Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [64]
Original Hot Dog Shop
3901 Forbes Ave.
412–621–7388 or 687–8327 for delivery
Pittsburgh, PA
LD late night | $
The Original Hot Dog Shop has quite a large menu, including pizza, hoagies, fish sandwiches, and hamburgers, but if the name of the place doesn’t clue you in to what’s good, the view behind the counter will. There on a broad grill are row upon row of lovely hot dogs—pale pink ones barely warm and darker ones cooked through and ready to be bunned, as well as a formation of deep red all-beef kosher dogs. Regular or all-beef, these are fine franks with a seriously meaty flavor, available plain or gooped with cheese or in a “Super” configuration with cheese and bacon, and with a full array of condiments that include ketchup, mustard, relish, onion, pickle, chili, mayo, and kraut.
On the side of whatever hot dog suits your taste, you must get French fries. Big O fries are legendary, crisp and dark gold with a clean flavor and a wicked crunch that makes them a good companion for just about any sandwich. Even a small order is a substantial dish. Although cheese for dipping is available, as are gravy, hot sauce, and ranch dressing, these exquisite potatoes want only a sprinkle of salt.
Aside from great fast food and past-midnight hours, one reason Pittsburghers are so fond of the Original Hot Dog Shop is that it can trace its heritage back to the Original Famous Sandwich Shop, where the foot-long hot dog was introduced in 1928. Syd Simon, who opened the Original Hot Dog Shop in 1960, worked fifteen years at the old Famous.
Pat’s King of Steaks
1237 E. Passyunk Ave.
215–468–1546
Philadelphia, PA
Always open | $
Street-food historians believe that Pat Olivieri invented the cheesesteak in Philadelphia in 1930. His family continues to operate the restaurant he began, and while aficionados of the cheesesteak enjoy debating the merits of the city’s many cheesesteak restaurants (some operated by renegades from Pat’s own family), this joint’s shaved-beef-and-cheese sandwiches on serious Italian bread have stood for over three-quarters of a century as the benchmark. Pat’s sandwich is oily, salty, meaty, i.e., everything nutrition prigs dislike. Thin flaps of less-than-prime beef are sizzled on a grill alongside onions and hefted into a roll (with or without some of those onions), then a trowel of melted Cheez Whiz is dripped on top. Peppers, mushrooms, pizza sauce, and extra cheese are all extra-cost options, and if you wish to dude it up further, there are big glass jars with hot sauce and peppers near the take-out windows.
The combination of plebeian ingredients transcends its lowly status and becomes something…if not aristocratic, then certainly distinguished. Side your sandwich with a cup full of cheese fries (French fries blanketed with more of that melted Whiz), and eat standing up on the sidewalk under harsh lights. Observe the splattered hot sauce and dropped and crushed French fries underfoot. Listen to the rumble of trucks going past on their way to or from the Italian market. Smell the mingling of cheap after-shave lotion and fancy fragrances on customers in line—both aromas overwhelmed, as the line approaches the take-out window, by the powerhouse aroma of steak and onions sizzling on a hot grill. For our money, even at ten times the price, there is no meal in Philadelphia that can top this one.
People’s Restaurant
140 W. Main St.
717–354–2276
New Holland, PA
BLD Sun–Fri | $$
People’s Restaurant is a civilized café on Main Street where locals and tourists come for home-style food. Accommodations include tables with upholstered chairs and a counter toward the middle of the restaurant where townsfolk gather and exchange sections of the newspaper as they discuss current events.
Suppers include such local delights as fresh-roasted pork with sauerkraut, smoked country ham steak, and lengths of light-bodied Lancaster