Food Club Takes It on the Road

What is food club you ask? First off, food club is genius. Everyone should have a food club. In one quick sentence, food club was created as an excuse to eat out with great friends who like to eat as much as we do. We try a new restaurant in New York about once a month and rotate turns amongst members (5 of us) to pick new restaurants. Guest members are allowed, but only if you are fun. Applications and bribes are currently being accepted. (Note: Jamie prefers bribes in the form of shoes.) Food club has been around for over a year and we have eaten everything from Ethiopian food to fried chicken (Korean and American) to Italian.

Yesterday, we took the show on the road. A car was rented, maps were printed and we set off to Jamie's old stomping grounds, Philly. Our mission is probably obvious -- we went to eat cheesesteaks. And by eat I mean visit three different cheesesteak places to determine our favorite. Total consumption of the day: 6 cheesesteaks, one order of cheese fries, one soft pretzel, and multiple beers. By the end, one of us was slumped over the table and declared that her beer tasted like cheesesteak. We viewed that as success.

The trip down was long. Fil mentioned he hadn't eaten yet and became slightly delirious while we sat in traffic and downpouring rain. After a two hour ride we found parking (triumph number one) and made our way into South Philly.

First stop, Geno's. In spite of the humidity (the rain mostly held off for us, triumph number two) the lines were long. Fil gazed longingly at the line cooks making the cheesesteaks while the rest of us tried to distract him from his growling stomach by naming the various "celebrities" whose pictures were posted all over the walls and ceiling. Among notables were Rocky and Cher, and by notable we mean the lone recognizable faces. We observed how incredibly obnoxious the family who owns Geno's seems to be upon seeing the sign that requires people to order in English. As we got closer to ordering, strategy was discussed. After a democractic process, we decided to order two cheesesteaks at each restaurant, one "whiz with" and one "provi with." In non-Philly speak this means that one cheesesteak would have fried onions and cheese whiz and the other would have provolone and fried onions. Since people in Philly are crazy about how to order a cheesesteak, Jamie was placed in charge of ordering because she had mastered the lingo in high school having spent many late nights at these fine establishments. By the time we got our food, we were so hungry we didn't really taste the cheesesteaks. In spite of our hunger, we weren't that impressed. The cheese whiz was watery, the provolone was bland. The best part of the sandwich was the bread, which isn't saying much. Geno's got some explainin' to do.

After a brief huddle, we decided to immediately move to Geno's across-the-street-competitor, Pat's King of Steaks. Pat's is the self proclaimed originator of the cheesesteak in Philly and had a noticeably friendlier vibe. There was no requirement about ordering in English but there was a helpful sign posted about how to order. Seth and Micol procured a table while Fil and Jamie were in charge or getting the food. We stayed on the same track with a last minute spontaneous order of cheese fries by Jamie (triumph number three). The cheesesteaks at Pat's were much better than Geno's. It is obvious Pat's takes pride in its sandwiches. They are bigger, more carefully made and better flavored. And the cheese fries. Well, let's say Pat's wins for best whiz ever. They should patent it.

We took a short break from our cheesesteak crusade to venture into the Italian market, which is just steps from Geno's and Pat's along 9th Street in South Philly. The Italian market is basically all things good that are food, as you walk from cheese shop to butcher to fishmonger to greengrocer. The food is fresh and the prices inexpensive. Seth walked away with a sliced hot sopresetta (that's personal) and Micol picked up some Italian cookies that reminded her of growing up in Venice. We lost Seth a few times in the fish market and we giggled our way through a visit to a butcher shop. Scrapple was discussed and in our first good decision of the day we did not stop to try it.

After perusing the Italian market, we headed back to our car and drove to Olde City for our third cheesesteak venue, Campo's. Campo's is consistently voted "Best of Philly" for cheesesteaks and is Jamie's favorite. Once again our order was duplicated and a soft pretzel was added (by Jamie of the "eyes bigger than her stomach"fame). The provi with was definitely the best of the day at Campo's and the whiz with was a strong second. Jamie and Micol had a difficult time finishing their share, given their extra indulgence on Campo's soft pretzel with whiz. (or maybe it was the previous two cheesesteaks they had eaten but who is counting). They were gross. But perhaps Fil and Seth got even grosser, taking it upon themselves to finish what Jamie and Micol could not eat of the cheesesteaks. Delicious!

At this point, we waddled over to Triumph brewery (also in Olde City) to sample some of their housemade brews, though Triumph had a tall task to face in the midst of our food comas. Flash now to Micol opining that her beer tastes like a cheesesteak as she loses consciousness at the table. There was a lot of giggling and discussions of cheesesteak. After the votes were tallied, we had the following winners of the day:

Best Whiz With: Pat's

Best Provi With: Campo's

By now, none of us were speaking coherently. Another cheesesteak might've been the antidote, but instead we did the smarter move and got back in the car to NYC. After a brief stop in Newark for wine and dessert (yes, we ate even more and the tasty Portuguese pastries Fil introduced us to were well worth it), we made it back to NYC triumphant by our successful adventure.