Whiz witout for me. Spent my college years in Philly, and a good cheesesteak would never get passed up. Pat's over Geno's by far. Jim's has better quality meat but was a bit light on the Whiz for my liking. Never liked Tony Luke's - felt they were a bit dry. I went to a spot called D'Alessandro's outside of downtown Philly after I graduated, and that objectively is probably the best steak I've had.

In NYC, I suffice with Shorty's, which does a damn good version of a steak and imports their bread daily from Philly. Carl's is okay but not quite the same.

And +1 to whoever above said that you would get raised eyebrows if you EVER asked for Swiss cheese on your cheesesteak. John Kerry tried doing that in 2004 when he went to Pat's...that didn't go well.