*** You can find Part 3 here.
I hope you don't mind another cheesesteak post to go with my original. These are more like sloppy seconds, with nothing that really compares to my favorites. I will say that I got some interesting emails from that post, so here's one that was a recommendation (thanks Derek!), one that I had forgotten about, and one out of nowhere.
Voltero's Pizza:
**** Voltero's has closed
I'd been to Voltero's a couple of times before, but had forgotten that they sold cheesesteaks. For me Voltero's is typical of the neighborhood pizza joint; good prices, friendly staff, and pretty hefty portions.
The cheesesteak at Voltero's comes with either fries or a green salad…. guess which I selected? It's also priced right at $6.95.
I noticed that the roll was not an Amoroso right off. It was a nice, crusty Italian that did not bad, but was a bit too much bread. At least it was slightly toasted and warm.
The cheese was nicely melted and decently gooey, which I believe was provolone. The meat was on the dry side, but the flavors along with the bell peppers and what I call "pizza mushrooms", (thinly sliced mushrooms usually used to top pizzas) was pretty good. This was pretty close, but not quite.
The funny thing was, I enjoyed the fries…..
And then I realized that I hadn't had fries since the beginning of April. So these hit the spot.
Overall a good value…… and much better then the Philadelphia Sandwich Company, which is kinda depressing if you think about it.
Voltero's Pizza
5650 Balboa Ave
San Diego, CA 92111
Sodhi's (Letty's) Bean Shack:
**** Sodhi's has closed
Well, the sign says "Sodhi's", and the menu says "Letty's" so I'm trying to cover all bases on this one. Located on a side street across from UCSD Medical Center; I'm guessing this place makes a living on giving folks an alternative to Hospital food.
The Cheesesteak here also comes with fries, and is even cheaper than Voltero's at $6.75:
The biggest surprise for me was that this sandwich came on an Amoroso roll! The portion of meat was bit on the small side, and the meat had been placed on the flat-top with onions, topped with cheese which melted nicely, the roll was then placed on top of everything and it was scooped up and put into the styrofoam box. Of course, this meant the roll was still cold, and had not benefited from any toasting.
The sandwich was also a bit dry for my tastes. Cold Roll + small portion + dryness = mediocre cheesesteak.
A generous portion of "steak fries" were served with the sandwich.
These were fried golden brown…. or should I say double, or even triple fried??? The fries were already cooked and still in the basket. When the order was placed, the fries were dumped back into the oil for reheating. They didn't seem to suffer any ill effects…..
Letty's Bean Shack
4229 Front St
San Diego, CA 92103
Jersey Mike's Subs – Rosecrans:
FOY "Derek" asked me to try out the cheesesteaks at Jersey Mike's. So, of course I did so at my earliest opportunity. I do have to apologize about the poor quality of my photos…. I don't know what the heck happened that day. I've already done a post on Jersey Mike's Rosecrans location, so I decided to return to that shop for my cheesesteak.
Even a regular sized sandwich looks pretty huge…….
The bread, with an almost cracker like flavor, does well with Italian Subs, but for me, it tends to interfere with the flavor of a cheesesteak.
It was also cold and the ratio of bread to filling was off…. too much bread in this case. In fact, there was too much of mostly everything, peppers, bread, onions, to meat for my taste. I pulled out some of the meat and had a taste, and the right flavor was indeed there; but it was just overpowered in this case.
On one interesting note; the #13 "Original Italian" has kinda grown on the Missus and I. It's still pretty much a "salad in a bun", but we sure do prefer it over Subway, and other of shops of that ilk.
Jersey Mike's Subs
3670 Rosecrans Street
San Diego, CA 92110
You can read my original Cheesesteak post here.