Two of the best new cheesesteaks around are in South Jersey
The Garnet Grill does them round, Cheessteaks does them long.
New Jersey is New Jersey. Not Philadelphia. Which is why Jersey cheesesteak shops traditionally received very little regional love until Anthony Bourdain came along a decade ago.
On CNN’s Parts Unknown, Bourdain boldly contended that “the best cheesesteak in the area might well come from New Jersey.”
Bourdain was praising Donkey’s Place, the ancient corner bar in Camden that serves its sandwiches, topped with caramelized onions, on poppy-seeded kaiser rolls. This pronouncement, even by one of the most beloved food personalities of all time, set off Reddit debates and other online flame wars. (Sample argument, presented with its original punctuation: “thats not a cheesesteak thats a steak sandwich with cheese. if it isnt on a hoagie roll it isnt a cheesesteak.”)
In 2018, the arguments were revived when the set-in-Philadelphia sitcom The Goldbergs devoted an entire episode to Donkey’s. Plotline: If Barry (played by Troy Gentile) could prove that Donkey’s Place makes the best cheesesteak, dad Murray (Jeff Garlin) would agree to never again call his son a moron.
Which gets me to the “Camden-style” cheesesteak served on a poppy-seeded kaiser roll at the Garnet Grill, a diner that opened several weeks ago next to an antiques shop and across from Tonewood Brewing in Haddon Heights. It’s a cheesesteak in every respect.
OK. Except for the roll.
Owner Patrick Duff takes tender care with not only the beef selection (it’s ribeye), the cheese (Cooper Sharp), the roll (from Del Buono’s nearby) and the deeply caramelized onions, but also with his grillcraft. The beef, cut into thin strips — not chopped — gets its own caramelizing sear on the flattop. Duff places cheese on the bottom of the roll, then layers beef and cheese before adding the onions.
I sat at the counter. When I took a bite of the sandwich and closed my eyes, I could remember chef Ari Miller’s Frizwit, which cheesesteak aficionados held in high regard before he moved on to a new gig. The Camden-style cheesesteak and the Frizwit share the maxim that the whole is assuredly greater than the sum of its parts. (Disclosure: Miller is the husband of Inquirer food writer Kiki Aranita.)
Duff, a community activist, said he ate many Donkey’s sandwiches while trying to preserve a house in Camden that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. supposedly lived in. (The house, gutted by fire two years ago, is still defying the wrecking ball.)
Duff said he was happy to call his sandwich “Camden-style,” as it is a nod to Donkey’s. “I mean, my name is Pat, but I can’t call it a Pat’s steak,” he said.
In Merchantville, wedged between Cherry Hill and Pennsauken, Camden-born friends and Cooper Sharp fanciers Antonio Delgado (who owns four barber shops) and James Haines (a real estate investor who bought his first property at age 19) are preparing for Saturday’s opening of Cheessteaks, their deliberately misspelled cheesesteak shop. It’s walk-up only.
It’s replacing Taylor Wings at 177 S. Centre St. in Merchantville. They’re getting their beef from a Philadelphia supplier and custom 10-inch semolina rolls (with and without seeds) from an undisclosed local bakery.
They seem to have met their goal of making a solid Philly-style steak — crusty roll with just enough sponginess to soak up the oil, chopped onions with a little bite, and an almost creamy filling of molten cheese and meat. Watch your ordering, as the OG here is Cheez Whiz while the Cooper Sharp version is the more traditional cheesesteak. Er, Cheessteak.
Cheessteaks’ menu includes sandwiches made on wraps, chicken cheesesteaks, loaded fries, and wings.
The Garnet Grill, 531 Clements Bridge Rd., Haddon Heights. Hours: 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Cheessteaks, 177 S. Centre St., Merchantville. Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. Closed Monday.