The Refuge uses ribeye for their cheesesteaks, which they cut into cubes and mix before forming it into slabs to be sliced and cooked on a flat-top griddle. But beyond the sublime smoked meat, co-owner Matt Levin also wanted to serve the cheesesteaks he remembered eating while living just outside of Philadelphia. When The Refuge opened in San Carlos eight years ago, it was meant to be an outpost for the type of great pastrami you could usually only find at delis on the East Coast. The next time you get a hankering, grab a Yuengling beer, put on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and try one of these local Philly cheesesteaks.įor the sophisticated palate: Wiz Wit at The RefugeĬan't get enough of the cheese sauce on The Refuge's Wiz Wit? The restaurant also ladles it on their "Goofy Fries," which include garlic and chunks of pastrami. Here on the Peninsula, some restaurants pledge authenticity to the cheesesteak by importing their rolls from the East Coast and sticking with a tried-and-true formula, while others break from tradition and serve interpretations of the classic sandwich that are delicious in their own right. Then there's the bread, where even the most ornery Philadelphians find common ground on the type of roll, if not on which baker makes the best ones: any Italian roll, wider than a baguette, with a dense interior crumb capable of standing up to the sandwich's juices and a crust that yields under the pressure of your soft palate.
Kraft Cheez Whiz, white American cheese and provolone (which Pat's owners claim was the first cheese to be placed on one of their steak sandwiches) are the most popular cheese options, though we shouldn't forget about the time John Kerry provoked the ire of Philadelphians by ordering a cheesesteak with Swiss cheese. For the choice of beef, ribeye is the most traditional, though some shops choose to use top round. From there, disagreements abound from how the beef should be cooked (sliced in thin strips, or chopped as it cooks on a griddle) to permissible toppings (requests for anything other than grilled onions will be met with scorn from purists).Įven with just three required ingredients, a multitude of permutations exist. What makes a steak sandwich a Philly cheesesteak?Įveryone agrees a Philly cheesesteak needs three things: beef, cheese and a roll to put the beef and cheese on. In defiance of the competition, this punny Pat's slogan is emblazoned on their butcher paper, website and full-length bus ads: "Don't eat a misteak." But are they the best? That question has inspired hours of contentious debate from Philadelphia residents over the years, and Philadelphians even have their own litmus test to quickly establish credibility when meeting for the first time: "Pat's or Geno's?" - in reference to Pat's main competitor, Geno's Steaks, which opened in 1966 right across the street from Pat's.
#Philly cheesesteak cheese whiz full
The street vendor, Pat Oliveri, and his brother Harry went on to found Pat's King of Steaks, upgrading from a stand to a full restaurant (in the same location) three years later, and laying claim to the title of Philadelphia's original cheesesteak.
#Philly cheesesteak cheese whiz driver
Neither the taxi driver nor the street vendor realized that they were witnessing the birth of a Philadelphia icon more beloved than Rocky Balboa and the Liberty Bell combined. As the story goes, a taxi driver and frequent customer of the stand saw the new creation, and asked for one too: a pile of grilled, chopped beef topped with onions, and packed into a lightly crusted, fluffy Italian roll. In 1930, in South Philadelphia, just outside the Italian Market, a street vendor with a hot dog stand grew bored of his regular menu and made himself a sandwich for lunch. Photo by Zack Fernandes.Ī brief history of the Philly cheesesteak
Pat's King of Steaks: The spiritual home of the Philly cheesesteak, in the South Philadelphia neighborhood. Luckily for me (and other homesick East Coast transplants) a red-eye flight to Philadelphia International Airport is not entirely necessary when you crave the warm embrace of beef and cheese, because it turns out the Peninsula has plenty of great local cheesesteak options. One by one, I found worthwhile facsimiles of all of my regular haunts in Philly I found my new dive bar, my new wine bar, my new taqueria and even the closest thing I could find to a 24-hour East Coast diner.īut as a new Peninsula resident, my most intense craving was also the hardest to satisfy: a good Philly cheesesteak. When I left Philadelphia six years ago, my first order of business on the Peninsula was to find proxies for each of the dining establishments I knew I would miss the most from the city I had called home.