Two more days in Philly

Yesterday was a day to look up some different points of interest, like the childhood home of a good and dear friend and a couple of "cheese steak joints"..............another thing Philadelphia is known for. We found the childhood home of our friend without any problems and took pictures from all directions front and back, and drove around the neighborhood checking out the sights. I'm guessing since it's what's known as a "row house" like pretty much the majority of Philadelphia is made up of that there hasn't been much change over the years. A row house is a bunch of house's all in a row down the block and joined together with common walls, and for the most part narrow homes with little front or back yards to speak of.

Now it was off the try some cheese steaks (philly cheese steaks), I guess two of the most famous would be Geno's and Pat's which both have been featured on The Food Network and then there was a third called Chink's. Chink's was a favorite place to have a cheese steak by our dear friend and her family years ago when she lived here in Philadelphia, and the one she feels is the best in town when it comes to cheese steak. I got instructions from my very good friend Dave as to how to order and not sound like a dumb tourist since these Philly folks can tell a rookie by how the order their steak sandwich. It's not that you need to order this way, but if your too indecisive you may be banned like "no soup for you" from the "soup Nazi" except it would be "no steak for you" by Geno, Pat or Chink!

We started off at Chink's because of where we were in the city and this was a small, quaint little place which was definitely Philly. Joey made the steak in the front window and we sat at the counter like in a soda shoppe. Bev and I split a steak sandwich "Wit - Wit Wiz" which meant with onions and cheese wiz rather than provalone or american cheese and peppers on the side. We liked it, it was good but the first of at least three and couldn't judge it now. chink's was est. in 1949 in business for 61 years in that location.
Next was Geno's and Pat's which are right across the street from each other and two favorites of Guy Fiero of the Food Network. We ordered pretty much correctly at Geno's, we spit another sandwich and skipped the fries and had provolone this time. Again we liked the sandwich but had one more to try before passing judgment, Geno's was est. in 1966, 44 years ago and in the same location. We walked across the street to Pat's, est. 1930 80 years ago, pretty much full at this point but wanted to make the comparison after having all three sandwiches. We ordered at Pat's and as with Geno's both these places had lines due to their popularity and fame. Again we order a steak sandwich wit out fries, wit onions and wiz again, and again split this sandwich (by the way all joints we split a sandwich that looked to be about 8" rolls). So now we've ate and tasted the three places we had planned to try and Bev and I both agreed exactly as to how we rate these shoppe's.

First place went to Pat's, hands down be both agreed this was the best steak sandwich of the three. Easy to order, made and served fast and probably had the most meat and cheese.

Second place went to Chink's, the little known place nationally but loved by the neighborhood. If I would order another Chink's I'd pay the extra buck for extra meat though, could have used a bit more meat. Loved the pickles on the side too!

Third place goes to Geno's which is probably the most famous nationally as far as publicity goes, but the least friendly bunch it seemed upon ordering. The meat was actually thicker sliced and plenty of it but just not as good to eat.

Everybody in Philadelphia has a Philly cheese steak sandwich (steak sandwich as they say here) so I may try someplace else before leaving the area and see how it compares. But if you want a good cheese steak sandwich in the Phoenix area it still will be hard to beat Uncle Sam's, it compares right there with the best.

Today was Valley Forge and tomorrow (the 4th) is down town again and Independence Hall and Rocky's famous steps!