A Complete Breakdown of Cheesesteakgate
The multifaceted symbolism of Dr. Oz campaigning at Pat's and Geno's
I don’t set out to cover specific topics in my Substack, I just write about whatever’s on my mind that day. But to the extent that there are any topics I cover regularly, the two I’m probably best known for are politics and cheesesteaks. So when my two great interests converged this weekend, how am I not supposed to write about it?
We in Pennsylvania are once again at the center of the American political universe for a number of reasons. The Democrats’ slim hopes to maintain their Congressional majorities, let alone build upon them, hinge largely on winning our Senate seat. The Democratic nominee in that race, John Fetterman, is seen as a model of populist progressivism for candidates across the country (which is not to say he is without serious flaws). Meanwhile, a Christian nationalist who believes (among other things) that the state legislature has the power to overrule the popular vote — and thus to potentially hand the White House to the Republicans in 2024 — has a real chance to become governor, thanks largely to his Democratic opponent’s help.
And then there’s Dr. Oz. The TV snake-oil peddler’s entrance into politics via the Pennsylvania Senate race represents arguably a new low in pseudo-celebrities seeking more power than what mere fame can provide. Yet since winning a controversial primary to become the GOP nominee, his campaign has sputtered. He has consistently trailed in the polls, and has been largely out of the news except when Fetterman attacks him.
This past Friday, Oz made a rare campaign stop that people actually noticed. Specifically, he popped up at Cheesesteak Corner in South Philadelphia to make a point about the economy:
“South Philly is ready for a Dose of Reality!” Oz tweeted (odd capitalization his). “Biden's record-breaking inflation is making it harder for businesses like both Pat's and Geno's to stay afloat. A world without cheesesteaks? That’s just crazy!”
To an outsider, this is run-of-the-mill political pandering. It’s not unusual for politicians to burnish their everyman images in this swing state by indulging in Philly’s signature sandwich for lunch. But as someone with both a personal investment in this election and a zealous passion for cheesesteaks, this seemingly innocuous campaign stop touches on too many of my pet peeves to ignore.
Just as there are five layers of a cheesesteak — meat, cheese, onions, and each side of the locally baked Italian roll — there are (at least) five clear ways in which Oz’s photo op illustrates the hollowness of his candidacy and the harmfulness of the ideology he represents. Let’s dig in!
“Biden’s record-breaking inflation”
There’s no point in pretending that inflation isn’t a huge issue right now. While White-House-friendly pundits are pushing the line that the economy is Good, Actually, it’s a message that rings hollow while real wages are declining and basic costs like housing are skyrocketing.
Yet there is only so much that a President can do to impact inflation, as demonstrated by the fact that it’s happening worldwide. And if Oz really did want Biden to use his office to bring down gas prices, he’d be pressing the White House to lift sanctions on Venezuela, get serious about restoring the JCPOA with Iran, and invest in domestic renewable energy to replace fossil fuels. None of these are typically tenets of the Republican platform. (Making fighting inflation the first principle of fiscal policy can also take you to both bad and strange places.)
Also, on a pedantic note, that current inflation is the most in some number of years isn’t “record-breaking.” The mere phrase “highest inflation since…” (or similar wording) implies that there have, by definition, been more-extreme amounts recorded.
The faux-focus on small business
Even if you don’t live in Philadelphia, the names of the restaurants Oz visited — Pat’s and Geno’s — might sound familiar. The fact that you could plausibly have heard of them tells you they aren’t normal neighborhood delis. They are cornerstones of travel guides and surely among the most-popular tourist attractions in the city.
Pat’s King of Steaks has been around for 92 years, is busy at all hours of the day, and ships heavily marked-up steaks nationwide. Geno’s Steaks has expanded to multiple franchise locations and has its own separate storefront for merch. Together the two famous storefronts bathe the intersection of South 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue in neon lights, long lines, and cheese-and-grease-soaked wrappers. Of all the hundreds (thousands?) of cheesesteak shops in Philly, the two least-likely candidates to go bankrupt thanks to macroeconomic factors are Pat’s and Geno’s.
It calls to mind the Chick-fil-A Wars of a decade ago: when progressive organizations boycotted the fast-food chain for its funding of anti-LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, conservative politicians mobilized their followers to patronize the corporation as a counter-protest. (Though eating at Chick-fil-A no longer seems to carry the same stigma today, the underlying issue has not entirely gone away.) Even besides endorsing homophobia, it has always struck me as strange that political leaders channeled grassroots energy towards supporting a huge international corporation instead of encouraging people to get fried chicken at their own local greasy spoons. Highlighting Pat’s and Geno’s instead of a mom-and-pop deli, a corner bodega, or even a yuppie artisanal hoagie shop betrays a fundamental misread of who in our community actually needs support.
The condoning of racism
If you haven’t heard of Geno’s because of a tourist guidebook, it’s possible you know about it from the infamous sign that once hung in the window. For at least a decade, customers walking up to order were greeted by an unmistakably xenophobic sign reading: This is America. When ordering please “SPEAK ENGLISH.” (You can note the irony of proclaiming the sanctity of the English language while also using quotation marks incorrectly.) The decal was finally removed in 2016 in advance of the Democratic National Convention coming to town, but only after Geno’s spent years resisting calls to remove it and seemingly even relishing in the controversy it caused.
Incredibly, this wasn’t even the only racist part of Geno’s storefront display. Up until 2015, a Confederate flag sticker could be seen in the window. While both images are now gone and Oz would not be unique among conservative politicians in his willingness to condone them even if they weren’t, it’s hard not to see his patronizing Geno’s and the owner posing with him as a demonstration of shared values. (To their credit, Pat’s made it clear that they had no interest in indulging Oz.)
The terrible cheesesteaks
You’ll notice that the foregoing descriptions of Pat’s and Geno’s focus on the spectacle rather than the sandwiches. That’s because their cheesesteaks are pretty bad! By non-Philadelphia standards they’re decent enough, but there are so many better options in this city. I can count the number of locals I know who go to either spot on one hand. As I wrote about Pat’s in my authoritative cheesesteak rankings:
Pat’s King of Steaks
The surest place to identify a tourist in Philadelphia isn’t running up the Rocky steps or posing with the LOVE statue. It’s waiting in line at Cheesesteak Corner for a sandwich that pales in comparison to what you’ll get at your average bodega, let alone any of the places mentioned above. If you must get a cheesesteak from one of the famous spots, Pat’s is better than Geno’s, but your taste buds and bowels will both thank you for going elsewhere.
And about Geno’s:
Geno’s Steaks
Geno’s is basically the same as Pat’s except the steaks are even worse and the signage is racist. Even if you absolutely must get your cheesesteak from a tourist trap, there is no conceivable reason to go to Geno’s when the marginally less-bad Pat’s is across the street.
I was not alone in finding it exceptionally funny that Oz is no more credible as a cheesesteak connoisseur than he is as a politician. (A prominent Republican going to Pat’s and Geno’s also completes the political metaphor that began earlier this year when the First Lady went to Jim’s, the next-most-famous cheesesteak joint in Philly: Jim’s is unequivocally better than Pat’s or Geno’s, but it’s coasting on its reputation as the lesser of two three evils when much better possibilities exist.) But maybe it’s not really surprising, because…
Dr. Oz lives in New Jersey
Perhaps Oz really doesn’t know any of this. Maybe he thinks Pat’s and Geno’s are struggling mom-and-pop shops, maybe he doesn’t know about the controversy Geno’s has courted, and maybe he thinks that actual Philadelphians eat at the two tourist traps. They are absurd notions for someone who lives here, but they become plausible once you remember that Oz is a New Jerseyan.
It’s become a meme and even a core message of Fetterman’s campaign, but it bears repeating: Oz is famous for living in the Garden State. His campaign claims he moved to Pennsylvania a year and a half ago — still a demonstration of blatant political opportunism even if it were true — but he didn’t buy a house in the state he is running for Senate in until this year, and he is still recording campaign videos from his mansion in Bergen County. As a Philadelphian, it is incredible to be able to dunk on New Yorkers for electing a Mayor who probably lives in New Jersey; it would be a tragedy to lose that moral high ground.
True to form, Fetterman saw through his opponent’s carpetbagging — because compared to Oz, he is a whiz when it comes to cheesesteaks:
