Philadelphia Cheesesteak Tour! The Race To The Best Cheesesteak in Philly! Part 2

John's Roast Pork cheesesteak

John’s Roast Pork Cheesesteak

‘Continuing To Find That Perfect Cheesesteak In Philadelphia!’

 

We are heading into round two as we search for the perfect Philadelphia 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 up to 42 different cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia region in like three 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 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.

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 after 6 pm on Friday, November 20) And some of the cheesesteak establishments have been so graciously in donating 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 and Gooey Looies. We have now raised $1,100! 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 were invited by the Cheesesteak Gurus to participate with this wonderful and tasty event! So not only will I be leading a group of cheesesteak enthusiasts to take on this challenge, but there will be other members of this group who will set out in helping with naming the best cheesesteak in Philadelphia. 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

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 and Sharp Provolone 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 a large number of onions, and the onion to meat ration was extremely high. Just these things mentioned, could easily drop the rating of a cheesesteak that could still be very good just based on their meat and bread. So our ratings will be based on the meat, bread and the cheese.
 
Keep in mind, others from the Cheesesteak Guru’s group might be ordering their cheesesteaks differently. Some with onions and some with different cheeses. Overall, we will all come up with the top four and then have a winner declared by other judges who are celebrities’.
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Cleavers Philly

Cleavers Philly – Photo By Jan Klincewicz

The Cheesesteak Gurus group, select members at a hidden location, voted on locations that are to be a part of this major cheesesteak tour, to rate these cheesesteaks, so we can come up with a winner. Here is the list they came up with:

Philips Steaks, Oregon Steaks, John’s Roast Pork, Pat’s King of Steaks, Geno’s Steaks, Cosmi’s Deli, Angelo’s Pizzeria, Woodrow’s Sandwich Shop, Jim’s South Street Steaks, Sonny’s Famous Steaks, Cleaver’s Philadelphia, Jimmy G’s Steaks, Cafe Carmela, Dattilos Delicatessen, Steve’s Prince of Steaks, Guido’s Steaks, Gleason’s Bar, Altomonte’s Italian Market and Delicatessen (Warminster), Dalessandro’s Steaks, Chubby’s Steaks, Larry’s, Mama’s Pizzeria, Pudges, Rays, Giuliano’s (Glenside), Fanti (Maple Glenn), Giuliano’s (Lansdale), Goombas Pizzaria (Colmar), Freshworks (Port Richmond), Chicks (Cherry Hill), White House Subs (AC).

Cheesesteak Tour #1

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

Jimmy G’s Steaks 695 N. Broad St, Larry’s Steaks 920 W. Girard Ave, Joe’s Steaks + Soda (not) 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 (not) 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 Pizza (not) 610 West Street Road in Warminster, and Goomba’s Pizzaria 739 Bethlehem Pike in Colmar.

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Cheesesteak Tour #2
 
 

Saturday, November 21 starting at 10:15 am (17 cheesesteak locations)

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Arrive 10:15 am at Philip’s Steaks 2234 W. Passyunk – Leave 10:35 am, Arrive 10:45 am at Steak Em Up (not) 2600 S. 11th St near 11th & Broad on West Shank St – Leave 11:10 am, Arrive 11:15 am at Oregon Steaks 2654 S. 10th St (9th & Oregon next to Cookie’s Tavern) – Leave 11:40 pm, Arrive 11:50 pm at Gooey Looies (not) 231 McClellan St – Leave 12:20 pm, Arrive 12:25 pm at Cosmi’s Deli 1501 S. 8th St – Leave 12:50 pm, Arrive 12:55 pm at Pat’s King of Steaks 1237 E. Passyunk Ave (9th & Wharton) – Leave 1:20 pm, Arrive 1:25 pm at Geno’s Steaks 1219 S. 9th St – Leave 1:45 pm, Arrive 1:50 pm at Angelo’s Pizzeria 736 S. 9th St (9th & Fitzwater) – Leave 2:15 pm, Arrive 2:20 pm at Woodrow’s Sandwich Shop 630 South St – Leave 2:40 pm, Arrive 2:45 pm at Ishkabibble’s II (not) 517 South St – Leave 3:05 pm, Arrive 3:10 pm at Jim’s South Street Steaks 400 South St – Leave 3:30 pm, Arrive 3:40 pm at Sonny’s Famous Steaks 228 Market St Leave 4:00 pm, Arrive 4:05 pm at Campo’s Philly Cheesesteaks (not) 214 Market St – Leave 4:30 pm, Arrive 4:45 pm at Cleaver’s Philly 108 S. 18th St (18th & Chestnut) – Leave 5:05 pm, Arrive 5:25 pm at Mama’s Pizzeria 426 Belmont Ave – Leave 5:55 pm, Arrive 6:10 pm at Dalessandro’s Steaks 600 Wendover St – Leave 6:50 pm, Arrive 6:55 pm at Chubby’s Steaks 5826 Henry Ave – Leave 7:25 pm.

We originally had John’s Roast Pork on our cheesesteak tour 2, but had to push it to tour 3, 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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Date and Time TBD (14 cheesesteak locations)

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Donkey’s Place (not) 1223 Haddon Ave in Camden, Carmen’s Deli (not) 42 E. Browning Rd in Bellmawr NJ, White House 2301 Arctic Ave in Atlantic City, Toney Boloney’s (not) 300 Oriental Ave in Atlantic City, Gaetano’s (not) 1 S. Burnt Mill Rd in Voorhees, Chick’s Deli 906 Township Lane in Cherry Hill, Yellow Submarine (not) 701 N Forklanding Rd in Maple Shade, Oh Brother (not) 206 Market St, Nick’s Bar and Grille (not) 16 S. 2nd St, Spataro’s (not) in Reading Terminal Market and By George (not) in Reading Terminal Market, Carmen’s Famous Italian Hoagie (not) in Reading Terminal Market, Molly Malloy’s (not) in Reading Terminal Market, and John’s Roast Pork 14 Synder Ave.

*** FYI *** Those cheesesteak locations marked with (not) are not part of the Cheesesteaks Guru’s best of, but will be included in the MyPhillyAlive Best of Cheesesteaks in the Philadelphia region.

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 #2, 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 three 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 Saturday, November 21 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.” And 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 a few weeks 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 check back after 6 pm on Friday, November 20)

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 ~

Oregon Steaks

Oregon Steaks By R Scott Ziegler

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: 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. 

Happy Cheesesteak Hunting!

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MyPhillyAlive Foodie Articles

  • Best Pizzas in Philadelphia
  • Best Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia & New Jersey (coming December 2020)
  • Best Burgers in Philadelphia (coming February 2021)