Philly vs. Texadelphia Cheesesteak

I'm almost embarrassed just writing the title of this post...

I've been in Philly since late last night & I leave at the butt-crack of dawn tomorrow to head back to ATX. BUT...I had to give an ACTUAL Philly cheesesteak a try since all we have to compare to in Austin is Texadelphia.

After some careful research here, I headed over via taxi to 9th & Passyunk in South Philly. Two famous cheesesteak places are literally right across the street from each other: Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks. There are some really strong opinions & followers for each, but when the cab pulled up & Geno's was crickets while Pat's had a line in the street, it was obvious I needed to head to Pat's. They have instructions on the board about how to order, and I was slightly nervous I'd do it wrong, but the guys were really nice. I ordered a provalone mushroom cheesesteak wit (which means "with onions"). I also got some of their fries & some sweet-hot cherry peppers on the side.

So, here's how it compares:

Bread
The bread at Pat's is WAAAAAY better. It's slightly crispy on the outside and not nearly as chewy as the Tex version.

Onions
Again, way better at Pat's. They're chopped in slightly bigger pieces & they're more browned.

Meat
Sliced thin, I made the mistake of seeing the cook pour oil all over the meat on the grill. However, the meat didn't taste like oil at all. I was thinking the meat might be hard to bite into (that's what she said) but it was thin & tender enough to not be an issue at all. The meat at Texadelphia is chopped into small pieces, and sometimes I know that I have eaten a cheesteak without even chewing (which leads to a horrible stomach ache later).

Sauces
I saw some ketchup, which I got for my fries, but I didn't see other sauces at Pat's. I like all the sauces at Texadelphia - Ranch, Mustard Blend, and Queso, to be exact - but I'm not sure I could really eat a Texadelphia sandwich without the sauces. I think it might gross me out. With no sauces at Pat's, I added the cherry peppers to the sandwich & that was really good.

Overall
The sandwich at Pat's was bigger, and less messy - partly because the hoagie roll was better & more sturdy, but also because it wasn't sogged down with sauces. I could have used a little bit of salt on Pat's sandwich. I will definitely eat at Pat's again if I have the opportunity.