What Makes Eddie's Famous Cheesesteaks Famous?

It's rare that I visit a restaurant on opening day. It's even rarer that you read about it later that same day.

From the moment it was announced in the weekly food section of the Akron Beacon Journal about a month ago, something about Eddie's Famous Cheesesteaks has simply grabbed hold of my attention and refused to let it go. Was this a national chain? It kind of felt like it but initial research indicated otherwise. The Facebook page for the restaurant was filled with endless mono-thematic rants of, "Cheesesteaks, baby!" and a gratuitous over-use of the exclamation point. To top it off, even though the original ABJ article written by Lisa Abraham stated that the restaurant was supposed to open on May 24th, in actuality, because of delays in getting various permits and certifications, it didn't open until today, Wednesday, June 15th at noon. And I only discovered that since I periodically checked the Facebook page for updates.

Eddie's Famous Cheesesteaks was located at 1375 North Portage Path, Akron, OH 44313 and can be reached at 330-864-8500 (this was a different number than was listed on their Facebook fan page). There was ample parking around the small group of businesses clustered together. Here was a shot of the front entrance to Eddie's:


What you don't really see to the left of the above shot was the painter's scaffolding that was still up. If it wasn't for the balloons with the "Welcome!" message on them, I might have thought they still weren't open. Once inside, I was surprised to discover that I was the first actual paying customer (not of the day, mind you, but like, ever) and I was warmly greeted by about six people. While service today felt a little "rough," since this was their opening day, I didn't take any service blips into account (employees were still learning the cash register, soda fountain, etc.). Those things should gradually ameliorate themselves over the next couple of weeks.

While there were wall menus hanging above the service line, I wasn't able to get a picture of them with my rather conspicuous camera, so I resorted to grabbing one of the printed menus at the cash register and photographing it at my table instead:



I liked the composition of the menu. It felt focused and yet had enough variety to appeal to a crowd not interested only in beef and dairy offerings. What I didn't care for on the menu was the lack of attention to grammar, punctuation, and spelling. For instance, under the "Our Story" section at the bottom in the above photograph:

"Welcome to Eddies Famous Cheesesteaks & Grille! We started at festivals and street fairs across the U.S. -- in Panama City Beach something happened. Eddie met a cat ironically also names Eddie. What happened the next three years is truly what legends are made of: Eddies created cheesesteaks beyond real. The "Eddie", a pound and a half of cheesesteak love took Eddies to a new level of fanatic admiration on the beaches of Panama! Cheesesteak Eddie, as the PCB cat came to be known, convinced Eddie that it was time to open a full time joint. Eddie's is fresh stuff right off the griddle -- before your eyes and made-to-order. Our soon to be legendary fries with our cheesesteak heaven are amazing. Crossed the country to find the bomb fries, found them on a boardwalk in Maryland, and "WOW", we found French Fry Nirvana! Ours are close but we one upped 'em and added the gourmet French Fry Bar! Lots of other good eats to choose from -- all made with the highest quality, freshest ingredients. Think of it as your festival faves, taken up a notch. We threw in kick butt salads with housemade dressings to make sure you know were serious about our food. Eddie thinks you'll love this joint and come back often -- See ya soon!"

Now look, gentle reader, I realize that I have made plenty of spelling and grammatical mistakes over the course of the last two and a half years of writing this blog; I don't claim to be perfect. However, to my eyes, I count numerous punctuation, grammar, and spelling errors in the above copy. This is on your menu, for goodness sake! A blog can be easily corrected; five thousand copies of your menu have to be reprinted once the corrections are made. [Ed. Note: My high school senior composition teacher, Ms. Rohrer, probably would have had a stroke reading that paragraph.]

Okay, so enough with the English lessons. How was the food? After ordering and paying for my lunch, I took my French Fries and glass of water and retired to one of many tables lining the dining room area. Shortly afterward, my cheesesteak joined the party. Here was a shot of my lunch after I had applied some of the regular ketchup from the "gourmet French Fry Bar":


Incidentally, the gourmet French Fry Bar was six or seven sauces inside translucent plastic bottles sitting on one of the islands in the dining room. Today I was here for the standard meal, so I choose plain, ordinary ketchup for my fries. Perhaps next time I will be more adventurous and try one of the other sauces.

Just as I was about to sit, a man walked over to me and introduced himself as Ed Sutter, owner and general manager of Eddie's. He asked my name (which I dutifully provided) and thanked me for being the first customer. I thought about revealing my true reason for coming in, but decided since he hadn't asked and since I wanted to try and enjoy my lunch instead of talking all the way through it trying to explain what I do on this blog, I allowed the conversation to end quickly.

First, I started up with my half sandwich, the "Original":


I don't know whether this was a conscientious decision on Ed Sutter's part or not, but nowhere had he ever claimed that he was offering a Philadelphia or "Philly" style cheesesteak. That is an important distinction because many outside of Philadelphia have claimed it and nearly all of them have failed. Miserably. The only two I've come across in my travels that have been nearly as good or as good have been Cosmo's Cheesesteaks in Scranton, PA and Original Steaks & Hoagies in Twinsburg, OH.

The "original" comes with grilled meat, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and Provolone and Mozzarella cheese. The meat, lying under the bed of cooked onions, was tender and seasoned well. The onions and mushrooms were cooked nicely, soft, but not mushy. My only criticism of the onions was that they were a bit unwieldy; had they been chopped more finely and integrated into the meat, they wouldn't have been falling out with each bite. The blend of cheeses was noticeable visually, but not so much in the taste. It wasn't that the sandwich lacked salt, more like it lacked punch. Perhaps using a sharp Provolone would've made this sandwich stand out more.

Finally, the roll. Believe it or not, the roll on a cheesesteak sandwich, Philly-style or not, is as important as the ingredients it carries within. Most versions of this sandwich I've had in northeast Ohio haven't held up to the juiciness of the meat, sogging out and falling apart mid-bite. To Eddie's credit, the steamed buns, while completely soft, actually held up during the entire consumption of the sandwich. A true Philly cheesesteak would've been served on a roll (such as the ones made by the Amoroso Bakery) that had both a nice chewy exterior while maintaining a soft interior. But, as I said before, Eddie's wasn't advertising an authentic Philly cheesesteak. Overall, as a steak sandwich, it worked. The full size was a foot long, but I was completely happy with my half today for lunch.

I next turned my attention to the boardwalk-style fresh-cut fries:


Fresh-cut fries have generally meant thin, limp, oily masses of fried potatoes. Some people love this style of fry. I, as has been stated numerous times before, do not. I was surprised to discover that I actually liked Eddie's fries. They were thick cut and for the most part, properly fried. Seasoned correctly even without the ketchup, I am guessing I could have enjoyed them plain. I did find a fry or two at the bottom of the container that was a touch greasy and undercooked, but this was mostly a successful side dish.

In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by my lunch today at Eddie's Famous Cheesesteaks. I think it definitely takes some chutzpah to open a restaurant in an area where you aren't known and claim that you are "famous" for offering a food item for which there are plenty of purists around, ready to dispute your version. Essentially, if you are looking for a "whiz wit" or a "mushroom Provolone witout," Eddie's is not for you. Find your way up to Original Steaks & Hoagies in Twinsburg for that. However, if you are looking for an overall decent cheesesteak and pretty darn good boardwalk-style fresh-cut fries, Eddie's may just be the place where you can get your fix.

Now if they could just get a menu printed that didn't require the use of a red pen.

A Little Bit Of Philly At Original Steaks And Hoagies?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you want sandwich authenticity, more often than not you are going to have to track it down to its source. Want a great Chicago Italian Beef sandwich? Go to Chicago. Want an authentic Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwich? Travel to the City of Brotherly Love. Of course, with any hard and fast rule, there are certainly exceptions, such as when I discovered a transplanted New Jerseyite who owned and operated a cheesesteak shop in of all places, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania called Cosmo's Cheesesteaks, but he knew his product well and knew exactly how to replicate it away from its original location.

Many Ohioans think that if you slap some cooked sliced beef, melted cheese, peppers, onions, and mushrooms on a sub bun, that makes a good Philly cheesesteak sandwich. *Bzzt!* Wrong. Just like with all great sandwiches, every single ingredient is key, especially the roll on which the sandwich is served. And that, largely, has been the downfall of most northeast Ohio attempts to get this sandwich right. The roll must be sturdy enough to stand up to the juice from the cooked meat so that it doesn't "sog out" too easily and fall apart. Sorry, but your typical food service Orlando "hoagie" roll just isn't going to cut it.

When I read that a father and son pair had opened up an authentic Philadelphia cheesesteak and hoagie restaurant in Twinsburg called The Original Steaks & Hoagies, of course I was skeptical. Many have come and tried but none have succeeded. The fact that the duo came from Philadelphia where their family had successfully managed three national chain Laspada's Original Steaks & Hoagies sandwich shops did make them sound promising, but in order not to be too disappointed, I decided before I went that I didn't want to get my hopes up.

Since Twinsburg was more or less half-way between Cleveland and Akron, I decided to check them out for dinner on my way home from work. As I mentioned in my article on Cosmo's Cheesesteaks, I intended to walk into the restaurant and ask for the most basic of cheesesteaks, a Whiz wit. This would be a cheesesteak with Cheese Whiz and grilled onions. The only other non-Philadelphia restaurant where this phrase has successfully gotten me a sandwich and not strange looks was Cosmo's. If Original Steaks & Hoagies wanted to be labeled authentic, then the staff taking orders needed to be able to speak both Philadelphian and non-Philadelphian ordering lingo.

The Original Steaks & Hoagies sandwich shop was located at 10735 Ravenna Road, Twinsburg, OH 44087 and can be reached at 330-998-6586. For purposes of locating the shop, it was in the Twinsburg Plaza (in case that makes more sense than the address). There was plenty of parking in the lot surrounding the stores.

Having just opened, they haven't had time yet to invest in a proper storefront sign. Here was a shot of the front of the store:


After walking in, I noticed two things immediately. First, it was fairly empty for dinner time. That being said, it was nice to see that it wasn't cluttered with lots of Philadelphia tchotckes, trying to bring in a fake sense of authenticity. The second thing I noticed was the short, but sweet, menu hanging on the wall directly in front of me:


A young woman at the left end of the ordering counter welcomed me and asked if she could take my order. The conversation went something a little like this:

"What's the difference between the small and large sandwich?"
"The small is 7 inches and the large is 10 inches."
"Alright, then, I'll have a large Whiz wit, please."

Silence.

"A what?"
"A large Whiz wit, please."

More silence. She looked to an older gentleman who was working behind the counter to her left.

"Bill, what's a 'Whiz wit'?"

Bill looked up from what he was doing, smiled and walked over to us.

"This gentleman has clearly been to Philadelphia before. He wants a large cheesesteak with Cheese Whiz and grilled onions."
"Oh. Why didn't he just say that?"
"He did."

I liked Bill. It turned out that I had just met Bill Fromholzer, Sr. Bill, Jr., as it turned out, was running the grill behind the main wall. To accompany my sandwich I decided to give the Bay Fries a try as well. While I wasn't one hundred percent sure what Bay Fries were, I suspected that they might be French fries seasoned with Old Bay seasoning. My hunch was right.

After placing my order and paying for it at the opposite end of the counter, I grabbed my bottle of water and settled in to an open table that had a good view of the entire restaurant. I started snapping photographs of interesting signs and framed pictures on the walls.

The first one detailed the origin of the cheesesteak:


The second, the origin of the hoagie:


Not to be outdone, the back of the napkin holder gave a little history of The Original Steaks & Hoagies sandwich shop:


While I continued to look around the shop, I could hear the line cook in the back chopping the steaks with his hard, metal spatula. Within just a few minutes, my cheesesteak arrived in a bright red plastic basket:


What first popped into my head was, "Wow, that's big! How am I going to eat this whole thing? Plus fries?" But, as I took my first bite, I was rewarded with very juicy rib eye cooked perfectly, a layer of creamy, cheesy sauce, and every now and again, the sweetness from a nicely cooked onion. The roll, imported from the Amoroso Bakery in Philadelphia, while not exactly the same one I remember being used at some of the more famous cheesesteak joints like Pat's and Geno's, definitely did an excellent job of holding the sandwich together without getting sogged out. In fact, from first bite to last, it managed to hold together beautifully.

Shortly after my sandwich arrived, my fries followed:


Dusted lightly with salt and Old Bay seasoning, these were excellent. The fries on their own were crispy on the outside, not greasy, and soft and fluffy on the inside. This was exactly the style of French fry that I love. With the addition of the Old Bay seasoning, this really was an excellent accompaniment to my sandwich. I ate the first few sans ketchup, but being a ketchup fiend, at some point I did add a couple of squirts of the sanguine condiment. While it definitely added a bit of acidity and sweetness to the fries, I don't think it really helped propel the flavor very much. I would be just as happy eating them as they came from the kitchen.

My order of Bay Fries today was only $2 and with the sandwich that I received, I could've easily shared them with another diner. In fact, even with the smaller 7 inch sandwich, I probably could've shared them with another diner, too. The fries are also available naked as well as with Cheese Whiz, and all three combinations will run you the same $2. I should also note that the restaurant was using trans-fat free oil in their deep fat fryer. While certainly not as healthy as eating rice cakes and brown rice, at least they are doing something healthier for their customers than many other restaurants.

As I was finishing my sandwich and fries, Bill, Sr. again approached me at my table to see how I was making out. Here was part of our conversation:

"So how was it?" Bill, Sr. asked.
"Actually, quite good. And I am really digging the roll on which you are serving your sandwiches. It stood up from start to end and didn't fall apart," I replied.
"Yeah, the roll is as important as the meat and fillings. Just the other day I had a guy in here from Orlando and after describing the qualities that the roll has to have, he quickly agreed that the way they pack their rolls after baking them makes them too soft for what we need."
"Really?"
"I offered to help them perfect their packaging process so that the rolls don't continue to steam inside the packages (which makes them too soft) and I guess we'll have to see what happens from that."
"Well, I can tell you that I intend to return for the roast pork and Italian pork sandwiches. As good as a cheesesteak is, nothing beats a great pork sandwich."
"My son (Bill, Jr.) makes the pork. Unfortunately, it isn't available all the time. If you leave me a business card with a phone number, I'll give you a call and let you know when to stop by."

I thought about the fact that the only business card I had was for this blog and obviously giving him that would reveal who I was and why I was there. Then again, my first visit had definitely been anonymous up to this point and I had already paid for and eaten my food, so I decided to whip out a card, grabbed a pen, and wrote my phone number beneath my email address.

"Here you go," I said as I handed Bill the card and got up to collect my personal affects.

Not ten seconds later, Bill literally swiveled on his heels and said, "Wait. Are you a food writer?"
"Yes. Yes, I am. And I am definitely looking forward to coming back to try the Italian Pork."

And I am. I suggest if you want a true taste of Philly, gentle reader, make the trek to The Original Steaks & Hoagies sandwich shop and try out one of their sandwiches. Even with the simple menu, there really does seem to be something on it for everyone, assuming that they love sandwiches as much as I do. And whether you decide to order a 'Whiz wit' or a 'cheesesteak with Cheese Whiz and grilled onions,' they'll do their best to accommodate your every need.

A Proper Whiz Wit At Cosmo's Cheesesteaks

Over the New Year's holiday weekend, I decided to take up an offer made to me by my old college friend, Chris. Over the previous summer, he had moved to Scranton, Pennsylvania. Since he had no immediate plans for his own New Year's Eve, he issued me an invitation to come out and visit him and check out the local Scranton / Wilkes-Barre culinary scene. Having had my customary plans for the holiday fall through, I eagerly accepted his invitation and drove out on New Year's Eve day. While the drive out had no real culinary significance (save for a bottled Aquafina water and a Snickers bar), I was eager to see where our journey would begin.

It turns out that our first stop would be to a relatively recent newcomer to the downtown Scranton area, Cosmo's Cheesesteaks. Located at 533 Moosic Street, Scranton, PA 18505, they can also be reached at 570-341-5100. At the time of this writing, there was no website associated with the restaurant. UPDATE: Cosmo's website is now up and running.

Not knowing what to expect crowd-wise on New Year's Eve at 6:30 PM, we showed up to a completely empty parking lot and started wondering if they had closed early for the holiday. Seeing that the marquee lights were still on, however, we pulled in and decided to investigate further:


I don't normally comment too much on the signage of a restaurant, but this somewhat over-the-top light display was reminiscent of another cheesesteak joint with which I am familiar, Geno's from Philadelphia. It would turn out that the sign wasn't the only thing that Cosmo's had in common with Geno's. We approached the front door and were relieved to find that Cosmo's was open and completely empty.

Since there was no rush of people behind us, we lingered for a bit while reading the wall menu:


The owner of Cosmo's, a transplant from New Jersey, has clearly spent time in Philadelphia ordering the real deal. If you look at Step 1 in the ordering process, you can see the shortened lingo ("wit" vs. "witout") used by many of the Philadelphia cheesesteak places. They also offer, for better or worse, Cheez Whiz as one of the cheese choices. Now, I am not normally a proponent of Cheez Whiz; however, I do find that certain tastes have an affinity for another, namely a cheesesteak with Whiz. While not an option at all Philadelphia cheesesteak joints, it is a combination available at both Pat's and Geno's. Sadly, asking for a "Whiz Wit" at a cheesesteak joint in Ohio will only get you weird looks. My friend Chris went first and asked for a "cheesesteak wit" which the cashier dutifully rang up. I decided to press my luck and asked for a "Whiz Wit" and sure enough, she didn't even bat an eyelash as she placed my order. Success!

Chris and I picked up our drinks and headed over to an open table (of which there were plenty). I normally wouldn't provide you with a picture of a bottle of water, except that Cosmo's appears to be selling their own brand:


Upon closer inspection, however, it was obvious that these bottles of water were actually manufactured by someone else and a Cosmo's sticker had simply been applied on top of the other label. I tried to peel off the outer layer to reveal its true provenance, but it wasn't coming off cleanly, so I gave up trying after about a minute or so. Also, if you look carefully at the label, you'll see a "Est. 1972" right under the restaurant's name. I had thought Cosmo's was a recent addition to the Scranton scene, so I asked Chris about it. To the best of his knowledge, he told me that Cosmo's was neither a local nor national chain and he surmises that 1972 refers to the birth year of the owner, not the business.

While we waited for our cheesesteaks to come out from the kitchen, we visited the condiment station to stock up on all sorts of goodies:


Besides the usual ketchup and mustard, Cosmo's offers pickles, hot peppers both dried and vinegared and their own homemade hot sauce. Once my sandwich came out from the kitchen, I added some of the hot sauce and returned to my table. Here was a shot of the entire sandwich:


And a close-up shot of just half of the sandwich:


This was an excellent cheesesteak sandwich. All of the flavors and textures worked very well together and the small amount of hot sauce I added post-kitchen gave it a capricious zing that lit up my tastebuds. The beef was cooked and seasoned properly and was sliced thinly enough so that it was not only tender, but also had a nice chew to it. The Whiz melted nicely into the bread and gave the sandwich the creaminess that I crave in a good cheesesteak. For me, however, the real winner of this little bit of heaven was the roll on which the sandwich was built. Immaculately fresh, the roll had just the slightest amount of chew to the texture. I immediately thought of Geno's once again as their rolls have the same quality. It turns out that the similarity is intentional as Cosmo's actually have their rolls imported from Philadelphia. The only real miss on this sandwich were the fried onions on top. On both of our sandwiches, they just weren't cooked long enough; they ended up having a bit too much of the raw flavor and texture to them.

Along with our cheesesteaks, Chris and I decided to split an order of the Crunchy Fries:


While these were clearly fried-from-frozen, they were also fried correctly and actually were quite good. Not greasy at all, they were hot and fresh and dipped in the 50/50 hot sauce / ketchup combination that Chris put together, had a nice sweet and spicy flavor to them. While a very hungry person could probably put away an entire order of these fries, I was actually happy to split the portion with someone else.

While not the cheapest meal out there, for food this authentic I didn't mind shelling out the $10 for sandwich, my half of the fries, and a bottled water. It's certainly cheaper than a plane ticket to Philadelphia. It's probably fortunate that I don't live near Scranton as I could see myself becoming a regular at this eatery. I know that I now have a definite "go to" restaurant every time I visit Chris. I suggest that if you live in or near Scranton or have a trip planned where you pass through, stop off for an amazingly good cheesesteak and order of fries. You won't be sorry that you did.