A QUICK STOP AT ELBERT'S CHEESE STEAK

Is it fair that she's four months along the way, and I STILL look more pregnant than she does? 

          I was minding my own business, whilst surfing the net, when Rina's friend, Zee begins raving on facebook about a deal she got from the group buying site "Twangoo,com", for the famous Elbert's Cheese Steak Sandwiches. I've actually tried this already before, but that was around two or so years ago, so I was more than willing to get my Cheese Steak on once again.  


        The awesome Twangoo Deal I got gave me P600 bucks worth of food for only P300, so not only was I planning to pig out, but I was planning to pig out as a happy man that just saved P300 bucks (or so I thought).





      Elbert's Cheese Steak Sandwiches is located at the Basement Level of Rockwell Power Plant Mall. It's got a whole "Diner" vibe to it, but since it's located basically in what is the closest thing Rockwell has to a "food court", its design is limited to only its counter. Elbert's Cheese Steaks is the (cheaper) sibling of Elbert's Steak Room, the snazzy Steak house that I have yet to try, but vow to as soon as I win the lottery. 


       Just before Rina and I watched Thor (Nice popcorn flick, by the way.. but I was disappointed with the "teaser" in the end. Oh, and I find Cat Dennings hotter than Natalie Portman. There, I said it.) and bought Adam Richman's Book that I've been searching for for so long, we decided to finally avail of the deal that I had purchased months earlier (It was going to expire soon). If you're strange like I am, and enjoy the thought of a sandwich being wrapped up into a thick piece of paper, then Elbert's will bring a smile to your face. 


APPETIZERS

Golden fries make me smile

             Elbert's french fries are a little bit strange. Don't get me wrong, they taste fantastic, but it's sort of like a cross between the fast food type fries that I love, and the thick cut steak fries that i don't. Although, in the end, it ends up on my good side. It's thicker than your average fast food fry, but strangely enough, not as greasy, and salted just right. All in all, a great side order for your sandwich. 


THE FOOD

That is one huge sausage

          Whenever ordering for Rina, Its always safe to get her a sausage of some sort. She's not usually picky, but ever since she got pregnant (my fault, sorry) she's gotten some food quirks, but nothing really major. Apart from not being able to stand the smells of food being cooked, she has grown a strong distaste for onions. Considering some horror stories I've heard about pregnant women waking up in the middle of the night and wanting a green mangos with a specific type of bagoong that can only be found in distant provinces, I'd like to think I'm very lucky. So I got her the Sheboygan Jumbo Beef Hotdog (P180) without the onions, and she was good to go. 

Time to mayo it up

        The Sheboygan is a rather large, juicy hotdog, loaded with sauerkraut, relish (and normally onions), on a "special" white roll. First off, I have to admit that the bread is excellent. If you think I added the "special" part in the description, think again. It actually IS described as "Special" in their menu. It is amazingly soft, yet serves as the ideal encasing for the meaty frankfurter within it (Whenever I write about a sausage, I always feel like I'm writing erotica), while The Sauerkraut and relish served as nice tangy counter-punch to the heavy Hotdog. The only boo-boo the dudes at Elbert's made was that, they completely over did it with the mustard, so it totally clashed with the relish and Sauerkraut. There is a condiments station that offers Ketchup, Mustard and Mayonaise, so there was no reason for them to go overboard and paint the walls of the bread with they yellow stuff. 


       After a few bites, Rina could barely taste the hotdog anymore and all she would get the acid from the mustard. In the end, she found it better to just eat the Hotdog without the bread. 

         

It's like a blanket of cheese

            I love how they cook everything in front of the counter, so you can see how everything is done (I just hate how my photographer and I are so short, that it's difficult to get a decent shot in). I watched as the cook generously slapped slices of Provolone Cheese unto the thin strips of 100% USDA Choice Grade Beef until it melted into the meat.  

Doesn't it look awesome?

              Carrying on with the tradition of using kick ass bread, the Provolone Cheese Steak's (P390) baguette was toasted just right so that the edges give out a slight crunch and it held the sandwich in nicely, while maintaining a soft bed for the meat. It's a good thing that I am a huge fan of Caramelized onions, because this sandwich was loaded with it.. even to the point that it nearly drowned the taste of the meat out. Maybe it would be best that they changed up the meat to onion ratio?

When I hold it up like that, it does look like an "Onion Sandwich", don't it?

           Though the quality of the beef was undeniable (I had a hard time distinguishing it in my mouth because it was really so soft), I do felt that the meat itself lacked a little seasoning, but nothing a little more salt and pepper couldn't fix. The mildness of the provolone gave the beef the perfect platform to standout, but unfortunately it didn't. Neither did it taste horrible either, but it basically to a backseat and mingled with the other elements, particularly the onions. Though Cheese Steak purists may stone me for this, but I remedied it with a few squirts of Mayonnaise, and it did the trick.


       Some day (hopefully in the near future), Rina and I will visit my cousin Mary Anne and her husband in Delaware, and she promised to take me to the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, for the real deal, but till that day comes, this wasn't a bad stand in at all.


      I have yet to try their American Cheese Steak, Meat Ball Hero and their burgers, but I have heard some good things about it. 

     All I can say is that it is a bit pricier than your average sandwich (and depending where you eat, an average rice meal) and it is something you should try at least once. Had a not gotten my Twangoo voucher, I can't say I would've gone for the Provolone Cheese Steak Sandwich again (Nearly P400 bucks for a sandwich?), however, their burgers seem to be more reasonably priced.