Reevaluating a Legendary Steak Shop

As I mentioned at the bottom of last week’s post, the people at Michelin recently put out new lists of restaurants in Philadelphia that have been awarded coveted stars and given special Bib Gourmand citations. I inadvertently overlooked Del Rossi’s, which was on the latter list in addition to Angelo’s Pizzeria and D’Alessandro’s. 

Both Angelo’s and Del Rossi’s are ranked in the upper half of my top 20 cheesesteaks list, with Angelo’s holding down the top spot. But I had only negative things to say about the steak I had at D’Alessandro’s when I last visited them a few years ago. You can read that post here. 

Given my less-than-stellar impression of D’Alessandro’s along with the many negative comments I’ve read about their steaks from the denizens of the various Facebook cheesesteak groups, I was befuddled by their inclusion on the Michelin list, especially in light of the absence of John’s Roast Pork, an equally classic old-school stand that serves truly great steaks. 

So I headed back to D’Alessandro’s last week to see if there has been any improvement since that last visit and whether I could figure out what enables them to maintain such a lofty reputation when it comes to best-of lists and awards. 

Knowing that they generally attract a line of customers that was likely to be even longer after the Michelin news, I arrived right at their 11 a.m. opening time and was pleased to see only a handful of customers there by that point. 

While D’Alessandro’s doesn’t offer Cooper Sharp, they’ve added an optional seeded roll for an additional dollar. But I wanted to eat one of their standard steaks given that it’s what their reputation is based on and what the people at Michelin likely ate. So I ordered one on a seedless roll with American cheese. The person taking my order responded by asking if I wanted salt and pepper on my steak. That didn’t happen the last time I was there. I guess they used to assume customers knew that they needed to request that the meat be seasoned. Virtually every other place that I’m aware of puts salt and pepper on their beef by default. And that’s how it should be. Who wants unseasoned meat? In any event, that explained why the meat tasted so bland the last time I was there. 

They have a speaker system that announces customers by name when their order is ready and I was the first to be called up.

D’Alessandro’s had indoor ordering and seating before the pandemic, but have stuck with outdoor-only since. Although it was a bit chilly that day, I didn’t feel like eating in my car, so I grabbed one of their outdoor tables after picking up my cheesesteak. My initial impression after unwrapping it wasn’t great, but it did look better than the last one I had there. 

I had four separate issues with that earlier steak. The roll was lackluster at best, there wasn’t enough cheese, the onions weren’t mixed in with the meat and cheese but were instead placed on top of them, and, as alluded to above, the meat was severely lacking in flavor. 

The addition of salt and pepper this time around took care of the last of those issues. It probably still could have used a bit more seasoning, but the meat certainly was noticeably tastier than it was on the last steak I had there. 

There was also considerably more cheese this time. While there was a big clump of it on top of one half, it was generally mixed in well with the meat so that I had a nice mix of beef and cheese in every bite. That was not the case last time.

As for the roll, which came from Amoroso, the city’s best known, but not best baker of bread, it seemed fresher and had a bit more body than the squishy-soft one from my last visit. Perhaps being there right after they opened and received their daily bread delivery made a difference. It was still softer than I prefer, but it got the job done adequately. 

The onions, which D’Alessandro’s grill chefs slice into bigger chunks than is customary for cheesesteaks, were still layered on top of the sandwich rather than being mixed in with the meat and cheese. But they were at least well fried and had a bit of caramelization, lending extra flavor and a touch of sweetness to the sandwich. 

This steak had a nice overall flavor and was decidedly better than the one I had during my last visit to D’Alessandro’s. It can fairly be called a high quality old-school cheesesteak – the kind that people ate and loved before steak shops started using crustier seeded rolls and Cooper Sharp cheese.

I was very happy to have a positive experience at D’Alessandro’s after the lousy one last time around. And I’m a little less mystified by their inclusion on the Michelin list than I was when first seeing the news.

Yet I still consider it to be at least a small cheesesteak injustice that John’s Roast Pork wasn’t on the Michelin list while D’Alessandro’s was.