Philly Cheesteaks

Our friends, Steve and Carol, joined us for a trip to Philly to see the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute. More on this later.

Steve had other plans, however, as he was set on trying real Philly cheesesteaks from as many places as possible (four on this trip). Steve can eat.

Our first stop was at Rick's Steaks at the Reading Terminal Market. The sandwiches were piled high with meat, and lots of fried onions and peppers. Very soft, fresh and steamy rolls made for a great cheesesteak!

Later in the day, we would visit Pat's King of Steaks, and Geno's in South Philly, where Steve bought a cheesesteak from each. He would sample them later, as we were off to Tony Lukes's for a last stop on our cheesesteak hunt!

Steve proclaimed Geno's as his favorite. I liked Rick's best. They were all very good, and if you get a sandwich from either of them, you'll enjoy it just as the hundreds of people we saw eating big sloppy ones were.

We ended our day at Tony Luke's Beef and Beer Sports Bar, which sits directly across the street from the original Tony Luke's on Oregon Ave.
Opened about 2 years ago, in 2005, they have all the trappings of a sports bar, but plenty of room in the dining room and at the bar itself. We all got ice-cold draught beers and ordered up a few cheesesteaks from our colorful bartender, Tony (not Luke). We didn't expect free entertainment, but Tony was quite the character.

The cheesesteaks took quite a long time to arrive. Tony explained they bake the rolls to order. While the recipe was similar to the one across the street at the original Tony Luke's, the rolls were fresh from the oven crisp, and the onions were raw and chunked, even tho we ordered grilled onions.
The sandwiches were very yummy, but in my opinion, they were more "restaurant" style then fresh off a steamy grill, dripping and gooey.

Still, fun was had by all.