We got to talking about how long it's been since we've had a
Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich. Not knowing where to go I hit up
the nice people at chowhound.com
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/425617

I decided my first trip would be to the Olde City Grill, mainly
because of their use of American Kobe beef, and they have the famous
Ameroso rolls flown in from Philadelphia.
http://i15.tinypic.com/6ch60br.jpg

Although they have a variety of delicious looking items on the menu,
my focus this trip was on the Philly cheesesteak.
We had a salad also, come on, we needed something to make us feel
better about stuffing a thousand calories worth of saturated fat into
our systems. Doesn't the salad counter-balance this somehow?
The salad was mixed greens with cherry tomatoes, carrot, cucumber,
mushrooms, green bell pepper, avocado, hard boiled egg. (no grey
around the yolk) thinly sliced red onion with a balsamic vinaigrette
dressing. Nice and fresh and a good, good, dressing.
http://i12.tinypic.com/4y02w6w.jpg

My cheesesteak sandwich had, American Kobe beef, cheez "wiz" grilled
onion, grilled mushrooms and jalapeño peppers, hot jalapeño peppers.

The first thing I did was pinch off the end of the Ameroso roll to
taste just the roll. It felt good, had nice body, and it was a
beautiful golden color. The bottom was a little crunchy and it looked
like it had been baked on a stone with fine cornmeal. The flavor is
not any thing that would take a way from the ingredients of the
sandwich, nor is it anything you would want to eat a ham and cheese on
because it is dry, dry, dry. I'm sure it's made that way just for a
cheesesteak sandwich because any other bread would not hold up under
the cheesesteak ingredients. This bread is definitely for a wet
sandwich.
http://i18.tinypic.com/686z0w2.jpg

The American Kobe beef is fabulous. For the past couple of years I've
been trying different kinds of beef so I've become aware of beef
flavors and textures. I always thought beef was beef. I never realized
how wrong I was, so I was very anxious to try the American Kobe beef.
One of the first words that comes to mind is clean, it's not murky
tasting. Second, mildly beefy. It's very tender but it still has a
nice chew to it.
http://i9.tinypic.com/6d0stah.jpg

Mouth Cam
http://i16.tinypic.com/6gxsajp.jpg

Stan had the triple bypass cheesesteak. It has American Kobe beef,
pepperoni, Italian sausage, meatballs, American cheese, cheez "wiz"
grilled onions and sauté mushrooms. The menu says "Go ahead call your
Dr you can use our phone."
I hope Stan's stroke Dr. isn't reading this, if you are, you should be
reading the Medical Journal or something, not this.
Stan said not one thing over powered the other. It was a good blending
of the ingredients and yet you get a taste of each item.
http://i13.tinypic.com/5zddij4.jpg

We walked around a little after lunch enjoying the beautiful day near
the beach. It was nice to breathe the salt air and we worked off a
little of our lunch dodging the bicyclists and skateboarders on the
sidewalks. We walked past the nice little trendy beach boutiques that
feature clothing for the size two young women, who probably have never
had a decent Philly cheesesteak in their lives. Pfffttt. Give me my
Philly cheesesteak any day.

For a more complete review of the restaurant and their offerings,
Captain Jack has a review on his blog. It's from him and a couple of
others at Chowhound.com that I learned about Olde City Grill in the
first place. I highly recommend you pop over to Captain Jack's and see
what he has to say. He ate a lot more than we did.
http://sandiegorestaurants.typepad.c...ity-grill.html

koko
---
http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
updated 8/12

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

In article >, koko wrote:

> We got to talking about how long it's been since we've had a
> Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich. Not knowing where to go I hit up
> the nice people at chowhound.com
> http://www.chowhound.com/topics/425617

Speaking as a born and raised Philadelphia, that sandwich looks great,
but a Philly cheese steak with kobe beef seems like overkill to me. The
original http://www.patskingofsteaks.com/ uses rib-eye.

Considering that the cheese steak you ate was made on the west coast, it
looks very authentic and tasty.

<koko> wrote in message ...
>
> We got to talking about how long it's been since we've had a
> Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich. Not knowing where to go I hit up
> the nice people at chowhound.com
> http://www.chowhound.com/topics/425617
>
> I decided my first trip would be to the Olde City Grill, mainly
> because of their use of American Kobe beef, and they have the famous
> Ameroso rolls flown in from Philadelphia.
> http://i15.tinypic.com/6ch60br.jpg
>
> Although they have a variety of delicious looking items on the menu,
> my focus this trip was on the Philly cheesesteak.
> We had a salad also, come on, we needed something to make us feel
> better about stuffing a thousand calories worth of saturated fat into
> our systems. Doesn't the salad counter-balance this somehow?
> The salad was mixed greens with cherry tomatoes, carrot, cucumber,
> mushrooms, green bell pepper, avocado, hard boiled egg. (no grey
> around the yolk) thinly sliced red onion with a balsamic vinaigrette
> dressing. Nice and fresh and a good, good, dressing.
> http://i12.tinypic.com/4y02w6w.jpg
>
> My cheesesteak sandwich had, American Kobe beef, cheez "wiz" grilled
> onion, grilled mushrooms and jalapeño peppers, hot jalapeño peppers.
>
> The first thing I did was pinch off the end of the Ameroso roll to
> taste just the roll. It felt good, had nice body, and it was a
> beautiful golden color. The bottom was a little crunchy and it looked
> like it had been baked on a stone with fine cornmeal. The flavor is
> not any thing that would take a way from the ingredients of the
> sandwich, nor is it anything you would want to eat a ham and cheese on
> because it is dry, dry, dry. I'm sure it's made that way just for a
> cheesesteak sandwich because any other bread would not hold up under
> the cheesesteak ingredients. This bread is definitely for a wet
> sandwich.
> http://i18.tinypic.com/686z0w2.jpg
>
> The American Kobe beef is fabulous. For the past couple of years I've
> been trying different kinds of beef so I've become aware of beef
> flavors and textures. I always thought beef was beef. I never realized
> how wrong I was, so I was very anxious to try the American Kobe beef.
> One of the first words that comes to mind is clean, it's not murky
> tasting. Second, mildly beefy. It's very tender but it still has a
> nice chew to it.
> http://i9.tinypic.com/6d0stah.jpg
>
> Mouth Cam
> http://i16.tinypic.com/6gxsajp.jpg
>
> Stan had the triple bypass cheesesteak. It has American Kobe beef,
> pepperoni, Italian sausage, meatballs, American cheese, cheez "wiz"
> grilled onions and sauté mushrooms. The menu says "Go ahead call your
> Dr you can use our phone."
> I hope Stan's stroke Dr. isn't reading this, if you are, you should be
> reading the Medical Journal or something, not this.
> Stan said not one thing over powered the other. It was a good blending
> of the ingredients and yet you get a taste of each item.
> http://i13.tinypic.com/5zddij4.jpg
>
> We walked around a little after lunch enjoying the beautiful day near
> the beach. It was nice to breathe the salt air and we worked off a
> little of our lunch dodging the bicyclists and skateboarders on the
> sidewalks. We walked past the nice little trendy beach boutiques that
> feature clothing for the size two young women, who probably have never
> had a decent Philly cheesesteak in their lives. Pfffttt. Give me my
> Philly cheesesteak any day.
>
> For a more complete review of the restaurant and their offerings,
> Captain Jack has a review on his blog. It's from him and a couple of
> others at Chowhound.com that I learned about Olde City Grill in the
> first place. I highly recommend you pop over to Captain Jack's and see
> what he has to say. He ate a lot more than we did.
> http://sandiegorestaurants.typepad.c...ity-grill.html
>
> koko
> ---
> http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
> updated 8/12
>
> "There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
> George Bernard Shaw

Koko? Are you a professional restaurant reviewer? If not, you should be!
Or at least play one on TV! ;-)

On Sun, 12 Aug 2007 22:50:01 -0400, Stan Horwitz
> wrote:

>In article >, koko wrote:
>
>> We got to talking about how long it's been since we've had a
>> Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich. Not knowing where to go I hit up
>> the nice people at chowhound.com
>> http://www.chowhound.com/topics/425617
>
>Speaking as a born and raised Philadelphia, that sandwich looks great,
>but a Philly cheese steak with kobe beef seems like overkill to me. The
>original http://www.patskingofsteaks.com/ uses rib-eye.
>
>Considering that the cheese steak you ate was made on the west coast, it
>looks very authentic and tasty.

Thanks Stan. I still have a few more places to try.
The meat was truly delicious, tender and juicy.

Don't know if the beef was the "overkill" to this or the 123 miles we
drove, round trip, to get it.

koko
---
http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
updated 8/12

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 03:42:28 GMT, "Paco's Tacos" >
wrote:

>
><koko> wrote in message ...
>>

Snip to my lou

>
>Koko? Are you a professional restaurant reviewer? If not, you should be!
>Or at least play one on TV! ;-)
>

You are too kind.
Considering I'm grammer and spelling challenged I'd probably starve to
death, but thank you for your kindness.

koko
---
http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
updated 8/12

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

>
> Koko? Are you a professional restaurant reviewer? If not, you should be!
> Or at least play one on TV! ;-)
I'm so envious. I have one Mexican restaurant I know of that is about
about 50 miles way; then again it is nothing special, just good value
Mexican family food.

But the beautiful pictures she takes of her restaurant food -- Mon Dieu!

Koko, the last I heard (the other day, I believe) Kobe beef was around $86 a
pound - I'm thinking that was for hamburger - could that be possible? I
can't imagine what that cheesesteak cost. I'd like to have one taste of Kobe
beef just one time. I'm going to have to ask DH if he ever had it -- he
used to spend some time in Kobe in the early 70's-- maybe that's before it
was even known to him. But I'll bet the cost was no object if that was what
you had your thoughts on.

Dee Dee

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 00:33:12 -0400, "Dee Dee" >
wrote:

>
>>
>> Koko? Are you a professional restaurant reviewer? If not, you should be!
>> Or at least play one on TV! ;-)
> I'm so envious. I have one Mexican restaurant I know of that is about
>about 50 miles way; then again it is nothing special, just good value
>Mexican family food.

We drove round trip 123 miles for this. It sounds like you live in a
rural area like us, almost everything is miles away.
>
>But the beautiful pictures she takes of her restaurant food -- Mon Dieu!
>
>Koko, the last I heard (the other day, I believe) Kobe beef was around $86 a
>pound - I'm thinking that was for hamburger - could that be possible? I
>can't imagine what that cheesesteak cost. I'd like to have one taste of Kobe
>beef just one time. I'm going to have to ask DH if he ever had it -- he
>used to spend some time in Kobe in the early 70's-- maybe that's before it
>was even known to him. But I'll bet the cost was no object if that was what
>you had your thoughts on.
>
>Dee Dee

This is American Kobe so it's not any where near as expensive as the
imported Japanese Kobe beef. My sandwich was $8.25 and Stan's was
$12.00 and they were 12" sandwiches.

Thank you for your nice comments on my pictures.

koko
---
http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
updated 8/12

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

said...

> My cheesesteak sandwich had, American Kobe beef, cheez "wiz" grilled
> onion, grilled mushrooms and jalape¤o peppers, hot jalape¤o peppers.


I'd have to agree with Stan's comment. American kobe-style beef is
overkill.

The restaurant did themselves a huge favor by flying in fresh Amoroso
rolls. There's something about the water they use for the rolls that can't
be duplicated anywhere but Philadelphia.

Stan's triple-bypass steak would probably have been better served as a
pizzasteak, with marinara sauce and mozzarella instead of American and
whiz. They should still upgrade the name to a quintuple-bypass.

I enjoyed the write-up. Except from the name, I thought this was a
restaurant in Olde City, Philly. The brainquake occurred when you mentioned
walking on the beach after lunch. I thought "There's no beach boardwalk
(Strand) in Philadelphia! You sure got to Atlantic City in a hurry!" I
visited Captain Jack's page which assuaged my confusion.

Thanks,

Andy

On Aug 13, 5:20 am, Andy <q> wrote:
> said...
>
> > My cheesesteak sandwich had, American Kobe beef, cheez "wiz" grilled
> > onion, grilled mushrooms and jalape¤o peppers, hot jalape¤o peppers.

I'd be ashamed to admit having them put Cheez Whiz on "American Kobe"
beef.
>
> I'd have to agree with Stan's comment. American kobe-style beef is
> overkill.

How could he tell over the Cheez Whiz? Putting that junk on decent
beef is like putting ketchup and hot dog relish on pan seared
scallops.
>
> The restaurant did themselves a huge favor by flying in fresh Amoroso
> rolls. There's something about the water they use for the rolls that can't
> be duplicated anywhere but Philadelphia.
>
> Stan's triple-bypass steak would probably have been better served as a
> pizzasteak, with marinara sauce and mozzarella instead of American and
> whiz. They should still upgrade the name to a quintuple-bypass.

Or just sub the provolone for the "American" and Cheeze Whiz, both of
which are crappy.
>
> I enjoyed the write-up. Except from the name, I thought this was a
> restaurant in Olde City, Philly. The brainquake occurred when you mentioned
> walking on the beach after lunch. I thought "There's no beach boardwalk
> (Strand) in Philadelphia! You sure got to Atlantic City in a hurry!" I
> visited Captain Jack's page which assuaged my confusion.

Bad ingredients in...
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andy

--Bryan

The Truthful Assh0le wrote:

> Or just sub the provolone for the "American" and Cheeze Whiz, both of
> which are crappy.

I'll be doin' these this evening, the recipe looks good to me, and was just
thinking about the cheese. Provolone can just go fry itself, I don't like it
much when melted. I was thinking to a cheese as tilsit or the ones you find
in hamburgers on this side of the atlantic: mild Fontina (otherwise it would
overpower the meat's taste), caciotta, maybe mixed with some Fontina, medium
young Gouda or Edam or Maasdam, maybe tilsit... Methinks I'll end up using a
medium aged caciotta.
Bread won't be an issue, I'm thinking to ciabatta: it's too big for a single
sandwich, so I'll make 2 or 3 sandwiches out of each ciabatta. There's a
very good bakery here in town, in a couple of hours I'll be at his store for
bread
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

<koko> wrote in message ...
I'm going to have to ask DH if he ever had it -- he
>>used to spend some time in Kobe in the early 70's-- maybe that's before it
>>was even known to him. But I'll bet the cost was no object if that was
>>what
>>you had your thoughts on.

>>Dee Dee
>
> This is American Kobe so it's not any where near as expensive as the
> imported Japanese Kobe beef. My sandwich was $8.25 and Stan's was
> $12.00 and they were 12" sandwiches.
> koko
> ---
> http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
> updated 8/12


DH said he had Kobe beef in Japan. He said he couldn't remember too well,
but that his tastes were probably not that well refined.

I've never heard that there was American Kobe. I'll keep a look out.
Thanks,
Dee Dee

In article >,
"Dee Dee" > wrote:

> <koko> wrote in message ...
> I'm going to have to ask DH if he ever had it -- he
> >>used to spend some time in Kobe in the early 70's-- maybe that's before it
> >>was even known to him. But I'll bet the cost was no object if that was
> >>what
> >>you had your thoughts on.
>
> >>Dee Dee
> >
> > This is American Kobe so it's not any where near as expensive as the
> > imported Japanese Kobe beef. My sandwich was $8.25 and Stan's was
> > $12.00 and they were 12" sandwiches.
> > koko
> > ---
> > http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
> > updated 8/12
>
>
> DH said he had Kobe beef in Japan. He said he couldn't remember too well,
> but that his tastes were probably not that well refined.
>
> I've never heard that there was American Kobe. I'll keep a look out.
> Thanks,
> Dee Dee

I think the American Kobe is imported???

I could be mistaken.
--
Peace, Om

Remove _ to validate e-mails.

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch" -- Jack Nicholson

Dee Dee said...

>
> <koko> wrote in message news:dqovb3tocg3cbjkvaalp8hacscsq6gv6cm@
4ax.com...
> I'm going to have to ask DH if he ever had it -- he
>>>used to spend some time in Kobe in the early 70's-- maybe that's before
it
>>>was even known to him. But I'll bet the cost was no object if that was
>>>what
>>>you had your thoughts on.
>
>>>Dee Dee
>>
>> This is American Kobe so it's not any where near as expensive as the
>> imported Japanese Kobe beef. My sandwich was $8.25 and Stan's was
>> $12.00 and they were 12" sandwiches.
>> koko
>> ---
>> http://www.kokoscorner.typepad.com
>> updated 8/12
>
>
> DH said he had Kobe beef in Japan. He said he couldn't remember too
well,
> but that his tastes were probably not that well refined.
>
> I've never heard that there was American Kobe. I'll keep a look out.
> Thanks,
> Dee Dee


What I learned is Kobe Japan just doesn't have the grazing land so they
hire American farmers to graze their beef according to their requirements,
BUT it all goes back to Kobe, Japan.

What's sold here is called "Kobe-style beef." A big world away from Japan's
grade.

Where you hear or read American Kobe, substitute American-Style Kobe.

I could be wrong. I saw it on TV.

Andy

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 15:44:14 -0500, Andy <q> wrote:

>What I learned is Kobe Japan just doesn't have the grazing land so they
>hire American farmers to graze their beef according to their requirements,
>BUT it all goes back to Kobe, Japan.

I dunno and don't care enough to research it, but it's doubtful.
>
>What's sold here is called "Kobe-style beef." A big world away from Japan's
>grade.
>
>Where you hear or read American Kobe, substitute American-Style Kobe.
>
>I could be wrong. I saw it on TV.

You've heard that all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles
are squares? Well, that goes for the cattle that are sold as Kobe
too. All Kobe beef is Wagyu, but not all Wagyu is Kobe.


--

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies. Groucho Marks

sf said...

> You've heard that all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles
> are squares?


sf,

Yup! That's fact!!!

Then of course there's the golden rectangle. Based on a perfect square!

But I think back and the Kobe beef IS cattle, not aged cow or steer, so
there i stand corrected. But the Kobe beef raised in America DOES go back
to Japan. No telling how American style Kobe beef are raised. Please
advise.

How about a couple games of shuffleboard instead?

Andy

"Andy" <q> wrote in message ...
> sf said...
>
>> You've heard that all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles
>> are squares?
>
>
> sf,
>
> Yup! That's fact!!!
>
> Then of course there's the golden rectangle. Based on a perfect square!
>
> But I think back and the Kobe beef IS cattle, not aged cow or steer, so
> there i stand corrected. But the Kobe beef raised in America DOES go back
> to Japan. No telling how American style Kobe beef are raised. Please
> advise.
>
> How about a couple games of shuffleboard instead?
>
> Andy

I'd rather hear you explain the golden rectangle.
Dee Dee

On Mon, 13 Aug 2007 18:29:53 -0500, Andy <q> wrote:

>sf said...
>
>> You've heard that all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles
>> are squares?
>
>
>sf,
>
>Yup! That's fact!!!
>
>Then of course there's the golden rectangle. Based on a perfect square!
>
Stop now.... or you'll make my head hurt. There are so many things I
don't know and not enough time to learn it.

>But I think back and the Kobe beef IS cattle, not aged cow or steer, so
>there i stand corrected. But the Kobe beef raised in America DOES go back
>to Japan. No telling how American style Kobe beef are raised. Please
>advise.

AFAIC, beef is shipped to Japan as American Waygu and comes back as
Japanese Kobe. I'm not a fountain of information though.
>
I've only eaten Kobe beef once in my lifetime.... and that was because
it was sent to a fellow dorm student by his parents in Japan. I
didn't think it tasted different from any other decent beef. At the
time, I wasn't into rating marbling, but I think I would have noticed
if it looked as fatty as what's pictured in the site I'm going to
quote from.... so in retrospect, I don't know what the true story was.
Maybe he was just trying to impress his friends, maybe it was the
truth. In any case, he made us a nice meal and we enjoyed it. That's
what really mattered anyway.

http://members.tripod.com/~BayGourmet/wagyu.html
And true Kobe beef? Overrated. At ten times the price because the cow
was raised on expensive land eating expensive Japanese grain and beer,
the quality is not noticeably better than ordinary Wagyu beef that
grades out to super-prime. About those legendary cow massages? It's in
part because they don't have enough room to exercise in a normal
paddock. American and Australian raised Wagyu cattle that get the
oleaginous feed and a well designed exercise program grade out just
fine, and I doubt even the most discerning palate could tell the
difference if the grade was the same.

>How about a couple games of shuffleboard instead?

LOL! That's a lot more fun than debating the finer points of American
Wagyu beef vs. Japanese Kobe beef.



--

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies. Groucho Marks

sf's sig read:


> Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere,
> diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies. Groucho Marks


That really doesn't sound like something Groucho Marx would say, or at least
like something he would want people to quote. Google turns up the Groucho
attribution, but also an attribution to Ernest Benn, a British political
writer. He's probably the REAL author of that quote.


Bob

In article . com>,
The Truthful Assh0le > wrote:

> On Aug 13, 5:20 am, Andy <q> wrote:
> > said...
> >
> > > My cheesesteak sandwich had, American Kobe beef, cheez "wiz" grilled
> > > onion, grilled mushrooms and jalape¤o peppers, hot jalape¤o peppers.
>
> I'd be ashamed to admit having them put Cheez Whiz on "American Kobe"
> beef.
> >
> > I'd have to agree with Stan's comment. American kobe-style beef is
> > overkill.
>
> How could he tell over the Cheez Whiz? Putting that junk on decent
> beef is like putting ketchup and hot dog relish on pan seared
> scallops.

Huh? I never said I put Cheez Whiz on a cheese steak. I loath Cheez
Whiz, so I avoid it at all costs.