Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia

I've never been to Philadelphia before. But I've always liked Philly cheesesteaks, and I wanted to see what they were like straight from the source. So I hopped on an Amtrak train down here today, and after a quick pitstop at the Reading Terminal Market, I was on my way to my ultimate destination.

Now, I wasn't sure whether to go for Geno's or rival Pat's...I was kinda hoping that I had enough stomach space to try both. I went to Geno's first, just because I was coming down from the north side of the street (1219 South 9th Street, 215-389-0659). I botched up the "wiz wit" lingo a bit but nonetheless this thing flew out of their shop in literally about ten seconds, all piping hot.

I was a bit surprised when I opened it, as it had much less cheese than I was expecting to see, while the meat was neatly laid flat inside the bread rather than being all fluffed up like I've had outside of Philly. Taste-wise it was still good, but I was kinda let down. If this was the way that real cheesesteaks were supposed to be, then maybe I prefer the fake kind in other states. I stopped myself a third of the way through to save room for Pat's.