One Wit Whiz

The above is order-speak for a cheese steak with fried onions and Cheese Whiz at Pat's Steaks in Philly. Below is some history about the sandwich, and places to consider if you ever go on a cheese steak crawl through the City of Brotherly Love.

The two most famous establishments are Pat's and Geno's both
located at the intersection of 9th Street, Wharton Street and Passyunk Avenue. Many locals decry these places, but this is the corner where the sandwich started, so you have to try them.

Kristin and I will go to Philadelphia on a Saturday morning, visit the Italian Market on 9th Street and be back in Fells Point by 2pm. On one such trip we got there about 9am and had not eaten yet. Pat's is open 24-hours, so we decided to have cheese steaks for breakfast.

We ordered, sat outside, the only option, and proceeded to eat. Across from us were several neighborhood gentlemen enjoying morning pastries and coffee. They discussed sports and politics with a liberal sprinkling of foul language. Out of the side door came Frank Olivieri, Sr. Frank Jr. now runs Pat's, but his father is always there. He began to lambast these guys, "Hey, I got f@#kin' customers here. Watch your f@#kin' language damn it!" He then turned to us and said, "I'm sorry for these a**holes."

We basked in the irony of his berating them while using the same obscenities. The sheepish gentlemen apologized to us and proceeded to tell us about the Italian Market, gave directions and recommended places for the best fresh pasta, olives, cheeses, etc. I thanked them, not having the heart to explain that we go to the Italian Market often. We proceeded up 9th Street relishing the glow of South Philly local color.

Pat Olivieri with 2 of the Stooges

In 1930, Pat and Harry Olivieri started a hog dog cart at 9th and Passyunk. They picked that location because it was a trolly stop just blocks from the Italian Market insuring lots of traffic. One day, getting sick of eating hot dogs, they went to a local market for some chopped steak to grill with fried onions for their lunch. A regular saw it, asked for that, and the steak sandwich was born. A couple years later an employee, who the story goes put provolone on everything, added cheese. It wasn't until the early 60s that Cheese Whiz was introduced.

As an aficionado who has lived in many places, any cheese steak from Philly beats those from anywhere else. I once had a "cheese steak" in Iowa that was sliced roast beef with Havarti, raw peppers and onions on a hamburger roll. The Hindenburg disaster comes to mind, "Oh the humanity!" Just about every Philadelphia neighborhood has its favorite cheese steak place. Here are some of mine.
 
Gooey Looies -  several blocks south and east of Pat's & Geno's, it's a small place. I usually order and eat it in the car, or drive across Delaware Avenue (now Christopher Columbus Boulevard, but always Delaware Ave to me) and sit by the waterfront. It's huge, the onions are darker giving it a toasty flavor, loaded with American cheese, where the gooey in the name comes from, and a dollar cheaper than Pat's or Geno's.

Jim's Steaks - It has won Philadelphia Magazine's best cheese steak award several times. Located on South Street in the midst of several bars and clubs, I usually have this cheese steak at 2am after several libations. Great drunk food rivaling the cheese omelet and Italian sausage at the Melrose Diner. (Diner stories for another time)

Ishkabibbles - on South Street just down from Jim's, this was the first place I experienced a chicken cheese steak. Sacrilege to some, I find it a nice break from the standard Philly sandwich. They offer a unique drink, the Gremlin, a mixture of lemonade and grape drink. Also a good "after drinking on South Street" stop.

Tony Lukes -  the original is on East Oregon Avenue, several blocks south of Gooey Looies. Tony Lukes has expanded to include places in both the Link and Citizen Bank stadiums, Wildwood NJ, and even Bahrain. Their cheese steak is good, but try the Italian roast pork sandwich. It's the best in the city!

These are my rules concerning cheese steaks:
The cheese depends on my mood. I avoid American, except for Gooie Looies, and go with either Whiz or Provolone. Sometimes I'll go to Pat's and get one with Whiz and have Kristin go to Geno's and get one with Prov. We share getting a taste of both. This can be done at Jim's & Ishkabibble's too. A cheese steak must have fried onions, nothing else, not even condiments.  If you are having a cheese steak hoagie, then raw onions are acceptable. In fact I prefer raw onions on the hoagie. For the uninitiated, the cheese steak hoagie has lettuce and tomato. On these olive oil and/or a little mayo is acceptable also.

If you go down to the shore it's a sub not a hoagie. I consider the shore anywhere from Long Beach Island to Cape May, anything above LBI is North Jersey and doesn't count. The two best places are White House Subs in Atlantic City and Sack O'Subs. Sack O' has several locations. I've only been to the ones in Ventnor and Ocean City, NJ. Both are equally good. If you visit those, ignore the cheese steak and get the cheese steak sub. As ever - BB

"If you're associated with the Philadelphia media or town, you look for negatives. I don't know if there's something about their upbringing or they have too many hoagies, or too much cream cheese." - Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies' Hall of Fame 3rd baseman.