Cheesesteak Donut Burger. (Credit: Joshua Alvarez)
Everybody knows that to be from Philadelphia is to have a glint of madness in the eyes, a smile relishing the shock and horror of the sensitive and the mollycoddled when confronted with the sight of a bulbous, half-naked Eagles fan stuffing his face with a cheesesteak sandwich in the middle of a blizzard. King George really did not have a clue about who he was dealing with in 1776.
Seems exaggerated, you say? Then explain the success of Philadelphia’s six-year-old PYT Burger. In this age of calorie-counting health freaks PYT stands out like a Maurizio Cattelan statue with menu items like the Firebird Chicken Sriracha (a chili-and-sriracha-marinated chicken patty, pepper jack, thin cut onion rings, ranch, lettuce and tomato) or the “Doh! Nut” (beef patty, American cheese and chocolate-covered bacon on a glazed donut bun). PYT made national headlines in 2013 with the creation of an abomination, a burger that, it’s rumored, the Vatican may have considered condemning as the Eighth Deadly Sin: the Deep-Fried Twinkie Burger.