Philadelphia Sandwich Company

Philadelphia Sandwich Company
7158 E 5th Ave
Scottsdale, AZ

For the most part, I have no regrets on most of my trips. After all, I am paid to travel to these locations! Sure, work is hard but, given that I have almost no attachments, it is more of a matter of enjoying the trip. And, in Scottsdale, while work was hard, I enjoyed the trip: My clients were really nice, the weather was nice, etc. etc. One of the few regrets I had on a previous trip, namely Philadelphia, was that I only tried one Philly cheesesteak place: Jim’s Steaks (blogged here). While I am not sure if I am glad or not for not visiting tourist spots (Geno’s Steak and Pat’s King of Steaks), it was rather the fact I did not have the time to go there. But, this time, in this trip to Scottsdale, I saw a small chance for redemption in the form of Philadelphia Sandwich Company.

A bit of description of the area before I continue: I stayed in a hotel a couple of blocks away from an area called Old Town Scottsdale. On all the nights I was there, there were some restaurants still going strong after 10:00 p.m., something almost unseen in some cities in Canada (read: Vancouver). I was told by my client that in Fridays and Saturdays (neither night I was there to witness it), the area would be filled by people either clubbing or club-hopping. Regardless if that is true or not, I did notice something: there are a lot of restaurants in the area from Mexican (which, sadly, I must report did not go to any – sad because Mexico is not THAT far away and there were chances for authentic Mexican) to American to chain restaurants (though no fast food!) to Asian (one post on Japanese coming!). In other words, there were no such thing as lack of options (heck, I even found a place owned by a fellow Canuck!). Similar to what happened in another night, it was late (later than previous instances) and haven’t had dinner. While there were still restaurants open, I thought I should come here in the odd event I did not have an opportunity…

If you are wondering, below the wrapped sandwich is a copy of the local Coffee News.

When I arrived, it was mostly empty – aside from the staff, there was one other customer waiting for his order. After I made my order (what else, a Philly Cheesesteak for $7.50!), there was a small group walking by and they made their order as well. I must admit it took a bit longer than expected but, granted, at that moment, there weren’t that many people which would have guaranteed having things cooking fast and furious on the back (on that note, you could see the kitchen from a side window they have. For other reasons, I chose not to take such picture). And, after a couple of minutes which seemed to have taken forever – which hunger did not really help, I got my order.

Size-wise, it would be similar to a large Quizno’s sandwich – 9 inches probably slightly longer. Of course, this is not a representation of “healthy” food by any stretch. The amount of meat, grilled onions and mushroom (which is considered an extra for $0.50) was quite well balance and the provolone cheese (also had the option of cheeze whiz and white American cheese) gave a hint of creamy taste/consistency. Each bite I took had a bit of everything so it was spread consistently. And, ah, the meat… Thinly slices on every bite. Come to think about it, I don’t recall I bit into any piece which had any gristle or fatty portions in it so that is definitely a plus in this type of sandwich. While that is all good, there were two things that disappointed me a little bit: For one, they used canned mushroom rather than regular mushroom and the meat could have been juicier. But, looking back, from a business perspective, that makes sense, since not everybody would want mushroom, having raw button mushrooms hanging there would not be a good idea. As for the “juicy” meat, again, it is something difficult to manage as they did not have the advantage of having a pile of meat being cooked at a time. Still, I must give some credit the fact it wasn’t dry!

However, there is one component that I think really made it: the bread. I know this will sound strange as I am sure some people don’t think much about it or would think it is the wrong type of bread (disclaimer: I don’t know which is the best bread suited for a Philly Cheesesteak). In my case, I liked it because the “crunchiness” of the crust and it was somewhat “dense” and, at the same time, it did not feel dry as in day-old breads. Come to think about it, since we are in Vancouver and have written a couple of posts on banh mi, saying it is a denser version of baguettes used for banh mi would be a good description.

Overall, for a regular meal, this might not be the top of the options, specially considering all the restaurants around it. However, if it was 2:00 a.m., been drinking (unlikely that will happen), looking for relatively cheap eats, and hungry, this would be a place I would certainly go. Not perfect but an experience of its own.

Tagged under: Philadelphia • Sandwich • Scottsdale