Finding a New Go-to Cheesesteak in My Area

It’s been at least a couple years since the two steak shops that had been my go-to spots when I craved a cheesesteak and wanted to stay close to home took turns for the worse. One moved further from where I live and no longer qualified for a quick pick-up on short notice, while the other was sold and their food went downhill.  

It’s been a struggle to find a replacement, but that search may be over after my first visit to a new sandwich shop that I discovered a couple weeks ago when their menu was delivered with our mail. 

Niko’s Steaks is in Delaware County, where Clifton Heights meets Springfield, and has a classic menu that includes beef and chicken cheesesteaks, hoagies, burgers, and Philly-style roast pork and chicken cutlet sandwiches. 

I thought my wife might go for a roast pork or cutlet sandwich, but she instead opted for a turkey hoagie and ordered one without onions and with Niko’s hot pepper relish. It came on a seeded roll by default. 

I’ll probably try a cutlet or roast pork sandwich from Niko’s at some point, but my purpose for this first visit was to sample a cheesesteak. I ordered one with the usual Cooper Sharp cheese and fried onions. It also came on a seeded roll by default, although seedless ones are available upon request. 

The Herr’s smoked brisket-flavored potato chips they had on hand were new to me and I couldn’t resist grabbing a bag. They really did give off a noticeable aroma of smoked brisket when I opened it.

Niko’s has a counter with stools for those wishing to eat on sight, but I live close enough to forgo that option and took it home to enjoy lunch with my wife. 

She had no complaints about her turkey hoagie and managed to down it in two sittings. 

Upon unwrapping my cheesesteak, I was pleased to see the roll wasn’t adversely affected by being wrapped for a short period. While I didn’t see any bread boxes to indicate where Niko’s gets their rolls, one of the owners kindly informed me that they use Corropolese, one of the better known bakers of Italian rolls in the Philly region. It’s a soft roll, but fresh and with a slightly chewy – in a good sense – crust.

As you can see, this was not a huge steak in terms of the amount of meat and cheese. But my regular readers know I will always take a well-proportioned cheesesteak over one with meat overflowing out of the roll. There appeared to be in the neighborhood of 10 ounces of meat, which is in my preferred range of 10-12. The amount of Cooper Sharp was also nicely judged and blended in very well with the meat. 

Niko’s doesn’t specify what cut of beef they use. Given the relatively low price of their cheesesteaks by today’s inflated standards and the likelihood that they’d mention it on the menu if they were using ribeye, I’m guessing it’s some other cut. Nonetheless, it was soft, juicy and well seasoned, giving the steak a very nice overall flavor when combined with the cheese and fried onions. 

You’re probably wondering where the shrimp come in based on the photo at the top of this post. 

There was a now long-gone Italian restaurant in Bucks County called Tomatoes that I used to visit occasionally with friends. They had an item called a Steak Scampi on their menu that was a basic cheesesteak with the addition of shrimp scampi. I loved it and was sorry when the place went out of business. 

It just so happened that I had made shrimp scampi the day before visiting Niko’s and had a little left over in my refrigerator. So the thought occurred to me to recreate the old Steak Scampi sandwich with half of my cheesesteak. 

I probably should have cut the shrimp into smaller pieces, but the flavor was still fantastic, thanks in part to the melted butter sauce that went on there with the shrimp.

Returning my attention to the more standard half of the cheesesteak, while it wasn’t good enough to make my top 20 rankings, it will likely fit the bill as my go-to option when I’ve got that craving and don’t want to drive far.

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And speaking of cravings, I’ve had a hankering for maple-walnut ice cream for a while, but it’s not that easy to find near me. Thankfully, I came across some photos of the flavor list at a parlor about 15 minutes from me and some of them included maple-walnut. I decided to head over there and hope for the best. 

Scooped Homemade Ice Cream of Media, PA, has a vintage, homey feel and also sells used vinyl records.

Consistent with my food luck and misfortune lately, they didn’t have maple-walnut. So I settled for butter-pecan, and it turned out to be sensational. I don’t think I’ve ever had butter-pecan with so many large pecans. 

The ice cream was rich, but not over-the-top and had a perfectly creamy texture. 

As good as that was, I still have the maple-walnut craving that I’m going to have to fulfill before too long.