I grew up in Philadelphia where the major culinary achievement is the "Cheese Steak" - a huge mound of finely sliced well browned meat cooked on a grill with fried onions and served on a long bun dripping with grease.
The chefs are usually bulky Italian guys with a few tattoes wearing white T shirts.
Cheese is actually optional but if desired, "the sine qua non of cheesesteak connoisseurs" is actually Cheese Whiz. If you want a steak with onions and cheese, you say in true Philly accent "Whiz, Wit".
Cheese steaks are not just for the common man. President Obama visited Reading Terminal just to get a real cheese steak.
Cheese steaks were developed in the 1930's in South Philadelphia and South Philly is still the promised land. I lived on cheese steaks for my entire misspent youth. Unfortunately this cuisine does not travel well, and when I left Philadelphia to make my mark in the world, a lingering nostalgia was all I had left. I once tried ordering Fedexed steaks from Pat's in South Philly for a "Philadelphia brunch" with some old friends now living in LA. But alas, the magic had passed and all that is left is a salivating memory.
