The following article on this website is taken from the August "Best of Philly" issue of Philadelphia Magazine (Page 100):
The steak-starved find solace on a World Wide Web site called, appropriately, "Where to Find the Best Philly Cheesesteaks" (www.mnsinc.com/johnruss/chsstk.html). Here, Philly residents and expats alike tout their faves and confess their cravings from afar. There's information on where to order a cheesesteak by mail and where to get one in the Virgin Islands.
John Russ, a 35-year-old liquor salesman in northern Virginia, mans this cyber grill. He's recorded more than 2,400 downloads since July 1996. Most comments are positive, such as this paean to Dalessandro's in Roxborough from David, a lifelong Philly resident: "Not only are the steaks great, but if you have the homemade roasted peppers, it is difficult to see straight when your eyes roll back into your head." Russ tells us he tries to weed out any whiff of commercialism, and he allows negative reviews "with class. If someone just writes, like, 'This sucks,' I don't think that's mature enough content."
In typical Philly fashion, some of the negatives are blunt. "The Philadelphia Connection in Pasadena is connected to Philadelphia in name only," warns West Coaster Jay Jacobs. "If you like tough steak, soggy rolls and limp onions, go there. For me, it's PASS-adena."
Brian Egras, a devotee Mama's Pizzeria in Bala Cynwyd, details the shortcomings of Mana's rivals: "Jim's: Can you take any steak place seriously when it's full with tourists who smother the steak in Cheez Whiz? Steve's Prince: WAY EXPENSIVE for what you get. Geno's and Pat's: It's emphatically the worst. (I say 'it,' because to me, both are indistinguishable.)"
The cheesesteak site actually is an offshoot of a sports- themed home page that Russ created last summer for nonresident Philadelphia Eagles fans like himself. Russ grew up near Morgantown, 45 miles west of Philadelphia, and moved to the Washington, D.C., area after graduating from Penn State ten years ago. The man thinks nothing of making the two- and-a-half-hour drive north to take in a Businessman's Special Eagles game or a Flyers game. On the way there-- and sometimes, on the way home, too--he stops at his preferred steak shrine, Leo's Steak Shop in Folcroft (sweet peppers, no onions). "I'm going to get Eagles season tickets this year--my girlfriend is hating me. I told her, 'You're going to miss me this fall--unless you want to go with me. "
--M.G. (that's Maria Gallagher)
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