Philly Cheesteaks: Pat's vs. Geno's

My friend had never really explored Philly, so I took her on a day trip. No visit to Philly is complete without eating a cheesesteak. Now Abner's in W. Philly and Jim's on South Street are both good and hold many memories of late drunken evenings, but the undisputed champs and the biggest rivalry in town are Pat's and Geno's, across the street from each other at 9th and Passyunk.

I won't go into the "rules" behind ordering a cheesesteak, as you can read them yourself. We taste-tested Pat's (front) and Geno's (back) head-on, getting a "whiz wit" from each one. Hands down we both agreed Pat's won on aesthetics, overall flavor, ratio of meat to cheese to onions. Though as we ate on, my friend thought Geno's meat was actually more tender, Pat's being a little tougher and fattier. But where Geno's was lacking was runnier, less cheezy whiz, and blander, soggier onions.