Cheesesteak Wars

Saturday marked 4 weeks of being in Philly and we decided to celebrate by having a famous Philly Cheesesteak. We had been polling natives as to best cheesesteak. While Jim's in South Philly and Steve's in Northeast Philly got high ratings, we decided to go with the two that most people are familiar with-Pat's and Geno's. Since Geno has a sign that says that you must order in English, and that seems terribly un-Franciscan, we opted for the older stand, founded in 1930. (Just as an aside: the south Philly brand of English is almost unintelligible to me: "Yo! Where youse guys put da wadder ice wit my name on it?")
Legend says that the Oliveri brothers were hotdog vendors, and one day served a cab driver some chopped steak in a hotdog bun. The cabbie came back for more, it spread around, and soon the brothers realized they had a hit. They built a stand in South Philly, at the present location, in 1930. One day a bored cook put cheese on the sandwich, and a sensation was born. Geno's, across the intersection, didn't open until 1966. Both use Italian bread from the same bakery, and both cut the beef off a fresh (not frozen) hunk of beef. Neither have inside seating. The lines move fast, and when one gets to the window, the money (no credit or debit cards accepted) should be in hand and the order rehearsed. We had "2 cheesesteaks, with, whiz, to go." Translation: 2 cheesesteaks with fried onions and cheese whiz. One could order American, provolone or swiss cheese, and also mushrooms and/or peppers for an additional cost. A separate window takes orders for soda, fries or hot chocolate. The place is open until 2 am, and the current great nephew of the founders says the secret of the flavor is the 75 year old grill upon which the meat is cooked. Was it good? Yes. Was it the best Philly cheesesteak we ever had? Probably not. But the experience was priceless.