It’s a good time to live on 24th Street in the Mission (not counting gang violence.)  24th Street has been a hotbed of culinary activity, and seems to just be getting better and better.  Sushi Bistro is looking awfully close to opening and the latest to join in is Phat Philly, a traditional Philly cheesesteak joint. 

So traditional, in fact, that they apparently get all of their rolls flown in from Philly, and it’s worth it. I was skeptical of the this claim – after all, don’t we have great bakeries here? But, the truth was in the sandwich - the roll really was exceptional, the perfect balance to structure and tenderness to just barely hold together with a small mountain of meat and homemade beer cheese sauce inside. 

 

I was especially fond of the chedder and newcastle cheese sauce – I know it’s hearsay, but way better than cheez-wiz.  The fries were also good.  Thick cut, waffle fries were t bit greasy, but totally worth it. They offer homemade BBQ sauce and garlic mayo, as well as a wide selection of spicy picked things. Homemade everything is a theme I’m happy to see, as well as them, pushing their use of organic meat and ingredients. It’s a classic Philly cheesesteak with a decidedly bay area view on ingredients (except for that whole cross country bread thing.)

 

 

The staff was friendly, and explained they are in a soft opening now, working out the last kinks.  We sat outside on the sidewalk in unseasonably warm weather, enjoying the food.  During my lunch, they checked in with diners to make sure everything was up to spec, and cooked to order.  They are waiting on their beer and wine license now, with empty taps ready to flow. 

 

 

 

It being such a nice day out, after my sandwich, I went in search of a Mission Street churro.  On nice days, there seems to be a churro vendor stationed at every corner.  For two dollars, I was treated to a delicious looking churro.

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t it look great?  All warm and crispy, crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside?  It wasn’t any of these things.  The churro was cold, rock hard on the outside, and mostly flavorless.  The worst part was that even after discarding half of my churro is discust, I would walk by ten more churro vendors on my way home, and each time think “maybe their churros will be warm.” 

 

 

 

Maybe my standards for Mission Street Food have just risen too high?

Tags: Churro, Philly Cheesesteak

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 7:21 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.