Not if Geno's has anything to say about it. Conservative blogger, Michelle Malkin, has a story today about South Philadelphia's own Geno's steaks and their decision force customers to order in English. It's Geno's owner Joey Vento's way of supporting assimilation for legal immigrants. Regardless of all this political garbage, it got me wondering; Are Geno's steaks that good?

I visited Philadelphia a few years ago and I was met with a very important decision; Where do I try my first true Philadelphia Cheesesteak? The options are literally endless. Take a look at this page of Philadelphia steak restaurants. From what I was able to gather the big boys are Geno's, Jim's Steaks, Pat's King of Steaks and Steve's Prince of Steaks. I knew that serious research was needed.

During my research something interesting happened, I kept seeing glowing review after glowing review about some place named Dalessandro's Steaks. How could this be? What happened to Steve and Jim and Pat? All of the write-ups for those places sounded more like travel guide reviews than the thoughts of someone who actually ate there. I was confused, but I settled on Dalessandro's. I had a few days left in town so I figured if Dalessandro's really sucked, I could always hit another joint. Sure, it would be at the cost of my arteries, but I was in Philly baby!

Let me just say this, I ate at Dalessandro's and I loved it, twice. It was incredible. I ate inside the first time and I was glad I did. It is a really small place, but it has a very homey feel to it. When I sat down at the counter and ordered my cheesesteak, eventhough I was a Cleveland-boy, for that half an hour, I was a Philadelphian. It was a great feeling and I couldn't imagine anything better.

The cheesesteak itself was UNBELIEVABLE, no two ways about it. I got the mushroom cheesesteak and I would recommend it to everyone. As a matter of fact, before I left town I ordered 6 footlongs to-go so that my family could share in a piece of my Philadelphia experience. The beef is chopped fine so its easy to eat and the cheese coats every piece. You wouldn't think that a sandwich could melt in your mouth, but this one did.

I can't even count the number of times since I have been back that I thought to myself, "You know, its only 8 hours away. I could have a cheesesteak and be back before midnight".

Alas, I've never acted on my fantasy. At least not yet anyway.