Years ago we devised a scale to evaluate a foodstuff compared to its original. We called it the Philly Cheesesteak Continuum because there is only one place to get a true Philly Cheesesteak (a long sandwich of Amoroso's crusty bread filled with fried beef, optional onions, and topped with cheese)--Philadelphia where this sandwich was invented in 1930.
The farther you get from Philadelphia, the less true to the original. Somewhere North of Camden, NJ, they stop using fresh steak and use Steak-Um frozen beef slices. In Chicago they call it the Italian Beef and though you can see a resemblance to the Philly Cheesesteak, they use seasoned beef, hot and sweet peppers and no cheese. Maybe in California they use whole grain bread, organic beef and soy cheese. On the moon, it's probably rocks and dust topped with green cheese.
All of this backstory is to explain the weird breakfast I had today. I stopped into a Vie de France cafe for a quick bite before running errands this morning. Vie de France has all kinds of lovely pastries pretending to be French, but we all know there are no bean jam doughnuts in France. They also carry savory baked goods like Vienna sausage rolls and curry doughnuts. This alone puts them pretty far along the continuum from French cafes.
But today's piece de weirdness was the Fish Dog I found among the savory baked goods. The Fish Dog is a split bun filled with fingers of crispy, breaded, fried fish topped with creamed mushrooms and cheese, then broiled to brown the cheese. It was quite tasty, but if I were to notch it down a level in quality, I'd end up with a white-trash American delight: a hot dog bun with fish sticks, cream of mushroom soup and pizza cheese.
If the Fish Dog was meant to be kin to a hot dog, it is far, far down the continuum. Then again, Fish Dog might be a Vie de France original--at the start of the continuum-- and all others are simply imitations.
Very funny continuum. But I have to say the breakfast pizza from downstairs at UOB was yuuuuuummmmy. Not quite biscuits and sausage gravy, but very few things are. :) Sure beats (IMHO) fish eyes staring at me at breakfast.
Tara says "I thought Steak-Ums (tm) were the originally Philly Cheesesteak. I grew up in Chicago."
Two other items that seem to have the distance factor involved: New York Bagels and Chicago Style Pizza.
As usual, you speak the truth. I often try to order a standard food item such as the Philly Cheese Steak whenever I try a new restaurant as a way of judging it's over all quality. But this has become all but impossible since I moved to Japan. Have you been able to find a decent cheesesteak here? There is a TGI Friday's in Ginza that sells something that they call a Philly Cheese Steak, but it isn't even close. I am a little desperate. I may open my own restaurant.
Donkeyman, I have not yet found a good Philly Cheesesteak in Tokyo. There's no bread in this entire city that's got that great crusty outside and soft inside. We've come close cooking them at home, but it's not the same. Tasty, but not a real cheesesteak.
Seth, I certainly agree with the bagels and pizza!
Don't even get me started on pierogies...
the Philly Cheesesteak Continuum is the distant cousin of the Chicago Style Continuum i would say. this speaks for all things Chicago Style-- hot dogs, deep dish pizza, italian beef sandwiches (which are an original, not some poor imitation of a philly cheesesteak, i might add)... i grew up in the Windy City and have become displaced to the West Coast (LA) which is devoid of any cullinary style whatsoever (unless you can count sushi and health smoothies, which i don't), and this is about as far away as one can be in terms of distance from anything resembling a chi-dawg.
frank 'n fries, oh, how i crave thee...