My introduction to cheesesteaks was from The Philadelphian in Sandy. All through middle school we lived across in some apartments across the street. What's best from there is the pepper steak with everything (cheese, tomato, lettuce, hot peppers, pickles [I take those off]). Their hot peppers are probably similar to the taste of the Giardiniera that you like and they're probably Mezzetta anyway. It's the place my wife and I went with my parents when we announced our engagement. But it's very different than a traditional cheesesteak. Way more meat. It's also not as oil-laden. When eating traditional cheesesteaks, they don't hold up, just because of my bias, and you really shouldn't think of it too much as a Philly cheesesteak (in the pure traditionalist sense). On my mission to Ohio was where I was introduced to eating the Subway cheesesteak, which I would do steak, pepperjack cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, jalapeños, banana peppers, spinach, and a lot of chipotle sauce. Some time after my mission in like 2006 or 2007, they changed their steak from sliced to chopped and it tasted like garbage. A year or two later they resurrected it. A couple years ago they changed the chipotle sauce and the steak again and it's not as good.
Anyway, back in 2012 I went to Philly for a couple weeks and tried numerous cheesesteak places. They're definitely more plain than I typically am used to, lacking a lot of toppings, and there's way less meat. It's difficult for me to eat a cheesesteak without dipping in fry sauce. In any case, I've learned that I have to separate in my mind from the way I enjoy a steak sandwich and appreciate it as its own thing. I thought Pat's was better than Geno's. DP cheesesteaks is decent if I'm going more for a traditional Philly style. Charley's in the malls is decent. I used to like Moochie's when it was a novelty for me. They had one in Lehi for a few years and I think I discovered that I didn't like it as much as I initially did. Not that it was bad.
