It doesn’t matter how you order it—just don’t call it a “steak and cheese.”
The greasy, drippy sandwich that calls Philly home is more than just steak and cheese on a bun. To make a proper cheese steak, you’ll need to do the following: sauté thinly sliced beef (preferably ribeye) with melted cheese, and put the mixture on a crusty hoagie roll. You can put the cheese slices on top of the beef right before flipping it into the bun, or you can grill them together—the idea is to melt the cheese completely into the steak. Cheese choices include American, provolone, or Cheez Whiz, but Cheez Whiz is the favorite, by far. The most common additional ingredients: onions, green peppers, and mushrooms.
You can get grilled steak and cheese on a roll almost anywhere in the world, but Philly natives claim that you can’t get a real cheesesteak outside of the city. One main reason is Amoroso’s Baking Company, where most cheesesteak vendors get their rolls. Amoroso’s rolls are distinctively flaky because its bakers use Philadelphia’s alkaline drinking water, nicknamed “Schuylkill Punch.”
Who made the first Philly cheesesteak? It depends on who you ask. In 1930, Pasquale “Pat” Olivieri was a hot dog vendor in South Philadelphia. One day, he put some beef on his grill next to the frankfurters, and a passing cabbie, lured by the aroma, asked for a steak sandwich. Soon, cabbies from around the city were stopping by Pat’s cart for the sandwiches. Eventually, they got so popular that Pat opened a restaurant—Pat’s King of Steaks—on Passyunk Avenue. It’s still around, grilling 24 hours a day.
Story number two comes from Joe Vento, founder of Geno’s Steaks, which opened across the street from Pat’s in 1966. Pat may have been the first to put steak on a bun, but Vento claims that he was the first to put cheese in the sandwich, thereby inventing the cheesesteak.
Either way, the two restaurants have been competing for the title of best cheesesteak ever since. Both Joe Vento and Frank Olivieri (Pat’s current owner and the founder’s nephew) claim that theirs is the superior sandwich . . . even though neither has actually tried his competition. The rivalry is good-natured, though: Olivieri says that if Geno’s ever went out of business, he’d “feel a void” and would have to buy his rival’s store and reopen it so he could fight with himself.
No matter what restaurant you choose, you’ll want to keep some things in mind:
1. Order efficiently. Natives just name the cheese and whether they want their steaks “wit” onions or “witout.” A standard order would be “Whiz wit.”
2. There are variations on the traditional cheesesteak. Any of the following is acceptable:
•Pizza steak—served with mozzarella and pizza sauce.
•Western cheesesteak—served with barbecue sauce and jalapeños.
•Cheesesteak hoagie—served with lettuce and tomato.
•Cheesesteak spring rolls—the innards of a cheesesteak wrapped in a crispy, fried shell.
•South Street sushi—made by wrapping a slice of pizza from Lorenzo’s around a cheesesteak from Jim’s Steaks, both located on South Street.
•And if those are too mundane, the Barclay Prime Steakhouse on 18th Street offers a $100 cheesesteak made with Wagyu beef, foie gras, black truffles, and served “wit” champagne.
The cheesesteak is no longer just a humble sandwich—not only is it known around the world, it has also found itself at the center of several political scandals. While on the campaign trail in 2004, presidential hopeful John Kerry visited Phila delphia and ordered a cheesesteak . . . with Swiss cheese. The Philadelphia Daily News wrote, “In Philadelphia, ordering Swiss on a cheesesteak is like rooting for Dallas at an Eagles game.” A few months later, George W. Bush said in a speech that he liked his cheesesteaks “Whiz wit.” But a Philadelphia newspaper discovered that the president actually preferred American, prompting speculation about why he wanted to hide his cheese preferences.
Finally, in 2005, before Super Bowl XXXIX, Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell bet Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney a Philly cheesesteak against a Boston lobster that the Philadelphia Eagles would beat the New England Patriots. Romney turned down the wager, saying the cheesesteak “had no nutritional value.” The Steelers took the title, but some Philadelphians are still smarting from the slight.