2. Steve’s Prince of Steaks, 7200 Bustleton Avenue, Northeast Philadelphia, 215-338-0985.
There is a perception in this town that to get a genuinely great cheesesteak, you need to head south of, say, Washington Avenue. Too bad. Because the one we had at Steve’s in the near Northeast should eliminate any geographic bias.
The hand-trimmed roast beef is tender, thickly sliced and doesn’t have a trace of fat. Because Steve’s uses top quality meat (one of my tasters – a former butcher – declared it to be eye round, which would be very impressive) it doesn’t have to be diced into oblivion. Instead, it’s grilled in whole slices and laid across a torpedo roll. Ahh, let your eyes savor this thing of beauty for a few moments before your taste buds take over.
One more plus: The quality of the beef means they don’t have to cook into a vulcanized rubber mess. The pros at Steve’s actually take the meat off the grill when there’s a trace of pink left. Everything else is top shelf – the provolone had a little bite to it, the onions carmelized into a sweet accent and the chewy roll held up its end of the deal.
This is a truly magnificent sandwich, one worth breaking the diet for, a cheesesteak for the ages. Others may haughtily declare themselves “The King;” we’ll bow down to “The Prince.”
good article on steak's in philly. The blurb above is about my favorite place in NE philly, prince's steaks. The poorly palated philistines put prince's steaks in 2nd place. don't know who john or his roast pork is, but i assume i'll be trying that whenever i make it back to phila.
