In search of the real Philly sandwich

Max Jacobson

Wednesday, March 28, 2001 | 8:32 a.m.

Philadelphia is famous for suchfoods as pepper pot soup and scrapple, but the city's most popular food export is undoubtedly the Philly steak sandwich, a roll stuffed with thinly sliced beef, plus options such as cheese, homemade roasted peppers or grilled onions.

The sandwich began life as a straight steak sandwich on a crusty Italian roll, but today it is most commonly eaten with cheese, and many establishments serve it on a soft roll.

In Philadelphia, where such places as Pat's, Jim's and other legendary establishments serve thousands of these sandwiches every week, locals prefer their cheese to be Cheese Wiz (as it is called on menus there, so as not to infringe on the Cheese Whiz copyright), American or provolone cheese, and fresh Amoroso rolls from a famous local bakery.

Purists eat the sandwich without cheese, the original way. Meat ranges from top of the round and rib-eye, to cheaper, less-flavorful cuts. The result is a gooey, yielding sandwich of which your aerobics instructor will not approve.

The following are a few places in Las Vegas to experience a Philly steak sandwich, with or without cheese:

Vegas Subs Las Vegas Hilton John Totoro, who bakes the wonderfully crusty rolls that make the subs here so good, doesn't call his steak sub a Philly steak, but only because he is from Atlantic City, and there the sandwich is normally eaten with lettuce and tomato. Leave out those vegetables, though, and you've got an authentic Philly steak sub, a real winner.

Maybe you knew this place when it was called White House Subs, named after a famous Atlantic City sub shop. Two months ago the company changed the name, but the product remains the same, and it is first rate. A 9-inch steak sub is $6.75, 20 cents extra if you want it with provolone cheese melted into the meat while it is finishing on the grill.

Eighteen-inch steak subs are $12.50, and if you spring for the biggie, the cheese is free.

What makes the sub so good is the crusty, nearly perfect bread, which is baked fresh daily on the premises in huge ovens. What's more, the meat is thinly sliced rib-eye, as tender and tasty a filling for a steak sub as the law allows. Fried onions come with the sandwich as well, if that is your pleasure.

Capriotti's

Eight Las Vegas locations

The "Best of Delaware" cheesesteak awards plastered on the walls of these terrific submarine sandwich shops were not awarded randomly. Capriotti's makes a topnotch cheesesteak, and it is no accident that you often queue up to order one.

The meat is thinly sliced according to the owner's specifications, then grilled to order. Onions and peppers are optional, as they are in most of the top Philly establishments. The rolls are firm and chewy, baked fresh daily by a local bakery. The Capriottis, who moved here from Delaware, have tried scrupulously to reproduce their favorite sandwich here. The result is the best cheesesteak in the city, a generous, meaty, messy sandwich.

This isn't what you'd call a cheesy version. The "Cheese Whiz" option isn't offered, so you can have either provolone or American, both of which are nicely melted into the roll by the hot, juicy meat. A 9-incher, plenty for the average appetite, is $6, and 50 cents extra gets you fresh grilled mushrooms, an option which seems unreasonably indulgent, given how big and filling these sandwiches are.

Draft House

4543 N. Rancho Road

The version sold at this barn-like restaurant is the Philly cheesesteak. It comes with an order of fries or slaw and a dill pickle. The specialties are Wisconsin bratwursts and pecan-crusted walleyed pike. When it comes to cheesesteak, the phrase, "Don't quit your day job," springs to mind.

What you get is an open-face sandwich where the cheese (melted provolone) is on top of the meat, not next to the bun. The sandwich is liberally garnished with sauteed mushrooms, bell peppers and onion, but the vegetables aren't cooked enough and the meat is on the tough side, so that the entire thing ends up tasting like fajitas on stiff, doughy bread. If you are a Keystone Stater, you won't be impressed. The Draft House Philly cheesesteak sells for $6.25.

Straight From Philly Steakout

501 S. Decatur Blvd.

You'll order your sandwich from a screen and eat it on an outdoor patio on the noisy corner of Alta and Decatur, but you won't leave hungry. Just $5.10 gets you a massive Philly steak sandwich stuffed liberally with meat on a cottony roll. Options such as melted cheese, brushed-on roasted peppers, onions and mushrooms, cost extra.

The best deal is probably the No. 32, or Famous Philly Special, $6.90, where you get tasty grilled peppers, mushrooms and fried onions in your sandwich. You also get the option to have hot peppers.

This is greasy, delicious meat, already sitting in a giant metal bin, waiting to be warmed up on a hot griddle. They also serve fresh-cut fries made from Idaho potatoes, cooked in pure peanut oil. If the roll were better, this might be an even better cheesesteak than Capriotti's.

Triple Play

1875 S. Decatur Blvd.

A colleague swore that this was the best cheesesteak in the city, a claim that positively had to be investigated. It didn't turn out to be true.

Triple Play is a clubby bar and restaurant, which has a hot reputation for good bar chow. The menu is pretty extensive, and the steak sandwiches listed on it are called Philly's Finest. The base price is $5.95. If you want to turn it into a cheesesteak, then be prepared to pay an extra 75 cents. With your sandwich, you'll get a choice of curly fries, or a nice cole slaw, both first-rate.

The biggest problem with this sandwich is, again, the bread. The roll has an uninspiring commercial texture, a shame, given the fact that the kitchen uses sirloin tip and the American cheese is perfectly melted onto the insides of the bread.

This is tender, tasty meat, though, and the sport peppers on the side embellish it nicely. For night owls, the news is even better. Come between the hours of 1 and 7 a.m., and a cheesesteak is only $3.95, just slightly more than half the price it sells for during the day.