Philly Wing Fry - Cheesesteaks and Chicken Wings in Union Market and Beyond

[Marty L.]

A very nice comeback story.  I haven't been to K&K because I try to avoid the Wharf.  I can attest, however, that the cheesesteak place in Union Market is really great. What worries me:  He dreams of running “a bajillion restaurants.”  Never a good idea.  

[Keithstg]

15 hours ago, Marty L. said:

 What worries me:  He dreams of running “a bajillion restaurants.”  Never a good idea.  

IDK, seems like Daniel Boulud, J-G, and Danny Meyer (to name a few) have done ok running "a bajillion restaurants".

[Marty L.]

5 minutes ago, Keithstg said:

IDK, seems like Daniel Boulud, J-G, and Danny Meyer (to name a few) have done ok running "a bajillion restaurants".

Not saying it's not good for the masterminds themselves (but cf. Mike Isabella)--but it rarely benefits the restaurants that were great in the first instance.  That is to say, we the consumers tend to lose out.

[DPop]

On 4/16/2019 at 6:12 PM, Marty L. said:

A very nice comeback story.  I haven't been to K&K because I try to avoid the Wharf.  I can attest, however, that the cheesesteak place in Union Market is really great. What worries me:  He dreams of running “a bajillion restaurants.”  Never a good idea.  

I'm surprised to read this.  I ordered takeout from there a couple months back and we must have ordered different menu items.  I found the wings to be gloppy and fried to complete submission and the cheesesteak greasy and odd in that the steak was a whole piece rather than the lovely chopped steaks you find at Jim's or Tony Luke's back in the day.  I have always been of the mind that when you are eating something greasy/unhealthy, it should be good enough that it is hard to not eat every single bite.  I left half of my cheesesteak and had just 2 wings.

I have never gotten the Kwame food hype; he seems like a great guy and definitely the ambitious young chef that you would like to see succeed, but in the restaurant business you must yield results, and I'm just not seeing them here or the Wing Fry.

[silentbob]

FWIW, we split a 10-inch cheese steak at Philly Wing Fry recently and enjoyed it a lot.

The higher quality of meat (vs. standard Philly fare) was quite evident, though reasonable minds can disagree about whether that's a good or bad thing.  The pickled onions also provide useful acidity for cutting through flavors that might otherwise be too rich and heavy for some.

Only downside is that it took nearly 15 minutes to receive our sandwich, though of course this also means that everything is made to order.

[DaveO]

6 hours ago, silentbob said:

FWIW, we split a 10-inch cheese steak at Philly Wing Fry recently and enjoyed it a lot.

The higher quality of meat (vs. standard Philly fare) was quite evident, though reasonable minds can disagree about whether that's a good or bad thing.  The pickled onions also provide useful acidity for cutting through flavors that might otherwise be too rich and heavy for some.

Only downside is that it took nearly 15 minutes to receive our sandwich, though of course this also means that everything is made to order.

I've devoured many a cheese steak;  99% of the time the quality of the meat--eh...but its a cheese steak.   OTOH for fair amount of time HellBurger offered a cheese steak with great quality meat....and ample gloppy cheese.   That was cheese steak heaven in my little opinion.  Would cheese steak mavens have critiqued and disallowed it for violating cheese steak quality limits?  I don't know, but it turned a sandwich that has never stood out foodie wise into something worth savoring.

[DonRocks]

40 minutes ago, DaveO said:

I've devoured many a cheese steak;  99% of the time the quality of the meat--eh...but its a cheese steak.   OTOH for fair amount of time HellBurger offered a cheese steak with great quality meat....and ample gloppy cheese.   That was cheese steak heaven in my little opinion.  Would cheese steak mavens have critiqued and disallowed it for violating cheese steak quality limits?  I don't know, but it turned a sandwich that has never stood out foodie wise into something worth savoring.

I thought the name, "Nice 'N' Greasy Steak 'N' Cheesy," was disgusting - I suspect that hurt the restaurant.

[pras]

Although it is probably sacrilegious, I got the spicy mushroom.  Aside from the ridiculous wait for my order once placed, I thought it was really good.  The spice of the fresnos, really pulled all of the components together and helped cut through the grease.  Eating at Union Market is really not fun though, especially when it's winter and you don't want to sit outside.