On both lists of the best cheesesteaks in the Philly region that I’ve posted, the top three steak shops were the same. Two of them – Angelo’s Pizzeria and John’s Roast Pork – are located in South Philadelphia. The third is Goomba’s Pizzaria* in the far northern suburb of Colmar in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
I’ve posted about Goomba’s steaks and how fond I am of them on several occasions, but it had been over three years since my last visit and I’d been increasingly feeling the need to get back there to check on whether they’re maintaining their standards. That happened last week when I met my friend and brother-from-another-mother, Abdel, there for lunch.
There isn’t much to see inside of Goomba’s, so the fact that I forgot to take a photo of the interior isn’t a great omission. There is a small area with a counter for customers to place their orders and the kitchen behind it. I’m including a shot from an earlier post below.
The only seating comes in the form of three outside tables. We ate at one of those. Goomba’s menu can be viewed here.
We both ordered cheesesteaks with Cooper Sharp cheese and fried onions. Abdel also requested hot peppers on his. The gentleman who took our order kindly brought our sandwiches outside to us after about a 10 minute wait.
It was a slightly chilly day so I quickly commenced with taking photographs of the sandwiches. We wanted to start eating them before they cooled off.
Although it may be difficult to tell from my photos, one of the first things that stands out visually about a Goomba’s cheesesteak is the width of the roll. As I’ve pointed out in previous posts about them, this allows for the inclusion of a lot of meat without it seeming like the sandwich is overstuffed. It may even give the impression that there isn’t a lot of meat on there. But Goomba’s includes 14 ounces of chopped ribeye on each steak. That’s plenty.
Aside from its width, the roll, which now includes both black and white sesame seeds, was as good as I remembered. The crust was firm and provided just a little bit of a crunch when biting into it, while the inside was soft and fresh.
Although there was plenty of meat overall, if I had one criticism of this steak, it was that the ribeye wasn’t evenly distributed throughout. The two ends were a bit light and one half appeared to have more than the other.
Other than that, it was pretty close to a perfect cheesesteak.
The meat was juicy, tender and very well seasoned, while the Cooper Sharp was mixed in well throughout the entire sandwich in addition to being proportioned exactly as I prefer. That is to say it was more of a supporting ingredient. The meat was the star of the show.
And the onions were beautifully caramelized, adding a bit of tasty sweetness to the sandwich’s overall flavor.
Abdel also seemed to be pleased with his steak. We both polished them off in their entirety. You can see the hot red peppers on his sandwich in the following shots.
As was the case for each of my previous visits, Goomba’s cheesesteak was extremely impressive. I’ve had a few great steaks in the suburbs since my last visit. While a couple were close, I’m not sure any were better than this one.
*That’s how Goomba’s spells “pizzeria.”
Changing the topic from cheesesteaks to pizza, I also recently visited what I’ve called my favorite pizzeria in the Philly region in a couple previous posts. That would be Pizzeria Salvy in Center City.
I pointed out this past spring that they are no longer offering the New York style thin crust pie that I loved so much. The new South Philly style pizza that replaced it on the menu had a similar flavor with a slightly less crunchy crust.
When I returned there with my pizza crew – Nancy, Francisco and Craig – a couple weeks ago, we again ordered the South Philly style pie, but in addition to the crust being less crispy, the wonderful flavor that came from the three-cheese blend they used on previous pizzas we had eaten there was missing. I’m not sure what they’re doing differently, but Nancy and I in particular thought there was a fairly significant drop-off from the previous pizzas we had eaten there.
Here are a couple photos of our South Philly style pizza.
Thankfully there was a bright side to that lunch. We also ordered a cheesesteak salzone, their version of a calzone, which comes filled with shaved ribeye, Cooper Sharp cheese and caramelized onions.
It was fantastic. The crust was perfectly done and all of the inside ingredients were beautifully proportioned.
I’m always on the lookout for a quality cheesesteak calzone or stromboli and this one really fit that bill.
The wonderful cheesesteak salzone notwithstanding, the disappointing pizza at Salvy left me determined to find a replacement favorite pie in the city. There are a few places I intend to hit in the coming weeks and months in furtherance of that endeavor. I’ll likely be reporting on one of those here within the next couple weeks.
