Soaked Up Philly Like a Sponge

Not from Philly, edgarblythe, but have visited the great city a few times!

Best sandwich I ever had was there ~ a 'chicken'-philly steak sandwich. Been trying to get the chefs at my restaurant to duplicate it for months now......They're getting better every day!

I visited there one night from New York City - on a whim. Went to Independance Hall. Of course it was closed for the night. Left immediately and never returned.

I was there only once, for about 7 days. The streets were so dirty, it made Boston look clean. ( Several years ago...I might add)

Philly Cheese Steak
If you are eating what was sold to you as a "Philly Cheese Steak", you can almost assume that you are not REALLY eating a REAL Philly Cheese Steaks.

THE REAL THING is made in corner stores, the size of a post stamp, that does not look enticing. It is a SECRET where the best Cheese Steaks can be bought. It is a secret club. Secret way to make them.

The euphoria of eating them is both taken for granted and being a garamound of the extra-ordinarily, ordinary, that breaks all the rules. Yet, so simple. The complexity is finding the true thing. It is the search for the Holy Grail that the *Secret Society* knows where to find these delights.

Philly may have a method to its madness, to those who do not see the sublime. Maybe not?

I keep thinking this is going to be about bad bagels and bad cream cheese

ehbeth,
why would you think that this would be about bagels?
I am just wondering, in the most of polite ways!

Went to the Museum of Art in Philly. Pretty impressive!

it's one of those happy little word associations that happens in my brain, fatima. first i see philly - which means 'not-proper' cream cheese to me - then i see sponge - which makes me think of a nasty bagel-imposter i tried a few weeks back - tada - this thread is going to be about bad bagels and bad cream cheese. It's obvious! isn't it?

Born and bred in the middle of the city, and loved it. Never, to the best of my remembrance, had a philly cheese steak. But big fat hot pretzels with mustard on them, yes. And corned beef and cloeslaw with russian dressing on rye - ate that in Philly before it went to New York.

Hot pretzels are also a Philadelphia thing? Excellent - i love those hot pretzels. I probably had 3 of them the last time i went to the 'fall fair'. I like them more than ice cream waffles.

A wonderful explantaion
ehbeth,

It is always interesting, to follow someone' process of thought.
Then, their conclusion.
It baffle's one, answers question, gives insight where there was none.

Your reply is a delightful (to me) line, pattern, of thinking. I would not imagine such a path.{This is not meant as a value judgement, but simply a statement of fact, for me.) But then, can it not be said that, what we say or do not say, is a reflection of ourselves? Our experiences?

"Philly-Cream-Cheese" is a misnomer. Or, something to that effect. It is not made in Philadelphia and is not a really a hot item there either. Go figure THAT one out.

To me, when I read the opening topic, it was not about cheese steaks at all. I read it as a beginning of a play, an essay, a springboard for different point of views.....and Not about the City of Philadelphia.

Now is that a peculiar pattern of thought?

Fatima - that's one of the joys of the word association game. I think it disproves anything anyone has ever thought about 'you can't get there from here'. Because there's always somebody's mind who can get you from here to there. Glorious!

And here we have another example - a few people see the same words, and blast off in entirely different directions. None of them 'wrong', and perhaps none of them are what the author had in mind, but all glorious (as in something to glory at)!

EXACTLY!
ehbeth!

EXACTLY!

differenct courses of thought.
Neither right or wrong.
True...for the person who wrote their words.

AND! Where is Mr. Blythe in this mix?
A post it and run?

I wonder what he thinks!

probably wondering if he should have put this in the cooking folder :wink:

Mr. Blythe was unavoidably absent from his computer, nailing floor joists and wall plates on his room addition. Gots ta make hay while the sun shines - and it do shine here in Houston. I know absolutely nothing about Philly's cuisine, as delicious as it all sounds. What I wondered was, what inspired Jack in the Box to portray these people as they did?

edgar, upon seeing the commercial I wondered the same thing.

What'the consensus? it's it a good caricature or did Jack make it all up?

What is it? Haven't seen whatever it is.

Philadelphia is a grand and glorious place. Used to be that all Philadelphians had post-nasal drips, as the city sits between two rivers, but we had other things as well.

Perhaps I should email the Jack corp and see if they will answer.

Jack in the Box? what? is that a digression?