What to Add, and What Not To

There is a short list of things you can add to what you order here, and it is short deliberately. Peppers, mushrooms, bacon, extra cheese, extra meat, and onions on or off — that is close to all of it.

A short list is easier to use well than a long one, but only if you know what each thing actually does.

What is available, and where

Notice what is not on that list. There is no build-your-own free-for-all here — what you can change is defined per menu, and the options that exist are the ones the kitchen can do without slowing everything else down. Our guide to what made to order means covers why.

Onions, which are free and matter most

Every Philly comes with or without onion at no charge, and it is the single most consequential choice on the list.

Griddled onions go soft and sweet, and because they cook alongside the meat they distribute through the whole filling rather than sitting in one place. That makes them less of a topping than a seasoning — they change the base flavour of the sandwich rather than adding a layer to it.

• On a plain Cheese Steak — onions add the sweetness the sandwich otherwise lacks
• On a chicken Philly — they do more work, because there is less fat competing
• On the Smokehouse — it already has grilled onions in the burger version and plenty going on either way
• Off — if you want to taste what the ribeye alone is doing

Peppers: three different things

Peppers are one option on the burger menu and a choice of three on the Pepper Steak — green pepper, banana pepper or jalapenos — and they are not interchangeable.

The useful distinction is that green peppers add body, banana peppers add acidity, and jalapenos add heat. If a sandwich already feels rich, banana peppers do more for it than green ones. Our guide to what is actually spicy puts the jalapeno in context against everything else on the menu.

Mushrooms, and when they work

Mushrooms are an add-on on both the Philly and burger menus, a build in their own right as the Mushroom Steak, one of four components in The Garden, and a fried item on the appetizer menu.

What they bring is savouriness and moisture rather than texture. Mushrooms are largely water, and on a hot griddle they release it before they brown — which is why they pair naturally with a fatty cut like ribeye, where the rendering fat and the released liquid meet in the middle.

They work less well on a burger, where a patty already has its own juices and adding a wet topping softens the bun from the inside. If you want mushrooms, the Philly is the better vehicle.

Why the list is short

Some menus offer thirty toppings. This one offers a handful, and that is a choice rather than a limitation.

Everything here is cooked when it is ordered, on a flat top or in a fryer, and each additional option is another thing that has to be prepped, held ready and added at the right moment without slowing the line. A short list of things that are always available beats a long list where half of them have run out.

The other reason is that most of these builds are already complete. Nine Phillys and four burgers means the variety is in the builds themselves rather than in a topping bar — you are choosing a sandwich, not assembling one.

Bacon, extra cheese and extra meat

• Bacon — burgers only, and already on the Smokehouse. Salt and the only element that stays firm in a wet build
• Extra cheese — changes texture more than flavour. Best on the plain Cheese Steak, where there is room for it
• Extra meat — the way to make a 7-inch eat bigger without moving up to a 12-inch, which mostly adds bread
• Chicken instead of steak — free, and the biggest change available on the Philly menu

Extra meat is the one worth knowing about. A 7-inch with extra meat is a different proposition from a 12-inch: more filling in the same amount of bread, rather than more of both. There is more on that trade-off in 7-inch or 12-inch.

What not to add, and where

A few combinations that consistently disappoint:

• Peppers on The Garden or the Veggie Philly — both already carry three kinds
• Mushrooms on the Mushroom Steak — it is the whole point of that build
• Anything on the Smokehouse — six things on it already
• Bacon and mushrooms together — both push in the same direction

The free ones are the best ones

Worth noticing: the two changes that alter a Philly most — onions on or off, and chicken instead of steak — are both free. Everything you pay to add does less than either of them.

The short version

Onions are free and change the sandwich most. Green peppers add body, banana peppers add acidity, jalapenos add heat. Mushrooms suit a griddled Philly better than a burger. Extra meat beats a longer roll. And two additions is the limit before the bread becomes the problem. It is all on the Philly menu and the burger menu.

A short list, used well

Peppers, mushrooms, bacon, extra cheese, extra meat — and onions free either way.

Philly Cheesesteaks

Nine builds, all customisable.

Burgers

Four builds, four add-ons.

Explore the Menu Order Online

Frequently asked questions