[ConservativeInPA]

I understand your plight. I grew up in Philadelphia. My take on the whole matter of cheese steaks (note: that's what it called, not cheese steak sandwich or even cheese steak hoagie. Just cheese steak.) is that you develop a taste particular to your neighborhood deli. That's what your grew up with, ate at the most and hence enjoy the most. Pat's and Gino's are tourist traps. I've been to both because I took friends from out of town at their urging after a night on the town. They are nothing special, but not bad. It's pretty hard to mess up a cheese steak if you know what you are doing. It's not a gourmet food.

The one glue of all cheese steaks is the hoagie roll. There is only one bakery in Philadelphia that makes the correct roll. It is such an important part of any cheese steak or hoagie that people go out of their way to get them. I presently live some 100 miles from a Philadelphia. There is a cheese steak joint (I wouldn't call it a restaurant. It's a "joint".) nearby that sends a guy to Lancaster every morning to get hoagie rolls from a guy that goes into Philadelphia every morning to get hoagie rolls from Amorosos. Foodies today would call it artisan, but it is just the right roll. Nothing fancy.

Growing up, my neighborhood deli sold loose hoagie rolls; as in open air bins. I haven't been back in years. I doubt if that is the case today. Everything is hermetically sealed today and heaven forbid if people's bare hands touch food.

The deli also had hanging meats in the open air and a huge pickle barrel. When you walked-in your nostrils will filled with all kinds of great smells. There was always a pot of gravy (spaghetti sauce) and meat balls that added to the smells. The entire length of the deli was one big counter where the entire family make hoagies. There was none of that premeasured cheap lunch meat that you find at Subway. Every hoagie had its meats and cheeses sliced as the hoagie was assembled. Behind the deli counter there was the flattop where they made cheese steaks. The flat top had mounds of meat and onions on it as the ready to make cheese steak. Next to the flattop was a stove with the pot of gravy and a pot of soup. The deli also had a small grocery section from where I don't think anyone ever bought anything. Many neighborhoods had a deli just like that. It was typical. It was normal and no one thought it was special. Today, I understand people buy hoagies from Wawa and they supposedly good. There are no Wawa's close to where I live not, but I have to chuckle at the idea of buying a hoagie from a convenience store. It is missing the atmosphere and the aromas that are required for a real hoagie.

Please excuse my nostalgia. It was a trip down memory lane.

[real saxophonist]

No, that was cool. Here in Colorado, there’s a place called Taste of Philly. Never been there.

[mylife]

he one glue of all cheese steaks is the hoagie roll. There is only one bakery in Philadelphia that makes the correct roll. It is such an important part of any cheese steak or hoagie that people go out of their way to get them. I presently live some 100 miles from a Philadelphia. There is a cheese steak joint (I wouldn’t call it a restaurant. It’s a “joint”.) nearby that sends a guy to Lancaster every morning to get hoagie rolls from a guy that goes into Philadelphia every morning to get hoagie rolls from Amorosos. Foodies today would call it artisan, but it is just the right roll. Nothing fancy.

Yessir...

[Dust in the Wind]

I was in a similar deli on ‘The Highway of Legends’ in Trinidad, Colorado years ago. The next time I went that way it had closed. Probably aged out. Twenty or so years later my memory marvels at the smells I breathed that day.

[cyclotic]

I went to Amaroso’s to get some rolls once. Kinda felt like I was doing a backroom drug deal. Handed a guy some money through a window and he handed me a bag of rolls.