In the battle of Geno’s versus Pat’s there doesn’t seem to be much of a dispute about who created the famous Philly cheesesteak. That honor belongs to Pat’s King of Steaks, the second stop in my late-night journey to the vaunted food tourism spot. Situated quite literally across the street from Geno’s, Pat’s serves up cheesesteaks at the exact same price to ensure that any taste-tester is not biased by such a thing.
As always I ordered “whiz without” and while Pat’s took an instant longer to prepare than Geno’s, it was still damn quick. I chalk up the extra second to the fact that Pat’s chops up their steaks. They also seem to put a little more care in their cheese spreading as it turned out to be nicely distributed throughout the sandwich. The bread was basically the same as Geno’s, which meant it was good, but not great.
Yet, in my mind and mouth the overall package of the Pat’s cheesesteak was the best I had in my triple cheesesteak visit to Philly. It might just have been the chopped steak element, but whatever it was worked. I am certain there are better cheesesteaks to be found in Philly, Pat’s was not at all a letdown and the champion of an only 48 hour visit.
