- Worth It. - Philadelphia. - Cheesesteaks. - [Steven] Today on Worth It we're gonna be trying three awesome Philadelphia cheesesteaks at three drastically different price points to find out which one is the most worth it at its price. ^- As you can see, we're joined here today by Quinta B. - Hello! I am here today because, fun fact, I am from Philadelphia. - Quinta, who is that? - That is William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania and initiator of brotherly love in Philadelphia. - [Steven] Oh, that's right, the city of brotherly love. - Let's do it! - Cheesesteaks!
- Worth It. ^- How you doing today? ^My name's Jo Clementi. ^I'm the general manager of John's Roast Pork. We're in South Philadelphia, Snyder Avenue. I'll be making you both our traditional pork Italian and our south philly cheesesteak. John's family's been here since 1930. It just started as a local truck stop. It's a family style operation. - I've never had a cheesesteak from here, so I'm really excited. I'm from West Philly, so I've mainly gotten mine from corner stores in West Philly. - They're all very good, it's just depends on the time. Sometimes at midnight you're heading out, you get done, and you wanna get something to eat, and I pass by the same spots and I get the same thing. Your steak doesn't go on the grill until you order. You tell me what your sandwich it, how you like it: American, mild, or sharp provolone, and make it like that. Takes a few extra minutes, but people seem like they like it better that way. - [Steven] Okay. Oh my God, it's really steaming there. Whoa!
- It's beautiful. - Whoa, cheers. - Wow.
- Ew! (laughing) - Welcome to Worth It. (moaning) - This is what we came for. - This is one of those foods that's a little bit more carnal, if you know what I mean. You know, it's messy. - It's kinda like the ice cream sundae of meats. There's like a fudge sauce with the cheese, there's different little things you could dress it up with. It's in this kinda...
- Different toppings. - Banana shape.
- Yup. A cheesesteak is the mistake you make on purpose. We know we're gonna feel bad after this. Right now, isn't it bringing you so much joy? - Is this representative of a cheesesteak in Philly? - Yeah, 100%. The cheese is perfect, the steak is cut very nicely, the bread is good too. It's not even an Amoroso roll, which is what most Philly cheesesteaks are made on. It just has to be good bread, good steak. Made with love, if you will. - We're gonna have a bite of this pork now, just to see what it's all about. - In South Philly, for Italian, we grew up in the way that we always had pork, our mother'd make 'em back and forth because of the price and stuff like that. Because growing up it was obviously cheaper than filet mignon. In South Philadelphia, you can go on any corner and get some type of cheesesteak, but to get a roast pork, there's only a few spots. We're very luck to have both products that it seems like everybody likes. - Pork, roasted. - I want, I want, I want. Thank you. - [Andrew] Oh, a little spicy with those peppers on there. - And you guys weren't allowed to see how this is seasoned, right? - No, it's a little bit of a secret. A little bit.
- I like that. I love a good secret. - Delicious spiced pork, slowly roasted and juicy. Steven, you have to eat two more cheesesteaks today. You will regret that. (mumbling) - He looks like a dumpster. How can you just eat... - So, we got some canolis at this well-renowned bakery called Isgro's. Look at this, you know what one of my favorite things is? - The packaging.
- This string. - [Quinta] It's classy and classic. - Actually recommended by ^your friend and mine, Kate Peterman. ^- Isgro's. ^- Yeah.
- Yeah, it's so good. - They taste like Christmas. I said this is why Kate likes it. ^- You see what it looks like?
- Hey, Garrett! Yes, yes, it is. - [All] Yes, yes. - But Adam is gonna eat it. - For you. (laughing) ^- Hey, Kate, watch this. ^- [Quinta] Adam! Adam. - Oh. - Wow, I'm so sorry. We gotta go. ^Bye, Kate, I love you. - Bye.
- Bye. - Thanks for the recommendation. So, now we're on our way to our second cheesesteak stop. This one is gonna be a little bit out of the ordinary. There's no steak in this cheesesteak. It may, technically, be acceptable for a vegetarian to eat. - See, this is why I don't do stuff like this. Y'all always have surprises. ^- My name is Josh Noh. ^I'm originally from Delaware, ^I've lived in Philadelphia for 16 years, and today I'm gonna prepare for you the Philly mushroom cheesesteak. Gin & Pop is a bar with high craft cocktails and elevated bar food. The motivation behind the menu, it's basically fine dine cooking all day, eating junk food at night. A combination of two of what a like and taking bits and pieces and executing it with fine dining technique. - So, your cheesesteak has no steak. What was the decision behind that? - We're not just cooking for carnivores, we're cooking for everybody. A mushroom is the meat of a vegetarian, it's 80% water, so you can draw the water out and then put back in more flavor. We start off slowly caramelizing fennel and shallot. After that's got a nice color, then you draw the sugars out of the onion, add the mushroom. The mushrooms I select are usually oyster, cremini, and shiitake, the triple combination. Let that entirely cook down, make a little fondue with taleggio, a little parmesan, the roasted garlic, the residual heat from the mushrooms, and it melts into this gooey mushroom mass. Heat it up with slices of cheese on it, throw it in the oven, slide it on top of the baguette with a little bit of arugula and pickled shallots. - We're at a bar, so even though we're in Philly, I got a Manhattan. - [All] Cheers. - (clears throat) Sorry. - The drinks are good. - [Both] The Philly cheesesteak. - Quinta, I'm sorry. Quinta didn't know that we were gonna be doing this today. I mean, she knew that we were gonna have a bunch of cheesesteaks, but she didn't know that we'd be having a vegetarian one. - You know, can't take the magic outta Disneyland. It's just a land, so, this is just... But we'll see.
- Cheers. - Cheers. Mm! - Are you kidding me?
(laughing) Quinta, eat your sandwich. - Yo, that's... I'm not missing the steak at all. - So, you guys like it a lot? - I'm not gonna lie, I love this. It seems like he's composed this amazing mushroom combination to mimic perfectly what you get when you bite into an actual Philly cheesesteak. - Quinta is not impressed at all.
- I'm not. - It is tasty. - It's tasty, it's very tasty. - It's messy, but it's light. I feel good.
- It is light, it's good. The bread's good, the truffle's amazing, the mushrooms are done right. - What about the cheese? - The cheese is great. - So, Quinta, I feel like I'm slowly getting you to admit that this is a great cheesesteak sandwich. - Listen, I would recommend this to any person who is looking for a great vegetarian meal. They're different, that's all I'm saying. This is not a cheesesteak. - This is like you had a fantastic cheesesteak sandwich, but then you just omitted the steak and doubled the mushrooms.
- Yeah, true. - I agree that nothing can quite replace the taste of steak. - Thank you. Thank you.
- I mean, look at a cow and look at a mushroom. - I've seen 'em both, and I want to eat the cow. (laughing) - Gin & Pop. All things considered, pretty good sandwich. - Yeah. - Yeah, it was great, yeah.
- Steven. (mumbling) - I do love little vegetarian change-ups every once in a while.
- I notoriously despite them. Hit us with a food fact, Steven! - Philly cheesesteak fact! ^In 2015, the inaugural Philadephia Cheesesteak Festival ^kicked off with a 450 foot long Philly cheesesteak. ^- [Andrew] Wow. - That's a lot of cheesesteak. - I always ask why.
(laughing) Why make a cheesesteak that long? - Because...
- What're you trying to prove? - That's not trying to prove anything. It's for the love of the game. - Yeah, humans have always done that. They're like, I love q thing, I'm gonna make the biggest version of it. - Exactly. - The Egyptians loved triangles. - That's how we got Texas. (laughing) - That's how we got Texas? - Yeah, they loved states so much they were like, we're gonna make a big version of it and then Texas happened. - We're on our way to a new place, a last place, called Barclay Prime?
- Barclay Prime. - Steakhouse.
- Yeah. - Pretty excited they're gonna do a twist on a Philly cheesesteak by adding lots of stuff on it that'll cost a lot of money, so... - The twist is it's gonna cost a lot of money. - [Andrew] Is that a twist? - Let's do it. ^- My name's Mark Twersky, I'm the executive chef, ^and today I'm gonna show you how to make $120 cheesesteak. - Is this the Cadillac of cheesesteaks? - I'd say better than the Cadillac. It might be the Tesla or I don't know. Barclay Prime, we've been around for 12 years. We are a boutique luxury steakhouse. Think of a classic steakhouse with a little bit of modern flair to it. At this point, there's so many different cheesesteak places to go, they're basically the same thing. So, we've taken the concept and elevated it. We want to offer the best quality of every product we can find. - This seems like it's gonna be the Dinseyland of cheesesteaks. - It is a little Epcot-y because we're drawing our products from Japan, from Upstate New York, from different places. So, it is kind of like a virtual Epcot center of a cheesesteak. The three ingredients that really call for the price are we're getting Japanese beef flown in weekly. They do a wagyu beef. It's a different breed of cow that is known for the amount of fat that its body can hold. And so, the fat translates into flavor. - I'm hungry already. - We get our bread across the street at Park Restaurant. They're our sister restaurant. The bread they make is some of the best you can find in Philadelphia. We add a little bit of truffle butter. Somebody will start toasting the bread right as the same time as my saute cook is starting to cook all the steak. A little bit of the truffle peelings and some caramelized onions. Just kinda let all that cook together. We like a little bit of caramelization on the steak, but we also like to have a little bit of that pinkness like you'd see almost on a medium steak just so that it's even more tender and juicy. The guy toasting the bread is then making the cheese sauce. He's gotta heat up a bechamel sauce, whisk in some of that shredded Italian truffle cheese, make a nice elasticity. Next, we layer a little bit of some truffled foie gras mousse. Foie gras is liver from a duck, and then just kinda envelope it with this cheese sauce, slice it, bring it out to the dining room where hopefully one or more people are going to love it. - How many Philly cheesesteaks do you have to eat together before you can be called part of the family, part of the Philly fam, family? - It doesn't work that way.
- Okay. (laughing) - You have to be born here, Steven. - Dang it!
- Yeah. - We get to select our knives for this delightful... - Choose your weapon at Barclay Prime. Knives from around the world. - I'll let you guys go first. - I know Andrew wants this one, I can tell. - How did you know? - Did I nail it?
- Yeah! - Yeah, it's just very Andrew. It's the most simple, but elegant one. This is the one I want. ^- Jesus.
- Yeah. ^Alright, what kind of champagne is this? ^- [Server] Veuve Clicquot, a classic. ^- Decadence. - I'm ready, are you guys ready to... - Let's do it, I'm so pumped! - Thank you, Quinta. - Thank you for having me, guys. - [Steven] Yeah, what a wonderful day. - It's been a wild adventure. - Cheers. Mm, oh my God. The cheese. - Wow.
- Cheese kicks it off. - Yeah, that's a nice cheese. - The cheese really coats your tongue, like all around. Right now, it's just seeping into my taste buds, - Wow, you're just tearing through that (laughs). - I'm so hungry.
- That good, huh? - This is so good. - I am surprised how light it is. This is only slightly heavier than a ham and cheese croissant. The truffle is like it's a jacked up mushroom. So, it's not just adding an expensive ingredient to your cheesesteak sandwich, it actually makes sense within the contest of a cheesesteak sandwich. - That is so true. I get cheesesteaks all the time and I have to dress them up with a bunch of things, but this actually... I don't need any ketchup, mustard, anything. The truffle really makes up for the flavors that I usually create myself. I kinda wanna eat those peppers, but... (all mumbling) ^- Are they hot? ^A little spice is nice. - The truffle really does the job. - Wow.
- Oh, oh my God. (laughing) - Got that pepper juice squirting out at ya. - So much juicier than I ever thought it would be. - Philly really put their name on the cheesesteak by just throwin' it in there, and I get it now. You know, they're just different here. - Have you had a cheesesteak somewhere else who... and they call it a Philly cheesesteak? - Yeah, yeah, I have. - And now you know that that was trash. (sighs) There's one place in Los Angeles that actually compares, and it's called Boo's, but the people are from Philly, they have the rolls flown out, and they sell Tastycakes. - What's a Tastycake?
- What's a Tastycake? (laughing)
What? - Is it just a tasty cake? - Yes, but no, it's so much more. - Sorry. - It's a snack.
- Okay, okay. - Oh my God, uncultured swine. (laughing) - Alright, let's go get some Tastycakes then. - Okay. - [All] Mm! - Right? You can get this delectable snack at any corner store. (laughing) - Okay.
- So, we did it. We ate the cheesesteaks. - First of all, thank you so much for being an amazing guest on Worth It. - Thank you guys for having me. - We trusted the process of Worth It. Which Philly cheesesteak was the most worth it at its price? We'll start with Andrew today.
- Nice. - I think my Worth It winner has to go to Barclay Prime. - [Both] No! - But only if you eat it by yourself, no sharing. - That's $120. - A very fancy steakhouse like Barclay Prime, I can think of no better way to show up everybody in the restaurant than to just slobber down a whole cheesesteak by myself while they (nibbling) eat some asparagus and whatever petite filets they got.
- That is what they look like. - My Worth It winner goes to Gin & Pop. I downed that sandwich.
- He downed it. - In less than three minutes, it was gone. It was good. - It was just a really tasty sandwich to you. - It's a tasty sandwich. - My Worth It choice is the cheesesteak from Gin & Pop. (gasps) But the fact that I can get cocktails here, and I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm a fancy girl, I like a good cocktail. The experience overall was the most worth it for me. - There has not been a greater plot twist since... - Since what? - The Sixth Sense, I don't know. Adam, who's your Worth It winner? Adam says Boo's Philly cheesesteak in Los Angeles, California. - [Quinta] Boo's is pretty freaking good. I'm not gonna lie to you. Boo's is the cheesesteak of the hood, but it's in LA. It's crazy. - Hey, check out our Instagram. It's new, it's @buzzfeedworthit. - See you guys there. - [Andrew] Oh, yes!
