To long road between Pittsburgh and Upstate New York doesn’t exactly run through the most populated part of the country, and when it comes to stopping for (non-fast) food, the options are pretty much State College or Scranton. Due to hunger and a desire to get a taste of another Big Ten campus, I made State College my destination and found Carvers Deli & Barbecue.

True to its Big Ten-ness, Carvers had sandwiches named for each Big Ten mascot. I hoped that the Wolverine would be worthy, but it was basically just chicken salad. Fortunately, the Buckeye wasn’t any better. I ended up picking the Cornhusker, which came with smoked beef brisket, cheddar, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo and horseradish on ciabatta. I ordered mine without those veggies and picked mac and cheese for my side.

The result was definitely surprising as far as brisket sandwiches go. Unlike your typical BBQ spot, this was some deli-esque thin-sliced meats. Fortunately, when combined with cheese, bacon and horseradish, it made for a pretty decent – if not overly exciting – sandwich. The mac and cheese was actually pretty amazing and left me wanting more. At the end of the day, Carvers was tailor-made for college students – decent food at great prices. And while the flavors might not be life-changing, in college all that matters is that they get the job done.

Layovers are never fun. And I don’t mean the extended layovers that give you time to leave the airport to explore a city. I mean the layovers where you are just stuck in an airport waiting for a connecting flight. Yet, amidst that suck a lot of airports have begun to move away from only offering crappy fast food and overly expensive generic sports bar food. One of these places is Philly’s F Terminal, where a cheesesteak spot going by the name of Tony Luke’s can be found.

Tony Luke’s sports a full breakfast sandwich menu for such ungodly hours, but still has the classic cheesesteak available. I ordered mine large with whiz and without onions, then waited a few minutes as the steak was prepared. The sandwich looked pretty solid, however, I was a little disappointed to find the meat was just kind of a slab in the middle of the bread. I guess when it comes down to it, I’m just a chopped cheesesteak kind of guy. Everything else was as good as you might expect, with a nice, even spread of cheese and slightly crunchy and fluffy roll to take it all down.

If you’re a fan of unchopped cheesesteak, Tony Luke’s is a great bet, but to me there’s just something about that chop that takes a good cheesesteak to the next level.

I’m not sure any first-time trip to Philly is worthwhile without a trip to Pat’s and Geno’s. Yes, I realize that they probably attract more tourists than locals, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are bad. Yes, I also realize that this wasn’t my first trip to Philly, but the only other time I set foot in the city was long before I became a meat blogger and I was snowed in the whole time anyway. So, yeah, I feel confident in saying it wasn’t worthwhile. I began my taste test with Geno’s for no other reason aside from that spot being where my taxi dropped me off.

As per the instructions, I ordered “wiz without.” Within moments, the cheesesteak was ready. And I mean like instantly. I couldn’t immediately locate the cheese when the sandwich was handed to me, but I was able to find it after a bite or two. Unfortunately, the majority of the cheese was kind of just on the end of the sandwich with the fold, requiring me to take a couple bites to get the full cheese effect. Geno’s doesn’t chop up their steak so it looks a little flat, but it is plenty meaty. The bread was good, but not as as good as Steve’s because it was a bit too squishy, but otherwise it was quite satisfying.

While I had heard Geno’s might be a bit overrated, it didn’t disappoint. After I finished up, it was time to make my way across the street for another cheesesteak.