Tuesday, January 5, 2010

!ggles A Cheesesteak & Burger Joint

So the owners of Philadelphia Cheesesteaks on Tidewater Dr. in Norfolk opened !ggles A Cheesesteak & Burger Joint (2676 VA Beach Blvd. VA Beach, VA. 23452 757-340-0317) several months ago in the shopping center across from Beach Ford on the Blvd and have brought their tasty sammy's to VA Beach. Yes there are some places in VA Beach that have Philadelphia cheesesteaks and yeah some are good but some are not so good. As mentioned in the Deuce Mcgee's blog my brother Mat is a cheesesteak guru, but I am no rookie when it comes to the cheesesteak scene. After reading the Deuce Mcgee's blog my buddy Scott Lee (as mentioned in the Saffron Indian Bistro blog) said that it was brought to his attention that !ggles had a good cheesesteak, so after hearing a few more people talking about it I decided to give it a try.
In case you couldn't tell by the name this place is owned by some serious Philadelphia Eagles fans, not just Eagle fans but Philadelphia fans so make sure you don't go in wearing your Giants, Cowboys, or Redskins jersey's. They don't only do Philadelphia cheesesteaks but chicken cheesesteaks, burgers, hot dogs, salads, burger subs, and sandwiches like grilled cheese, PBJ, BLT, and ham and cheese. They also have fries that come in one size, but you can get regular or cheesesteak fries, they are the tasty fries that have 1/2 a cheesessteak on them. mmm mmm good. They also have some funky sammy's like a pizza cheesesteak, chicken cordon blue cheesesteak, and a chicken teriyaki cheesesteak.
Today I went for the mushroom cheesesteak with grilled onions and an order of fries. Yes everyone puts the fries on the back burner and a lot of people forget to even talk about the fries, but the fries here are very tasty not to mention crispy and well seasoned. The cheesesteak was huge and packed full of meat, to me a big part of a cheesesteak is the bread to meat ratio and this sammy definitely had a very high meat to bread ratio, and the bread was good too. The meat was well seasoned and there wasn't an abundance of onions and mushrooms as filler, there was plenty of meat and flavor, and oh yeah cheese whiz. That's right cheese whiz, just like up north. As usual I got a togo order on my lunch break and from the time I got that massive sammich and fries in my car to the time I got home my mouth was watering from the fragrance of hot fries, grilled onions, mushrooms, seasoned meat, toasty bread and warm cheese whiz. It tasted so good and to be honest the smell made me drive a little faster than I should have. When I got home and got that sammich unwrapped and took a look at it I was stoked. I knew there was no way I could finish the whole thing so I knew I would have some for later. I took the first bite and it was what a cheesesteak should taste like, yes I have had cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, no I have never eaten a Gino's cheesesteak before, yes I have had good cheesesteaks before, and yes I have bad cheesesteaks before and man this is a damn good cheesesteak. As I said before it was very well seasoned, it had a good taste of grilled onion, the cheese wasn't over whelming, and the bun was toasty and buttery yet soft and chewy. I don't bother with the lettuce, tomato, and mayo on it but I could see where that could be good if they could find room to fit that stuff on there, but the way it comes is just perfect. And with the tasty fries to go along with it, I must say it was one of the better lunches I have had in a while and for sure the best cheesesteak I have had in a long time.
Whether you are craving a cheesesteak or just looking for a filling, tasty, delicious lunch or dinner I suggest stopping into !ggles for a great cheesesteak. The cheesesteaks come in 1/2 sizes or whole, I recommend a whole so that you have some goodness for later in the day. They are open till 9 at nite Monday thru Saturday, so don't think you can get a Philadelphia cheesesteak from !ggles for the Eagles games on Sunday's.


I'm passing the word about this place like a collection plate at a Sunday service and I'll be back like the Terminator.

No smoking (like damn near every restaurant in VA now)

No tables inside but there are some picnic tables outside

They are kid friendly as long as your kid roots for the Eagles (just kidding, I said they have PBJ if that doesn't scream kid firendly I don't know what does)

1 comment:

  1. I see you're a big fan of Montreal Smoked Meat sandwiches. You obviously know there is nothing like the real thing. Check out this video we recently produced about French-Canadian Cuisine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzg7GfKnsd8

    As I see your somewhat of a fan of food you might want to check out the actual YouTube Channel too. There are over 300 videos about Canadian culture and many of them about our culinary community: http://www.youtube.com/canadiantourism

    ReplyDelete