The Cheesesteak Life

Cheesesteaks are more than a roll, meat and cheese!!

I’m Jim Pappas. I started my Philadelphia Cheesesteak in June 2018.  It was my vision quest to find the ultimate cheesesteak.  I haven’t found the ultimate cheesesteak…. yet.  I did find a lifestyle.  Philadelphians are NOT passionate about cheesesteaks.  We are EMOTIONAL about cheesesteaks.  When people tell me about their favorite cheesesteak I hear about my dad’s favorite place, the place that sponsored my little league team and standing in line after a night out with friends.

Why am I the lucky person that gets to host The Cheesesteak Life?  I have eaten and reviewed over 1,200 different cheesesteaks.  I made a cheesesteak calendar.  – sidebar – They didn’t sell as well as I hoped.  I can sell you a 5 year old calendar cheap. –  Annually PhillyBite.com & I run March Cheesesteak Madness.  I won The Cheesesteak Cup.  I am on the BBC.com SpeciaLIST.  I ate my 1,000th different cheesesteak live on Fox29’s Good Day Philadelphia.  I started The Cheesesteak Life clothing brand.  I haven’t been getting much attention lately. Everyone in Philly has a Cheesesteak.  So I started the Cheesesteak Stories Podcast.  Mostly because I haven’t been getting much attention.

On this website you will find;

1. The Cheesesteak Life.  You already found this.  Below you will find ‘Not all cheesesteak are created equal.’  I have a few talking points about rolls, meat and cheese.  Don’t worry it is mostly pictures.
2. Philadelphia Cheesesteak Adventure.  This is where you will see all of my cheesesteak reviews.  I score every cheesesteak using my 5 category 100 point scoring system.  I tracked every cheesesteak on a 36 column spreadsheet.  Each review has a 3ish minute video.  Read raw data on a spreadsheet or watch videos.  I cover both sides of the brain.  
3. The Cheesesteak Life Store.  The Cheesesteak Life clothing brand.  Now we can wear our cheesesteaks proudly.
4. Cheesesteak Stories Podcast.  Every Philadelphian has a cheesesteak story.  Tell me your story.  Listen to other people tell their story.  This has been a lot of fun.
5. March Cheesesteak Madness.  I think Philadelphians would rather argue about cheesesteaks than eat them.
6. About.  I think I have an awesome story and I tell a lot of it here.
7. Contact.  Questions, comments and/or concerns.  That was my tagline when I had a real job.

Not all cheesesteak are created equal 

I was going to try and explain all the different roll, meat and cheese combinations.  I wrote a paragraph about bread density and then I looked at two pictures of rolls with different bread density.  The pictures were much easier to understand.  I added some verbiage because I feel like I have to.  I apologize for my grammar.  Luckily google corrects my spelling.

The Roll

A long roll. Amoroso Rolls are probably the most well known cheesesteak roll.  I think the perfect cheesesteak roll is M&Mesque.  I want a crispy crust that I can bite right through and soft bread that holds the meat, cheese and fried onions inside the roll.  I very much dislike biting into my cheesesteak and the meat, cheese and fried onions shoot out the back.

The Meat 

We will save the Sirloin vs Rib Eye vs Wagyu for a different time.  Here we will discuss chopped vs slab/ribbon.  The original places had a slicer next to the grill.  As orders would come in they would slice the steak and lay it on the grill.  From the grill to a roll.  Add some cheese whiz and you have a cheesesteak.  Serving the meat this way is called; a ribbon or slab.  In the suburbs, most places chop the meat as it cooks on the grill.  I grew up on chopped meat and that is my preference.

The Cheese 

Beer Cheese is the way of the future.  Provolone is my new recreational cheese.  I’m becoming a fan of melting the cheese and then pouring onto the cheesesteak.  We can discuss these topics later.  Here we will stick to the original cheese debate; Whiz vs American.  Traditionally, ‘in the city,’ aka Philly they would use Cheese Whiz with their ribbons/slabs.  In the suburbs,  we use American cheese.  The cheese melted all through the chopped meat on the grill is my preferred method.