How Best to Transport a Philly CheeseSteak?

I'll be in Philadelphia next week on a work assignment and staying at the Hilton Garden in Center City right off the Vine St. Expressway. These assignments are arduous, and we typically run 12-14 hour days so culinary exploration is unforunately not going to be a top priority. More to the point of the post, my better half has charged me with returning from Philly with the best, most authentic cheesesteaks I can procure. Based on the previous Philly posts, I will definitely hit Tony Luke's on Oregon for the pork roast and rabe sandwich. I am also planning to get the more traditional cheez whiz sandwich and am leaning toward Jim's on South St. Being totally unfamiliar with cheesesteaks, my question is this - is there a particular way to transport these sandwiches on a plane that best: a) retains their goodness; b) respects the olfactory or other such senses of my fellow travelers and c) does not involve a cooler or other additional carry-on item?
Thanks,
John

Me, I'd see if I could get the restaurant to wrap the filling portion for me, and give me a bun, and I'd keep them separate until I could reconstruct the whole thing at home. Otherwise, bread turns to mush.

Actually me, I wouldn't bother with a Philly cheese steak sandwich, which doesn't do much for me...

my methods are a little more dubious:

Transport it back in your belly, and tell your better half how good it was. I often stop and grab an Italian beef on my way to the airport just for this purpose.

Flip

John,

I have to go along with Flip. I can't imagine transporting such an item with any appreciable success. But what you can do is analyse the examples you have and reproduce it here. In fact, the cheese-steak sandwich is in my experience (growing up in North Jersey but spending many whole summers in Philly-oriented South Jersey, as well as lots of time in Philly itself over the years) not just an urban fast-food: Superior versions can and are made in home kitchens all the time (or at least they were back when Johnny Callison and Jim Bunning were around). When I crave such a sandwich, I make it for myself with (pace the romanticised purism of cheezwiz fans!) better cheese, thinly sliced steaks from a Mexican butcher* and first rate bread (Masi's or D'Amato's).

Here's a short write-up of one non-canonical version I made:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=23651#23651

Hmm, maybe I'll make one for lunch...

Antonius

* Back in New Netherland, thin steaks were and still are popular surely in large measure due to Italian culinary habits.

You absolutely can't bring an a Tony Luke's Italian on the plane. No way. The combo of garlic, pork and very ripe cheese makes it one of the smelliest sandwiches on Earth. I was very self-conscious just returning my rental car last time I was in Philly due to the zesty odor. If you are not eating it, you don't want to smell it for 2 hours.

And Wiz is for tourists and little kids. I've been through this too many times: prov is more "traditional" on a steak.

Consider buying some Amoroso's bread (or Tony Luke's, which they bake themselves and is better)and go into an Italian grocery/deli for some raw or frozen steaks for the trip back. Grill up some onions and slap it together at home. Of see if they'll cook it for you at our Jim's, which seems about right.

PS, if you insist on taking these monsters on the flight, you would do better to do all of your sandwich shopping on Oregon Ave. TL's regular steaks are much better than the more touristy places offerings.

Good choices w/ both Jim's and Tony Luke's, but I would do the cycle -- get your sandwich at TL's, but also hit Jim's, Pat's and Geno's to compare them all (my favorite is Jim's, but not by much). The cheesesteaks are not that big so if you like to eat, you might be able to do it -- assuming a nice gap in time.

But truthfully, don't bother transporting them back. The Philly cheesesteaks sold at Philly's Best (on Belmont between Clark and Sheffield) are as good as the ones sold in Philly . . . right down to the Wiz! Sure, the bread's a little different but everything else is the same.

You can even get the fantastic Butterscotch Krimpets at Philly's Best. For years, until Tasty Cake started to distribute them in the midwest, I would stop in at Philly's Best just to satisfy my need for them. ("Tasty Cake is a world of fun, it's all good things wrapped up in one" -- love that slogan).

Antonius wrote:Hmm, maybe I'll make one for lunch...

• http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=74260#74260

Antonius

Tough call, here. If you're really convinced you must transport some cheesesteaks home, a multi-layered wrap in butcher paper and then storage in a cooler would seem the most feasible option. Any sort of plastic wrap will steam the bread even further and reduce it to real mush. And the note about Tony Luke's pork Italian stinkin up the joint (in a good way - so much so that your fellow travelers might accost you and even attempt to wrest control of your sangwiches) is also accurate. Some things just don't travel well, unfortunately. However, if you can manage to dry-wrap some Amoroso's rolls for the ride home (no Chicago bread makes the grade for a cheesesteak, excepting some good Italian bakery bread a la D'Amato's or Masi or Sicilia) the recipe is, as Anonius points out, easy to duplicate at home. Thin-sliced ribeye, nice sharp provolone, grilled onions, et voila. I used to make many such cheesesteaks in Chicago (even using Boar's Head roast beef, thinlu sliced) with great success. Be sure to hit all of the standbys you've mentioned, but, if time allows, be sure to hit Mama's in Bala Cynwyd, Peter Reinhart'd hometown steak and Rosengartne's pick for best cheesesteak in Philly. Let us know how it goes.