Portland/Seattle are bad.  Homelessness is a true crisis.  Violence is way up.  Trash everywhere.  (still beautiful, but so much decline)  I did have a few PA natives tell me my experience was due to my time in central city.  I can say with 100% certainty, if it's Philly central city vs downtown Seattle or Portland, I'd take Philly any day of the week.  This from a life long PNW resident. 

If my kid goes to Villanova, I'll hit you up for more recommendations.  Thanks!

If you get to go again, go to McGillin's Pub.  It is the oldest running pub in Pennsylvania and opened sometime in the 1800s. Great beer list and the food is very good and really inexpensive.  The atmosphere is pretty cool too.  But, don't go after 10pm on Friday or Saturday unless you want to feel like you want to hang out with a bunch of kids in their early 20s at a nightclub.

I’ve been to McGillins!  Love it. I drove up from NC for a weekend and an Eagles daytime game and then spent the evening at McGillins watching the night games and having a blast. My buddy who made the trip with me was sure to take me there because his family (members) owned McGillins for quite some time at some point in its history. It’s over 150 years old.

The recipes in these links may be helpful for those that may be interested in making their own Italian Beef sandwiches

https://www.insidehook.com/article/food-and-drink/history-italian-beef-sandwich-recipe

https://grandbaby-cakes.com/italian-beef-grilled-cheese/

I had this for a late night snack last night.  Thawed a roll that I had in the freezer and heat up some meat that I had cooked earlier in the week.

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Kind of simple the way I like it!

No need for sauce.  Great just like that!!

Doh!  I was thinking cheese steak!  Must have a touch of giardiniera, no cheese and a dip in da juice for me to be a Great Italian Beef!  But that is a good looking sandwich!

It was a cheesesteak. I put the provolone on the roll.  Beef had onions, mushrooms and hot peppers mixed in with it.

Then it was a 9!

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The Spataro sandwich looks more my speed than the Tony Luke. How were they?

The Spataro sandwich looks more my speed than the Tony Luke. How were they?

I would give Spataro a 7 and Tony Luke's a 4.

I'd eat either. Both look good.
A big downside to living our west, no Cheesesteak places.
You can find one in a restaurant sometimes, but no comparison to back east.

The Spataro does look good and better then the Tony Lukes, although I like the look of those onions.  I just like the beef chopped and not thin sliced!  Surprised at a 4 though, man, that is bad in my opinion!