Philadelphia Cheesesteak Tour 2020! The Race To The Best Cheesesteak in Philly! Tour 4!

Pudges Cheesesteaks in Towamencin

‘Continuing To Find That Perfect Cheesesteak In Philadelphia!’

 

We are heading into round four of MyPhillyAlive’s Philadelphia Cheesesteak Tour as we search for the perfect Philly Cheesesteak! Does it exist? Could it probably be sitting on the other side of the river in New Jersey? 

We have created the ultimate cheesesteak tour, in which many of us will be trying 50 plus different cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia region in like five days! The areas included would be establishments from South Philly, to Old City, to Center City, to Northeast Philadelphia, to some of the Philadelphia suburbs such as Bala Cynwyd, Levittown, Colmar, Lansdale and a handful of places in South Jersey. And those who will be concerned for my arteries, no worries, we will be splitting up the cheesesteaks into thirds. But it will still be a lot to eat!

Our goal is to identify a “Final 4” of cheesesteaks, then have 4 to 6 judges choose the Tour Champion. The winner will receive a special plaque as the MyPhillyAlive 2020 Best of Cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia region.

This special cheesesteak tour will also have a fundraiser component in which the proceeds from our t-shirt sales will go to two different local Philadelphia veterans organizations. The Veterans Multi-Service Center at 213-217 N 4 th St and the VA Vet Center at 801 Arch Street. We’ll also be collecting money from anyone who would like to donate as well. (Stay tuned to a link to the site for ordering t-shirts and donations. Please check back at the very end of the year, as we want to have the winner included on the t-shirt.) We truly want to thank those establishments, during these trying times, who have so graciously donated money to the cause.

As of now, these are the establishments who have donated: Gleason’s Bar, Goomba’s Pizzaria, Cafe Carmela, Curly’s at the Nest, Joe’s Steaks + Soda, Dino’s Pizza, Altomonte’s Italian Market and Deli, Steak Em Up, Campo’s Philly Cheesesteaks, Woodrow’s Sandwich Shop, Sonny’s Famous Steaks, Cleaver’s Philly, Jim’s South Street Steaks, Geno’s Steaks, Gooey Looies, Donkey’s Place, Molly Malloy’s and Spot Gourmet Burgers. We have now raised $1,250! So thank you to all who have donated in helping our veterans! We have a few more who have said they want to donate, so please stop back in a few days.

We got involved with a Facebook cheesesteak group called Cheesesteak Gurus, whose members share cheesesteaks and other foods from all over the Delaware Valley aka the Greater Philadelphia area. One of it’s members, Steve Rossi, has his own rating system that has been incorporated into the group and into our journey.

The Rossi Scale Rating System 

Giuliano’s Lansdale cheesesteak – Photo by Lawrence Otter ESQ on Yelp

6.0 to 6.9: good not great, most pizza shops
7.0 – 7.9: really good, you buy them for guests, recommend them and go out of your way for them
8.0 to 8.9: all stars, you make plans to go to these places, you wait in line, you tell people they HAVE to go there at least 1x
9.0 – 9.9: hall of famers. at that moment one of, if not the best you ever ate.
10: I’ll let you know when I experience one
 
The difference between a low 7 and a high 6 is far greater than a high 7 and a low 8. A high 8 could be a low 9 or vice versa, as it depends on your mood, the preparation and that days experience.
 
As a group, we will be ordering all cheesesteaks with American cheese and no onions. There are various reasons to this method of madness. We feel that Cooper Sharp, Sharp Provolone and especially whiz, can sometimes overwhelm the overall taste, and take away from the meat. The same with onions. I have ordered fried onions, not only to receive raw onions, but the onions being very large in size, and that the onion to meat ration was extremely high. Just these things mentioned, could easily drop the rating of a cheesesteak that would have been rated higher based on the meat and bread. So our ratings will be based on the meat, bread and the cheese.
 
Before we start with those cheesesteak establishments that have been hand picked, it wasn’t easy, considering that there seems to be a cheesesteak shop at every other corner. We basically selected these scrumptious sandwiches from several different polls that we have conducted, through some of our members who will be rating these cheesesteaks, and from other local foodies. One thing we do know for certain, that we might make some people unhappy with our selections and when rating these cheesesteaks.
 

You can follow us along our Cheesesteak adventures and post your own as well at our Philadelphia Cheesesteak Tour group on Facebook.

 

Cheesesteak Tour #1

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Sunday, November 8 started at 11 am (11 Cheesesteak locations)

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Jimmy G’s Steaks 695 N. Broad St, Larry’s Steaks 920 W. Girard Ave, Joe’s Steaks + Soda 600 Torresdale Ave, Steve’s Prince of Steaks 7200 Bustleton Ave, Cafe Carmela 2859 Holme Ave, Steve’s Prince of Steaks 2711 Comly Ave, Curly’s at the Nest 1492 Woodbourne Rd (moving to a new location down the street in January), Gleason’s Bar 6700 Mill Creek Road in Levittown, Altomonte’s Italian Market & Deli 85 N. York Rd in Warminster, Dino’s Pizza610 West Street Road in Warminster, and Goomba’s Pizzaria 739 Bethlehem Pike in Colmar.

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Cheesesteak Tour #2
 
 

Saturday, November 21 started at 10:15 am (16 cheesesteak locations)

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Steak Em Up 2600 S. 11th St near 11th & Broad on West Shank St – Oregon Steaks 2654 S. 10th St (9th & Oregon next to Cookie’s Tavern) – Gooey Looies 231 McClellan St – Cosmi’s Deli 1501 S. 8th St – Pat’s King of Steaks 1237 E. Passyunk Ave (9th & Wharton) – Geno’s Steaks 1219 S. 9th St – Angelo’s Pizzeria 736 S. 9th St (9th & Fitzwater) – Woodrow’s Sandwich Shop 630 South St – Ishkabibble’s II 517 South St – Jim’s South Street Steaks 400 South St – Sonny’s Famous Steaks 228 Market St – Campo’s Philly Cheesesteaks 214 Market St – Cleaver’s Philly 108 S. 18th St (18th & Chestnut) – Mama’s Pizzeria 426 Belmont Ave – Dalessandro’s Steaks 600 Wendover St – Chubby’s Steaks 5826 Henry Ave.

We originally had John’s Roast Porkon our cheesesteak tour 2, but had to push it to tour 4, because John’s had to close down for a week to do a complete scrub down. They not only take the safety of their employees seriously, but the safety of their customers as well.

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Cheesesteak Tour #3

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Saturday, December 5th started at 11:00 am (6 cheesesteak locations)

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Donkey’s Place 1223 Haddon Ave in Camden, By George in Reading Terminal Market,Spataro’s Cheesesteaksin Reading Terminal Market, Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagie in Reading Terminal Market,Molly Malloy’s in Reading Terminal Market,Spot Gourmet Burgers 2821 W.Girard Ave in Brewerytown. 

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Cheesesteak Tour #4

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Thursday, December 10th starting at 1:00 pm (4 cheesesteak locations)

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Arrive 1:30 pm at Giuliano’s Deli 429 N. Chestnut St in Lansdale, PA – Leave 1:50 pm, Arrive 2:05 pm at Ray’s Pizzeria & Steaks 850 S Valley Forge Rd in Lansdale – Leave 2:25 pm, Arrive 2:40 pm at Pudge’s Sandwich Shop aka Original Pudge’s of Blue Bell – 1555 Sumneytown Pike in Lansdale, PA aka Towamencin PA- Leave 3:00 pm, Arrive 3:30 pm Marconi’s Pizza Pub (opens at 3:30 pm) 190 Forty Foot Rd in Hatfield PA – Leave 3:45 pm.

Maybe check out: DiNic’s – Mongomeryville.

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Cheesesteak Tour #5

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Saturday, December 19th starting at 9:30 am (16 cheesesteak locations)

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Arrive 9:30 am at SQ Philip’s Steaks 2234 W. Passyunk Ave – Leave 9:50 am, Arrive 10:05 am at The Original Tony Luke’s 39 E.Oregon Ave – Leave 10:25 am, Arrive 10:30 am at John’s Roast Pork 14 Synder Ave – Leave 11:00 am, Arrive 11:20 am at Shank’s Original 901 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd – Leave 11:40 am, Arrive 11:50 am at Oh Brother Philly 206 Market St – Leave 12:10 am, Arrive 12:15 am at Nick’s Bar and Grille 16 S. 2nd St – Leave 12:40 pm, Arrive 1:00 pm at Carmen’s Deli 42 E. Browning Rd in Bellmawr NJ – Leave 1:20 pm, Arrive 2:20 pm at White House 2301 Arctic Ave in Atlantic City – Leave 2:40 pm, Arrive 2:55 pm at Mad Dog Morgan’s 1 Convention Blvd in Atlantic City – Leave 3:15 pm, Arrive 3:30 pm at Toney Boloney’s 300 Oriental Ave in Atlantic City – Leave 3:50 pm, Arrive 5:00 pm at Gaetano’s 1 S. Burnt Mill Rd in Voorhees – Leave 5:20 pm, Arrive 5:35 pm at Chick’s Deli 906 Township Lane in Cherry Hill – Leave 5:55 pm, Arrive 6:10 pm at Yellow Submarine 701 N Forklanding Rd in Maple Shade – Leave 6:30 pm, Arrive 7:15 pm at Meatsheadz Cheesesteaks 2653 Brunswick Pike in Lawrence Township – Leave 7:45 pm. Arrive 8:20 pm at Tonelli’s Pizza Pub 278 Easton Rd in Horsham, PA – Leave 8:50 pm, Arrive 9:25 pm at Nick’s Roast Beef 2210 Cottman Ave – Leave 9:55 pm.

Ray's Pizzeria & Steaks In Lansdale

Ray’s Pizzeria & Steaks – Photo by Jean Roberts on Yelp

Calling all cheesesteak and foodie lovers! You can join us on any of these tours and or at any of the specific locations mentioned above. As you can see for Cheesesteak Tour #4 and #5, we have the arrival and departure times mentioned, so you can meet us at any given location and time. If you want to see if we are on time as scheduled, you can send me a quick text at (609) 440-5133. If texting, please state cheesesteak tour and ask for our location. Thanks, Jeff!

We will also have radio show host, Kevin Wilson, from Dining on a Dime, follow us along all five tours. He will be doing interviews of owners, the staff and even from customers. We’ll also do a review segment live at the very end of the last tour, recapping our whole tour. ~ Dining On A Dime On Facebook ~ Dining On A Dime On Twitter ~ Dining On A Dime On Instagram ~

If you meet us out on Thursday, December 10th and you want to donate in person, you can either write a check out to Veterans Multi-Service Center or Philadelphia Vet Center and in the memo section, please write Vet Center 210 – “Center City.” Just ask for Jeff Belonger to give the check to.

Lastly, as mentioned above, we will be selling a special cheesesteak t-shirt with all of the names listed above on the t-shirt. These will be ready in the beginning of 2021, so we can have the winner on them and we’ll have the link to order them and to also donate money. All proceeds, minus the cost of the shirt, will go to the two Veterans organizations that are mentioned above. (Stay tuned to a link to the site for ordering t-shirts and donations.)

Please email us at MyPhillyAlive@MyPhillyAlive.com for the list of the full tour, with each stop, the mileage and times (travel time by car). Keep in mind, we’ll roughly be spending 30 minutes at each location. 

I have already ranked Freshworks in Port Richmond myself. I gave their cheesesteak a 7.5 rating. You can read my review here. ~ Freshworks Review ~

Please tell us your favorite cheesesteak places throughout Philadelphia and New Jersey in the comments below or on our Facebook post at MyPhillyAlive’s Cheesesteak Tour.

From the author Jeff Belonger: Here is my opinion on the many cheesesteak articles out there naming the top places in Philadelphia. I find many to be regurgitated from other articles, and even those who wrote the articles, probably only visited a few of the places they mentioned. Then you have those who are biased to their areas, loyal to friends who might own a cheesesteak establishment, and some who never leave their areas, yet can boast the best cheesesteak places. My goal is to present an unbiased rating based on the meat, bread and cheese. 

You can follow our Cheesesteak adventures and add your own in the Philadelphia Cheesesteak Tour group on Facebook.

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Happy Cheesesteak Hunting!

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Pudges Pizza Cheesesteak in Towamencin aka Lansdale

Pudges Pizza Cheesesteak in Towamencin aka Lansdale

 

 

MyPhillyAlive Foodie Articles

  • Best Pizzas in Philadelphia
  • Best Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia & New Jersey (coming December 2020)
  • Winner of the MyPhillyAlive’s Philadelphia Cheesesteak Tour 2020
  • Best Burgers in Philadelphia (coming February 2021)