that to get the real deal one must hand dollars over to Tony Luke.
Tony Luke's had a big line when we arrived (that's a queue to some of you) and a big line when we left. I wondered if that line was a constant for the whole 24/7 that the beef is cooking and being thrown into sandwiches. I wondered how many cows it takes to keep Tony Luke's ticking over.
I wanted to take a picture of the menu hanging on the building but my hostess suggested that might not be a good idea. We didn't know who might be in the line and who might be objecting to possibly being in the background of my picture. We did take a picture as we drove past in the car and it was suggested to me that anyone who saw that would think we were Feds. I have no idea if my chain was being pulled or not but since the person telling me all this is involved in law enforcement, I took the advice.
I'm not sure the picture describes fully the size of this thing. But apparently Philly has one of the highest obese populations in the US and I'm laying that right at the door of this singular frankly delicious item.
It's messy. There is no clean polite spill free way to eat this. You collect it from the window and go round the corner and load up with gherkins, peppers (spicy bell ones), mustard and hot pepper sauce. You can add ketchup if you like but I didn't like. Then you pick it up and bite in. Juices slide down your chin and your fingers get all gooey, but after the first bite gets your taste buds going you give up any pretence of etiquette. Put simply, you eat.
Guilt be damned when you have twelve inches of juicy and delicious pleasure to devour.
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Tags: food, philadelphia, philly cheese steak, tony luke's, unhealthy indulgences
Posted on September 9, 2009 in Travels.
They do say that a Philly Cheese Steak is one of the cultural must-dos of the great city of Philadelphia. And any Westwinger knows it caused Santos a shirt problem…
But is that it? It looks meagre, restrained and uncontroversial.
I desperatly hope we’re not being given the hype.
So I want a run down of exactly what’s in it- is is just steak and cheese? It looks kind of minced or shredded.
Effectively how much like a donner kebab is it?
I saw some of these things in … hmmm, where can it have been … Minneapolis St Paul airport? Anyway. They’re as big as your head. And smell astonishingly delicious. And give me a twinge of regret for my vegetarianism.
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They are truly delish. It’s thin steak on the grill, sort of chopped as it cooks. And ooey gooey cheese. Processed cheese (but don’t think about that.) I like it with fried onions and hot peppers. No ketchup!
Not too much like a doner kebab in that this steak is cooked on the griddle, but it is thin meat piled on bread, so there you are.
The question is, did you stand IN line or ON line? Can’t remember if that’s a NYC thing or a Northeast thing. We stand on line here.
And now I’m hungry.