Whiz Wit

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

THE HOPEWELL NEWS

AMERICAN ROAD TRIP

12

The Great Cheese-steak Escape The Journey to a Delicious Rivalry ◆ By ELLIOTT ROBINSON A few weeks ago, my best friend Bill Paulus called me with a simple question: "Do you want to go to Philadelphia to get cheesesteaks?" Fast forward to May 16 — there we were with my friend Chelsea Seachord, sitting on a retaining wall at the intersection of Passyunk and Ninth, getting heckled by a 10year-old because of our cheesesteaks. As the name suggests, Philly cheesesteaks are from Philly, and two restaurants, Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks, claim to be the originator. Luckily, this isn't a crosstown rivalry. It's more like cross-street. Pat's and Geno's are at the diagonal intersection of Passyunk Avenue and Ninth Street in South Philadelphia. Pat's, in a plain white building, has been in its location nearly 80 years and has an historic marker in the front. Geno's is steeped in history as well but — with its bright colors, neon lights and enormous half-eaten cheesesteak at the top of the building — is a relative newcomer. Pat's, founded by Pat and Harry Olivieri in 1930, is said to have made the first steak sand-

wich (as both Pat's and Geno's calls them) in 1933. Roughly 33 years later, Joe Vento came on the scene with Geno's and one of them put cheese on the steak sandwich first. No one knows which one did it first and thus a rivalry on an Amoroso roll was born. And boy is it tough. Bill, Chelsea (who lives outside of Philly) and I started off by taking the Broad Street Subway to Federal Street and walking a few blocks to the mecca of greasy meat. It just so happened to be the Ninth Street Italian Market Festival so we were greeted not only by Geno's shining like a grilled bovine beacon but also a horrible cover band and an incredible crowd of people in the streets. We started out with Pat's and got it served "Whiz Wit." Provolone has been called the first cheese on a steak sandwich but Cheese Whiz became the topping of choice. The "Wit" means with onions and a Whiz Wit is going native. As we ate our Pat's, the kid I mentioned before walked by and started chanting "Geno's!" at us. Honestly, I think that was the first time I've been heckled by a 10-year-old since I was ... well ... 10. Despite the tough crowd, we dug in and began to

The Geno’s Steaks building was attention-getting to say the least.

Pat’s King of Steaks had more of a subdued décor.

Geno’s Steak Whiz Wit

Story & Photos by Elliott Robinson Layout by Chai Gallahun

judge the sandwich on the quality of the roll, the meat, the amount of cheese, the overall atmosphere and quality of service. While we let our first steak sandwich of the day digest, there was one more thing we had to do. About a mile northwest of City Hall is the Philadelphia Museum of Art. If you know your films, you'll inexplicably get a slurred accent and yell, "Yo, Adrian!" once you see it. "I hate you," Bill said at the foot of the stairs. "It was your idea," I said. "You were the one who said we could walk here," Bill said. "You have a point," I said. And we were off. Bill got to the top of the stairs before I did and I walked up the last few because I decided to hit every step on the way up and they were too shallow for be conducive to running that way. When we reached the top, we saw what was probably the best view of the city possible and, of

course, raised our arms in triumph. The true triumph, though, would be the consumption of the third cheesesteak for Bill and I within 24 hours because we started off the adventure with one in Richmond. Dusk was settling in as we arrived back at Passyunk and Ninth. Geno's had already switched on the lights and glowed at the diagonal intersection like Philadelphia's own Times Square. As we waited in the slow-moving line, we drank in more of the architecture of Geno's. Along being a shrine to the sandwich, it was covered in photographs and definitely doubled as Vento's political statement and milked being a tourist attraction for all it was worth. Geno's had the better steak; it was chopped thick and put on the bun in whole slices. My bun was better this time around but there was a burning question about the steak sandwich for a few seconds: Where's the Whiz? Geno's puts the cheese on the roll first and either they went

Philadelphia City Hall, the largest masonry building in the world, is at the former geographic center of the city.

Elliott and Bill go for the Rocky Balboa pose at the top of the stairs made famous by the movie.

easy on the cheese or the properties of the Cheese Whiz and/or the roll caused it to get absorbed into the bread. On top of that, it seemed more like the onions weren't grilled but were just warm from their proximity to the grill itself. Pat's sandwich, from earlier, had chopped meat not unlike what happens when you try to cook Steak-umms at home just by trying to flip them over. The onions were sautéed, my roll was a bit too chewy and the Whiz was piled on thick. Although the line wrapped around the building during this festival time, we were served quickly and, overall, Pat's had the air of your everyday neighborhood restaurant that suddenly had a crush of people. Before we even finished our Geno's sandwich, we had our verdict: Pat's was chosen as indeed being the King of Steaks in the Passyunk and Ninth Philly Cheesesteak Challenge and Bill and I headed back to Virginia not long after. I was awake for about 22 hours once I got settled back at home. Was it worth going all that way to eat what is now an American staple found anywhere, especially since many people don't consider either to

be the best cheesesteak in town? There's only one way to find out. GETTING THERE

Interstate 95 takes you directly to Philly and a flight from Richmond or a train ride from Ettrick or Richmond will get you to the city. From International Philadelphia Airport or the 30th Street Station, the R1 regional train will get you to Suburban Station where there's a quick transfer to the Broad Street Subway (Orange Line). Take the Broad Street Subway toward Pattison to the Ellsworth-Federal Station and walk against traffic on Federal toward Ninth Street. If you're driving, take Exit 17 for South Broad Street on Interstate 95 toward the stadiums and turn right onto Passyunk after about two miles (warning: parking is a little scarce). Whether on foot or in the car, you can't miss it. Suburban Station is also across from Love Park. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is about a mile away at the opposite end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from the Famous LOVE sculpture.