Yo Adrian! Let's go to the Philadelphia Cheesesteak Festival

I know, I'm mixing my Philly things in the title. Yo! This weekend was the first annual Philadelphia Cheesesteak Festival at the Linc. My friend Marla of Luck Fupus ordered us $40 Wiz Wit tickets, which entitled us to 10 samples of cheesesteaks and a free t-shirt.

I'm glad they finally did something like this, and judging by the shit ton of other people there, everyone else is too. We arrived right at 11 and stood in line for almost a half hour before getting in, even though it was supposed to start at 11.

The theme of the day was lines, which is to be expected at food festival type things. The different cheesesteak places were set up in tents or food trucks in K lot outside the Linc. There was a map of where everything was. What there was not was clear lines - by 1 p.m. we had no idea where lines started or ended. Marla and I ended up only using five of our 10 tickets for samples, and we weren't alone in that - others were trying to give away or sell their unused tickets.

Here's what we did try:

1. I don't give a fork - Mac & Cheesesteak - Tiniest portion of the day, barely any actual mac on there.

2. Rockin' Road Grill apparently boasts a celebrity chef (Eddie Berner, and I see looking at my own photo that he's a former guitarist for Flock of Seagulls). I didn't see him cook, I just saw him come out of the tour bus. They were doing steak with broccoli rabe (that belongs on pork)and wiz. It was the worst steak of the day and had so much garlic that I could have murdered a league of vampires on an exhale.

3. Jay's Steak and Hoagie Joint held two draws for us: it's owned by Marla's cousin, and their location is my home town of Penndel. This was my favorite out of the box steak of the day. The meat was good and served on a pretzel roll with just the right amount of salt, this was awesome. Their t-shirts were my favorite too. I will surely be visiting them soon.

4. Next up:  Oregon Steaks. Delicious flavor on the meat, good roll from Aversa's.

5. Dalesandro's was our final sample. The line was long and snakey and it was worth it. I was scooping this meat up and eating it with my fingers in public. It was my favorite traditional and that is absolutely due to their use of my favorite roll - Amoroso's.

Speaking of, there was a freaking Amoroso's windsock thing there. I was more excited about this than I should've been.

Marla & I had a good time sampling some cheesesteaks, having a beer, wandering around, and meeting up with some of her family and friends and Dani from Faster Than Forever and her friend. The people watching was outstanding. And Philly is serious as hell about its cheesesteaks. My favorite steak is Jim's on South Street. Jim's was not in attendance, because they know they're awesome. MFD did get me one on Sunday night though.

There was also entertainment, much of which sounded off and not good. At one point they were singing a made up Philly cheesesteak song and it was hilarious.

Dunkin Donuts was representing with free shots of coffee, and there were some t-shirt vendors too. I had to get in on that.

***********************

Haikuesday

Good try but sorry... 

They are not Philly cheesesteaks

outside of Philly

***********************

The crowd in general was pretty happy, which I wasn't expecting. I hope they do this every year, and that they figure out the line fuckery before next year.

What food is your town known for? Do they festival it up?