Category Archives: Cheesesteak News

Silent Bob Chooses Geno’s

A new feature here on CheeesesteakGuru, will be to find any news from the celebrity world and determine their Cheesesteak preference.  Where do they go?  How do they order?

 In a recent blog posting on Kevin Smith’s MySpace page, itemizes his week including every time he showers, shaves, has sex, eats, meets and greets, writes, talks, spits, vomits, and watches TV.  This is OLD School blogging at it’s finest.  Here is my on-line diary.  NOW deal with it. 

 On his way to Cornell University for a speaking engagement, Smith finds himself at Philadelphia International Airport.   There after determining it was 80 degrees outside, he split a cheesesteak from a place in the terminal.  If I flew or randomly hung out in the airport terminal like Tom Hanks, I could tell you where he bought his cheesesteak.  (He calls it a cheese-steak). For argument’s sake and the proximity to the Bose store, I’m going to say he went to Philly Steak and Gyro.

 On his return trip from Cornell, he… well let’s Kevin Tell it:

Twenty minutes in, I talk to Bryan Johnson, who tells me the SModcast equipment he’d Fed-Exed to the Stash East arrived, but since nobody was around to sign for it, it’s being held in the sectional center in Eatontown. Since it’s Sunday, we won’t be able to pick it up ’til tomorrow morning, so my plans to do a Kev/Walt/Bry SModcast pre-poker tourney are shot. Since there’s no rush to get to Red Bank, Jim and I turn the car around and head back into Philly, to grab some Geno’s.

We wait in line for a few minutes, ’til we get up to the ordering window and the guy working it says “What’re you doing out there? Come inside.” They put us at the indoor “celebrity” table, where Jim and I indulge in some awesome, Whiz-covered steaks and fries. It’s about the furthest thing from my diet, but fuck it: I earned this shit.

So there you have it, Kevin Smith is man after my own heart. If you got the time… stop for some cheesesteaks.  I might not choose Geno’s for obvious reasons.  But I never really thought Cheesesteaks should be a political topic. 

 Coming soon, the October Cheesesteak.  Where oh where will it be???

Rick’s Steaks Losing Lease; Amish Fighting Back

Now, we haven’t posted in a while.  And when you are the CheesesteakGuru, that’s just unacceptable.  But this story we’ve been following for a while now, but we haven’t posted.  And that’s just a shame.

 The Reading Terminal Market has not renewed Rick’s Steaks lease.  Rick’s has been in the market for over 25 years.  Rick Oliveri is the grandson of Pat Oliveri, the man who along with his brother Harry invented the Cheesesteak. 

And guess who is on Rick’s side?  The Amish!  As an avid customer of the Dutch Counter, I’m a big fan of the Amish!

No Habla Englais? No Steak For You… NEXT!!!

Traditionally, visitors to the mecca of cheesesteaks at 9th and Passyunk have been treated to let’s just say not the friendliest customer service.  You have to understand, Pat’s Steaks and Geno’s Steaks sell thousands of steaks a day.  On a Saturday night, after a Phillies-Red Sox game, a big concert or two, with some nice weather, thousands of patrons will head on down to the Cheesesteak Warzone.  So you the speed in which you order becomes paramount.  Ordering is fairly simple.  But you have to get it down.  Cheese first, then tell whether you want onions or not.  You want a Cheeseteak with Provolone and Onions?  “It’s Provolone Wit”  Or simply “Provy Wit”.  Simplicity is key. 

So it comes as NO surprise that those who do not speak the language, could shake some chains, so to speak.  But for one of the owners of the cheesesteak places, Joe Vento of Geno’s Steaks, he’s decided to stand at the forefront of the nation’s immigration battle and the ONE language for all cause, in the oddest of places.  In South Philly.  America’s Birthplace’s favorite food, is the main battleground for Immigration!  Who would have thunk it!  New Mexico? Texas?  California?  No the real battles are fought for a someslabs of meat and cheese on a roll, that may or may not contain onions.  Again, that is up to you.  As long as you speak the language.

Last year Geno’s Steaks got in the middle of the hoopla by putting up a sign that says: “This is America.  Speak English When Ordering.”  That sign is still there.  And Vento has no problem with in.  In fact, he says there are some customers who are supporting his views.

We here at CheesesteakGuru have enjoyed Geno’s steaks.  Although, I have not purchased one from Geno’s since a New Years Eve a few years ago.  The fact that I vomited outside the Wyndham Franklin Plaza later that night, not withstanding.  I also had a wonderful Geno’s steak a couple years ago when Citizens Bank Park first opened.  It really was very good.  But you may or may not see a review of Geno’s for a while.  Not while that sign is up. 

 We have so many problems in the world.  And someone speaking Spanish is NOT one of them.  Be part of the solution, not the problem.Â