The land of 1000 Cheese Steaks

Well we seem to have reached the end of the road. We thought it fitting to sample what Philly has to offer by way of The Cheesesteak. The two places that came up were Geno's and Pat's in The Italian Market area. (The former the "Best cheesesteak in the city", the latter the birthplace of it.) As someone who has sampled many a Cheesesteak in my day I have to say that it's good the place was crawling with tourists. It was fun and campy and for $9 bucks you should be happy to get what you do. Be mindful of the ordering process however as they will tell you very quickly if you order a sandwich or french fries in the wrong manner or at the wrong window. Honestly, neither of us was that impressed, and if that's the "best" Philly has to offer, they'll be clamoring over our menu.

The Italian market itself had some amazing shops that filled the senses as you walk in with cheeses and meats that could rival any found in Italy. Who knew that a Sopresata could sell for $30 a lb? I wanted to try some of the cheeses but as we are on our last day and last dime Brett wouldn't let me. I know I'll be back when we move down here.

We also had a chance to really explore the Wissahickon (over 60 miles of trails!!) on foot (since we sold our bikes) and it was majestic. The streams were full, the trees were green, and the air sweet from the torrential summer rain that came the day before.



We will will miss Philadelphia and for some reason it feels like instead of us going home we are leaving it.
-Ruben

Halal

Just had the best hot dog we have ever tasted in our lives. An all beef frank from a Halal butcher in Center City. (As he explained it to us, Halal is essentially Kosher for Muslims - though that is a simplification).

Regardless, it made for the best frank we've ever had; juicy, crunchy casing, full hearty meat flavor, no aftertaste - and of course, absolutely NO added ingredients like the Dietz & Watson or Vienna Beef dogs we've been finding all over the city.

I'm putting in a call to the butcher in the morning for wholesale pricing info and we're going to talk to him about a discount for using him exclusively as our frank supplier and for putting his shop's name in our menu (yes, it was that good lol). After all the hot dogs we've tried in the past month, finding one that good is worth pursuing.

-Brett