Dueling Cheesesteaks

You can't go to Philly without getting a cheesesteak. For good measure, we decided to get two.

The first cheesesteak was created by a guy by the name of Pat Olivieri, circa 1930. He opened up a shop on the corner of 9th Street and Passyunk Ave, in South Philadelphia. Some years later, Geno's opened up on the opposite and facing corner of 9th and Passyunk, launching this particular chapter of the cheesesteak war.

Customer service is not a priority. And there's little patience for rookies, so we're glad things went smoothly.

When ordering, you need to first specify with or without onions. Then, your type of cheese: american, provolone, or the classic, cheez whiz. A simple two words is all it took. "With whiz" and $7.50 was enough to get us a cheesesteak from Geno's. Done.

We decided to branch out at Pat's, and got a "Mushroom Pepper Steak Onions Whiz." 30 seconds later we had our sandwich in hand.

All in all, we liked Geno's for its simplicity and construction. Very tasty and well done for a slab of bread with some meat and fake cheese on it. Pat's was nice because you have more options for toppings (mushroom, pepper, etc) which allows you to expand your cheesesteak palette. But in the end, we give a slight edge to Geno's.