A delivery cheesesteak is a fundamentally different beast than one that you consume right off the griddle. All the components are the same — melted cheese, griddled onions (if you opt for them), seasoned meat, a roll to contain it all — but the handling and time en route from the kitchen to wherever you are is transformative.
For one, the sandwich inevitably steams within its packaging during the journey. A roll that is toothsome when freshly stuffed might arrive to you soft and chewy, offering no counterweight to the filling. (Sometimes, though, that’s exactly what you want.) For another, steaks built the old-school way — in which meat is piled onto a slice of cheese, thereby melding the cheese, meat, and roll together — tend to work less well for delivery: Tightly wrapped, these steaks don’t have as much opportunity for the cheese to melt and evenly distribute, risking a steak that’s dry, without cheese marbled throughout. (The newer style, best exemplified by Angelo’s, in which the cheese and meat are more thoroughly mixed from the beginning, tends to work better for the journey from the griddle to your plate.)
The food team, along with some other Inquirer cheesesteak enthusiasts, ordered 16 steaks (all beef, no alt proteins) to the Inquirer newsroom in Center City. All were delivered within the same window to see how they withstood the rigors of delivery. For standardization, every order had at least one steak with Cooper Sharp (sorry, diehard purists) if available — American, if not — and onions, with no other toppings.
There were surprises: Some in-person favorites didn’t hold up and some we had found lackluster when eaten on-site were real hits in the delivery dimension. Of course, based on your location and preferred delivery service, your options will be different; delivery also adds an element of unpredictability to every order, so your mileage may, quite literally, vary.