Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [61]
As in so many diners, breakfast is deeply satisfying, served here from dawn until the middle of the afternoon. The pancakes, while not what you’d call elegant, are colossal, so wide that they nearly eclipse the plate on which they’re served. To add even more avoirdupois to this seriously high-caloric feast, you can get them blanketed with gooey, supersweet hot apple or blueberry topping. A real Pennsylvania favorite, creamed chipped beef, comes sided by hearty home fries or bite-size potato cakes. Eggs are available any way (including soft boiled and poached) with a choice of bacon, ham, sausage, pork roll, or scrapple. Scrapple, as any true Pennsylvanian can tell you, is a local passion—thin slices from a loaf of ground pork and cornmeal that are sizzled in a pan until crisp.
Geno’s
1219 S. 9th St.
215–389–0659
Philadelphia, PA
LD | $
Anybody on a cheesesteak-eating expedition through South Philly needs to put Geno’s on the short list. Virtually across the street from Pat’s King of Steaks (Pennsylvania), it is brash and sassy, perfumed by sizzling meat and onions, and patronized by a motley crew of neighborhood wisenheimers, compulsive sandwich eaters, and visiting Roadfood fanatics.
Whichever cheesesteak shop we happen to consider our favorite at any particular time, we have always appreciated a certain classicism about Geno’s. It seems that here the meat is cut a little thicker than at other places (although it’s still thin enough to be cooked through almost instantly when it hits the griddle), the rolls are sturdy, and the cheese choice includes provolone, American, or Whiz. Open into the wee hours of the morning, Geno’s is a magnet for night owls who eat standing under carnival-colored neon, leaning forward at the waist so shreds of beef that fall from the sandwich hit the sidewalk rather than their shoes.
Be sure to order your steak properly: first give your choice of cheese then say the word “with” or “without,” indicating your decision on whether or not you want onions. In other words, “Whiz without” means a cheesesteak made with Cheez Whiz but no onions. Red sauce is another option, but for most aficionados, sauce is not an essential cheesesteak ingredient. On the other hand, you must have fries—or cheese fries—on the side.
Glider Diner
890 Providence Rd.
570–343–8036
Scranton, PA
Always open | $
Named because it originally was built from the packing crates that held a glider airplane, the wood-sided Glider Diner was replaced by a shiny silver Mountain View dining car in 1952. A large annex known as the Fireside Lounge was added in the early 1960s, but for blue-plate traditionalists, the old silver streamliner is the place to be. Here breakfast is served 24 hours a day and lunch and supper specialties include Gliderburgers and milkshakes and comforting hot sandwiches of roast beef, meat loaf, Virginia ham, and turkey.
Roadfood stalwarts Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyles clued us in to the real specialty of the house, listed on the menu as porketta (porchetta in Italian) and available either in a toasted hard roll or as the centerpiece of a hot platter surrounded by slices of white bread, accompanied by mashed potatoes, and blanketed with gravy. Porketta is well-seasoned roast pork, sliced thin and moist as can be: delish!
For dessert, there are fruit and cream pies, but we never can resist the specialty old diner cooks know as cat’s eye—tapioca pudding.
Jimmy’s Hot Dogs
2555 Nazareth Rd.
610–258–7545
Easton, PA
LD | $
We’re not cheapskates, but we must confess that there is something irresistibly alluring about a decent