Last week I covered what was my favorite day of my Philadelphia trip. The day that I got to hang out with Sarah and Tim. This day was probably my least favorite day. The day I had to listen to incessant whining and eventually had to check out from human contact for the night.
As I started Day 5, this is what was left in my per diem fund thanks to the extreme graciousness of Sarah and Tim:
$385.25
Here are the pictures from Day 5 of my work trip to Philadelphia:
I got up early enough to walk across the street and get breakfast at Federal Donuts & Chicken.
A really good donut.
The sandwich was only fair.
Breakfast sandwich on a bun is a bit of a miss.
All the locals told us that the actual best cheesesteak in Philadelphia was Agnelo’s Pizzeria.
My observations:
- I had heard of Federal Donuts, so I figured I’d give it a shot. The donut didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t as good as the donuts from Okie Dokie, but it was still a very solid donut. If that donut was in Iowa, I would get it on the regular. The sandwich I could take or leave. It would have been better on a biscuit or a muffin or even a croissant. I don’t see a need to ever have anything from Federal Donuts besides donuts ever again. If I ever have the chance.
- With tip, the damage was $21.76. Not exactly a steal, but prices being what they are these days…
- So pretty much every local who opined on cheese steaks told us that Angelo’s was the place. Geno’s and Pat’s are for the tourists. But the real deal is Angelo’s. So Lowell and I decided that we needed to get there before we left. That really came down to Saturday night… AKA Day 5. I already had supper plans for Day 3 and Day 4. Angelo’s isn’t open every day and it closes at 7 PM. There was a small window to get there. So it was decided that we were going there.
- However, because Lowell and I decided to go there, the group grew and somehow it was decided I had organized this trip. I had not. I had merely decided to go there. Cathie organizes meals. I just go places.
- Because this larger group tagged along there were some idiosyncrasies of the place that I had to listen to near constant whining about:
- First, there is no dine in at Angelo’s. It is carryout only. There are signs all around telling people to not sit on people’s steps and eat. You have to get your food and go someplace else. Attached to a light pole near the restaurant is a sign with a QR Code to scan. It takes you to a website that shows you 6 parks that are within walking distance to sit down and eat your glorious cheesesteak.
- 2nd, they only take cash. This is not a big deal for me. I pretty much always carry cash with me. Definitely when I travel. Whether that is to a small town or a big city. You never know when you are going to find something you want to buy from a place that only takes cash. Also, more and more places are either giving a “cash discount” or passing the credit card fees on to the customer. But wait… there is more! I also prefer to tip in cash because I don’t trust that companies pass the tip on to the employees without taking a cut on their end. There is one final reason I’ve started carrying cash more. I don’t like being hit up for a tip every time I use a card for scenarios where I don’t think I should be hit up for a tip. I pay cash, they can’t flip that tablet around and say, “It is going to ask you a few questions”. I’m not an anti-tipping guy… but I’m starting to trend that way a little bit now that I’m aged. My lawn care company starting hitting me up for a tip recently and my initial reaction is, that it is so annoying, I might drop them after this year. WTF! But if you aren’t carrying cash around I think you are doing money wrong. That is advice from a guy that is absolutely terrible at money management.
- 3rd, their ordering system is a little funky. You order. You give them your cell phone number. But you don’t pay until you pick up your sandwich. There is one line for ordering. Another line for picking up your food. Since there is no dining in and you aren’t allowed to sit on the neighborhood stoops (which I completely understand – you sit on my steps I come out you with a knife. At least I think the Philadelphia version of me might) you just have to stand around and wait for them to text your cell phone so you can get in the food pick up line. Get your food. Pay for it. Go find a place to eat. This wait was something like 20 minutes. For 20 minutes I listened to constant bellyaching about the fact that there was no place to sit, they only take cash, and it is taking FOREVER! Then when we did get our food, we had to walk GASP! one block. I don’t know if I’m an extrovert or an introvert. I don’t believe that many people are binary. So (not many) people think I’m an extrovert cause I might be in Austin, Texas and I’ll run over to a complete stranger to talk to her about her golden retriever. But that is a golden retriever. I’m going to pass up a chance to pet a golden retriever? On it’s birthday? Heck no! But I’m sure many people think I’m an introvert as well. But what I actually think is that every day I (and I think all people are there) I wake up with a social battery. The strength of that battery fluctuates wildly from day to day depending on my socialization the previous day. But, the one thing that is absolutely certain. The fastest way to drain that battery is whining. I just candle handle it. Probably why so few people are built to go on my adventures with me. Either road trip or culinary or definitely photographical. All this is to say, after I ate my cheesesteak and we got back to the hotel, I called it a night. I was done with humans. I had become the most anti-social person on the trip. Actually, I went out and wandered the streets by myself. So maybe that isn’t much different than any other nights. But the streets felt meaner.
- But hey! How was that cheesesteak? They served Pepsi. So that was a win. But I think it was my least favorite cheesesteak on the trip. Part of that was some of the ordering confusion. Since not everybody carries cash, I ordered with Derek so I could front him some money. He ordered his steak “without vegetables”. The order taker told him that “they don’t come with vegetables”. Which to me meant that I couldn’t get onions on my cheesesteak. The humanity! However, Lowell and Michelle got onions on theirs. So sad! The bread was fantastic. But they were definitely light on the whiz. The least whiz by far. Also, the meat had a slight almost roast beef node to its flavor pallet. It was still delicious, but it made me wonder if this is the cheesesteak the locals send the tourists too to keep them away from the great cheesesteaks. But it was a fleeting thought. The place was packed. They ran out of cheesesteaks with about 15 minutes left before they closed. I would try it again. But I’d go try some other cheesesteaks first.
- The damage for the cheesesteak and a bottle of Pepsi was $20. Even. Because they only took cash there were no credit card fees. They didn’t hit you up for a tip.
After Day 5, the following was left in the Per Diem Fund:
$343.49
Would that last for the 2 remaining days of the trip? The adventure will continue next Sunday!