Since some of you are from Philly, I thought this story might be of interest. Via Dispatches from the Culture Wars (scroll to the bottom - the page doesn't render properly), apparently Joey Vento, the owner of Geno's, has generated a bit of a stir for putting up a sign in his window that said, "this is America, please order in English." The ironic part to the story that makes it worth telling, as pointed out in the comments of the above entry, comes from a Boston Globe opinion letter, where the writer comments on a visit to Geno's in 1965:
At that time, all the menus in Geno's Steaks were in Italian only, and the staff spoke Italian exclusively and refused to speak English to non-Italian-speaking customers. Even the "Employees must wash hands before returning to work" sign in the men's room was in Italian. You had to either order in Italian, use charades, or point to a picture.
Anyway, as it should be, the comment thread quickly turned to where really is the best place to get a good cheese steak.
Posted by Fatboy at July 26, 2006 02:06 PMThe answer to that question is "not in Philadelphia." Cheeze Whiz is not equal to cheese.
Posted by: Chris at July 26, 2006 02:55 PMCheeze Whiz > Cheese
Cheez wiz places tend to be the touristy places (read: Pat's, Geno's), which I don't care for. And besides, the key to Philly being the best place for cheese steaks isn't the cheese, or even the steak: it's the rolls. Anyway, local consensus always seems to say that Jim's is the best. I've enjoyed it, but I always hold on to Abner's as my preference. In more personal news, I only recently shifted my Havertown allegiance for cheese steaks from Eagle Pizza to Thunderbird (the one on Darby). This is a far bigger deal than I can make it out to be. Lastly, it seems the newlyweds have found a good place near them, as I can attest after last night.
Posted by: roy at July 29, 2006 08:35 PM