Hold the Whiz...

I was scanning back through old pictures looking for a good shot of my father in law for a project and found these guys.

Last winter Mark and I went to Philly to visit his sister and decided to make a day of it. I told him that we couldn't go to Philly without having a cheese steak. After asking around, the locals said there were three choices: Pats, Genos, and Jims. (I'm sure there are many many others but these were the ones people on the streets recommended). Looking at the map we were closer to Jims Steaks so we decided to head there.

Boy were we in for an experience!

The line for Jim's was out the door and around the corner. It extended into the neighborhood for about a block and a half. Good - lots of people waiting - this has to be good right? So, we took our place in line and began the wait (did I mention it was about 32 degrees that day?). Well 10 min turned in to 20 which then quickly in to 40 - you see where I'm going with this. After about hour chatting with our new line friends and trying to guess how much longer we'd be standing there we finally made it to the door of the shop (yes, an hour in the cold just for a cheeze steak - what can I say, I was determined). We were greeted with some much needed warm air and the realization that we'd be standing around for another 30 min at least because the line wrapped around the inside of the shop 4 times!

I took this 30 min to snap a few shots (once my fingers defrosted) and observe the crowd that was just as crazy for cheese steaks as we were. There were all types of people - some seasoned cheese steak veterans that knew exactly what they wanted and knew how to order it (in the local lingo) to the average tourist (like ourselves) that wanted a taste of Philly and who was willing to wait for hours for it! They were young and old, big and small, skinny and heavy (although there were decidedly more heavy people than skinny ones - that's what you get for putting cheese whiz on your sandwich).

What amazed me is that in all this chaos, a mass of people and winter coats, there was laughter and joking. People that didnt know one another before this day formed a temporary bond that is the quest for the cheese steak. You could see the experienced ones helping out the tourists in their ordering lingo (whiz - no whiz - what a question!) and the tourist sharing a story or two of their travels. It was acutally quite fun.

After about 30 min inside it was my turn at the order deck and I'm so glad I was paying attention. The cook at the grill was taking orders spit fire and if you hesitated he would heckle you (which only made the hesitation worse). It was all in good fun - the ribbing from the cook - and it all added to the experience and atmosphere but I have to say it was a little stressful! I got my small provolone with mushrooms and no whiz (which generated a collective gasp from those around me - no whiz! what was I thinking?!) and happily tromped back out into the cold to find a place to eat my sandwhich! And boy was it a good sandwhich!