East Bay Philly Cheesesteak Roundup

I'll kick this off with Alameda and East Oakland.

-Dynamite Cheesesteak, on Park St. in Alameda. Meh. Not bad, but not great either. All the usual stuff (bell peppers, mushrooms) costs extra, and it's kind of dry. Not enough fat in the meat, not enough cheese, too much bread. I've tried a couple times and it's just not doing it for me.

-El Senor Burrito, at High Street Gas and Food just off 880. I guess if you make tortas you've already got the ingredients, so why not? $5 gets you a cheesesteak **and** fries or rings, which has to be the deal of the month. The rings suck (they're the kind made of onion paste, not actual slices), but the fries are good, and so, surprisingly, is the cheesesteak. It's just a little bready, but everything is in there, prepared right, and tastes good. Plus it's right off 880 and the gas there is the cheapest in the area. Downside: no mushrooms.

-"Joe's Catering" lunch truck, on the old Alameda Navy base. This, chowhounds, is the winner. $5 gets you the biggest, sloppiest cheesesteak you've had in a while, jammed full of meat and onions and bell peppers and mushrooms and, I think, Swiss cheese. It's actually hard to finish unless you're hungry. The only downside I could find is that on a real cheesesteak, they slice the meat more thinly so it's easier to eat, and the peppers could have been cooked a touch softer. But it seems churlish to complain when you're getting about half a pound of steak for $5 and it lays the smack on everything else in the area.

This will be a tough one: they're in front of Creative Technology from 1 PM to 1:45 PM on weekdays. They're somewhere on the base for lunch and all afternoon, but I don't know the rest of their schedule. Maybe I'll find out next time.

They also have an Ortega Chicken sandwich that looks good, and the usual cold sandwiches and tacos. I'll report back with anything more.

The South Bay has Steve's...has anyone else found anything good up here?

[rudraigh]

You make me laugh. A "real" cheesesteak doesn't have mushrooms.

I have yet to find a really good cheesesteak in the Bay Area. Everybody either doesn't put enough beef on or they put too much peppers on or something. It's never quite right.

I think the best cheesesteak in the East Bay is from the Cheesesteak Shop at University and San Pablo in Berkeley. If you're craving an authentic South Philly cheesesteak, theirs comes as close as any I've found here. They even fly in the bread from Philly, and they have Tastykakes, too.

I agree! that greasy ass slop they serve up is freakin delicious. best just stick to the 7" cuz the 10" will put the hurt on.

I'll second the Cheesesteak Shop recommendation. They're probably just as good at their other locations, too.

I know, it's blasphemy to say the best of anything comes from a chain (even if it's a local one) as opposed to some one-of-a-kind diner or dive somewhere, but many of the other cheesesteaks I've tried around here don't quite get it right - meat too dry or cut into pieces too big, toasted bun, wrong kind of cheese, etc., probably served by folks who wouldn't know the real thing if it bit them in the...

It's a pretty small local chain, only a dozen or so shops. The higher volume probably makes it possible for them to ship in all the authentic junk.

When you order one from there, ask to double up on the steak, though. They don't give you a whole lot.

J

I don't wander around Berkeley much, so I'll have to make a special trip to try Cheesesteak Shop. But the Joe's Catering truck has set a high standard...who makes it bigger and sloppier? Stay tuned!

Steve's in the South Bay also has Tastykakes.

Is this the same chain that has a branch on Lakeshore? I've never been all that impressed by the Lakeshore one, but I know that different branches can have wildly different qualities.

Like IB Hoagies -- in downtown Oakland, the one on 21st is good, the one on 16th near city hall is pretty vile.