Dalessandro's Steaks

Dalessandro's Steaks
Henry Ave. and Wendover St.
Philadelphia, PA 19128
215-482-5407

My Aussie friend just HAD to have a cheesesteak last Friday night. Well, she got one – one car accident and a kitchen full of mice later, that is…

I’ve been going to Dalessandro's for over 30 years now, and I always loved their sandwiches. We’ve even had family friends who fed Dalessandro's cheeseteaks to their dogs on a daily basis. My brother and I would often stop by Dalessandro's after spending all day at the Walnut Lane Golf Course collecting golf balls, playing some holes, and just running around the woods. So there’s definitely some nostalgia at Dalessandro's for me.

So many people swear by Dalessandro's, and they're on the Best Of Philly list alot – but I’m afraid that, based on my visits the past few years, I gotta give them the Big “O” for overrated. Their cheesteaks are just so hit-or-miss – One weekend I’ll get a soggy-rolled, tasteless cheesteeak, but then other times I’ll get the real deal – a totally yummy Philly cheesteak, with the dripping cheese, fresh Amoroso roll, tasty sauce – and sometimes it’s even served with a smile.

Friday night, my pizza steak was somewhere in the middle – not bad, but not the Dale’s I grew up with. For starters - Where the hell was the cheese? It was so dry, even though it was pizza steak. The meat was just a pile of mush, not as tasty as it usually is, and the texture and look of it just weren’t too appetizing.

And what’s with the overkill with the hot peppers? We got them on the side, there were like eleven in the bag, they were hot as hell which I like, but we only had two sandwhiches. Are people really eating five or six hot peppers for each sandwhich? Their colons must love them.

I didn’t even get a chance to start eating my pizza steak until we were parked on the shoulder of Henry Avenue past Andorra Shopping Center, waiting for a cop to come to write up our fender-bender. After 19 years of driving with no accidents – not even one scratch – I got bumped on the side by a nice gent from Lancaster who was swerving to avoid an idiot making a left turn.

Well, I pulled over, made sure everyone was ok, called the fuzz, then watched Aussie sit in the car and calmly continue eating her cheesesteak hoagie. I took a bite of her sandwhich – so dry, hardly had any taste, not sure if it was the accident shock or what, but her sandwhich just sucked – So I decided to unwrap mine and dig in right there on the shoulder of the road.

I finished up my pizza steak at my house – but only after we walked in and found a couple of mice on the countertop eating the rat poison bait like it was a strawberry cheescake. Grossed out to the max, we retreated to the living room and finished up our Dalessandro's sandwhiches – and I even ate a hot pepper whole, what a rush...