Cheesesteak: The Movie
When you're writing a Philadelphia food blog, let's face it: you're going to be working on a lot of stories that involve cheesesteaks. That's the situation we found ourselves in when we found out that a release party for a documentary about cheesesteaks was just held at the Bridge Cinema. The film, This Is My Cheesesteak, was made as a student project at Syracuse University by West Philly native Ben Daniels. But Daniels had a who's who of the local cheesesteak world attend... and then some:
There were the requisite gold chains, and in the case of Geno's owner Joey Vento, a profusion of tattoos and Confederate flag iconography. Shaved heads were amply represented, as were dress T-shirts denoting self-proclaimed rank; king (Pat's) and prince (Steve's).[...]
Daniels, 22, grew up (and still lives) at 45th and Larchwood in West Philadelphia. And besides the creme de la cheesesteak world - the owners of the six most-famous eateries - he'd invited his entire block, his teachers, his friends from Lower Merion and Friends Central, noted olfactory expert Marcie Pelchat, and even the girl who cut his hair for a 20-minute interview with Stephen Starr about the $100 cheesesteak (with kobe steak and truffle butter) at Barclay Prime, the Rittenhouse Square steak house. ("It's a marketing tool," Starr said, and sure enough the Pavlovian media ate it up: It got international press.)
The steak kings take a bow [Inquirer]
