Grazie, Grazie, Downtown, Washington, DC: The Cheesesteak

I confess that I was never a big fan of cheesesteaks until very recently. I grew up mainly in Alabama, then and possibly still a cheesesteak desert, but a garden of earthly delights when it came to pork barbecue, kosher meat sandwiches, and Italian po’ boys. I tried cheesesteaks a number of times in my travels around the country — here’s a typical experience — and ended up wondering what the attraction was.

Then I came across BZ Maestro Eats, one of the best food blogs anywhere. Barry Zuckerman writes beautifully and thoughtfully about the dishes he’s eating. And his research on cheesesteaks has been thorough to the point of heroism. He ate two or more cheesesteaks per week for a year to identify the best in the Philadelphia area. His analysis and exposition of the factors that distinguish the various cheesesteaks — the bread, cheese, meat, onions, and seasoning, and the overall balance of elements — are clear and logical. His blog is so good that Nancy and I traveled to Philadelphia just to have a cheesesteak with and to meet Barry — and assist in his research of Carmela’s cheesesteak. Well, we went to the Barnes and the Reading Terminal (both Hershel’s and DiNic’s were better than the Barnes) and did our 10k state capital walk in Trenton as well. With that trip, the scales dropped from my eyes and I began considering the cheesesteak as well worth the study.

The Washington area is chock full of cheesesteaks, so full that, as with my study of Italian subs, I needed to create a threshold eligibility factor to thin the universe of cheesesteaks I needed to try. The obvious choice was the bread.

To me, the right bread is a key to every type of sandwich. A pastrami sandwich needs a good rye. And a long sandwich — a sub or a cheesesteak — likes a hard roll, a roll with a good crust, but one light enough that it doesn’t fight the filling for precedence. A cheesesteak fairly begs for bread like that at Grazie Grazie. I reported on Grazie Gracie’s Italian sub here, and they use that same great bread on the cheesesteak.

I went to Grazie, Grazie with our Senior Deli Correspondent, Les Wexler. Les has spent — still spends — a lot of time in Philadelphia eating cheesesteaks and other local delicacies. I need to ask him about scrapple. Les and I went downtown to Grazie, Grazie for cheesesteaks.

I ordered a cheesesteak with Cooper Sharp cheese. Cooper Sharp is an American cheese, one with much more flavor than others.. And it has the glorious melting quality of other American cheeses. Here’s the sandwich —

And here’s a side view.

The first reaction of many readers, especially in Philadelphia, will be that it needs more meat. It would look like more if I squeezed the bread together, but I prefer not to gild the lily. I imagine someone will comment, “Where’s the beef?” Some Philadelphia cheesesteaks load on a full pound of meat, which is much more than I need to be eating. This sandwich contained maybe a half pound, maybe a little less. It was right-sized for me. The other, more discerning reaction will be that the cheese wasn’t fully mixed in with the meat, as it can and should be. Or maybe there was just to much cheese, as at Cafe Carmela in Philadelphia. That’s on Grazie, Grazie.

Les, a traditionalist, stuck with Wiz.  l

As you can see, the Wiz is mixed much more thoroughly than the Cooper Sharp. Wes and I shared half of our respective sandwiches. Les and I disagree on the cheese. I’m sticking with Cooper Sharp and Les is a Wiz fan.

Still, both of the sandwiches were pretty good. That bread was wonderful, and good bread can cover a multitude of sins. It goes a long way t greatness, and the filling was nicely seasoned. Les and I also split a cheesesteak (and a roast pork with broccoli rabe) at Bub and Pop’s, which is run by folks from Philadelphia, a year and a half ago. That would have been a fine cheesesteak but for the insipid soft roll. Bub and Pop’s has changed their roll since them. I’ll go back there and see if the roll is worthy of the filling. Perhaps they offer a cheese other than provolone now. That’ll wait until spring, when I can eat outside. If you get there before I do, let me know if they have a hard roll. Meanwhile, you’ll enjoy just about any sandwich at Grazie, Grazie, as long as it’s on that bread. Try one.

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