Many people will argue that you have to have a cheese steak from Pat's or Geno's, but I disagree. While I've had my share from both places over the years, I find that there are a large number of other neighborhood steak shops in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey that do cheese steaks just as good and in many cases far better than either Pat's or Geno's. Case in point is the Pepper Mill in West Chester, PA. From the outside, the place is nothing special to look at. Inside, it isn't either. It's a bare-bones, typical steak shop with seating. The menu offers all maner of steaks, subs, and other sandwiches.

Mark and I decided to split a cheese steak with fried onions. I asked for hot and sweet peppers on the side since I knew that Mark didn't like them. We also added an order of cheese fries for good measure. Moody went with a mushroom cheese steak, while Catherine went with a pizza steak (cheese steak with sauce), sometimes called an "original Philly steak". All of the steaks were awesome. The bread was firm, the steak juicy and plentiful, nicely enhanced by the fried onions, and the cheese was distributed throughout evenly. Everything you want a cheese steak to be. Moody was so impressed he remarked that his blew away the cheese steaks we regularly get from the best place I've found in Arizona so far, Capriotti's.

The one factor that almost always makes cheese steaks produced outside of the Philadelphia region pale in comparison to their native cousins is the bread. The rolls local to the area just can't be replicated West of the Mississippi. Maybe it's the water, maybe it's altitude. Whatever it is, I have yet to have a cheese steak (say in Arizona) that is as good as one from the Tri-State area. Capriotti's comes close (of course they are an East coast franchise), but the bread in AZ is still not as good.

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samm's Gravatar I've lived by the pepper mill since 1992 and my family's been ordering take out from there ever since. the seating and dining are very familiar and I've seated there with my family countless of weekends. Plus even with another vegetarian, and they make their food really well. The fries are a favorite around here, very delicious. The garden salads are colorful and the croutons are bake fresh daily. The milkshakes/malts are good too. I encourage anyone to check their menu out or visit the restaurant for really awesome food everyone likes. You won't be disappointed!
# Posted By samm | 5/25/07 6:55 PM
Meat's Gravatar I've been in the West Chester area for about 3 years, and love the Peppermill. I have been to Pat's and Geno's - way overrated tourist traps - and if you try with provolone, the are just downright BAD.
The cheesesteaks and chicken cheesesteaks are great, and the rolls are top notch.
But Pepper Mill also has a super chicken parm sandwich, and the pizza is superior - try a meatball and cheese - awesome!
The fries are good, especially the pizza fries, and the fried zucchini is a great alternative to fries and onio rings.
All in all, you'll be hardpressed to find a better restaurant that nails it on so many levels.
The only bad thing, they just stopped carrying Coke products. That's un-American if you ask me!
# Posted By Meat | 8/19/08 12:34 PM



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