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‘Good Morning America’? Wake up. Your food choices are making us sleepy

The talk show is coming to Philadelphia and the cameras will roll at Ninth and Passyunk. Again.

Pat's King of Steaks keeps about 300 cans of Kraft Cheez Whiz.
Pat's King of Steaks keeps about 300 cans of Kraft Cheez Whiz.Read moreMichael S. Wirtz / Inquirer

Good Morning America will broadcast live from Eakins Oval on Thursday morning in a Philadelphia-themed show featuring Gritty, Patti LaBelle, and Mayor Jim Kenney.

Of course, no trip to Philly would be complete without a food mention, and GMA will feature Philadelphia’s only two steak shops — Pat’s King of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks, in South Philadelphia. (At least by network TV standards, Philadelphia only seems to have two steak shops.)

New York-based producers — whether they’re planning segments for a top-rated morning talk show or a plotting a quick, colorful hit as they go into commercial during a Monday Night Football game — seem contractually obligated to set up their cameras at Ninth and Passyunk. Just as photo-op-seeking political consultants roll up to the very same pick-up windows to show their candidates eating with the common folk. (And watch the stunt backfire. John Kerry lost the presidency over it.)

GMA also will feature Federal Donuts — apparently Philly’s only doughnut shop as it’s begun to follow Pat’s and Geno’s into the same hackneyed territory. To GMA’s credit, they’re scheduled to also feature tots and water ice from two mobile vendors that are largely off the radar, The Tot Cart and Pink’s Cold Treats.

No disrespect to any of those fine establishments, but do they really create a full picture of Philadelphia’s dining scene?

Can’t producers cast a wider net as they search for food gems to feature?

Not on GMA’s list:

  1. Zahav, which in May was named the best restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation. (Earlier this year, critic Craig LaBan joined the team behind Zahav on a three-day tasting extravaganza in Israel. This is everything they ate.)

  2. Cadence, the BYOB in Kensington that won a three-bell review from LaBan and in May was named Food & Wine’s best new restaurant of 2019.

  3. Hop Sing Laundromat, the Chinatown bar that earlier this week was named to Esquire’s list of best bars in America. (Maybe HSL is a no-go because the owner, Lê, hates to show his face in public.)

  4. Laurel, the posh South Philly restaurant owned by Top Chef winner Nicholas Elmi. Or, for that matter, Royal Boucherie, his slightly more populist French restaurant in Old City.

  5. Any of the Rittenhouse Square bistros, such as Parc (which is open for breakfast), Devon Seafood Grill (which gets a decent crowd considering it’s an upscale Houlihan’s), and Rouge (the granddaddy of the square sidewalk scene).

  6. Ms. Tootsie’s, KeVen Parker’s Southern-style spots on South Street and in Reading Terminal Market.

Listen up, producers: There are dozens of other Philadelphia sandwich places, and doughnut shops, and pizzerias out there … that are not (cough cough) Pizzeria Beddia.