Pat's vs. Geno's! Which Tourist Trap Philly Cheesesteak is Better?

hey guys and welcome to another episode of UA eats I'm UA and I'm still in Philly today I'm at perhaps the most touristy spot in all of Philly besides the Liberty Bell Independence Hall and you know those historical stuff I'm at the intersection of pass young and 9th street where the two places that claim to have invented the Philly cheese steak are pretty much right across from each other Pat's King of Steaks and Gino's cheese steaks so that's Pat's King of Steaks over there and as we showed earlier that is gos now it is kind of interesting when cities kind of have these competing restaurants that both claim to be the origin of a certain dish when I was in LA last year the birthplace of the French dip sandwich there the claim was between Kohl's versus Philips for who invented the French dip sandwich and here in Philly the famous Philly cheesecake sandwich it's between Pats and Goos that is pretty much Clear what is interesting is that they both could be right depending on your interpretation so Pats is the place that claims to have invented putting steak on sandwich while Goos does not dispute that Pats was the first to put steak on sandwich but they claim to be the first place that put cheese on the steak therefore making it a cheese steak so I guess it really depends on your point of view there you know like how specific you're going to be for who invented the cheese steak uh if it were up to me I would feel like I would probably give the edge to gos because I feel like the steak with the cheese is what makes it a cheese steak as opposed to you know just a steak sandwich which I feel like has been done many times I don't know I mean I'm not a food historian so I just feel like anyone could have made that up you know regardless neither of these two places are the best cheese steak in the city not by a long shot both Pats and Goos may be historical places but at this point they're mostly historical and uh to be honest they're kind of tourist traps at this point locals don't really eat here unless you kind of just live down the street but if you live anywhere else your favorite local joint is guaranteed to be better than these I actually grew up in Suburban Philadelphia in South Jersey so I can safely say with some Authority that Pats and Goos are both tourist traps but that being said I don't really discourage anyone from checking these places out I think it's something that everyone should do once cuz it is a really cool corner here and it's cool to come out here and stand in line at both restaurants maybe get a cheese steak from each and compare them see which one is your favorite and yeah if you're a sucker for food history like I am then it is also cool to try a slice of history or a sliced steak of History you might say so I haven't been to Pats and Goos in a long long time now maybe not in like 15 years but you know I figured while back in Philly I'll try it out so what we'll do is we'll try ps's first you know the place that originated the steak sandwich and then we'll try gos we'll go in order of sequential order of which one started first so let's check it out ah you see they're really claiming to be the first and it is so unfortunate just how expensive cheese steaks have become at this point I remember back in the day a cheese steak would be on average 7 to eight bucks but now I mean it's not just that this is a touristy location to see one for 12 to 13 14 bucks unfortunately is becoming the norm Angelo's that we went to yesterday was also about this price maybe even a little bit more so they pretty much just sell cheese steaks here not really anything else everything is just like a variation of the cheese steak like if you want like a pepper steak or mushroom or whatnot so yeah I guess let's just get a cheese steak now actually it seems like it's been so long since I've been here I didn't even know that they only sell out of the truck across the street now they no longer sell out of the actual building which is kind of a shame I'll just do a cheese steak uh next window oh next window okay hi I'll just do a cheese steak with fried onions and yeah 15 all right you know the line can usually get pretty long here especially late at night it's not too long today but it's starting to pick up and I asked the person working there he said it's just that this building is under renovation that's all it's just being renovated so it's not closed down guess I just got unlucky but we'll return to the building to eat all right so we have our Pats king of staks here with a nice view of its competitor Gino's Stakes so if there's anything we find lacking about this we can hope to find it across the street so you know this wound up actually being a pleasant idea it's been so long since I've eaten here like I said it tends to be like a very touristy thing or a thing that you bring people visiting out of town if they want that tourist experience I guess so to say but it's actually a pretty nice spot I mean you can kind of eat completely around the whole restaurant uh late at night you can also see the genos building really lit up and the line going around the block so yeah guys uh you know just because it's a tourist thing don't get the wrong idea I'm not saying you shouldn't do it you know tourist stuff can be fun as long as you just do it once or twice but let's open this guy up it's already noticeably smaller than the cheese steak we got at Angelo's that one was humongous so even though the price is similar not quite getting your money's worth and here we go our cheese steak from Pat's King of staks but this is a pretty decent looking steak right I mean the default here is cheese whz but I believe you can request American or provolone if you wish with the cheese whz it's that stereotypical yellow slimy Oozy cheese steak that everyone knows and loves bring it into the light a little bit and you can see that the yellow color of the steak is even more apparent when there's good lighting I got to say all things considered I mean this is definitely not considered one of the better cheese steaks in the city it's mostly historical Wood Rose onth Street is the best wood Rose it's newer so it's not as well known but it's sick oh Wood Rose I'll keep that in mind for sure for real sounds good do you know if Jims is back cuz it burned down right it's not open yet we by yesterday by open AUST well always great to get some local tips now we have another one to try Wood Rose but to be honest it's not looking terrible actually it's actually looking decent I think better than I remembered maybe I almost have negative Nostalgia if that's like a thing so oo I wish they had cut it in half I don't know why they didn't do that usually that's like a standard thing to cut these cheese steaks in half but I guess let's just grab it and oops my my paper's blowing away but I guess let's just grab it with both hands and all right all right first bite of the first cheese steak ever I don't care I um she you know what it's definitely decent like I said compared to all the best cheese steaks that I've had Angelos delisandros and now apparently Wood Rose it doesn't really hold a candle to those this kind of tastes more like your standard cheese steak that you get from like a food cart just any food cart in the city but that being said this is Philadelphia so that's pretty good the steak is really finely diced which I like I like when it's really really thinly cut not only does it make it less chewy but it also helps the cheese to really cover the steak pretty evenly like reduce the surface area so to say I like when places use the nice soft Amoroso roll nice and soft with the perfect amount of chew to it the onions to be honest I can't really taste that well the onion flavor if anything is mostly like a you know like a background flavor rather than a star of the show like it is at some other places so the onion flavor doesn't really come through much the steak dough not bad I mean it kind of just tastes like your standard sliced ribeye steak not of particularly amazing quality but decent quality nonetheless I would say one thing that would help this a lot is if they seasoned the beef a little bit more like a little bit more salt a little bit more Pepper would really go a long way I don't necessarily mind cheese whz but probably this would have been better with American cheese this cheese whz is a little bit watery not as creamy and thick as I would like on a cheese steak but all in all though guys if you're visiting from out of town if you have never had an authentic Philly cheese steak before actually I'm pleasantly impressed and surprised Pats is actually a decent option like I said don't expect it to be the best cheese steak in the city but if you want to experience some history while also getting a solid cheese steak like an average cheese steak which is good for anywhere else not Philadelphia honestly you could do worse than pets I feel like [Music] okay so actually I'm getting more of the onion now I feel like the onion just might not have been super even throughout but I feel like it could stand to be grilled a little bit more it's a little bit crunchy and watery like it's slightly raw I'm not saying it needs to be caramelized but you know grilled to be more soft at least and while some of the beef is rather juicy some of it is a little bit more dry just look at how much more succulent the beef looks in the light then not in the light but even in that yellow light it's still some of it looks slightly dry right so maybe a little bit more well done than I would like some of the strands I shoved my wrapper in one of these holes cuz it's windy and Philly this weekend so it doesn't blow away but honestly Pats is uh not bad overall I mean as long as you set your expectations and you mostly go in for the cultural and historical experience you definitely could do worse than pses let's wrap this guy up and let's try gos now the other claimant to inventor of the cheese steak Pates should have filed like a cheese steak copyright I don't know if those are a thing or they should be a thing if they're not but let's see if gos is all it's cracked up to be ah nice gos is not doing renovation right now so I can order from the actual restaurant and not a food truck like at Pat's and it looks like the price is slightly lower here and they also sell meatball sandwiches and Italian hogies so not just cheese steaks like at pses like at Pats and it's cash only hi just one cheese steak with uh uh with onions all right we with $14 thank you you go thank you thank you so much great day thank you TI I have found a table that's secluded enough the other tables were pretty close to the counter so I always am honest on this channel but I also want to be polite and it's hard to do that when people can you know when you're within earshot but gos definitely has a nice bag although I guess it's a little bit on the generic end not as classic looking a little bit more modernized not not necessarily in a good way I feel like this logo anyone could have thought of this it's very very simple pretty much as simple as it gets but yeah Goos is the place that claimed to be the first to put cheese on steak not just steak on Roll so let's see how gos fares and already there seem to be some differences the goino steak is more thickly sliced it's not diced like at ps's uh wo it's actually just some big old SL abs of steak not even diced at all like they were just pulled off of the paper and just thrown right on the grill and that's it I think Tony luks does it this way as well if I remember correctly um I'm not personally a fan of this I like it when the steak is more diced and because of that the cheese whz doesn't really penetrate the meat so to say like it doesn't really cover the meat so evenly it's kind of just still stuck on the sides of the bread as opposed to within the meat getting a Cheesy meaty bite in every bite here let me bring this into the light just so I show you you know just so I'm being fair and not playing like lighting tricks to make one look better than the other but yeah even in the light it looks more appetizing but uh the Pats is one that's more diced I still prefer personally all right let's put gos to the test and if you don't know now goo sorry I'm a big biggy fan but bite number one okay so the PES one actually tasted pretty solid it was better than I remembered but the gos one uh it does kind of taste the way I remembered and not in a good way not really super impressed with this one obviously it's up to personal preference but I still find that the meat here needs to be diced I don't like this strategy of just having a whole slice of meat intact like I said the cheese doesn't get in between the meat you don't get like a Cheesy bite in every bite and also okay I mean interestingly the meat comes apart more than I thought it would in my hands but in your mouth it's a little bit on the chewy end maybe because a lot of it is stacked together maybe what it is is that the meat is a little bit overcooked it's a little bit dry I thought that the PES one was a little on the dry end but when it's diced you get like some crispiness all around lots of myard reaction and you kind of get some crispy bits and it can be pleasant in a way but the gos one it's kind of dry but it's not really charred at all like it's just cooked to well done without much crust or anything similar to pses it is UND seasoned to me I feel that it could use some more salt and pepper and I'm sure if I asked for salt and pepper they would give it to me but I don't like to do that you you know it's better if they have the seasoning down so you don't have to fix it yourself let's see how these onions are though okay so at both Pats and gos the onions are a little bit raw they could be cooked more to be more softened and uh not caramelized but a little bit more grilled but these onions at gos are just even more raw than at ps's like that one that I ate was just almost Flatout Raw like I bit into it and there was that acidic and wateriness and juiciness from a raw onion and you know raw onion can be nice it can be decent on Burgers but on cheesecakes grilled onions are definitely Superior this one might be a little bit more cooked okay so some were better than others but some were very very raw even that one that I just ate the inside was pretty raw even if the outside was more grilled let's try another bite and see if if it changes our minds maybe let's eat this corner here that's a little bit more [Music] cheesy that was definitely better I think the cheese whz is definitely better here at Pat's I found the cheese to be a little bit too watery while here it's definitely more creamy uh more thick in what you really want from like a artificial cheese sauce I just wish they had diced to meat so that that cheese sauce could really cover every bite of the meat and not just be relegated to the corners and the outsides of the sandwich I'll quickly say though that both I believe are using the amaroso roll the nice chewy amaroso Italian bread so they both have the bread down at least but guys I think that's going to be it for this video yesterday we ate at what's critically and locally regarded as one of the best cheese steaks in the city but I'm glad that I kind of finally came back after 15 years to Pats and Goos it was a nice experience the most fun part about coming here is that both of these historical and iconic chees stick spots are across the street from each other if it's a video game it kind of has replayable value because if you chose PES this time you can choose gos next time and then kind of compare which you prefer or maybe some of your friends can go to PES and some can go to Goos and then you can compare and contrast and swap if you'd like I think it's something that everyone should do at one point if they're ever in Philly now time for my verdict Pates versus gos I think you know the answer they are right to call themselves king of staks because in this case Pates is still the king of cheese Stakes when it comes to who's doing it best out of Pates and gos they invented the steak sandwich although not necessarily with cheese but once they added cheese they perfected it more so than Goos so in my opinion I'm giving the crown to Pat's King of stakes but what do you guys think I'd love to hear from you guys let me know in the comments if you prefer PES or Goos and what are your favorite places to get cheese steaks in Philly is it John's Rose pork is it Angelo's is it ishka bibbles whatever let me know in the comments because great minds eat alike and if you like my videos make sure you like And subscribe that way you stay up to date whenever I post another video until next time I'll see you later [Music]

Channel: UA Eats

Views: 62,184

Keywords: Pat's vs Geno's, Pat's and Geno's, Pat's or Geno's, Pat's King of Steaks, Geno's Steaks, Pat's Geno's, Are Pat's and Geno's tourist traps?, UA Eats, UA Eats philly, UA Eats cheesesteaks, UA Eats street food

Id: RZcXguzWh1k

Length: 18min 36sec (1116 seconds)

Published: Thu May 02 2024