Pat's v Geno's
Why did it take me 3 tries to spell "Geno's" right? ... "Gone's"... "Geon's".... damn...
So for some reason, my crazy friend, exit_265c, and his friend, Bill, decided to drive from Richmond, VA to my house (oh, probably about 5 hours) Saturday morning to go into Philadelphia for cheesesteaks. Why? To put the ages-old debate between Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks to rest once and for all... Not that the debate will ever really die...
So around 1pm they showed up and we headed to the train station. After much hemming and hawing we finally figured out where we were going, and I grabbed a handful of transit maps before we got some tokens (and change... wtf is up with SEPTA?!) and headed to the train. The ride from Norristown to the 69th St terminal was a token and 50 cents... At the terminal we said "screw it" and bought one-day "convenience" passes (which, it turns out, are only moderately convenient, as it does eliminate the confusion over tokens and change, but requires us to go to the booth and get our passes punched instead of just sliding through the turnstyle). We hopped the Market-Frankford line over the 15th St, where we walked the free interchange to the City Hall station and took the Broad Street line to Ellsworth-Federal, where we walked 6 blocks down to 9th street and found ourselves in the middle of the Italian Market Festival, where they had loud music and all the food you could possibly stuff in your face. We got ourselves some cheesesteaks from Pat's King of Steaks and sat down and stuffed our faces. The fries were delicious, the steak equally so. Surprisingly I didn't feel stuffed and bloated after the steak, and almost suggested that we go right over to Geno's now, while we're already here. Instead we decided to walk through the festival, because I craved ice cream. For some reason my stomach and tastebuds have decided that the best thing after a filling meal is Handel's ice cream... Only some of the best (scooped) ice cream I've ever had (I specify scooped because Carl's ice cream is soft-serve and comparing the two is like apples and oranges... I will make no judgement between the two). But here in this italian festival they sold every type of italian sustainance, but NO ICE CREAM. So I settled for some gelato. Blood orange. Mmmm... We ended up walking the length of the festival, a good 6 or 8 blocks or so (the cross roads were named, not numbered, so I lost count). By the time we got to the end we were far enough away from Ellsworth-Federal that we decided to just walk the rest of the way to Market St and pick up whatever line took us to City Hall. At City Hall we decided to go to the Art Museum. Zesty declared that the Art Museum was "behind City Hall" so we could hit both landmarks no problem, then take the Broad Street line back to "Cheesesteak Corner"... Little did we know that while the Art Museum was technically "behind" City Hall, it was still at least a mile or so away. We got halfway there and stopped at the fountain. Initially we decided that the Art Museum was just NOT worth it... but after resting at the fountain and getting a little windblown spray of water we figured it was something we could tackle. So we walked to the Art Museum, where we got some photos of the Rocky statue and I took some pictures of the two of them racing up the steps. I declined to race - it's all just a silly tradition. No, we did not actually go *in* the Art Museum. They just wanted to run up the steps.
After spending my last $4 on an overpriced and mediocre coconut water ice we took the Phlash trolley back to City Hall and repeated our earlier train adventure back to Cheesesteak Corner. By this time you can imagine that we were all hungry enough for a second cheesesteak. We were a bit underwhelmed by the hour long wait in line at Geno's, but we decided to give the steak a fair shot. Afterwards we decided not to further repeat our earlier detour and hoofed it straight back to the station to backtrack back to Norristown.
In the end we all came to pretty much the same conclusion. Overall Pat's really is the King of Steaks. Geno's decor was overwhelming and gaudy. We did not find the giant picture of a cheesesteak surrounded by flashing neon lights on the roof to be particularly endearing and certainly did not add to the flavor of the sandwiches. The bright neon orange slathered all over every possible paintable surface did not help, either. I greatly preferred and appreciated the understated and unassuming simplicity of the decor (or lack thereof) that we found at Pat's. They still had what looked like the original Pepsi sign with their name. We were also taunted by a 10 year old walking by with a Geno's cup while we were minding our own business, sitting on the curb eating our steaks.
None of us appreciated the blatant politics of Geno's either. For those unaware of the controversy, a few years ago Geno's was sued for having a sign on their window that said "This is America, Speak English when ordering!!"... While I acknowledge their right to have whatever signs broadcasting whatever politics to which they ascribe, I find the hypocrisy of their Italian heritage coupled with their obvious prejudices to be quite distasteful.
On to the actual food.
The rolls from both place were exactly the same. More bread than meat - first bite: all bread. The onions at Pat's were actually fried, with that caramelized color and flavor I like in my onions (when on a cheesesteak, that is). Geno's onions seemed to have been lightly fried, more from incidental contact. They were still so crunchy that they were almost fresh. Not that I mind fresh onions, but fried onions aren't supposed to have that fresh-onion zing. They're supposed to be fried.
The cheese. I could barely taste the cheese at Geno's. I opted for provolone, while my companions opted for the orange cheese-snot product called Cheez-Whiz. Pat's was generous with their provolone and the steak was hot enough to actually melt it before I was able to sink my teeth into it. Initially my companions did complain about the Whiz oozing out of the sandwich and onto the paper, but after eating at Geno's they realized that having enough Whiz to *taste*, much less have ooze out of the sandwich was a blessing, not a curse.
Finally, the steak. This is the one point that we did have to give to Geno's. Pat's steak was shredded, more or less, which is really the way every cheesesteak I've had is. I have no complaints at all about shredded steak, however Geno's steak was sliced, so it actually maintained the classic "steak" texture, more reminiscent of roast beef than typical cheesesteak. This is really more about the style of cheesesteak than the quality. Though Geno's sliced style was a bit tastier, it wasn't what I think of when I think of a true Philly Cheesesteak.
All in all I prefer the cheesesteak experience I found at Pat's King of Steaks. The fries were delicious (though I didn't try the fries at Geno's, I suspect they're about the same), the line moved faster, the onions weren't overwhelming, but just added to the sandwich, the cheese was tastier and meltier, and the whole experienced oozed real, authentic Philadelphia culture. If you want a taste of what Philadelphia really is all about, I'd recommend Pat's King of Steaks.
So for some reason, my crazy friend, exit_265c, and his friend, Bill, decided to drive from Richmond, VA to my house (oh, probably about 5 hours) Saturday morning to go into Philadelphia for cheesesteaks. Why? To put the ages-old debate between Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks to rest once and for all... Not that the debate will ever really die...
So around 1pm they showed up and we headed to the train station. After much hemming and hawing we finally figured out where we were going, and I grabbed a handful of transit maps before we got some tokens (and change... wtf is up with SEPTA?!) and headed to the train. The ride from Norristown to the 69th St terminal was a token and 50 cents... At the terminal we said "screw it" and bought one-day "convenience" passes (which, it turns out, are only moderately convenient, as it does eliminate the confusion over tokens and change, but requires us to go to the booth and get our passes punched instead of just sliding through the turnstyle). We hopped the Market-Frankford line over the 15th St, where we walked the free interchange to the City Hall station and took the Broad Street line to Ellsworth-Federal, where we walked 6 blocks down to 9th street and found ourselves in the middle of the Italian Market Festival, where they had loud music and all the food you could possibly stuff in your face. We got ourselves some cheesesteaks from Pat's King of Steaks and sat down and stuffed our faces. The fries were delicious, the steak equally so. Surprisingly I didn't feel stuffed and bloated after the steak, and almost suggested that we go right over to Geno's now, while we're already here. Instead we decided to walk through the festival, because I craved ice cream. For some reason my stomach and tastebuds have decided that the best thing after a filling meal is Handel's ice cream... Only some of the best (scooped) ice cream I've ever had (I specify scooped because Carl's ice cream is soft-serve and comparing the two is like apples and oranges... I will make no judgement between the two). But here in this italian festival they sold every type of italian sustainance, but NO ICE CREAM. So I settled for some gelato. Blood orange. Mmmm... We ended up walking the length of the festival, a good 6 or 8 blocks or so (the cross roads were named, not numbered, so I lost count). By the time we got to the end we were far enough away from Ellsworth-Federal that we decided to just walk the rest of the way to Market St and pick up whatever line took us to City Hall. At City Hall we decided to go to the Art Museum. Zesty declared that the Art Museum was "behind City Hall" so we could hit both landmarks no problem, then take the Broad Street line back to "Cheesesteak Corner"... Little did we know that while the Art Museum was technically "behind" City Hall, it was still at least a mile or so away. We got halfway there and stopped at the fountain. Initially we decided that the Art Museum was just NOT worth it... but after resting at the fountain and getting a little windblown spray of water we figured it was something we could tackle. So we walked to the Art Museum, where we got some photos of the Rocky statue and I took some pictures of the two of them racing up the steps. I declined to race - it's all just a silly tradition. No, we did not actually go *in* the Art Museum. They just wanted to run up the steps.
After spending my last $4 on an overpriced and mediocre coconut water ice we took the Phlash trolley back to City Hall and repeated our earlier train adventure back to Cheesesteak Corner. By this time you can imagine that we were all hungry enough for a second cheesesteak. We were a bit underwhelmed by the hour long wait in line at Geno's, but we decided to give the steak a fair shot. Afterwards we decided not to further repeat our earlier detour and hoofed it straight back to the station to backtrack back to Norristown.
In the end we all came to pretty much the same conclusion. Overall Pat's really is the King of Steaks. Geno's decor was overwhelming and gaudy. We did not find the giant picture of a cheesesteak surrounded by flashing neon lights on the roof to be particularly endearing and certainly did not add to the flavor of the sandwiches. The bright neon orange slathered all over every possible paintable surface did not help, either. I greatly preferred and appreciated the understated and unassuming simplicity of the decor (or lack thereof) that we found at Pat's. They still had what looked like the original Pepsi sign with their name. We were also taunted by a 10 year old walking by with a Geno's cup while we were minding our own business, sitting on the curb eating our steaks.
None of us appreciated the blatant politics of Geno's either. For those unaware of the controversy, a few years ago Geno's was sued for having a sign on their window that said "This is America, Speak English when ordering!!"... While I acknowledge their right to have whatever signs broadcasting whatever politics to which they ascribe, I find the hypocrisy of their Italian heritage coupled with their obvious prejudices to be quite distasteful.
On to the actual food.
The rolls from both place were exactly the same. More bread than meat - first bite: all bread. The onions at Pat's were actually fried, with that caramelized color and flavor I like in my onions (when on a cheesesteak, that is). Geno's onions seemed to have been lightly fried, more from incidental contact. They were still so crunchy that they were almost fresh. Not that I mind fresh onions, but fried onions aren't supposed to have that fresh-onion zing. They're supposed to be fried.
The cheese. I could barely taste the cheese at Geno's. I opted for provolone, while my companions opted for the orange cheese-snot product called Cheez-Whiz. Pat's was generous with their provolone and the steak was hot enough to actually melt it before I was able to sink my teeth into it. Initially my companions did complain about the Whiz oozing out of the sandwich and onto the paper, but after eating at Geno's they realized that having enough Whiz to *taste*, much less have ooze out of the sandwich was a blessing, not a curse.
Finally, the steak. This is the one point that we did have to give to Geno's. Pat's steak was shredded, more or less, which is really the way every cheesesteak I've had is. I have no complaints at all about shredded steak, however Geno's steak was sliced, so it actually maintained the classic "steak" texture, more reminiscent of roast beef than typical cheesesteak. This is really more about the style of cheesesteak than the quality. Though Geno's sliced style was a bit tastier, it wasn't what I think of when I think of a true Philly Cheesesteak.
All in all I prefer the cheesesteak experience I found at Pat's King of Steaks. The fries were delicious (though I didn't try the fries at Geno's, I suspect they're about the same), the line moved faster, the onions weren't overwhelming, but just added to the sandwich, the cheese was tastier and meltier, and the whole experienced oozed real, authentic Philadelphia culture. If you want a taste of what Philadelphia really is all about, I'd recommend Pat's King of Steaks.