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I Don’t Think We’re Talking Enough About the Philly Cheesesteak Golden Age
By Kyle Pagan
Published:
The Philly Cheesesteak has been around for about 80 years, but is going through quite the Renaissance and I don’t think enough people are talking about it. Don’t let Philly Mag food editors fool you. We are in the Golden Age of the Philly Cheesesteak. Everywhere you look people are starting to step up their cheesesteak game and not just on the grill.
The most important upgrade lately has been the bread. Angelo’s has lead the way and everyone is starting to pick up the slack. People will say everyone is just copying the gold standard. Well the cheesesteak game is a copycat league so you better get it together or risk being left behind.
It’s the same way the Eagles resurrected the running back position and now record contracts are being handed out and RBs are starting to go in the top-10 of the NFL Draft again. We’re all benefitting from it. Look at this absolute beauty I got from Del Rossi’s over the weekend:
Listen, the buff chick surprised me too. I thought I was splitting a delicious Cooper Sharp cheesesteak with my fiance and settling in to watch the Phils until she pulled a fast one on me and audibled to a buff chick without even asking. Not the type of move when you’re trying to build a lifelong covenant if you ask me. Some Abraham and Sarah Old Testament secret-type shit that can’t happen. Gonna have to add another line to the vows in a couple months. Thou shall not change up the delivery order. Still, it was ELITE. There also wasn’t a millimeter that didn’t have cheese and meat so beautifully molded together. The bread was perfect. Take your best bread place in France or Italy and a small hole in the wall right off of Spring Garden could go toe to toe with them. I’m not even being a homer. This bread looks like it was hand-crafted by the gods. Lets not forget, that even before Angelo’s, places all over the world were flying in Philly bread for years.
The best thing about the cheesesteak is that it knows no bounds. We just had a guy from Japan come over to do a Philly cheesesteak pop-up and the line was around the corner:
Where did he do his homework? Philly of course. He meticulously went to tons of cheesesteak joints in Philadelphia, took what was the best from each, and opened up a joint halfway around the world. If you don’t think this is the Golden Age of the Cheesesteak you’re just a hater probably working for Big Hoagie. Did PGA Tour golfers order hoagies at the Truist this weekend? Nope. Because they couldn’t stop stuffing their faces with Angelo’s:
When the Michelin Guide comes to Philly this summer they better include a cheesesteak joint. Enough of the run of the mill fu fu restaurants that get all of the shine. Imagine how funny it would be if some mom and pop shop on the corner won a Michelin Star. I mean there are cheesesteaks made in backyards that are better than some businesses who have been doing it for decades. Then you’ve got Cafe Carmela out in the Northeast, food trucks in West Chester, or joints in Doylestown that are all upping their game. A rising tide lifts all ships and I can’t wait to see what’s next.
Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com