Robert's Market Report

Take-away at the Diner

 Cheese Steaks, Too

With his recent rehab of the Down Home Diner, Jack McDavid may have cut back slightly on his seating. But he probably created more business opportunity by carving out a take-away counter along the Reading Terminal Market's "Second Street" aisle.

In addition to sandwiches, salads and everything else on the diner's menu, McDavid added cheese steak to his offerings. I tried it last Monday. Although a disappointment, it shows potential, so I'll try it again in a few weeks.

The meat was quite different from the standard rib eye most steakeries serve. Although I didn't ask, it appeared to be a flank steak, which is all to the good. Unfortunately, it was considerably overcooked to the point of dryness. But the meat had excellent flavor, with a lot more beefiness than other cheese steaks I've consumed.

It's got the potential to be right up their with my favorite steak sandwich. That was at Syd's, now closed, in Union, N.J. It didn't pretend to be a Philly cheese steak. As I recall, it was skirt steak char broiled and served with garlic-infused cooked onions on an Italian roll with a bit more crusty bite than the typical hoagie roll. Basically, it was a Jewish Romanian steak on a bun.