One of the most quintessential food items of the City of Brotherly Love, outside of cream cheese, is the Philly Cheesesteak. The lore of the inception of this culinary delight dates back to the early 20th Century and cheesesteaks have been embodied in rivalry, friendly competition, and even litigation amongst family members. Love ’em or hate ‘em, think they’re a tourist trap or urban gastronomical colossus…I’m going to say that you must get some cheesesteaks while visiting Philadelphia. We recently visited Geno’s Steaks while in the nation’s OG capital and had a few Whiz wits to boot.
A family business
In 1966 Joey Vento first “turned on the grills at 9th and Passyunk.” It was said that Vento was carrying on the family legacy of cooking steaks after cutting his teeth at his father’s steak shop in the 1940’s.
According to an archived version of the Geno’s “about us” page, when it came time to name Vento’s new shop, “Joe’s” was out because there was already a “Joe’s Steak Place.”
Vento had to come up with a different name for his shop and it’s said that Vento “noticed a broken door in the back of his store on which a neighborhood boy by the name of ‘GINO’ had painted his name.” The story continued noting that Vento liked the name “but at that time, there was a food chain by that name and he did not want to confuse his business with that chain.” Vento decided to change the “I” to an “E” and the rest is history.
In 1971 when Vento and his wife Eileen welcomed into the world a baby boy, they decided to name him “Geno” after the restaurant. Naturally, once of age, Geno entered the fray of cooking up some of the delightful sandwiches, and he took over the business in 2011 upon Vento’s passing.
What’s a cheesesteak anyhow?
A cheesesteak is a sandwich that’s purported to have originated in Philadelphia. The mythology behind who was the original creator of the sandwich involves across-the-street rival, Pat’s King of Steaks.
It’s said that the cheesesteak was created by Pat and Harry Olivieri in 1933. The whole portion in the opening talking about litigation amongst family members has to do with the Olivieri family not necessarily playing nice with one another over the years.
The Geno’s Philly Cheesesteak uses thinly sliced rib-eye steak with cheese and onions all on freshly baked sub bread. The accepted and offered cheeses are Cheese Whiz, American cheese, or provolone.
In comparison, the Pat’s version of the Philly Cheesesteak, the cook chops up the steak versus leaving it in longer slices.
Variations on the menu
The Geno’s menu includes a few variations of the classic sandwich. If what you want is not there, no biggie, they’ll do a custom job for you. Two outta three of our sandwiches on our recent visit were custom and the only thing they cared about was making sure we knew how much they’d cost.
Standard on the menu are cheesesteaks made with Cheese Whiz, white American cheese, provolone cheese, plain, mushrooms, peppers, or “hoagie” fixin’s.
Other sandwiches that Geno’s offers are roast pork, Italian hoagie, steak Milano, or meatball.
Geno’s also sells French fries and drinks, both ordered at a separate window from the steak window.
Important to note, Geno’s is a cash only location.
The location
Both Geno’s and Pat’s King of Steaks are located at a crumby location. There’s no parking and there’s no bathrooms. This is relevant, especially if you decide to get a double meat, double cheese sandwich.
Usually you might have to park several blocks away from the locations in order to access them. In the past, members of our eating parties have had to use restrooms at a neighboring CVS a few blocks away, a tire shop, a Vietnamese restaurant, and a cookie shop. Keep this in mind prior to plowing down an entire sandwich – there’s nowhere to let the demons out should they need exercising.
Geno’s and Pat’s King of Steaks are across the street from each other and they share a healthy and friendly rivalry at this time.
Geno’s has an outside eating area that surrounds the building. There’s a tribute to fallen police officers and firefighters just below the front window and patches from different police departments are inside glass cases adorning the exterior walls of the building.
Our summer 2024 visit
We’ve been to Geno’s in the past as well as Pat’s King of Steaks. As a matter of fact, the last time we visited the locations, we did a taste test and tried both Geno’s and Pat’s steaks.
After a visit to the Franklin Institute, my fellow travelers and I decided a stop in for a cheesesteak was in order. While I was actually doing a maps calculation to see how far we were from the locations, it was at that time our junior most adventurer suggested, “Let’s get cheesesteaks.” It kinda worked out. Great minds.
We found a spot not far from Pat’s, only about a half a block away. That was our closest parking spot we’ve ever secured to the two iconic shops.
When we hit the intersection between the two locations we said we’d hit up Geno’s that time and then Pat’s again the next time.
Our orders
I’d say we were there for a light snack, but that’s not exactly how it all went down.
Our junior traveler ended up getting a standard cheesesteak with white American cheese.
The older of my roommates got a custom job. A cheesesteak with Whiz wit provolone, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. It seemed delicious and overambitious eyes made the sandwich nearly impossible to finish – among weaker diners.
I also went with a custom piece, wrangling down a cheesesteak with Whiz wit onions and mushrooms. But I had them double the meat and double the cheese. The gal behind the counter wanted to make sure I knew that the behemoth I was ordering was going to run a pretty penny, but I did not really care. This monster, which I wolfed down expeditiously, also may have caused some gastro-intestinal distress, but that was a function of eating far too much far too fast.
For the standard menu item and two custom jobs, it cost us $59.00. We also grabbed a fountain drink each, at $4.00 a pop.
The survey said?
I like Geno’s. These are good sandwiches. I also like other cheesesteak restaurants.
Now, the eldest of my travel companions tends to disfavor the steak in whole slices. But, this individual also can be found picking apart any given sandwich complaining that there’s “too much meat” in them, like some sort of a mutant.
I like both the chopped variations and sandwiches made with the slices intact.
The flavor of Geno’s meat is spot on and when melded with the other available ingredients the full bouquet of profiles can fully develop. The professional sandwich makers construct masterful cheesesteaks that’ll have your tastebuds dancing and they are loaded with tender juicy meat.
At the end of the day, it’s going to boil down to preference. What do you like and how do you like it?
The last time that I posted online about visiting Geno’s, or Pat’s, online commenters oozed on about how the “best” sandwich is really at xyz location. That’s fine and dandy. None of that changes the fact that hitting up these locations should be on your “to-do” list.
Are there better sandwiches or cheesesteaks out there? I’m sure there are. There’s always a better mousetrap out there or one that’s yet to be invented.
Geno’s makes a good sandwich that’ll scratch that cheesesteak itch whenever you have it. If you’re in the neighborhood or not far from the location, pop on by and get a cheesesteak Whiz wit onions.
Geno’s Steaks is located at: 1219 S 9th St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
