Only eat at Pat’s King of Steaks.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
29 Comments
It’s impossible to get a decent cheesesteak sandwich (among other things) out here in Los Angeles. You should see the offensive things that pass as “cheesesteak” out here. There’s chain called South Street that had pretty okay sandwiches, though I still prefer what I make at home.
My question: Is there a cheesteak restaurant out there that will courier me a sandwich?
Of course.
Is it good?
Oh and looking at that site made me realize how you can’t even get a decent hoagie west of the Sierras. There was a place in Kansas City that I just loved called Humdinger Drive Inn. Best sandwiches ever.
When we moved off-base, Friday’s were my favorite day. We’d drive to the base pick up my daddy, I’d watch the windsock and play with some Army guys. Then we’d drive back to Kansas City and get some hoagies from Humdingers and go bowling. I still get the taste in my mouth and drool.
I don’t think I’ve had a real, actual, authentic sub sandwich since I left south Joisey in the 70s. Oh sure they have Subway out here, and I do my best to try to get them to stuff my sandwich like a Thanksgiving turkey, but it’s not the same.
And don’t even get me started on Tastykakes. My sister brought a case of their apple pies out to Montana from New Jersey one year for Christmas. We rationed those for weeks.
Everything tasted better back then. Geez, I’m turning into the old guys from the Muppets, but not nearly as funny.
I think your best bet is to plan a Philadelphia meetup for all of us. Then we can test all the Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches in their natural habitat and vote on the best. (Actually that idea makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach – but in the interest of frog solidarity I would force myself.)
But I call Booman’s sofa.
I’ve always intended to be at a hotel … far away from the chickens.
Like most sectors of the economy which have 2 ‘competitors’ sharing a monopole, BOTH GENO’S and PAT’S SUCK B—S. Despite the differing politics – both are slanging utter crap.
Ew. Ew. Ew.
“This is America: WHEN ORDERING PLEASE SPEAK ENGLISH,” placed right above a sign saying ‘Management Reserves the Right to Refuse Service”. Nothing implied there, huh???
But, of course, good ol’ Geno is only worried “because of concerns over immigration reform and the increasing number of people from the area who could not order in English.”
Just like the local guy here that got his 15 minutes of fame along the same line as Geno.
We have assholes in Ohio, too. The good thing is that our asshole lost in court. The ruling on his sign was pretty clear.
For once, Ohio got something right.
Wonder what Geno’s father/grandfather spoke when he came to this country? South Philly guys getting uppity about speaking english is kinda funny for many reasons, not the least of which is none of them knows the correct pronunciation of the pluralized ‘You’ (HINT: The invisible ‘S’ is also silent!).
Yes, quite ironic,isn’t it?
My guess is that Geno probably wouldn’t recognize……. “Irony is an insult conveyed in the form of a compliment”
How ready is McCain?
He appears weak on the economy and Lieberman continues to baby sit;
McCain foreign policy gaffe No: 1
McCain foreign policy gaffe No: 2
same trip!
BUT…, but give him credit – so far he’s been a decent man:
McCain aide circulates Obama/Wright video, is suspended
I remember, way back in 2006, when this story actually managed to restore my virginity.
Ah, yes.
The relevant part is here:
you spent more time trying to figure out Osama’s motivations than Rev. Wright’s.
You know, I’m going to reap mountains of condemnation but… It irks me when the bank auto-teller asks, “English” or “Espanol.” It pisses me off that everytime I call any kind of customer service number I have to punch a button to tell them which of TWO languages I want. Why not offer Korean? Or Japanese? Or Farsi? Or French for Canadians?
Why do these companies cater to Spanish-speaking people like they think they’re too dumb to learn? Is the implication that they can’t learn? Or don’t have to? And if they don’t have to, why don’t they?
Wave after wave of immigrants have come to America and successfully learned our Americanized version of English. We’re the friggin’ melting pot. So why are we keeping one group of people in a separate crock? And why are they staying in it?
I don’t want to get into the meat of this other than to mention that most of the ATM’s I go to all offer something like 8 or 10 languages. It’s really not all that uncommon.
The ones I go to don’t ask at all.
Maybe it is tailored to localized demographics?
That’s interesting. Where do you live? I thought this was a universal thing because when I call national companies I get this same intro with only two language choices.
Ann Arbor, MI.
I get the same thing when I call into national companies, and I’ve certainly used ATMs where I get a choice between various languages. And to be honest, it never really occurred to me until your post that the ATMs I normally use here don’t have a language option at all.
Hmmm… Where do you live? Maybe where there are a lot of tourists?
I’m out in nowhere eastern NC now and there are very few Hispanic people here yet there’s that “Spanish” option when you call up the power company. I first saw the bi-lingual development in Atlanta where there are huge numbers of people from Korea, India, and Pakistan. Many of them own businesses! So I don’t understand why those languages aren’t options at the banks.
Personally I think they ought to offer more than spanish and english. My city has a lot of Bosnian immigrants but not a lot of spanish speaking immigrants. I think it would be useful if the banks offered a Bosnian alternative in addition to the Spanish alternative.
I understand the frustration about having to wait through yet another voice mail command just to push a button to pick a language though. It would be nice if they had separate dial-in numbers for different languages so that you could note the number and use it the next time instead of the general ‘catch all’ dial-in number.
But in general I’m in favor of more languages – especially since the declining dollar means more people are going to be coming HERE for trips because their Euro will get more bang for the … euro. (Is there slang for a Euro?)
I’m always grateful when I go to european banks and more than one language is offered. Of course there was the time when I was at an automated train ticket booth at which you could push a picture of the appropriate national flag to change the language. I was dumbfounded that they didn’t have English. No American flag to push. After a few minutes it dawned on me that if I pushed the British flag – that would get me some version of English 😉
When the Geno’s thing first happened, I thought that considering it was in Philly, it was a pretty short-sighted move. We had friends who had friends visiting here from Brazil and they were going to meet up more family members in Philly. Geno’s was tops on their list of places to visit, but their family members don’t speak English. My friends were saying that since someone stupid enough to post that sign probably wouldn’t know the difference between Spanish and Portuguese, they wouldn’t bother.
I agree. On the west coast it is common to find ATMs and such offer English, Spanish and Chinese.
But we should find ways of accommodating as many languages as possible. It’s good for business and you just don’t know what it’s like until you travel through Europe and find some places more accommodating to english speakers than others. In France or Italy, very little english. It can be difficult getting around or even purchasing anything without a translator. Other places like Germany or Holland, no problem. If the signs aren’t also printed in english, most average folks are multilingual and are even happy to translate for you. And yes, you quickly learn that the Union Jack symbol means english. It is originally their language, after all.
What, doesn’t everybody’s ATM offer Japanese like the ones in Seattle? (Well, parts of Seattle anyway.)
Joey Vento, I think is one of those person who thinks anyone who doesn’t speak English is probably an “illegal alien.” Scroll down this link and see Joey Vento meet with person who are only “for” legal immigration..whatever that’s suppose to mean.
http://www.diggersrealm.com/mt/archives/002426.html
Geno’s sucks anyways. Pat’s is much tastier.
ugh…they both suck.