The line outside the Philly Street Food Festival at Xfinity Live! wrapped around most of a city block on a cold Saturday evening, taking just under 30 minutes to enter.

More than 40 food stands and trucks spread across the expansive Xfinity Live! lot for the third annual festival, organized by Taste of Your Town. Billy Penn sent two reporters to sample the offerings.

Before choosing from the foods, visitors had to decide whether they wanted to pay for general admission or splurge on a VIP ticket. A VIP ticket got you a blue bracelet and an apron filled with 20 food vouchers and four free drink vouchers. With a general admission ticket, only one free drink was included. Many food items cost five vouchers. By doing a little bargain hunting, we were able to visit five establishments each. So here we go…

Geno Steaks

The first must-have was a cheesesteak. Geno’s Steaks served the classic sandwich to festival attendees from their Xfinity Live! location. When ordering, half or full sandwiches were offered. Strips of steak and onions sizzled on the grill as customers waited for their orders. The cheese was then spread on Italian buns before the rest of the contents were packed inside. Notably, no one was asked the famous cheesesteak question: “with or without spirit?” – and so onions were present in some sandwiches, but not in others. Our sampled cheesesteak came “without.” Geno’s is a pillar of Philadelphia’s culinary history, so it seemed criminal not to try it. The extra-greasy, slathered sandwich was pure Philly — and, honestly, neither is a journalist’s favorite.