We sent Elazar Sontag, Restaurant Editor for Bon Appétit, on a mission to find the best Philly Cheesesteak in Philadelphia. The most famous sandwich in Philly, cheesesteaks comprise thinly sliced beef and melted cheese on a long hoagie roll–join Sontag as he eats 19 of the city’s most recommended cheesesteaks in a single day to crown a winner.
Director: Ian Stroud
Director of Photography: Kevin Dynia
Editor: Kristopher Knight
Host: Elazar Sontag
Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Janke
Creative Producer: Christie Garcia
Line Producer: Joe Buscemi
Associate Producer: Amy Haskour
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Camera Operator: Rob Marish
Assistant Camera: Eli Martine
Audio Engineer: Andy Wenrich
Production Assistant: Caleb Clark
Staff Editorial Consultant: Ryan Harrington
Researcher: Madeline Scheier
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Animation: Lea Kichler
Director of Content, Production: Ali Inglese
Senior Director, Creative Development: Dan Siegel
Senior Director, Programming : Jon Wise
VP, Head of Video: June Kim
Director: Ian Stroud
Director of Photography: Kevin Dynia
Editor: Kristopher Knight
Host: Elazar Sontag
Director of Culinary Production: Kelly Janke
Creative Producer: Christie Garcia
Line Producer: Joe Buscemi
Associate Producer: Amy Haskour
Production Manager: Janine Dispensa
Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila
Camera Operator: Rob Marish
Assistant Camera: Eli Martine
Audio Engineer: Andy Wenrich
Production Assistant: Caleb Clark
Staff Editorial Consultant: Ryan Harrington
Researcher: Madeline Scheier
Post Production Supervisor: Andrea Farr
Post Production Coordinator: Scout Alter
Supervising Editor: Eduardo Araujo
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell
Animation: Lea Kichler
Director of Content, Production: Ali Inglese
Senior Director, Creative Development: Dan Siegel
Senior Director, Programming : Jon Wise
VP, Head of Video: June Kim
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm in Philly to find the absolute best cheesesteak.
00:02I'm Elazar, the restaurant editor at Bon Appetit,
00:05and I eat at restaurants for a living.
00:06I'm about to try 19 different cheesesteaks in a single day,
00:10all of them recommended by locals,
00:12best of lists, and a lot of online forums.
00:14Then tomorrow, I'll revisit my top picks
00:17to crown the absolute best one.
00:21We're at Pat, the originator of the cheesesteak.
00:23Super classic cheesesteak.
00:26Just okay.
00:27Bread is really dry.
00:28I'm at Gino's.
00:29It's a bit of a mystery.
00:31Can't really see any whiz.
00:32It's kind of just giving beef.
00:34The cheese isn't really super incorporated,
00:36and the meat's a little dry.
00:37To keep things standardized,
00:38I'm ordering every cheesesteak with onions and cheese whiz.
00:41If whiz isn't an option, I'll order American cheese instead.
00:44Caw-caw!
00:46Tony and Nick's, absolutely decked out with cheese.
00:49Juicy, flavorful, it's really good.
00:51I'm at John's Roast Pork.
00:53The bun is seeded.
00:54The steak is really nicely charred,
00:57and it's working really, really well.
00:58We're outside Rocco's,
00:59built into the Home Depot parking lot.
01:02I do really like it,
01:03but it's almost giving me beef bulgogi.
01:05Gooey Louie's told me that they only do real cheese,
01:08and that means no whiz.
01:10The beef is great, but it's straight beef.
01:12This is Mike's Barbecue,
01:14and this is a brisket cheesesteak
01:15with homemade Cooper Sharp whiz.
01:18Got that deep, smoky flavor,
01:20so it's definitely something a little bit different.
01:21I like it a lot.
01:22It's about 12 o'clock.
01:24I've had seven cheesesteaks today.
01:25I would say my body is suffering a little bit by now.
01:29Most of the cheesesteaks are sitting right here.
01:31I've eaten a lot of beef.
01:32I waited 30 minutes outside of Angela's
01:34for this cheesesteak.
01:36It seems like all of Philly is here.
01:38The onions are really, really well caramelized.
01:40I haven't seen that on any of the other cheesesteaks.
01:42Amazing across the board.
01:43We're outside Lorenzo's Pizza.
01:45It looks great.
01:46It's got a ton of cheese.
01:47The meat is nicely chopped.
01:48I wish there was more cheese.
01:50Lube it all up, but it's really nice.
01:52I'm next door to Woodrow's.
01:53Read to you from the receipt, all caps.
01:55Our truffle whiz is not from a can.
01:58The truffle is strong.
02:00This is Jim's.
02:02This is Jim's cheesesteak.
02:03Just submerged in whiz all around the perimeter.
02:06The meat looks super juicy.
02:08Bread, for me, is reading just like a tiny bit dry,
02:10but overall, it's really, really juicy.
02:12Ishka Bibble's won.
02:13I'm learning.
02:14I think I like a really juicy, overloaded cheesesteak.
02:18The ratios on this one look really nice to me.
02:20The bread actually holds up
02:21to sort of keep all that juice in.
02:23I think this is a really good cheesesteak.
02:24We're having a late roadside lunch at Cleaver's.
02:27It's a really nice looking sandwich.
02:29The bread is really nice and pillowy.
02:31I'm getting a bit of a bite that's really juicy right here,
02:34and then it's just kind of straight bread.
02:35Across the street from Taste,
02:37there's a neon sign that reads,
02:39do you want to taste me?
02:40And I do.
02:41The meat is cut pretty fine.
02:42It's good.
02:43It's like a really moist, classic,
02:44totally satisfying cheesesteak.
02:46This is Sunny's famous cheesesteaks and burgers.
02:49The onions, they're long.
02:51They're not chopped very finely.
02:52A little bit unusual in contrast
02:54with what else I've tried today.
02:56They're good, but I wish they were throughout the sandwich.
02:59You know, I think a lot of people think that,
03:01oh, just eating all day, it's so easy,
03:04it's not really a job.
03:05And you're right.
03:07But it still causes serious pain to the body.
03:10I'm at Campo's, and these onions
03:11are cut into pretty long strips.
03:14This one's fine.
03:16I'm at Steve's Prince of Steaks.
03:18The meat, sliced as opposed to shredded or chopped,
03:23so it's these long slices.
03:24I don't think I love this one.
03:26This is cheesesteak number 18.
03:28Just went into Cafe Carmela,
03:29which is mostly seemingly a sit-down restaurant.
03:32Whoa, that is a good-looking cheesesteak.
03:35Super flavorful, super moist.
03:38True love.
03:39Day of cheesesteaks in Philly would not be complete
03:41without a trip to D'Alessandro's.
03:43I was convinced by the owners to do provolone and American.
03:47The sharpness of the cheese does something
03:49really different than the whiz.
03:51The flavor's way deeper.
03:53And that was my final cheesesteak.
03:5519 in a single day.
03:57I truly did not think it was possible.
03:59I'm not even sure how we crammed them all in,
04:01but we did it.
04:02I had a ton of great sandwiches today,
04:04but four stood out as deserving of another try.
04:07Angelo's, Cafe Carmela, John's Roast Pork, and Tony and Nick's.
04:12Tomorrow, I'm going to head back
04:13to analyze every part of those four cheesesteaks
04:16and decide which is the best in Philly.
04:21We are back at Angelo's today.
04:26Technically, we are above the restaurant.
04:29There is nowhere to sit down there,
04:30and there is a line around the block.
04:32So they are letting us basically hang out
04:35in their living room.
04:37Even though I woke up with heartburn, indigestion,
04:40mildly concerning headache,
04:42I was still thinking about eating this sandwich yesterday.
04:46It really just does sort of stick in your mind.
04:52Oh my God.
04:53That is such a good sandwich.
04:55It's the bread.
04:56It's got like a real crispness.
04:58It doesn't quite have like a crust that you can feel,
05:00but in the mouth,
05:01it like still gives you something kind of sturdy.
05:03It doesn't feel soggy at all.
05:04Again, I don't really know how that's possible.
05:06I mean, as you can see, it's totally saturated.
05:08A lot of cheesesteaks are made with bread
05:10from just one or two really prolific,
05:13respected bakeries throughout the city.
05:15And they're good.
05:16They make a really, really solid, crusty piece of bread,
05:19but their bread oven is taking up a full back wall
05:22of the restaurant.
05:23So this is something that they clearly
05:24are taking super seriously.
05:26The beef, it's tender.
05:28It's thinly sliced.
05:29It's not overcooked.
05:30It's got a tiny bit of color on it.
05:32Okay, here's the thing about Whiz.
05:35It's kind of weird.
05:36I really like it.
05:38I wouldn't order it in any other sandwich.
05:41You know, there's a lot of other classic cheeses
05:44that can kind of complete this sandwich.
05:46With the quality of the bread
05:47and the really well-seasoned steak,
05:49the Whiz is really nice.
05:51It doesn't just melt and then re-harden.
05:54It just sauces the whole sandwich
05:56and then it stays that way.
05:57And I think it really, really works in this sandwich.
05:59We actually got here before Angelo's opened.
06:02Within five minutes of pulling up,
06:05there was a line around the block.
06:06You should definitely come here,
06:08but you should come here early
06:09or you should come here prepared to wait.
06:10But there is something about it
06:11that this sandwich just kind of keeps getting better
06:13and better for me.
06:14So I'm really interested to get a sense
06:17for what the rest of the day's gonna be like.
06:19This is starting really, really strong.
06:21This is gonna be a hard sandwich to beat.
06:23["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"]
06:31I'm in the dining room at Cafe Carmela right now.
06:34Yesterday, it was not part of my plan to come here,
06:37but I was looking through some of the comment boards,
06:40doing a bit of trawling on Reddit,
06:42trying to figure out if there was anything that we missed,
06:44and I kept noticing this name come up
06:45again and again and again.
06:46I think the reason we missed it is it's pretty new.
06:49It opened in 2020.
06:50I feel like you know it's good
06:51when the protective paper completely soaked through.
06:56Yesterday, this was cheesesteak number 18,
06:59and I think it really says something
07:01that even after eating that much, it was still that good.
07:07Oh my God, you see the drip?
07:10My favorite thing about this steak, the Whiz.
07:13They make their own cheese sauce here.
07:15Tried to get them to tell me what's in it,
07:17but it is definitely a house secret,
07:19so I cannot tell you too much about the contents,
07:21but it is really, really delicious.
07:23A little more complex than Whiz.
07:27Shocker.
07:27We actually got a little extra...
07:31It's still got the sweetness.
07:33It's still salty,
07:35but you can actually taste cheese, for one.
07:38It's a little bit sharp.
07:39I wouldn't describe it as aged.
07:40It's not funky at all.
07:42It just has a lot of flavor.
07:44Just to open it up a little bit,
07:46the whole sandwich is soaked through with that cheese.
07:49The bread is coming from a local bakery called Carangi's.
07:52It's a seeded loaf.
07:53I'm really liking seeded loaf.
07:55Just that extra little bit of sort of like
07:56nutty flavor from the seeds.
07:58I was talking to the mother-in-law of the owner,
08:00and she was explaining they mix the cheese sauce
08:03with the meat on the grill.
08:04That's part of why the sandwich feels so well combined,
08:08and it almost feels like the meat and the onion
08:10and the cheese are like one cohesive element.
08:13It's really getting like almost emulsified on the flat top.
08:16That's really working for me.
08:18So I think that's an awesome technique.
08:19Meat itself, ribeye, not super finely chopped.
08:23You're getting little sort of shreddy pieces,
08:26but you're still getting enough to kind of chew through it.
08:29The onions are nice.
08:31I like that they're there.
08:32I think I wish that they were cut up a bit more finely
08:34so that they were kind of soaking through the sandwich
08:37instead of just being dotted around.
08:39Before we started filming,
08:41I was talking to a customer.
08:42He's from Philly, and it actually has become
08:44his favorite cheesesteak in the city.
08:46And I think that speaks volumes in a city like Philly
08:48where a cheesesteak is really like legacy.
08:51It's really history.
08:52I don't think that you get a ton of new cheesesteaks
08:55that contend for best in the city.
08:57That just doesn't happen that often.
08:58Two down, two to go.
09:07I'm outside at John's Roast Pork.
09:09I mean, come on, it is a thing of beauty.
09:12Extremely heavy, absolutely packed with meat.
09:15It's really, really generous, thinly sliced,
09:17chopped a little bit, but not shredded up.
09:19The bread is really holding up
09:20despite being totally soaked with juice.
09:22There's cheese all throughout.
09:24We got white American cheese on this one.
09:27The bread on this cheesesteak might be familiar,
09:29same as one of the other four that we're trying today.
09:32It comes from Karanjis.
09:33Holds up really nicely to a cheesesteak like this,
09:36which just has so much going on inside of it.
09:40Oh my God.
09:43It's all about the steak.
09:44The bread is good and the cheese is flavorful,
09:47but there's so much meat, it is so moist
09:50that that is what you taste.
09:51Like that is exactly where your brain goes.
09:53It's just cooked so well.
09:55Layer of onions, layer of oil
09:56to get everything starting to caramelize,
09:58and then the meat goes down.
10:00You get beautiful color on the onions,
10:01really, really nice caramelization and sear on the meat.
10:04And that for me is what really, really stood out yesterday
10:07when we came here the first time.
10:08I don't know if you can see,
10:09but the steak is really peppery.
10:11This is the first cheesesteak I've had
10:12where it actually leaves like a little bit of heat
10:14in the back of your throat.
10:15It's really nice.
10:16So the meat here is this kind of in-between texture.
10:19It gets a little bit of cook on both sides
10:22before those line cooks start chopping it up.
10:24And so it's kind of holding together in these smaller bits.
10:28In the mouth, that just means,
10:32chewy, it doesn't melt away right away,
10:35but it's small enough that it's still just like
10:37one bite after the other.
10:39Kind of my ideal texture for the steak on a cheesesteak.
10:41Really interesting thing I picked up yesterday
10:44was that the steak is so flavorful.
10:46I almost thought there were like mushrooms in the mix.
10:49There weren't, it was just onions.
10:51The way they cook the meat with the onions,
10:53letting it really char and caramelize,
10:55it just gives it this amazing flavor.
10:57The same ingredients as a lot of other cheesesteaks,
10:59but it just tastes really different.
11:01And that is it for John's Roast Pork.
11:03We are at Tony and Nick's.
11:05Almost definitely holds the title of world's best mascot.
11:09Caw-caw!
11:10It's perfect.
11:12It should really be the flag of Philly.
11:14When I close my eyes and think about
11:16a super traditional cheesesteak,
11:18this was the one that came to mind.
11:19The bread is super sturdy,
11:21really, really generous with the meat.
11:23And then it has these onions all the way throughout.
11:25Also, can't forget about the cheese.
11:27It's a little bit like a cheeseburger.
11:28It's a little bit like a cheeseburger,
11:30but it's a little bit like a cheeseburger.
11:31It has these onions all the way throughout.
11:33Also get lots of whiz.
11:34Seems pretty nicely proportioned.
11:39They go heavy on the whiz here.
11:42And I'm glad they do,
11:43because the meat is definitely a little less juicy
11:46than some of the other spots we're hitting today.
11:47It's okay, but without that whiz,
11:49I think this would start to dry out a little bit.
11:51I am missing a bit of that juiciness.
11:53Some places buy their bread from a wholesale bakery.
11:57Some places make it themselves in the back of the shop.
12:00We're falling somewhere in the middle here.
12:02This is their own recipe,
12:03and they're finishing the bread in their own ovens
12:05right back here,
12:06but they're sending it off to get proofed,
12:09all of that, at a wholesale bakery.
12:11To me, that's the most important thing,
12:13that this bread is being baked fresh every day.
12:15I want you to see.
12:16There's like a quarter of an onion chopped up in here.
12:19That's gonna be some people's poison.
12:20I'm an onion lover, so for me, this is kind of nice.
12:23It gives it some sweetness.
12:25It balances out that whiz.
12:27It cuts through a lot of that beef.
12:30But if you are someone who does not go hard for onions,
12:32this is gonna overwhelm you.
12:34I'll admit that when we tried this one yesterday,
12:35it was like the second or third cheesesteak of the day.
12:38I was still kind of a cheesesteak baby.
12:40I didn't have the world open to me yet.
12:42I don't think I was wrong exactly,
12:45but after trying the other three today,
12:47I will say it doesn't hold up quite as much.
12:50It's leaving my mouth just a little bit dry.
12:52I'm wishing it was a little bit juicier.
12:54So we live, we learn,
12:57we salute the bald eagle holding the cheesesteak.
13:00That is it for the final four.
13:02After two straight days of eating,
13:04I think I've finally found the best cheesesteak in Philly.
13:07My absolute favorite cheesesteak in Philly was Angelo's.
13:12They're making their own bread.
13:13It kind of doesn't get better than that
13:15because each bite is just so incredibly fresh.
13:18It absorbs the juices.
13:19It balances out the flavor.
13:20It keeps the sandwich feeling really, really sturdy
13:23for every single bite.
13:25I just really couldn't get over that sandwich.
13:28The meat was really tender and really well sliced.
13:31Cheese, perfectly coated every single bite.
13:33And actually I thought the onions were pretty standout too.
13:35They were just a little bit caramelized.
13:37So it gave more sweetness,
13:38but also just a little bit more depth to every bite.
13:41Ultimately though, it was the bread.
13:43If I had an also perfect award,
13:46I would give it to John's Roast Pork.
13:48I think that that is such an excellent sandwich
13:51and it was truly so standout.
13:53The only thing putting Angelo's just a tiny bit above
13:57was that homemade bread.
13:58Everything from the hospitality
14:00to the freshness of the ingredients
14:02and the way they cook that steak at John's
14:04is really, really special.
14:05And if you have time in a day for two cheesesteaks,
14:07you've got to hit them both.
14:09One spot in our top four that gets a little bit less shine,
14:12probably because it's a lot newer, is Cafe Carmela.
14:14I thought that was a really, really good sandwich.
14:17The homemade cheese is just such a nice touch
14:20and having it robe every single bite of steak,
14:22for me, was a really special experience.
14:26Welcome to Philly.
14:29Philly in the building.
14:29Anything to say about cheesesteaks?
14:31Oh yeah, the best cheesesteaks.
14:33You got to go to Angelo's.
14:35There you have it.
14:36Seven for fish water.
14:38There you have it.
14:38There you go.
14:39Best cheesesteaks in the city.
14:41Rosciato told you, y'er.
14:43Do we have a release?
14:45Get it, get it.
14:47Do we have a release?
14:49Are we going to get like a once over,
14:50or like a what, where it's going to turn into control?
14:52What the f**k is Whiz?