Cheesesteaks in SF?

Where's your favorite cheesesteak place in SF? So far the best I've come up with is The Cheese Steak Shop on Divisidero bet Bush and Sutter.

Now, on a scale of 0 to 100 (0 being Pat's Steaks in Philadelphia at 7pm, 100 being Pat's Steaks in Philadelphia at 2:30 am) I would rate cheesesteaks from The Cheese Steak Shop around a 23, which is close to the best I've ever had outside of the Philly area. So I consider 23 quite high, given the circumstances (ie, not in Philly at 2:30am). I also like that the The Cheese Steak Shop is humble enough to hang pictures of the great Philly cheesesteak shops like Pat's and Gino's on its walls.

Anyone have any other recommendations? And, has there ever been a Chowhound gathering at a cheesesteak shop? If not, why not?

[Hkent]

I used to go to cheesesteak shop all the time untill i found Jake's Steaks in marina. The place is nicer, they serve beer too.

I had the distinct pleasure of enjoying a couple of these cheese steaks around 2 - 3 am after a night in the pubs in the late 80's when I was in the Navy and I still remember how good they were....if I am ever back in SF I will definately go back!

I ordered a mushroom cheesesteak takeout from the Cheese Steak Shop. It was delicious, but I think it would have been better to eat it hot and fresh. By the time I returned home with the coveted cheesesteak, the bun was becoming soggy from the heat generated from the meat. A better strategy might be to call in your order and arrive just before it is done. There are 11 Cheese Steak Shops in the bay area and they also have a frequent eater card!

Yeah, cheesesteaks have a half-life of about fifteen minutes. Glad to hear you liked the Shop, though.

How did it compare to Philly?

I'm embarrassed to say, but I never had a real cheesesteak in Philly. I was leaning toward being a vegetarian in those days.

My first cheesesteak was in 1982 when I was visiting Marc at Wharton. Had no idea what a cheesesteak would be, only that they were the local grub. I walked up to the counter and asked for mine "rare" which they actually tried to accommodate!

You know, I never take that frequent-eater card because I'm thinking how pathetic would that be to fill that thing up? I mean that's a lot of arterial clogging before you get your freebie :) Of course, I've probably earned one by now anyway.

I carry around like four full frequency cards and hand them out to friends who've never eaten there. I've been devoted to that shop for like 25 years - it beats any cheesteak shop I've ever eaten at, although there was a place in New Orleans, Hat Harry's, which was just as good and open late, which does make the steaks taste better. Stay away from he cheesesteaks on Columbus just up from broadway - I had a bacon one and the bacon was raw!

Last night I decided to update this topic with some current research. In the previous thread on cheesesteaks, there was some info about Whiz Wit:

++++
Stephanie Rosenbaum writes:
"Well, I'm not a cheesesteak eater, but I've heard really good things about Whiz Wit, on Folsom near 11th. "

Anne writes:
"Thanks for the tip. I used to go by Wiz quite often, when I lived in the area, but it looks like such a dump and the drive by shootings didn't encourage me. It is outdoor eating only right?"
+++

I arrived at Whiz Wit on Folsom near 11th (there is apparently another one on Union) at about 7pm. It's right next door to Paradise Lounge, a music club my band has performed in. The Whiz Wit store looked clean and inviting.

The menu at Whiz Wit is full of things you see in Philadelphia, like hamburger steak sandwiches and all kinds of hoagies/grinders. I ordered a mushroom cheesesteak, which comes with beef, cheese, fried onions, sweet peppers, hot peppers and mushrooms. I asked them to hold the sweet and hot peppers this time, so I could evaluate their cheesesteak fundamentals.

I'll evaluate Whiz Wit on two criteria: cheesesteak and service. The cheesesteak looked promising. It's long, and cut into four easy-to-bite-into sections. The cheese, meat and onions were sticking out the sides a little. Given the name, I was expecting cheeze wiz -- half looking forward to it, half dreading it --but it was not wiz. It was white, maybe american or provolone.

On flavor/texture, the meat, cheese and onions were basically pretty good. Good blending of the three into an integrated experience. The mushrooms were moist and tasty. Something wasn't quite right about the bread, though. Maybe it was a little stale? Maybe not stale enough? I don't know. It just didn't complement the insides the way I want it to. Overall cheesesteak score (0 to 100 scale explained in first posting in this thread): 20. (Very good, for outside Philly.)

Service really shined at Whiz Wit. The cheesesteak came within about 5 minutes, and it was offered to me with a gesture that implied, "Please enjoy this cheesesteak -- I know it's not Philadelphia, but we've done the darned best we can." When I was done, I went to throw out my napkins and bus my basket, but the guy intervened saying, "Here, I'll take it." Service gets a 95.

Unfortunately, I can responsibly weight service at only about 1% of my cheesesteak evaluation. So I give Whiz Wit a 21. Again, not bad at all for outside Philadelphia. This rating puts Whiz Wit just below the Cheesesteak Shop in my rankings, despite the long waits at the Shop, especially around lunch time. Even at minimum wage, if you deducted my hourly opportunity cost at the Cheesesteak Shop, they should be paying me.

As another ex-Philadelphian (spent half of my youth in Swarthmore/Media area), I thought of this thread and couldn't resist trying out the cheesesteak at Whiz Wit today. Folsom Street's a bit far from my office for lunch, so I went to their location on Union Street (1979 Union St. located *in* The Blue Light bar, between Laguna & Buchanan, tel: [phone]). I went with Andrew's technique of ordering the cheesesteak without peppers (or mushrooms) to benchmark, and got the regular cheesesteak with meat, onions & cheese.

I found the bread to be good, good volume of properly greasy meat & onions. My one quibble was that they used a bit too much cheese, which threw off the balance for me. That said, when the waiter/cook asked me how everything was and I told him about the cheese, he said he does that on purpose (so I bet he'd be willing to hold back a little if you specified that when ordering). Evidently he's from Haverford and used to frequent the Cheese Steak Shop before a change in management. Nice guy, good service (sandwich came out *fast*, he offered me a free refill on my drink without prompting, and was cool about my cheese comment).

Looking at the delivery/takeout menu I got, it looks like you can choose what kind of cheese you'd like: American, provolone or Cheez Whiz -- provolone being the default. They've also got hoagies, grinders, and chicken cheesesteaks, which I haven't tried yet. Next stop: the Cheese Steak Shop.

Best,
Deb H.

I'm not sure how many cheesesteaks you can stomach in one week, but I'm going over to the Shop tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon. I only lived in Philly for a couple years of grad school, so I'd be honored to go cheesesteaking under your expert tutelage. Let me know if you're up for it. I'll be going in any case.

Agh! Actually, today I'm chowhounding with a pescovegetarian from my office -- we're going to try out the fish & chips place on Larkin north of Geary in the Tenderloin. Next time? Looking forward to your thoughts on the Cheese Steak Shop.

Another Philly/Japan person,
Deb H.

It was yum. How were the fish and chips.

Our lunch outing got canceled at the last minute (#@%^!), gonna try again Thursday.

Deb H.

Is that the one that supplies Edinburgh Castle? Was talking about this with a friend the other day and was surprised to learn that the chip shop next door to the bar closed. The whole interior was imported from Scotland. Gone for about 15 years he said...shows you how long it's been since I've been to the Castle...

Only reason I can think of is lack of leadership, but you're clearly the man for the job, Andy!

Here's a link to a prior thread (short) thread on the topic. Sounds like more investigation is in order.

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

Andy--

If you use our search engine to search for "cheesesteak san francisco bay area", you'll find a number of promising-sounding tips.

Also search for the strings above, but pluralize it to "cheesesteaks" to pick up one more message.

As you'll see, we've even had a thread on the topic on this board

Before the post I did a text search on the list in my browser window, and didn't see it. Maybe my window didn't load it all up. Next time I'll use the search engine.

Anyway, any new info? I saw a place called Jay's or something in the Mission (around 20th/Valencia) and wondering if anyone's been there.

A perfectly good sandwich shop, but the cheesesteaks are pedestrian. Like almost all cheesesteaks consumed outside of Philly, it is a grilled shaved steak sandwich. With lettuce if you don't tell 'em not to put it on there. Have a burger and garlic fries. Or a cheese-steak, just don't expect the the juicy meat, doughy bread, and oozing cheese. You know, the stuff which makes it a cheese-steak. Don't even get me started on the peppers and onions.

-MZ

"Anyway, any new info?"

More advice is always welcome, but there are really a LOT of good-sounding tips already on here. Do try the search engine.

Before posting the followup, I did the search and looked at the link to the old thread on the board. Didn't see anything on Jay's, which I passed on the street, and thought there might be more.

Hey, duplication is fine...it's not like we can only talk about a given place once! I was just encouraging you to find some of the back discussion for your own chow edification.

But you did miss one mention of Jay's, albeit about their burgers. See link below.

Link: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/show/...

Good point, but don't overlook Mike's current advice in this thread, which is getting buried under this exchange.

Trying to help Andy navigate (when I'm not being his straight man)...