This ‘cheesesteak’ in Bermuda will run you $30

A Bermuda restaurant is slinging a “cheesesteak” for $30, and the ingredients list is honestly appalling. This story comes to us from Crossing Broad and was sent in by one of their readers, but this struck such a nerve I had to jump in and give my two cents as TLL’s resident Sandwich Commentator.

This Bermudian cheesesteak is making my eyes water:

This is distressing in every sense of the word. I’m all for a nontraditional cheesesteak setup, but I don’t know how this would even come up in somebody’s train of thought.

I’m not paying $30 for any cheesesteak, much less one with Swiss cheese and lemon soy sauce, whatever that is. Especially not on a toasted French baguette with garlic butter. I like garlic bread as much as the next guy, but this is a bridge too far.

The thing that drives me crazy about this is that it’s just not a Philly cheesesteak. There is an accepted method used to craft the perfect sandwich, and this restaurant and others like it outside of Philadelphia are simply disregarding it while still using the name recognition this city has earned through decades of blood, sweat, and grease.

I think Philadelphia should file for DOCG protection status similar to how it’s done for Italian winemaking and other heritage products. A Philly cheesesteak can only be produced a certain way in a certain region of the country.

Want to make something similar outside of that defined region? Go right ahead, you just can’t have Philly in the name. Boston does this with the steak and cheese sandwich. While its an inferior product, there’s no question of what it’s trying to be.

Sure, at its face its the same sandwich. But you can’t make red wine in Sicily and call it Chianti. Not only is that dishonest, it’s a crime.

I’m not calling for a standardized cheesesteak process across that defined region, mind you. No two Chiantis you’ll find are the same, and that’s true here in Philadelphia as well with our beloved sandwiches.

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