The Dodgers may have been dominated by the Philadelphia Phillies in the MLB playoffs, but I’m not going to hold it against them, or their food. Everyone has their favorite sandwich. Ask anyone what their favorite sandwich is and they’ll give you an answer. For some, it’s the sub. Others may like a Rueben, a grilled cheese sandwich, or maybe just a hamburger. For me, it’s the Philly Cheesesteak. Here in Southern California, the closest we can get to an authentic Philly Cheesesteak is from Philly’s Best, a chain that imports authentic ingredients from Philadelphia.
Also in this episode:
• Kilt Lifter Scotch Ale from Moylan’s
• Like horror movies? Join me in two weeks for a special Halloween episode, try your hand in the Scary Movie Quote Game, and win a bottle of The Bruery’s Autumn Maple, the perfect Fall beer.
• Food shortage problems in Cuba
• BeachGreens now delivers fresh local produce to your home or business
• Tony Madone and his Colorado-based farm-to-table project
• A rep for Budweiser throws his weight around at some indie bands from Muncie
• New documentary about young up-and-coming farmers, The Greenhorns.
Check out my pictures from Philly’s Best.
Music in this episode by Pendulum. Download it in the iTunes store.
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my life as a foodie 
People think I’m kidding when I say Kilt Lifter is da bomb until they have it. I drink bombers of it like water.
I’ve been to Pat’s (Geno’s sucked) in South Philly with my buddy Drew and he said if we didn’t order right we’d have to go to the end of the line which was already a 45 minute wait. Phil you have it nailed down on how to order because there were ppl in front of us who got the boot. You gotta do the cheese wiz in Philly but at home I like the provolone
We have this kickass virtual farmers market here that sells organic and delivers also but right now to businesses. Lushie orders all the time from them and picks up at her office. Good Apples – http://www.goodapples.org/
The Bud thing is bullshit. they have no problem selling sex in their ads but get all huffy because of the word “balls”?
Thanks for running the Ball City/Muncie thing. I am fascinated about the whole getting booted to the end of the line while ordering a sandwich. A restaurant around here would last about 20 minutes if it treated a customer like that. When I was a dinner cook, many moons ago, we had a sandwich that was paper thin ribeye browned on a flattop with onions. At the cheese stage, provolone was layed on top and then drowned in soy sauce. A cover was added and the boiling soy steamed the cheese. It was served on long bun and it was great. I want a small flattop in my house. If you level it your kitchen perfectly during installation you can make some huge omelets.
Good stuff, Phil! I’ve eaten many Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia and you are right on about how tight they are about ordering. I do have to correct you however. There is no “downtown” Philadelphia. There is Center City and there is everywhere else.
Within Philadelphia there are two regional varieties of cheesesteak. South Philly style, slices and oozing CheezeWhiz, and Roxborough Cheesesteak, chopped with provolone blended in. Best South Phily style is Geno’s. Best Roxboroug style is Delassandro’s.
There are two great cheesesteaks outside of Philadelphia – Silvios in Hatboro and White House Subs in Atlantic City. Both are incredible.
Keep up the great work. The shows just seem to get better all the time.
G.
I’ve been to Philadelphia on business on several occasions and have had a lot of different food AND CHEESE STEAKS. The cheese of choice is usually Cheese Whiz. I like Jim’s much more than Pat’s mostly because Jim’s has an indoor eating area. I also hate Cheese Whiz, but it’s used at the Pat’s and just about every other place that sells cheese steaks in Philadelphia. You get a choice of American Cheese, Cheese Whiz, or Provalone at almost all cheese steak places.
In fact, not only do people in Philly debate where the best cheese steak can be bought, but they also debate whether or not a real authentic Philly Cheese Steak has Cheese Whiz or another kind of cheese. I prefer Provalone. I am not even sure if Cheese Whiz is a real food product! It tastes mostly of chemicals.
Thanks for your comments everyone. I know the argument about who makes the best cheese steak in Philadelphia (and the surrounding area) is a very popular one, and will go on forever. And I’m certain what I’m getting here in CA would be considered second-rate by those people, but I love what I’m able to get here and grateful for it.
JeffreyT, you’re dead on about the customer service thing. I don’t know how any business would survive treating their customers that way, but people can take a lot of abuse and continue to come back. When the line is 45 minutes long, you know it must be worth it. Although I’ve taken so much abuse when I’ve gone out that I can’t tolerate it any more. That’s why I don’t venture too far out that much. Owning a big griddle would certainly be the mutt’s nuts though, wouldn’t it? Imagine what you could do with that.
G, sorry if I said “downtown” Philly. Not being from there, I think I may have just picked up that term somewhere. I know it’s a big city, so there are lots of suburbs. I think the closest I came to it was Springfield or something.
Wow, the Domino’s pizza thing actually does NOT suprise me! I love Moylan’s but we can get all the
Moylans except for the damn Hopsickle! Only available on the Eastern PA side unfortunately!
Your “hero” comment made me think of my buddy Eric the Gin, we had a discussion of different terms in different areas of the country. He is originally from Conneticut and I was making fun of him for saying “hero” when we just call them “hoagies” here. Started an interesting discussion on that!
We call Philly “The city of brotherly drugs”
Looking forward to the Halloween show dude! “Anger thought so no thought touched inside crazy”!
Screw Budweiser, they are just being their corporate selves too worried about “tarnishing” their image and simply losing a buck. Has nothing to do with their integrity, simply comes down to being too afraid of losing sales. They need a reality check dude.
Hippies suck!
Thanks for the inspiration to go to the store and get Philly Cheese Steak fixin’s. I’ve been searching for a good “South Philly” style sandwich since I was in Philadelphia many years ago. F’them. I’ll go make my own! And all I can say is YUM. I had a girlfriend introduce me to steak’ums back in the early ’80s – I’m surprised they’re still at the stores.
Loved the comparison of Anheiser Busch to an Ugly Mean Girl/Ugly Rich Chick that will die alone. You must have had that image in your head for some time! Great stuff.
I enjoyed the GABF references too – we wish you would’ve come too. Hopefully next year. Still recovering honestly.
Sweet outro music!
You talked about the BeachGreens thing it sounds a lot like a CAS (Community Supported Agriculture) http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ My wife and i joined one up here in Seattle WA and we love it. We get great produce dropped off near our home and it helps a local farm.
Thanks David. I will definitely plug that in the next episode. CAS is a brilliant idea, and it would be a great thing for everyone to look into. I cannot stress enough how important it is to support your local farms. Thanks for listening.
And Rick, no one else would have the gumption to head off to the store and fire up some home made cheese steaks like you. That was awesome to read. Glad you had a good sandwich day. Hope we can make the GABF together next year.