By Norman Cain, May 21, 2020 — The Philadelphia cheesesteak to Philadelphians is arguably as much an icon to the city as the Liberty Bell or as memorable as Rocky running up the steps of the Art Museum. It’s a Philadelphia culinary staple. Its pioneers have been Pat’s Steaks and Geno’s Steaks located a few steps from one another on the south side of 9th Street and East Passyunk Avenue.
Then there’s Rick’s Steaks, now defunct, that was located in the Reading Terminal. Then there was Geno’s steaks locations in the Northeast, North Broad Street, and West Philadelphia. My favorite cheesesteak establishment in Philadelphia is the original Foo Foo’s Steaks restaurant which is located at 52nd and Locust Street that flourished in the late ’50s through the mid-’70s. It was always filled to capacity and featured the Mamma Jamma a steak sandwich topped with moist ground beef. That delicious sandwich had a secret recipe because I have not tasted a cheesesteak sandwich of that caliber since.
Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwiches are a shell of what they used to be. Ironically when I visited Atlanta, GA this winter I happened upon Woody’s Philadelphia Cheesesteaks, an establishment whose steak sandwich could more than hold their own with Philadelphia cheesesteaks of yesteryear. Woody’s was founded by a Philadelphian. The establishment’s steak sandwiches were abundant, fresh, and did not cost nearly as much as a Philadelphia cheesesteak. That was quite an experience because, with the cheesesteaks, they’re not what they used to be, even with Pat’s and Geno’s and whatnot. But when I was down in Atlanta, that particular cheesesteak had all the ingredients there. A cheesesteak sandwich at some of the restaurants there would cost you ten dollars but for the same amount of food and much better quality, it was only five dollars down there. Woody’s cheesesteak sandwiches gave credence to the adage “Light at the end of the tunnel.”
