11. Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan says his 2002 quest for the best cheesesteak (won by John's Roast Pork) was the "most well-read article I have ever written." (See "Cheesesteak Project" link at right.)
12. Custom-made Italian pouch rolls make the cheesesteaks at Grilladelphia (at Exxon Tiger Mart on Aramingo Avenue) popular with truckers who don't want grease dripping as they drive.
13. To order a cheesesteak in Russian, say "Mne pozhaluista buterbrod so steikom, s lukom i syrom."
14. The main reason steak rolls are better here is simple: freshness. Other cities don't have the volume to get daily deliveries, Wyman says.
15. To counter rumors of using horsemeat, Pat Olivieri, inventor of the steak sandwich in 1930 and founder of Pat's, once offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove the charge.
16. A "Philly taco" is a Jim's cheesesteak rolled up in a slice of pizza from Lorenzo and Sons.
17. "In order to be cut to the traditional paper-thinness, the meat must be at least somewhat frozen."
18. The $100 Kobe Cheesesteak at Barclay Prime switched to adding sauteed lobster after animal-rights activists objected to the foie gras. Price includes champagne.
19. A Milano-style pizza steak has grilled fresh tomatoes and spices instead of pizza or marinara sauce. Philip's on Passayunk, for one, has it.
20. Silvio's in Hatboro uses Cooper cheese - not American, provolone or Whiz - along with thin-sliced top round and Bermuda onions on its cheesesteaks.
21. Even potato chips have been made to taste like cheesesteaks (Herr's, 2006).
22. "Fake steaks" - vegetarian cheesesteaks - are sold at such places as the Abbaye, Sabrina's Cafe, Gianna's Grille, and even Campo's at Citizens Bank Park.
23. T-shirts at Sonny's in Old City read "Bite Me" above a drawing of a sandwich.
24. Cheesesteak Salad is made with chopped onion and sandwich steak, grilled in a skillet then topped with sliced provolone and served on a bed of romaine lettuce. Cherry Pepper Dressing optional.
25. Bob Dylan once offered an autograph at Jim's on South Street, but got turned down by an unimpressed meat cutter.
That's just a sampling.
Wyman - who with her husband freely chose to move to Philly about seven years ago, partly for the food - said the book was a labor of love.
With most products, you run into lots of "corporate speak," she said.
Not with Philly cheesesteaks.
"It's real people with their own ideas about things," she said. That's what made the subject "refreshing and great."
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