Expanding on the Cheesesteak Theme

It’s been a few months since my last cheesesteak post, so I already felt due for one when I came across an online rave for the steaks at Antica Pizza Co. of Warrington, Pennsylvania. That was all the enticement I needed to head north to Bucks County and check them out along with friends John and Robert, who joined me for lunch. 

I expected Antica, which just opened in May, to be a counter-order establishment but was pleasantly surprised to be greeted upon entering and ushered to a table by a smiling staff member who also was our server. 

Antica’s menu is substantial, with a wide array of appetizers, salads, sandwiches and, of course, pizza. As tempted as I was to try a pie, I had determined in advance that we’d stick with a cheesesteak theme. My two companions knew that I had an agenda and kindly allowed me to order for the table. 

In addition to my usual cheesesteak with Cooper Sharp cheese and fried onions on a seeded roll, I expanded on the steak theme by ordering cheesesteak egg rolls and a small steak stromboli.

Kudos to our server for bringing all three items out together without dropping any of our food. It was a close call for a moment. 

Everything looked extremely appetizing.

The egg rolls contained an ample amount of shaved ribeye and Cooper Sharp, but it was, first and foremost, their wonderfully crispy crust that made eating them such a pleasant experience. 

I’ve posted on my efforts to find a good cheesesteak stromboli at least a couple times since starting this blog and would have to say the one my friends and I shared at Antica was the closest to the mark that I’ve come during that time. 

Following the egg rolls’ fine example, the stromboli crust was absolutely top notch, neither too soft nor moist, as is often the case with steak strombolis. Rather it had just the right amount of crispness. 

The stromboli included both Cooper Sharp and Mozzarella. There was a lot more cheese than is normally the case with a regular cheesesteak, but that’s appropriate for a stromboli and didn’t seem out of proportion alongside the meat and that great crust. 

It came with a side of tomato sauce.

My initial reaction to seeing the cheesesteak was that it had too much meat and perhaps not enough cheese. It turned out I was right on only one of those accounts. 

I’ve written many times about my preference for the meat – ribeye in this case – to be in proportion to the roll, so that it’s not overflowing and falling out onto the plate every time I take a bite of the sandwich. That was the case on this occasion, although it wasn’t as extreme as I’ve experienced at a few other places. 

The cheese, on the other hand, was just hidden from view at first sight. As I ate my way through the section of sandwich I took after we split it among the three of us, I discovered that there was close to a perfect amount of cheese and that it was extremely well blended with the meat.

The roll was high quality if not quite as crusty as I prefer, while the onions had at least some caramelization and the steak was well-seasoned. 

Unfortunately, as is so often the case, there was one aspect of this cheesesteak that kept it from garnering consideration for my top 20 rankings. 

In this case, the thin slices of ribeye were a little overcooked. While I wouldn’t go as far as saying the meat was dry, it was probably not quite as moist as it could have been. You may be able to see what I’m referring to in the photos below. 

Antica’s is still very worth a visit based on the overall quality of the food we ate and the friendly service. I’ll likely return there at some point to try their pizza and possibly give another shot to their cheesesteaks.