Hungry? Try the most expensive cheesesteak in the country

Monday, March 24, was National Cheesesteak Day, a day celebrated mostly in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

The cheesesteak was born in 1930 when Pat Olivieri, a hot dog vendor who had a stand in the Italian Market in South Philadelphia, grilled beef cooked onions on put it all on one of his hot dog buns for himself.

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History of the cheesesteak

The story of the success of the cheesesteak gets a little murky. The story goes that Harry Olivieri, Pat’s brother, a cab driver, got a taste of Pat’s steak sandwich and encouraged him to bag the hot dog stand and sell those great-tasting steak sandwiches. Pat Olivieri opened a new, bigger stand in the same location, called Pat’s King of Steaks.

Regardless, the cheesesteak sandwiches became a South Philly favorite and sold like wildfire.

Ironically, Pat’s original sandwich did not have any cheese on it. It was not until Joe Lorenza, a manager at one of the restaurants on Ridge Avenue, added provolone cheese to one of the cheesesteaks and it now became an official cheesesteak.

Several local places opened selling cheesesteaks and the popularity continues. Outside Philadelphia and South Jersey and throughout North America, cheesesteaks are now known as Philly cheesesteaks.

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Super expensive cheesesteak

There have been variations of the cheesesteak, but the one at the Barclay Prime restaurant in Philadelphia takes the most impressive and some would say the most outrageous variation of the original South Philly cheesesteak.

Barclay Prime sells one cheesesteak for $140!

Yes, I said $140!

The cheesesteak, according to Barclay Prime, is made of hand-cut wagyu beef, with black truffle, foie gras, fried onions, cooper sharp cheese, on a freshly baked sesame seed roll and served with a ½ bottle of champagne.

Photo by Alexander Naglestad on Unsplash

I do not know whether Barclay Prime put this on a menu to say that they have the most expensive cheesesteak in the country, or if they really sell many of these, especially to those that like to boast that they consumed such an expensive delicacy.

I must tell you that if I had substantial wealth, I still would not consume such a blown out of proportion staple that you can find at great places like Pat’s, Geno’s and so many others around the area for a significant amount less than the $140 at Barclay Prime.

If foie gras and truffles on a cheesesteak make you happy, well, then Barclay Prime is for you.

Enjoy!