Philly Cheese Steak Sampler in Philly: Disappointing But I Will Return Someday for a Great One

I couldn't in good conscience leave the land of Philly Cheese Steaks without trying at least three of them. What a disappointment. The quality of the meat was bad, the bun was dry and the seasoning was bland. I'd love to return to have better versions because I believe it's not a legendary sandwich for nothin'.

Let's start with Pat's, billing itself as the "king of steaks." I learned that there is a preference that needs to be settled before ordering this sandwich -- cheese whiz or provolone? Of course, I tried both -- whiz from Pat's and provolone version from its rival stand right across the street, Geno's Steaks. I took to the whiz one despite the unappetizing thought of cheese sprayed from a can. It was less dry than the provolone one from Geno's, whose equally poor meat quality was highlighted by a lack of gooey cheese to mask it all.

I don't have a picture of Geno's sandwich but they didn't look all that different. Here's the provolone one from Pat's. I had Geno's version that was dry and I was actually appalled at the quality of the meat. I also noticed a photo on the homepage that had some racist signs that were very off-putting. But I digress. This sandwich was a downer too.

I heard President Obama went to Carmen's but man, the meat was frozen! Turns out this place should have never been on the list but live and learn. I added some roasted peppers for kick so it wouldn't be so bland but didn't do much. Again, appalling quality of meat and bread, and absent seasoning.

I saw what was happening there. It was the Pink's syndrome. I hate Pink's. To me, it represents the epitome of hype without any, but any redeeming qualities whatsoever. The only thing I'll give them is their marketing strategy of always making sure the lines of people waiting to eat there are visible from the street. Otherwise, this place blows but for some inexplicable reason, it gets featured in TV shows as the top dog. Same with these Philly Cheese Steak joints. They may have been good in earlier days but now they're just as bad as fast food joint factories, whipping out sandwiches with no quality control.

I did, however, enjoy checking out the city's Reading Terminal Market, which was a veritable candy store for someone like me with all sorts of cheese shops, cured meat shops and an array of eats. Philly is known for its sandwiches so had a roasted pork sammich at Dinic's that came highly recommended. It's inspired by an Italian sandwich and interestingly had chopped up broccoli rabe as a topping, which I'd never had before. The pork was tender and I liked how it was sliced razor thin. However, it needed a punch of flavor so I made sure to bite into a pickled pepper beforehand to meld the flavors. The broccoli rabe topping was interesting but didn't add too much to the flavor of the overall sandwich. Maybe I'm just a spice fiend.

Also had the brisket sandwich topped with spicy roasted peppers and the meat was not bad and I liked the combination with the peppers but the meat was a bit on the dry side. And it was a lot of bread for me so had to go carb free to just enjoy the filling after a few bites.