How many great cheesesteaks are there in the Philadelphia region? Far more than I and my four high-school-age eating machines could sample in four days. I'd still like to get to Leo's Steaks in Delaware County and sample the steak at Shank's & Evelyn's in South Philly. Even so, the cheesesteak tasting team made a serious dent, putting 23 restaurants to a triple-header test, basing our rating (with 5 being the best) on three styles of steaks - traditional, specialty, and chicken.
Craig LaBan's 2002 Cheesesteak Project: How They Scored
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5 (Best) - Cheesesteak Paradise
John's Roast Pork, Snyder Avenue and Weccacoe Street, Philadelphia. This sandwich shack has existed in delicious obscurity since 1930. Aside from serving the city's best pork sandwiches, chef-owner John Bucci Jr. unanimously swept all three categories of the cheesesteak competition, serving up zestily seasoned, perfectly seared beef and chicken steaks on crusty rolls with real cheese and garlicky spinach. It's open only weekdays through lunch.
4 - Worth Busting the Diet
Tony Luke's Old Philly Style Sandwiches, 39 E. Oregon Ave., Philadelphia. Crusty housebaked rolls, bitter broccoli rabe and aged provolone give the hefty steak Italian a gutsy neighborhood flair, and the neon-lit awning lends the South Philly location an authentic ambience. The Rittenhouse Square outpost has the food, but none of the ambience.
Chink's Steaks, 6030 Torresdale Ave., Philadelphia. Step into a time warp at this marvelously preserved soda shop, where chocolate egg creams and frothy shakes are the ideal pairing for what may be the most succulent traditional soft-roll American cheesesteak in town. The restaurant's monicker is the late founder's nickname.
McNally's H & J Tavern, 8634 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. This unmarked tavern in Chestnut Hill produces one of the region's great specialty cheesesteaks, the Schmitter, a steak-and-salami fantasy on a kaiser roll. The marinated chicken steak was also one of the best of the poultry genre.
3 - Will Satisfy the Craving
Geno's Steaks, 1219 S. Ninth St., Philadelphia. This South Philly institution easily bested rival Pat's on the day of our tasting. The steaks were meaty and full of juicy drip.
Sonny's Famous Steaks, 216 Market St., Philadelphia. The owner of this Old City newcomer takes her traditional steak seriously, slicing the domestic beef to order, and insisting on real Cheez Whiz (imagine!). The result is a superbly tender, flavorful sandwich - as long as you keep it simple.
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