I told Justin I had to tell him this story after he spent the weekend in Philly recently:
If you visit Philadelphia, of course you have to get a Philly cheese steak. Unless of course, you are like me and you don’t like cheese steak.
But seriously, it’s an experience. Bear with me on the details here, as this happened about 3 years ago, but there are 2 main cheese steak places in town, Geno’s and Pat’s, and they are right across the street from each other. After the bars close the lines to get to the counter at these places wrap around the respective buildings, and all the drunk people at Geno’s shout insults to the drunk people in line at Pat’s, and vice versa.
The places themselves consist of small, grimy buildings where you order at the counter outside and then you can eat at the tables surrounding the building.
So, even if you are like me and you don’t like cheese steak – c’mon, you still have to check it out, right?
Call it blasphemy, but I do not remember which cheese steak place I visited. I’m pretty sure it was Pat’s. Which I remember because I thought the name “Geno’s” sounded cooler and I was kind of disappointed that we weren’t going to that one. But bare with me if I’m wrong – I’m sure Jeff will correct me, as he picked the place.
We took a cab from the hotel over to Pat’s, and all along the way the cabbie was warning us of impending stomach aches if we ate there. “You gotta go to Jim’s,” he kept telling us, bringing up a third place. “Truly the best cheese steak in Philadelphia.” We told him thanks, but we had to try out Pat’s (we told Katie’s brother Brian we would), and he reluctantly took us over there. “Good luck,” he said, shaking his head as he drove off, probably to Jim’s.
There is a language you have to use when ordering. “Whiz wit” for example, means you want cheese whiz and onions (wit onions, as opposed to widdout onions) on your cheese steak. (Ok, I love cheese, but cheese whiz? Ew.) If you want mozzarella you have to say “pizza.” And if you want provolone you have to say “Provi.” And if you don’t order it correctly, you get laughed at by the guy behind the counter. I swear it’s true – I couldn’t make this stuff up.
Jeff had researched all of this and knew exactly what he wanted to order. We made it to the front of the counter and he said, in his very confident and direct voice, “Whiz wit”. He must’ve done it right because the guy shouted back to the cooks and the short-order process began smoothly.
Then the guy turned to me: “What do you want?” he asked.
“I’ll take a hot dog,” I said.
I swear, the world screeched to a halt for a second. “A hot dog?” he said. “You come to Pat’s and you order a hot dog?”
He turned back to the cooks. “Hey, this one wants a hot dog!”
They looked bewildered, and then they probably had to go to the far depths of the freezer to dig one up to cook for me. “That’ll take a few minutes,” he said, shaking his head, then he muttered, “She came to Pat’s and ordered a hot dog.”
I had to smile. Hey, I choose to see it this way: I’m the ultimate travel companion. I’ll go to a place that’s known for something I don’t like, and I will try it – I absolutely had a bite of Jeff’s cheese steak … and I promptly thought it was gross and enjoyed the heck out of that hot dog!
For the record, Philadelphia also has the second Italian restaurant ever opened in the United States, and it is to die for. I can’t properly review the taste of the cheese steak, but take me back to that Italian place any day …
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10 responses to “When in Philly …”
My father-in-law is from Philly and told me this exact story of Pat’s and Geno’s. I distinctly remember him telling us right before we moved back to the Upstate, when we brought him an authentic cheesesteak from a place named Paulie’s that just opened in Columbia — and they were the REAL deal, w/Whiz and Provi and all. I, like you, thought, “GROSS!” when I heard that that’s the way you’re supposed to eat a cheesesteak. I can’t remember which Philly place my FIL said he prefers but he and Josh both picked on me re: my disdain for “wit Whiz.” Guess I’ll get laughed outta Philly when we do finally go up to visit Josh’s grandparents.
I don’t blame you for ordering a hot dog. 🙂 I’m willing to bet it was good!
I love cheese steaks!
I’m completely amused… when we went to Philly 2 years ago we did the same thing. Except that I don’t eat red meat at all (allergy) so I ordered something with NO MEAT at all… probably a grilled cheese or something equally blasphemous. We had taken the dog with us, so I promptly agreed to stay outside with the dog while I sent Steve inside to order my vary blasphemous no-meat, definitely-not-a-cheese-steak meal.
I can only imagine the treatment he got.
.-= Whitney´s last blog ..An Amazing Woman for an Amazing Cause =-.
I had a few while I was there. And a ton of Tasty Cakes, which might have been what REALLY did me in calorie-wise.
That is great. Yeah, you have to order it just right. I felt like the Seinfeld character the Soup Nazi was taking orders. I ate at Geno’s and it was glorious.
.-= Kevin´s last blog ..shifting gears =-.
Yep, Pat’s. Whiz wit. You got it right!
Man, I am hungry.
Great story! The people at the cheesteak joints are such assholes anyway, it’s cool to hear you threw them for a loop. Especially that white power whackjob Geno. Glorious cheesteaks or not, screw em!
We eat at Pat’s, or Jim’s, or Tony Luke’s. Never ever Geno’s, for the aforementioned reasons. The guy who owns Geno’s is a whackjob for sure.
I get American with. 🙂 We literally get one every time we head down to see my husband’s family, who is originally from South Philly.
.-= EDW´s last blog ..Getting in tune =-.
This is hilarious. I am frankly surprised they gave you the hot dog! Jim’s is fabulous, though.
We have a cheesesteak guide at http://www.gophila.com/cheesesteak
Come back and you can try a Vietnamese hoagie or a vegetarian cheesesteak.
I’m guessing this was the day after our wedding when I was deathly ill and stuck in the hotel room! I DEFINITELY love some Philly cheesesteaks…. can’t beat ’em:) funny story!