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Summer of the Steak, Stop #2
Tony Luke's, 39 E. Oregon Avenue, South Philly
SUMMER OF THE STEAK STOP #2
Tony Luke's, 39 E. Oregon Avenue
www.tonylukes.com
Click here for the full photo gallery.
Guest Critic - John Mansor
John Mansor works in the Human Resources department for Comcast-Spectacor, which is housed just down the hall from the Phantoms offices in the famed Wachovia Spectrum. He was one of the first knocks on our door when the Summer of the Steak was hatched. John is South Philly born and bred and his family ancestry goes back quite a few generations in the area bound by South Street and two rivers. So what he lacks in celebrity status, he makes up for in sheer knowledge of the steak.
DIRECTIONS:
95 to the Broad Street Exit
Turn right on Pattison Ave.
Turn left on Front Street
Turn left on Oregon Avenue
Tony Luke's has been a staple on Oregon Ave for years. Its popularity prompted the opening of a sports bar with the same name right across the street. Tony Luke has taken part in several widely-viewed endeavors, such as a cheesesteak cook-off with Bobby Flay.
The eatery itself is an outdoor establishment, although windows are put up around the eating area in the winter. The Philadelphia tradition of parking anywhere you can is alive and well - many patrons park right in the middle of Oregon Avenue, as Mike Thornton did to the right (behind the pickup truck). But regular parking along the curbs is available, as well as in a small lot underneath I-95.
Now, on to the steaks.
John Mansor - American widout (translation: steak with American cheese & without onions)
Rating (out of five):  
Summary: I focused on three elements to provide a valid rating -bread, meat and cheese. Tony Luke's was at the top of their game today.
The bread was not yesterday's, but rather fresh with just the right amount of crispness in the right places. Nor did I lose or loosen any teeth from the bread being too hard, as many local breads often are. The meat was lean, and I didn't chew into one piece of fat. Also, the meat had just the right amount of chop - meaning it wasn't diced into balls, nor was it like slices of roast beef. Finally, Tony Luke's used just the right amount of cheese, which was incorporated equally into the sandwich.
Mike Thornton - American "with"
Rating (out of five):
Summary: I had been to Tony Luke’s before, but only had the pork. Wrong move by me. I was not a huge fan of ‘the other white meat’ served up by one of the legends in South Philly. To be honest, I was preparing myself to be let down by the cheese steak. Not so. This was a great cheese steak. I had mine with American and fried onions. The bread, which is produced across the bridge in South Jersey by a company called Liscio’s, is tasty. I’d call it a hard roll, as it had more than enough, but not too much bite to put it in that category. The cheese and onions were copious. The steak was thinly sliced and not chopped to oblivion. I just wish there was more of the rib eye to enjoy. That’s my only complaint and it kept me from giving Tony Luke’s the first perfect rating. I give Tony Luke’s Four Golden Hockey Sticks.
Brian Smith - Mushroom American with, plus ketchup
Rating (out of five):
Summary: Much like Mike, I did not have great expectations of Tony Luke's. The same trip where he was burned by the pork, I was disappointed by the real white meat, a chicken cheesesteak that didn't make the grade for me. However, this regular steak blew things out of the water. Ketchup is applied pre-assembly and the cheese is mixed throughout the meat. The bread had that crisp-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside quality to it. The only thing keeping this from a perfect rating for me was the mushrooms seemed to add a substantial amount of grease to the steak, as mine contained much more around the wrapper than my non-mushroom bretheren. However, it wasn't really noticable when actually eating the sandwich, which was fantastic.
Friday, June 22, 2007
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