In a Venn diagram of people deeply concerned about Michelin ratings and people deeply concerned about cheesesteaks, the overlap is not large. But both camps have been in an uproar since last week, when the Michelin Guides honored Philadelphia restaurants for the first time.<\/p>\n
The restaurant-rating group singled out three cheesesteak spots for its Bib Gourmand awards, a category for casual restaurants: the venerable Dalessandro\u2019s Steaks & Hoagies<\/a> and two well-regarded upstarts, Del Rossi\u2019s Cheesesteak Co.<\/a> and Angelo\u2019s Pizzeria<\/a>.<\/p>\n For many watching the awards ceremony at home and posting online, this could not stand.<\/p>\n \u201cDalessandro\u2019s shouldn\u2019t even be mentioned in the same breath as Angelo\u2019s and Del Rossi\u2019s. It\u2019s not even the same league,\u201d David Weselowski shouted in an Instagram Reel<\/a> posted immediately after the announcement.<\/p>\n The blowback revealed a large and deepening fissure between Philadelphians who remain loyal to the traditional cheesesteak and those who believe it can be even better.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people are mad about the new-style cheesesteaks,\u201d said Jacob Fink, who covers the city\u2019s food scene as @jacobdoesphilly<\/a> on Instagram. \u201cIf I was personally making the list, and if I was giving to an O.G. spot, I would probably give it to John\u2019s Roast Pork<\/a> over Dalessandro\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n Because the sandwich contains so many different elements, it provides plentiful fodder for Philadelphians to argue about, not unlike the city\u2019s major sports franchises.<\/p>\n \u201cI got a little impassioned,\u201d said Djour<\/a>, a food blogger who conceals his identity behind a luchador mask painted to match the Philadelphia Phillies\u2019 uniforms, and asked that his real name not be divulged. \u201cMichelin night was like an Eagles game for food.\u201d<\/p>\n Djour curates a complex graph<\/a> of Cheesesteak Power Rankings on Instagram, where 46 sandwiches are plotted onto a matrix, ranked by quality and divided into three main categories: the O.G., the deli and the modern. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of an ever-flowing, living document,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An O.G. cheesesteak, served at well-known places like Pat\u2019s or Geno\u2019s, is a long roll filled with thin shavings of steak, seared on a griddle and topped with melted cheese (glugs of Cheez Whiz, or slices of white American cheese or provolone). Fried onions and tangy peppers (hot or sweet) are optional.<\/p>\n The deli style, represented by the Michelin-anointed Dalessandro\u2019s, is close to the O.G., but more meat-focused. Steve Kotridis, an owner of Dalessandro\u2019s, said in an interview that each of his cheesesteaks contains about 14 ounces of beef.<\/p>\n The modern style, at Angelo\u2019s and Del Rossi\u2019s, reflects the shifts of the last decade, with ingredients like pasture-raised beef, house-baked rolls and Cooper Sharp, a mildly upscale version of American cheese. The meat, cheese and onions \u2014 separate elements in a traditional cheesesteak \u2014 are cut together on the griddle, in the manner of a New York chopped cheese sandwich.<\/p>\n The leader of the avant-garde is Danny DiGiampietro, the owner of Angelo\u2019s, a South Philly native who married into the Sarcone\u2019s Bakery<\/a> family, opened a deli and became obsessed with creating the perfect hoagie roll. Its crispy well-browned shell and coating of sesame seeds became the gold standard.<\/p>\n Mr. DiGiampietro is the Danny in Danny & Coop\u2019s<\/a>, the cheesesteak spot in the East Village of New York that is co-owned by the actor \u2014 and Angelo\u2019s fan \u2014 Bradley Cooper (no relation to the cheese).<\/p>\n \u201cThe bread is the most important part of the sandwich,\u201d Mr. Giampietro said in an interview. \u201cAnyone can buy good meat and cheese and pile it on there.\u201d<\/p>\n Reasonable people can agree that Mr. Giampietro pioneered the use of house-baked bread. Del Rossi\u2019s also makes its own bread, and uses \u201cgood meat.\u201d Its beef is pasture-raised and hormone-free.<\/p>\n The question of who first switched to Cooper Sharp, the \u201cgood cheese\u201d used by both Angelo\u2019s and Del Rossi\u2019s, is murkier. Many sandwich shops have likely used Cooper Sharp, a deli cheese popular in the Mid-Atlantic region, in their cheesesteaks over the years. What is undeniable: Cooper is made from a sharper, longer-aged Cheddar than most brands of American cheese, which gives it an unmistakable, umami-rich taste.<\/p>\n Depending on whom you ask, the first Michelin awards for Philadelphia were either a triumph or a wake-up call. No restaurants from the venerated local chefs Marc Vetri and Michael Solomonov, nor the Philadelphia-based restaurateur Stephen Starr, won Michelin stars. But the city punched above its weight, with three one-star and 10 Bib Gourmand places That put it well ahead of Boston, which also received its first Michelin awards this year, but has only a single one-star and six Bib Gourmand restaurants.<\/p>\n The Bib Gourmand rating that went to the sandwich purveyors is named for the Michelin company\u2019s puffy mascot, Bibendum<\/a>, also known as the Michelin tire man. It is a separate category created in 1997 for places with great food at a lower price point than the starred restaurants, which invariably have amenities like restrooms, cutlery and tables.<\/p>\n Will the honors steer Philadelphians toward a more evolved cheesesteak?<\/p>\n Mr. Kotridis of D\u2019Alessandro\u2019s said he had heard of the new style, and briefly offered a roll with sesame seeds as an option. But customers were uninterested.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t give them away,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n