Steak Your Claim

Delicious! And the owner is super nice and authentically from Philadelphia.

Good flavor, but the bun was like leather and the meat was incredibly tough. Hint guys, the steak is supposed to be tender. If it’s not, you’re doing it wrong. I didn’t take the time to figure out if they cut it wrong, cooked it wrong, or what, but it’s clearly not right.
Grants on NW 23^rd does a much better cheesesteak.

It wasn’t the best cheese-​steak I’ve eaten, but it was certainly close. Like many reviewers have written, the size of the sandwich is on the small side, but I felt it was perfect for someone who wants to taste a good sandwich without overeating to the point of going into the usual post cheese-​steak food-​coma. I look forward to trying some of the other items on the menu during my next visit.

Ok ok so I really want like 3.5 stars but I feel like 4 is too much. Kinda like the price of my tasty but not quite filled enough Philly. Like if I’m spending $ 9.50 for a sandwich it better be huge. Sadly it wasn’t the case here. I mean it tasted good but not the best Philly I’ve had. Top 5 sure, but not the best. I got the Philly wit onions and provolone, like I said it was tasty but not knock your socks off delicious. And really $ 9.50 is steep for a sandwich that isn’t bursting at the seams. Idk if I’ll go back.

I guess the food was ok, the price was horrible. The young lady that took our order was not very congenial. Mediocre experience at best.

The people at Steak Your Claim take real pride in their Philadelphia roots. That said, their cheesesteak is pretty ordinary in taste and definitely steep in price.
Some of its menu items are pure comfort food, while others are a little more experimental. I liked the look of the Hammer, in particular. But I was on a cheesesteak mission, so it was a cheesesteak that I got.
I ordered my cheesesteak «Whiz wit’,» hoping to adhere to true Philly phashion. The meat was pretty good, without a trace of gristle, but could’ve been a bit juicier. The onions were nicely grilled, but I wanted more of them. The bread was decent, but I found myself wishing it was crustier and that it had absorbed more meat juice, cheese, and grease.
I guess that this place’s key flaw was blandness, probably stemming from needing more onions and salt. Sweet and hot peppers might’ve been nice, too, but not essential. I don’t blame the Whiz – I’ve had flavorful steaks with it before.
My other beef with this steak was its price point – $ 9.50 for a bland sandwich that’s maybe 8 inches long and not exactly packed with fillings. Come on, guys. I know it’s downtown, but that’s still expensive.
I wanted to like Steak Your Claim. They’re really nice and I love a good cheesesteak. While it’s not bad at all, it’s just nothing special, and I can’t justify paying top dollar for it. In another city, it might get more stars. That said, this is Portland, where better food can be found for cheaper, inside and outside of that cart pod. There are better cheesesteaks elsewhere, for that matter (Shut Up and Eat has a great one!). Plan accordingly when you’re hungry.

Best pastrami hands down. It’s thick and tender and juicy. I never knew that love could feel like this.
We shared a order of the bacon fries and split a Reuben. Daaaaaaamn son. Just go.

A cart known for cheesesteaks and pastrami. On this day, the Broad Street Bully called my name. You can specify wit’ or wit’out onions, and choice of cheese. Yup, they even got Whiz. For me, I went the traditional way, wit’ onions and Whiz.
For $ 9.50, I got a hefty amount of steak and cheese, and the onions retained a slight crunch to them. The initial appearance looks deceiving, but the roll (from Pearl Bakery) is hollowed out a bit to allow for more of the good stuff. A delicious cheesesteak, very solid.
You’ll get a pepperoncini with the cheesesteak. I shoulda asked for more peppers. Gotta eat it: pepper, cheesesteak, pepper, cheesesteak, repeat.
Now I’m excited to try that pastrami, which they make and cut in the cart. I could easily go for the Purist (pastrami and mustard on rye for $ 8.50) or go all-​out on the Reuben (pastrami, sauerkraut, and 1000 Island on rye for $ 9).
Not sure how it took me a while to finally come here, but I’m glad I did!

Among the food trailers near downtown Portland, this one stood out as one of — if not the only — Philly Cheesesteak places. I am spoiled in my hometown with an authentic Philly restaurant, so I was a little skeptical of the comparison. But I was pleasantly surprised at the softness of the bread and flavors of the meat! The cheese was more a cheese sauce, but it wasn’t anything bad. Just be sure to have lots of napkins if you order the traditional cheesesteak :-)

Only had the fries here and surprisingly impressed! My companion got the fancy option with bacon, truffle oil, parmesan cheese, and a malt vinegar aioli. The fries with hot, crunchy outside/​pillowy soft inside, and on the thinner side. The cheese was finely grated and did a great job of sticking to the fry. I could definitely taste the truffle oil and it was heavenly. Good sized chunks of bacon cooked just right. Although I’m not usually a fan of malt vinegar with my fries, the aioli was very tasty; too bad there wasn’t more of it… a little on the stingy side.

Seriously, who doesn’t love a Philly Cheese Steak? Oh you? Well, you’re wrong!
Full disclosure, there are not my go to sandwiches, but when I do have one I want it to be amazing, like sit on the sidewalk because I can’t walk anymore, amazing. But isn’t that what we want out of all of our eating experiences?
Steak Your Claim has a solid offering, I got mine with provolone (I just cannot stand whiz). A nice hollowed out loaf that is then stuffed with tender, juicy steak smothered in cheese! I prefer mine with onion, gives it a touch of sweetness to real in all that smooth creamy cheese. The husband and I also split an order of the curly fries: awesome! We love a good curly fri and these are seasoned very well and made a perfect compliment to the steak.
The staff here is super personable. Quick and friendly, they get you what you want and get it to you fast. The price is more than most food carts, but the portion is huge and the quality high, so the $ 10ish you’ll spend on a sandwich is well worth it. I highly recommend SYC, and so does the guy who ordered right before us, as he then stood there and proclaimed his love for there guys to his friends.

Steak Your Claim is a cart serving somewhat highly priced sandwiches, fries, and hot dogs (Note: the last time I complained about prices, the owner let me know that beef is simply expensive right now, so take that with a grain of salt). For $ 8.50−10.50, you can get a Philly Cheesesteak with ribeye beef and a number of additions for additional costs. Also, they offer pastrami sandwiches also with doctorings. The hot dogs are about $ 4; the sides are between $ 2.50 to $ 5.
We ended up ordering a Reuben to try the pastrami and a side of Freedom Fries ($ 4: French fries with «whiz,» which is known to our Texan readers as «queso»). We added the rib-​eye add-​on for $ 5 to try it out. It turned out to a rib-​eye rip-​off, as the rib-​eye was fairly tasteless and a meager topping no more than 3 ounces at best.
We attacked the gooey fries first – the Cheez Whiz topping was not something we were accustomed to but ended up being a bit of a guilty pleasure. The fries were cooked perfectly crisp in little shoe-​strings. It was indeed America summed up in a dish: awkwardly tasty cheese-​product over mis-​named, deep-​fried potatoes and beef.
The Reuben started off very strong. «This may be better than Kenny and Zuke’s,» we quipped. It may be – it was lean, peppery, less fatty. But as we continued, it became cloyingly salty. Not sure if that was a property of the pastrami itself or the sauerkraut or something else. But it left us thirsty. I’d personally try it once more, though, just to make sure. The marbled-​rye bread was crispy and toasted perfectly as well; it was a nice addition.
Scores:
Time: We got our order in 10 minutes. It was freshly prepared, and the help was talkative, but not to an awkward degree.
Value-​2: We struggled to get everything in under our $ 20 limit. The giant pickle we did as an add-​on wasn’t worth $ 3, but was pretty good. The rib-​eye add-​on, as mentioned, was not worth it.
Gut check at 3pm: I’m OK. I’ll be ready for an early dinner, but I’m still drinking fluids…
Sustainability-​2: While they don’t employ Go Box, they do use unlined paper containers, which are completely compostable. Beef, it must be noted, is the meat most responsible for global warming. So, I netted this out. They get a point for sourcing locally, though, which, to me, is one of the main drivers of eating at food carts: they tend to have high-​quality sourcing.
Fear Factor-​1: [in a Philly accent] Wha’, are youse afraid of a cheesesteak? [/​accent] Anyone other than vegetarians will not be afraid of this place whatsoever. It is the simplest of American delights.
Staying Power-​3: This is a tough call. They’ve been in business for 2+ years, but they’re a bit expensive, too. Rumor had it that the cheesesteak itself was a bit small for the ~$ 9 you’d spend on it. So… time will tell? Or maybe they’ll go brick-​and-​mortar?
Creativity-​2: They’ve got a great name, I’ll give them that. Meat, cheese and bread, though, deserve no credits.

Had the broad street bully with provolone it pretty disappointing, especially for 9.50. I finished and still felt hungry, the steak and cheese were fairly bland and there were little to no onions on it to add flavor. The bread was definitely the best part, but if I’m craving a Philly cheesesteak, I want something that intimidates me when I unwrap it and hits me in the face with flavor. Walk up to pioneer square if you want a bigger, cheaper, tastier cheese steak.

Just had the best Reuben I’ve had in years… maybe ever. These guys are clearly serious about their pastrami, and the rye was excellent… everything was several notches above what you might expect from a food truck. And the truck itself looks really professional-​looking, and was as clean as any on the square.

Unbelievable customer service. I was griping about my sandwich with nubbin pieces of pastrami and no sooner did I get back to the hotel, but I received a message from the owner. Today’s sandwich was not the norm and Matt made it right. He brought the fixings to our hotel AND refunded my money. Once home, I made an incredible grilled sandwich with piled high pastrami. Thank you!

This is pretty good comfort sandwich food. I got a Rocky and it stuffed me up about halfway into it. Something about eating a sandwich named Rocky though, you never ever want to give up. The sandwich eating montage was incredible, decent steak, that provolone cheese that I love, and some marinara sauce. They have two other sandwiches that sound like they would be basically the same thing, slightly altered. They also have fries which I knew ahead of time I would not be able to tackle.
The people in the pod were plenty nice, and they like the Eagles (FREEDOM MERICA WOO) so they have that going. They could probably do for some better ingredients for the price, and then I could rate it higher.
It’s not the best sandwich in the area, but it’ll do if you need about 900 calories to add to your day.

Okay. I really wanted to like this place. It’s a cool idea – sort of gourmet Philly cheesesteaks. But I don’t know, the execution failed somewhere. I ordered the hammer, which is 13.50 for the record, and was just overall disappointed. The provolone was a sticky gooey tasteless paste, the steak was way too chewy, and there was no other sauce that I could taste. Basically the whole thing glued my mouth shut and tasted like bland middle school cafeteria food.
The extra star is for the bacon, which was in thick cut strips on top and pretty good.
Overall though, I wouldn’t recommend this place. Maybe the fries are better.

Rib eye steak sammy!!!
To be honest, when it first came out, I was not impressed, as it did not have the bountiful colors and fill that I am accustomed to for a Philly.
But the flavor was WINNAH!!! The sauces, cheese, meat, etc broke da mouth (Hawaiian slang for CHEEHOO!)
Sadly my kids loved it so much, they ended up eating the majority of the sandwich
After making a round around the block to taste other offerings, we doubled back to try their pig something something fries (sorry I forgot the name, but it’s the one with the bacon and truffle oil sauce). HOLY it’s a good thing we were pretty full by then, otherwise we might have needed to order it twice and be medivaced to the nearest cardiac emergency center.
Good stuff!!!

I must have done something wrong, like ordered a sandwich. I hate being harsh, but it was quite mediocre. Seemed liked nice guys manning the joint, and I had high hopes, but I just didn’t enjoy it.
The past weekend I had a cheesesteak at Shut Up and Eat in east Portland and maybe I should have waited longer after that excellent one.
Sorry, guys. The service was good and I appreciate the effort, but it just wasn’t very good.

Treasure of the Sierra Rib Eye
Up into the forbidding majesty of the great Rib Eye range, go men
Their pasts buried in east coast secrecy; their futures hidden in the culinary adventure
Men drawn together in their search for bread and meat
Broad Street Bully, soldier of fortune
Fat Greek, the old timer
Purist, the youngster and
Reuben, the intruder
These are the men who try to tap the Treasure of the Sierra Rib Eye
Men with spatulas in their hands, and muscles in their arms
But men with Beast Mode in their hearts
Ready to break their backs, to sell their Freedom and their Gold Rush
In a Mexican Standoff against the forces of fast food
Only to find their greatest ally is you Steak Your Claim