Percy Street Barbecue

Y'all know I'm not known for going to brand new restaurants right away. I like others to experience them early on while they're still working out the kinks, so I can enjoy them later, once they've got their act together. But in an effort to enjoy a nice Christopher Columbus outing, we dared visit Percy Street Barbecue during their first week of business. I was intrigued by this place due to the central texas style bbq that they promise. I went to grad school in Austin, so I ate my fair share of bbq while I was there. I don't claim to be an expert on bbq, or let alone food, but I do have plenty of experience in this field. And the bbq options in philly aren't all that great. There certainly aren't texas style bbq places around here. So I was hooked. Plus, I had watched this video of their trip to bbq mecca and I was optimistic that they would really be able to pull this off.
The space is pretty gorgeous and big. The menu is simple, and you can even see it written on these giant chalkboards by the kitchen. But this is a nice restaurant. Unlike the genuine bbq joints in texas, you won't see brown paper strewn across tables. But you will get rolls of paper towels to use as napkins. So it's a mix of modern design aesthetic and down home grubbing.
Bottles of water in vinegar bottles are set on each table and you can even get 1/2 gallons or gallons of beer. These come in big brown glass jugs. It's a lot of beer people, a lot. Please be warned. Meats are sold by the 1/2 lb and sides come small or large.
The waitress recommended that for each person, 1/2 lb of meat and two small sides should suffice. We got large mashed potatoes, large german potato salad, two large mac and cheeses, small green beans, and small collard greens. Ok, so the number one gripe with this place is the paltry portions of the side dishes. Mac and cheese only comes in large, and this large is perhaps an elf's definition of large. These are way too small, and the mac and cheese is way too good to be served this small. Please, this needs to be fixed.

The mashed potatoes seemed whipped, but were not completely smooth, so you know it was made from genuine potatoes. I liked them. The large portion was a genuine large portion. The potato salad was good too, but the large wasn't quite large. The green beans were good, and the small portion seemed right. The collard greens were ok, and like the green beans, its small portion sizing seemed spot on. The collard greens could have been cooked down more and probably should be cut up into smaller pieces. It was a bit hard to maneuver the big hunks of green.
Ok, onto the meats! We got everything but the sausage. Everything comes out in a tray and is served with white bread, pickles, and sliced raw onion. The accompaniments are pure central texas through and through, so I was impressed. There were 10 people in our party. We got 8 slices of bread. I'm pretty good at math but that simply does not add up. Are we supposed to cut this bread into pieces and share? Each person should get at least two pieces of bread(or more) on their own. This is how it should be done. There should be no sharing of bread. It's white bread. I think you guys can swing it!

The ribs were ok. As you can see they are pretty big, but ribs are ribs. These are not baby back ribs where the meat falls of the bone. These require work, and it was just a bit too much work for me. But they tasted fine. Now the pork belly on the other hand, the pork belly was AMAZING. Yes, so amazing that I capitalized it all. This pork belly was some of the best bbq I've ever had in my life, but also some of the best food I've ever had in my life. No joke. I could eat this day and night, despite what my arteries may have to say about it. This is the best thing on the menu here. Heed my word. Forget everything else, it's all about the pork belly here!
The brisket was ok. There are three options - moist, lean, and extra lean. We opted for the lean, but even the lean had a bit thick hunk of fat on top. The brisket was good, but it was too charred on the outside. The char is definitely not adding to the flavor. My favorite bbq in general is brisket (or at least it was until I had the pork belly here!) and whenever I've had it in texas, it never had char on the outside. It's supposed to have a nice red ring around the edges due to the smoke, but there should be no char.

Everyone was disappointed with the chicken. R wanted the chicken to taste like oven roasted chicken or rotisserie chicken. She also felt the chicken was dry. No one else thought the chicken was dry. In fact, we found it quite moist and juicy, but it was bland. It was so, so, so boring and bland. It had absolutely no flavor at all. We told the manager none of us liked the chicken and he was shocked. He said the chicken was his favorite thing on the menu. Egads. If plain, flavorless, bland chicken is your thing, then go for the chicken here. If not, then avoid it at all costs. But if you do get it, be sure to bring some kind of sauce for it.< src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI1YAluhXevCGOqZn_y0DBDgH-AbMazdoZLen5yuz846u-1shEtqy1OppZE-keSbDP90gBLglI07WA79UpGy8QhUUYjTftcilf6bKwuPSU39Q7__KTJ6rZNmJeuvHbAHA9HpPvIbSYjsw7/s400/percycake.jpg" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 354px; " alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407709549668727890" border="0">No one wanted any dessert, except for R. She wanted the chocolate layer cake. Man, was this thing disappointing. We thought the chicken couldn't be topped, but this sure beat it. This cake was dry, dry like the freakin Sahara, and it tasted like yellow cake mix from the grocery store. And not even Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker, I'm thinking generic no-frills yellow cake mix. We passed this around and after everyone took a bite, everyone had to drink. Cakes should be moist. What a cake fail!
But we did end the evening on a high note. We didn't order the pecan pie, but it showed up. I think it helped that we spent a whole crapload of money in their first week in business and that we gave them some honest constructive feedback. This pie was awesome! It wasn't freakishly sweet like some pecan pies I've had before, this was just sweet enough. I wholeheartedly recommend this pie.

So the service needs some work. The amount of time it took for our drinks to come out was not really acceptable. We were just sitting there wondering where our drinks were, for a very long time. This desperately needs to be improved. But the food came out pretty quick, so we were impressed with that. And the servers are nice and friendly. So basically, there were definitely hits and misses with the food here. The pork belly and the brisket are hits, as are the sides, and the pecan pie, but the portions of the sides, the chicken, and the chocolate layer cake are severe misses. But would I eat here again? Hell yeah, as I've been dreaming about the pork belly ever since!

Latest Yakitori Boy

Before heading out to a cabaret show, R and I stopped by Chinatown to grab some vittles. I hadn't been to yakitori boy in awhile, so that's where we ended up. R went with sushi and I went with non-sushi The rolls at yakitory boy have fewer pieces than at other restaurants, but that's ok, because the price tags tend to be smaller as well. Here are two philly rolls. And a couple sets of tuna and salmon nigiri. Even though it was actually fairly warm out, I still wanted noodle soup. So I went with the tempura soba. This is a fairly small sized bowl, but it's a decent portion for the price. One big piece of tempura shrimp and firm soba noodles. I like their udon broth here. I also got the tatsuta age, which is a deep fried marinated chicken dish. These were super duper hot! As in temperature hot. This chicken is awesome. And I totally dug the dipping sauce that came with it. I would put it on everything if I knew how to make it or if I could buy it! The food here comes out as it's made. There's no waiting for everything to be ready or appetizers showing up first. It just comes out when it's been made and ready. My chicken didn't come out until we were pretty much both done with everything. Which is bad timing, but that's part of their concept. And all the dishes are delivered by different people as well. Service is ok. Nothing bad, nothing great, somewhat inconsistent. But it's not fancy dining so it doesn't really matter to me. I did order a side of rice though and I had to ask for it again before they brought it out.

Tiffin Coming To Wynnewood

While running errands today, I saw that Tiffin was setting up shop in the old Wynnewood Pharmacy location. This is just doors down, if not next door, to Elevation Burger. Man, Wynnewood is getting lucky! I've been looking for a good indian takeout place since I stopped patronizing Khajuraho due to their horrific customer service (have not been there for nearly 4 years!). So for suburbanites like me, what an exciting opening to look forward to! Whoohoo!

Dinner Party Time!

On friday night, I had the honor of attending a lovely dinner party by R, teacher of young children and awesome dinner party thrower, extraordinaire. Can I just tell you how awesome his condo is? It's just awesome. I love everything about it. When I dream about the type of condo I would like to have, it's just like R's condo. Damn him. Not only the condo itself, but everything he has in it. If he ever wanted to trade, I would totally let him have my house. Really. No joke.
A variety of delicious cheese and crackers, pate, nuts, and olives. Wait till you see what else he made for this party. And he made it all himself. And the crazy thing is that he said he cooks like this every night. How can anyone cook like this every night? I'd need an extra 4 hours in my day! My jealousy grows...
A couple more appetizers... Chorizo with a shallot, onion, and apple reduction. Um, hello, can we say delicious? And some type of shrimp based appetizer housed in adorable little red endive leaves. Again, delicious. Who has time to make stuff like these? And we all adored the human pincushion toothpick holder.

A gorgeous antipasti with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, mozzarella, artichoke, peperoncini stuffed with ham and cheese, and all of it topped with the loveliest and thinnest slices of proscuitto. I took this picture before it was drizzled with olive oil and balsamic. Goodness. If all salads are like this, then I could agree to eat salads all the time.

For the main course, R outdid himself. Slow braised short ribs with wine and an apple based sauce. It was super tender and so heavily flavored and amazing. It was served on top of mascarpone polenta. And served with some haricot verts. Again, can I ask, who cooks like this? I would end up eating at 1AM. Everything was amazing.
Just when you think you're done, he laid these little puppies on us. Lemons filled with lemon curd, topped with lemon meringue. And at the bottom of these tasty little treats, crushed graham crackers. Unbelievable. Truly unbelievable. If all dinner parties are like this, please, please invite me to your dinner parties. I am an excellent guest. I will sing and dance if you ask. I will bring cake (like the mocha cake). I will help clean. Really. And as for R, he can invite me over any time. It was definitely a dinner party to remember. My stomach won't ever forget it!

Soho Pizza Slices

After barely eating at Supper, we needed some genuine sustenance before heading out to National Mechanics. So we quickly grabbed some slices at Soho. It's in old city on Market. You see a lot of late night activity here. I think the last time I ate here was super late. They're open til 3:30!R got a couple slices of plain and I went with pepperoni/sausage. They didn't have plain pepperoni or plain sausage. It was a winner. This is perfectly good pizza to fill your belly. The crust is nice and thin and slightly crunchy. The sauce is good. It's nothing extraordinary, but it's a nice fairly cheap slice that you can grab while in this neighborhood. If available, there is nice outdoor seating up front. Just be wary of the very aggressive homeless people.

Soho Pizza
218 Market St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 625-3955

Supper Snacks

Got to attend another yelp event earlier this week. It was held at Supper, and my only previous experience at Supper was for their deviled egg event. This event had a fall theme so they even had some hard apple cider (spiked with tequila of all things), regular margaritas (which aren't fall themed at all) and some various beers. This was the strongest and harshest margarita I've ever tasted. And not in a good way.
There was really barely any food, to all our stomachs' disappointments. What they did have was teeny tiny spinach fritattas. These were actually excellent. But you know, practically thumbnail sized. And there just weren't enough of them or enough rounds of them to go around.
The only other food they had were these teeny tiny crab cakes. Theses were probably the best crab cakes I've ever had. I don't know much about crab cakes, but these were super creamy and not chunky. I know lots of crab cake have hunks of veggies and stuff in it, but these were nice and smooth. Love, love, loved these! Just wished I could have had more of them since they were so petite! I still haven't had a real meal at Supper yet, but judging by these crab cakes, I just might have to!

Pre Show Eats At Good Dog

Before heading out to catch an amazing show by Mono (japanese post-rock band extraordinaire) wet met up at Good Dog for some food. I wasn't actually super hungry, or else I would have scarfed a good dog burger, so we just ordered a big thing of their signature fries. You know I'm so in love with these. They're a mix of regular and sweet potato, and it comes with a dipping sauce too. I would pay so much money if I could get a bowl of just the sweet potato fries. I don't know where they get these, but they're just the best sweet potato fries. What ends up happening is that I just pick out the sweet potato ones, leaving the regular fries for whoever wasn't quick enough to sneak them first.

Varga Bar Al Fresco

After falling in love with Kanella earlier this year, it was hard to not notice the birth of the Varga Bar across the street. It opened in May and I finally got a chance to go check it out. It is literally across the street from Kanella. Lots of pinup shots and even pinup murals on the ceiling. There are a smattering of tables and booths inside, and while it's still nice out, a decent amount of al fresco seating.

It was coincidentally the last night of restaurant week, but we just decided to pick our own food. The menu itself is kind of slim, but there's plenty of choose from. It's actually quite simple, but the dishes have been swankified a bit. Like these crab cheese fries. A simple bowl of fries, but they throw crab on top! It was like a bowl of fries topped with crab chowder. It was brilliant. I'm going to start doing this on my own. They also have a large selection of beers and cocktails. This was one of the special sidecar cocktails. It was nice and strong, but it still doesn't beat my favorite sidecar, at the Sidecar.

Another example of how they swankify food. This is a little crock of mac and cheese, but it is made with gruyere, fontina, and mascarpone cheese, and topped with bacon and some bits of truffles. The bacon was a lovely touch. The truffles, not so much. Since my last experience with truffles (the truffle deviled eggs at supper) I realize that I'm just not into it. But it was still a good dish.

P got one of the specials of the evening - goat with pasta. He liked it, but it was not enough goat. I do have to say, the bowl was a little small, and probably way too small for a grown man. He cleaned his bowl and probably could have eaten a few more bowls of this.

I wasn't too hungry after the mac and cheese so I went with the kobe beef sliders. You get three adorable little sliders with bacon, shallots, vermont cheddar, tomatoes, and lettuce. I liked these (they just come cooked medium) but the buns were too thick and too dense. There was tons more bread than slider, so it was a bit too heavy on the bread side. It also came with really excellent onion rings on the side, and some pickle slivers.

The service here was pretty good. The clientele here is nice and mixed . I think it's a nice place to stop by for a drink if you are in the neighborhood. The food is pretty good, but nothing extraordinary. It's a nice addition to the philly dining/drinking scene, but nothing to bowl you over. But I could probably see myself coming back here.

Feelin The Love At South Philadelphia Taproom

I wanted to go back to South Philadelphia Taproom ever since the first time I went. I dragged J there on a quiet tuesday night.

There weren't too many people there, so we had our pick of tables. We didn't get to pick the super low table in front, as it was already occupied. We tried a few beers. Our server was beyond nice, and actually from Ireland, and happily brought us free samples of the beers without us even asking. To tell you the truth, I think he had a little man-crush on J. He didn't bring me any free beer.
J got the burger. Look at that beautiful and giant yellow tomato. The burger came with mustard already on it. Lucky for J, he likes mustard, and he liked the burger. If I had ordered the burger, I would have been livid. It came with a side salad and a bunch of pickled veggies - cucumbers, mushrooms, and tomatoes. They were a bit on the spicy side, and I liked it.

Of course, I got the meatloaf entree, which comes on top of mac and cheese. It was still as good as I remembered. The meatloaf has a nice grilled flavor from the char marks. And the mac and cheese is so super mild and delicious and creamy. And the homemade ketchup just makes the dish. It's different than store-bought ketchup, but perfect for this meatloaf and the mac and cheese. I really should branch out and try other things on the menu here. I guess it's an excuse to go back!

Pabbit!

After enjoying probably one of the last hot days of the year, we worked up quite a hunger. So we met up with J and S and headed to Pub & Kitchen. You know, the place with the pabbit logo. Pig and rabbit. By dinner time, it'd finally cooled down, so we got a table outside. The temperature was perfect, but unfortunately the bugs were out. The sangria. Strong, and expensive. J's salmon. Seared on the outside and still mostly raw on the inside. Served on top of wax beans. J absolutely positively cleaned this plate. Squeaky clean. It's impressive. J's burger. It is presented quite beautifully. With caramelized red onions and a perfectly sized piece of bibb lettuce. He couldn't stop raving about it. He absolutely loved it. S and I both got the meatloaf special. The meatloaf was ok, but it had big hunks of carrots in it. A big no no for me. And not much flavor. And the green beans had a mustard sauce, with whole mustard seeds. Another no no for me. But the potatoes and gravy were pretty good, although it needed more gravy. Overall, ok meatloaf, but nothing I'd order again. Service was fine. I think the menu is a little limited, so it'd be great if they could add some more things to the menu. But I would definitely come back here.

Tampopo

The plan was to have lunch at Kong, but Kong is not yet open for lunch. So our plans were dashed. H/A and I had been talking about getting ramen, and didn't really know a good place to get it, so we thought we'd give Tampopo a shot. I had also gotten my haircut a day earlier, and my stylist is adorable and japanese. I had asked her about ramen in philly and she said there is no good spot for it. Things were looking ominous.

There are three Tampopo locations, and we went to the one in west philly because it's the only one open on sundays. It's actually quite a cute spot. It's also the newest one. You order your food, get a buzzer, and pick it up when it's ready. There's plenty of dining space and cute little stools. They serve mostly japanese food and some korean dishes as well. I have a feeling they're run by koreans.The day actually turned out to be super hot, so I wasn't in the mood for ramen anymore. But H/A and D both got the tampopo ramen. There is no choice, just one ramen dish. It has pork and chicken broth, chashu(braised pork), bok choy, fish cake, egg, and scallions. And the broth is shockingly super hot and spicy. It's fine at first, and then it totally hits you. I liked it! It's unlike any ramen you've had before, but because it was so different, I have to give it props. D thought the noodles were too doughy. H/A wolfed it down like he hadn't eaten in days. Seriously, he ate the whole entire pile of noodles in one spoonful, it seemed.
J got the yakisoba and the miso soup. The yakisoba portion is a bit on the small side, especially for dudes, so beware. He got it with chicken, and he liked it very much. H/A also got yakisoba (yes, he was eating multiple meals) and he also liked it. The miso is just fine.
Since I wasn't feeling the hot food, I wanted something cold. So I picked the fresh tuna bibimbap. Mine came with brown rice, raw tuna, avocado, Korean pear, cucumber, lettuce, and red and white cabbage in a slightly spicy/sesame oil dressing/sauce. Everything in this dish was raw, except for the rice, which was obviously cooked.Here's the slop after you mix up all the goodies. I loved this! The flavor of this dish is quintessentially korean. But it's something that everyone could like. You can get it without the raw tuna, so for those of you wary of raw fish, you can still enjoy this. It's fresh, crunchy, and quite healthy. The texture is amazing. And the tuna is a nice touch. Others enjoyed this dish as well. I think the portion of rice was a bit on the paltry side, but otherwise, a perfect dish. I'll definitely be back to Tampopo.

A Carnivolution Of Sorts

Each month in west philly, they hold a carnivolution at a "museum". And by "museum" I basically mean someone's house and their backyard and their adjoining neighbors' backyards. It's a hoot. The sideshow featured the siamese twin towers, sword swallowing, fire play, a fat guy with a purse dressed as satan, a stripping osama bin laden, and the list goes on and on.

They served a tiny bit of food this month. Rick's Raw Bar served oysters and clams. He also had vegan fruit salad soaked with alcohol. Some steamed shrimp as well. And he was hocking his own brand of horseradish.

H/A went and ordered one of the oyster shooters. Freshly shucked oyster, vodka, cocktail sauce, and horseradish. Rick told him to just swallow the thing, or chew it. H/A chose to swallow it.

He looked like he knew what I was doing, but there was no way I was going to risk my life buying oysters off a dude named Rick in someone's backyard. There's one more carnivolution left this year, so go check it out!

JB Burgers

Before heading out to a crazy show of epic proportions, I met up with some friends at Johnny Brenda's. We had just missed the 4-6 happy hour with half price oysters. Darn. The menu at JB's is always changing. That's why there aren't printed menus and only blackboards. They didn't have the kabobs that night, which I love, and nothing else was drawing me in, so we all ended up getting burgers.

These burgers are good, but they must heat them way too high because all of the burgers were pretty much charred black on the outside. Ranging from medium to well, while the middle was prepared as requested, the outside was all charred. I didn't mind, as I actually like char (no matter how bad for you it is), but if you're not a burnt fan, then this isn't the burger for you. It comes with caramelized onions, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and pickle on a buttered and toasted bun. The bun ends up with a slight crunch, which I liked. The fries were good too.

Our server was... not the best. She seemed out of it. As if everything we requested was a chore and hurt her head. Bless her heart.

Brauhaus Schmitz And The Boot

Downtown Philadelphia lost its only german restaurant when Ludwig's closed. Recently, a new spot opened on South Street - Brauhaus Schmitz. I really can't stand South Street at all, but for this, I was willing to make the effort. It's a really beautiful spot. Large tables downstairs in the front, booths along the side where the big bar is. There are some more tables upstairs.
Beer, beer, and then more beer. They have a good number on draught, as well as many more in bottles. They also have some wine. But I don't think they have any booze. So if that's what you're looking for, you should pass this spot along.
Something that they have but that should be passed on by everyone is the boot. Yes folks, the boot. It is a giant, giant mug in the shape of a boot. It holds 2 liters. Yes, 2 liters. That's a big soda bottle if you want an idea of how big that is. One person should never drink this much beer. Especially not after already drinking 3 big ass beers. Which is exactly what H/A did. Ok, he only drank 2/3 of the boot, but that was still 2/3 too much. T drank the rest of the 1/3 of the boot. And let's just say that the boot took out both of them. It is so much beer. Sooooo much beer. We passed it all around when we first got it and all 6 of us barely made a dent. Which is a shame, because the beer itself (the Oktoberfest) was so tasty. But no one should drink so much of it. By the time T killed the boot, we had finished eating and were waiting downstairs for the monsoon to subside. As he chugged, the big table in the front cheered him on, and when he finished, everyone clapped. But really people, you should not be encouraging anyone to drink this much beer. Ever.
Some complimentary bread. This couldn't have come out soon enough considering how much everyone had been drinking (without having eaten), so any food in the belly was welcomed.
The kartoffelpuffer and pommes. In normal terms, potato pancakes and fries. The potato pancakes were great, and so were the fries. I just wish there had been more of them. And the curry ketchup for the fries was amazing. I want to figure out how to make this. I don't think it's as simple as sprinkling in a bit of curry powder into ketchup. So if anyone knows, please tell me!
H/A and J ordered the wurstplatte. Basically, it is a pick two wursts platter... with wursts being a type of sausage. They didn't remember what they had ordered, so I have no idea which of the wursts these were. But the big fat pink one on the left was terribly delicious. The one on the right was pretty good too.
The gulaschsuppe, a hungarian beef stew with potatoes, spicy paprika, and red wine. Quite a nice portion for an appetizer serving. And cheap too!
T got the lachs - which is salmon. Served with spargel! You won't find a country more in love with asparagus than Germany. Also some spaetzle. You get to pick two sides with any entree.
I got the sauerbraten with braised red cabbage and spaetzle. This sauerbraten was super tasty, tender, and there was so much of it. And you know me and red cabbage, I loves it. Like oddly so. And the spaetzle was so comforting and beyond buttery. Would you like some german style egg dumplings along with your butter? Ja, bitte!

This was a good time with good food, good friends, and good beer. But the boot should have been avoided. Once the boot was kicked, the evening soured. Because then you have to worry about your drunk friends and what to do with them. Our server had to put up with a lot, so props to Imogen for keeping up. She was a great sport. I would definitely come back here, but avoid the boot. Just say nein to the boot!

Chubby's vs Dalessandro's

There's the infamous Pat's and Geno's cheesesteak war, but there's an even fiercer rivalry in Roxborough between Chubby's and Dalessandro's. They're right across the street as well. First stop was Chubby's. They have dining at the counter as well as booths. And they serve booze! Along with beer. Here's my half of the cheesesteak, and my Hank's black cherry.

After I bastardized mine with ketchup. Yes, I love me some ketchup on my cheesesteaks. And not just on top either. I make sure to incorporate it throughout the meat.

You know what I love on cheesesteaks? Sweet peppers. They weren't on the menu so I didn't ask for them. And I didn't find out until I'd finished my steak that they have a pepper and pickle bar! And you can load your steak up with whatever peppers and pickles you want. Hot, sweet, in between, they got em. Gosh, they need to mark this better! I enjoyed this cheesesteak. Good roll, good meat, good onions. The onions are a bit on the big side though, unnecessarily so. Service was excellent. We enjoyed her, and she enjoyed us!

Then we walked across the street to Dalessandro's. They have beer, but no full bar. Their dining area is also hurting. It's quite a small space. There's some counter space, and no real booths. They just have a handful of long skinny fold out tables up. No comfort, just function. There's no waitresses either. You put in your order and then hand you the food. You sit wherever there's a spot.Ok, so I didn't actually try the Dalessandro's, because I was full from my half at Chubby's. Sorry folks, I didn't fast or purge before I came. But I will say just from looking at these, they look better to me. The meat is chopped up a lot more, and so are the onions,and you get more onions! Amongst the diners, it was split about 50/50 over who preferred Chubby's and who preferred Dalessandro's. Next time, I will actually try one at Dalessandro's! Then I'll give you an informed opinion, although I'm already convinced I'll like the Dalessandro's one better!
They also had a bigger and wider selection of peppers at Dalessandro's. And it wasn't hidden either! Don't bother with Pat's and Geno's. Skip that nonsense and head up here for the real cheesesteak war!