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Summer of the Steak Stop #15
John's Roast Pork, 14 East Snyder Ave.
SUMMER OF THE STEAK STOP #15
John's Roast Pork
Snyder and Weccacoe (behind Lowe's on Columbus Blvd.)
South Philadelphia
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Guest Critic - Patrick Williams, AHL sportswriter
Patrick is a freelance sportswriter who covers the American Hockey League for a variety of publications, stringing for various newspapers while also keeping a blog at Canoe.ca. Patrick can be found at most Phantoms home games and at AHL games up and down the East Coast.
THE SKINNY:
As the literature reads, John's Roast Pork (also known as John's Lunch, The Snyder Avenue Lunch Bar, and The Shack) has been on the corner of Weccacoe and Snyder Avenue since 1930 and has been a family business for three generations. John’s has some impressive credentials, including winning the James Beard Award for culinary excellence in 2006 and was crowned as one of America’s Classics. The James Beard Foundation Awards are the nation's preeminent honors for culinary professionals. Nominees and award winners are selected by their industry peers, with more than 600 culinary professionals involved in the voting process - so this is no ballot box stuffing gig run by a couple of guys that also do public relations for a professional hockey team. Those hockey guys are pretty reputable and know their cheese steaks, though. Along with the ‘to travel for’ cheese steaks, the namesake roast pork is fantastic and also award winning. Don’t expect broccoli rabe. John does not care for it, so he serves it with tasty spinach. The roast beef is housed on the same stove and is equally as impressive. If you are in a hurry and the line is long, you can usually jump to the front for pork and roast beef. Just listen for someone yelling, “Anything but the grill.” John runs the grill 99% of the time, but he gives an occasional call to the bullpen. He’s serious about his craft, so don’t doddle while placing your order.
Now, on to the steaks.
Patrick Williams - American with
Rating (out of five): 
Summary:
After much negotiating (i.e., my never being in town when invitations were extended), we finally cruised up to this gritty place that is only a short distance from the Spectrum.
The long delay turned out to be worthwhile. Judging by the steady stream of people at a place that seemed to be a bit out of the way, geographically speaking, this place has quite a loyal clientčle. I even saw a woman emerge from a car with Texas plates and line up to place her order.
Moving on to the food, I have had holiday meals that were not as jam-packed as this sandwich. The steak meat spilled over the sides of the bun, and there was an ample amount of cheese. I ended up finishing only half of the sandwich. In all, the sandwich is basically two meals in one. No one could complain that they did not get their money's worth.
The sesame-seed bread seemed to be a different touch from people in this town would probably consider to be the norm (or maybe not), but it was a nice touch. The cheese was fine, and the steak meat had a nice grilled quality to it.
I also enjoyed my soft drink.
Mike Thornton - American "with"
Rating (out of five):
Summary:
As of tour stop number 15 on our quest to find Philadelphia’s best cheese steaks, I can say with certainty that the apple of my rib eye, can be found at John’s. It’s an absolute thrill of the grill. Seemingly a lot of people have heard about John’s, but for some reason have not stopped in for a great cheese steak. Probably because it’s not one of those all night haunts that you stumble into after having a few sodas with your friends. And it’s not on the tourist list of Liberty Bell, run the steps at the Art Museum and go to John’s. It’s open for breakfast and lunch and they’ve usually swabbed the grill clean by three in the afternoon. With that said, the line at John’s can be well out the door, so don’t think it’s Philly’s best-kept secret.
I ordered my usual cheese steak with American and fried onions. The cheese steaks are fulfilled on a “group” basis. The steward of the steak, in most cases John, takes orders from as many folks as can fit on the grill, and then cooks them each individually. He gives the beef a few chops with the spatula and mixes in the finely cut onions. Just prior to its departure from the grill, the beef is tucked into a blanket of cheese (No Whiz here). Then it’s on to a Carnagi roll. The South Philly sustenance is tops. You can tell they are made with some love and not just baked in mass by some computer run ovens. They are well sized, slightly crusty and seeded on the outside. John pulls some of the bread out of the middle of the roll to make sure you’ve got the perfect holster for the cheese steak. As if you could not already tell, this was an easy Five Golden Hockey Sticks.
I must say, one of my favorite things about John’s is the traffic. BMW’s and work trucks are bumper to bumper on the street and white collars and blue collars mill in line for the great eats. Try the Steak Milano: a cheese steak with grilled tomatoes and provolone (sharp or mild).
Brian Smith - Mushroom American with, plus onions and ketchup
Rating (out of five):
Summary:
I have to admit, I knew before we started this expedition that John's was going to be a 5-stick rating, because personally, John's is my gold standard. Here are the main things that make John's the best in my book.
1) Cooked to order - John's cooks everything right as you order it. The steak is pre-portioned in baggies and doesn't touch the grill until immediately following your order placement. Neither do the onions or any other additions to your steak.
2) Perfect bread - a big part of a good steak is not having to fight through the bread. As Mike mentioned above, the rolls are hollowed out before they're loaded. The result is bread of perfect consistency. Also, the sesame seed rolls provide a special extra flavor that isn't found in many other places.
3) Construction - There's many different ways to put a cheese steak together. The manner John uses is to put the cheese on the meat and let it melt in before placing the roll on top of the pile and then scooping everything together. The result is a steak that's already got everything mixed perfectly together, but now has cheese throughout as well.
If you have to pick just one place in Philly for a cheese steak, I recommend John's. And make sure you say hello to Ma on your way out. Thursday, September 13, 2007
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