(Read the intro post for background on this trip.)

Today was a tough drive. Andrew (24) and I were on the road for almost nine hours going from Columbus, Ohio to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The remnants of Hurricane Ida were beating down on the area, so it rained hard all day. We received tornado watch/warnings and flash flood watches too. We decided not to stop at all, which was a bummer since I had hoped to pay our respects at the Flight 93 National Memorial, especially since it’s just a few days until the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

Today was also a no-burger day for us. Since we are spending the night in Philadelphia, we decided to sample the Philly cheesesteak sandwiches instead. We decided not to brave the bad weather, so we had cheesesteaks delivered from three restaurants to our hotel instead. We chose Pat’s King of Steaks (the original), Geno’s Steaks (across the street from Pat’s and almost as well known), and Jim’s South Street (a favorite among locals). We knew these would be less tasty after waiting to be delivered vs. eating there, but it was a good way to try more of them easily (and stay out of the bad weather.

From each restaurant we ordered cheesesteaks with onions, peppers, mushrooms, and whiz (Cheese Whiz – a classic choice). We also got one sandwich with provolone instead of whiz from Pat’s.

We were pretty surprised how different the three sandwiches were, especially since they apparently all get their bread from the same supplier. Pat’s was pretty disappointing. The meat was flavorless and dry, and there wasn’t much of anything in the bun – less meat, toppings, and cheese than the other restaurants. The bun was stale to boot. We couldn’t tell too much difference between the whiz and provolone versions since there was so little cheese in the sandwiches.We didn’t even finish these.

Whiz and provolone sandwiches from Pat’s. Notice how sparsely filled these are and how dry the buns are.

The sandwich from Geno’s was much better. It had more cheese and toppings, and the meat had more flavor. The bun was damp with cheese and the juices from the meat, which was delicious. This was Andrew’s favorite.

Geno’s sandwiches. Notice how much more filled the sandwich is and how much more the buns have soaked up cheese and juice vs. Pat’s.

The sandwich from Jim’s had much more meat than either of the others. The meat was also much more finely chopped vs. the others, which were more sliced. I thought their toppings were better than the other two places too, although Andrew wanted more cheese on Jim’s. I thought this was the tastiest sandwich and was my favorite.

Look how much more meat there is in the sandwich from Jim’s. The bun is also soaked with flavor…

You can see how much more chopped up the meat is on the sandwich from Jim’s (right) vs. Pat’s (left).

It turns out the topic of who has the best cheesesteak in Philadelphia is something of a hot topic, bordering on religion. Pat’s and Geno’s are the best known and have the most tourist attention. There are a lot of other restaurants that also have cheesesteaks here (like Jim’s). I didn’t realize there was so much variation. We’ll have to come back and try more. Hopefully, there won’t be a hurricane, tornadoes, and flooding next time.