Chubby's

Eschewing the usual Pat's and Geno's for more adventurous territory, we headed out Torresdale Avenue in search of the unfortunately named Chink's. After getting lost in all sorts of pockets of shady NW Philly, we finally made it to Chink's just in time for them to put a sign in the window saying that they'd run out of food(!?).

Plan B: Second best name, Chubby's, clear on the other side of town. Oh well. Theses joints must form in clusters, as another cheesesteak purveyor, D'Alessandro's is right across the street a la Geno's and Pat's. I chose Chubby's since it wasn't as packed and appeared to be the comfier of the two: wood paneling, booths, table service, cold bottles of Yuengling and ashtrays galore. My kind of place.

I did the cheesesteak with mushrooms. James was adventurous, trying the cheesesteak with pepperoni, which somehow differs from a pizza steak, which was also on the menu. That's a head scratcher. What's the difference between a cheesesteak with pepperoni and a pizza steak? Tomato sauce? The meat is chopped rather than sliced, which isn't bad, just a minor deviation. Next time it's Chink's or bust. (8/10/02)

Chubby's * 5826 Henry Ave., Philadelphia, PA