Cheesesteak Round II

A Steak and Cheese is not a Cheesesteak

One thing I learned quickly leaving Southeastern Pennsylvania when I joined the Marines, was that there were no more cheesesteaks.

Cheesesteaks are a staple growing up around Philadelphia. I could still watch my Eagles and Phillies on TV but I had no idea that you could not find a cheesesteak.

My first experience was while in California I saw a menu item called a Philly Steak and Cheese. Excited I ordered it in a hurry. When it arrived it didn’t have the Amoroso bread, it was not that marinated chopped It had no tomato-based sauce. The cheese was not American or Cheese Whiz but cheddar cheese. There was no dripping grease on my plate and none to wash it down.

Laying in front of me was the most pathetic excuse for counterfeit Cheesesteakness, I wish I had ever seen. It couldn’t have even passed for a Weber which is a cheesesteak with lettuce tomato and mayonnaise. Nope it had a solid piece of lettuce, not the shredded kind and the bun was cut in half. Isn’t that sacrilegious?

Since that first time I have been across this country and occasionally I will get sucked into some advertisement saying they have authentic Philly Cheesesteaks only to find out they are also frauds.

In North Carolina there is one with brown gravy and mushrooms, Ewwww.
In Tennesee I had one that actually had green peppers and the owner was going to tell me that, that is the way they make em up in Philly. Even though I told him that was not the case he didn’t want to hear it.

No Steakums are not cheesesteaks, even my spell check is trying to tell me I have spelled it wrong. Cheesesteak is one word not two. Doesn’t anyone get it?

John Kerry didn’t get it when he asked for one with Swiss Cheese and was met with laughs while visiting Philadelphia during the 2004 election. Maybe that is why he didn’t get elected.

If you want a cheesesteak your gonna have to go to Philadelphia, you simply cannot get it anywhere else.

I live in Maryland now and close enough to make that three hour trip for my cheesesteak cravings. Going anywhere else for a cheesesteak is like going to Taco Bell for Mexican food.