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Jul 20, 2023

Main Street Grill in Idaho created a 700

There’s a new record for the world’s longest cheesesteak — and it belongs to a diner in Idaho. Yes, Idaho. The Main Street Grill in Lewiston, Idaho, claimed the unofficial title on August 26 when they

There’s a new record for the world’s longest cheesesteak — and it belongs to a diner in Idaho.

Yes, Idaho.

The Main Street Grill in Lewiston, Idaho, claimed the unofficial title on August 26 when they built a behemoth 722.8 foot long cheesesteak as part of the picturesque valley town’s summer festival celebration.

“We wanted to do something that was inspirational for our valley,” said Frank Webster, the executive chef of Happy Day Restaurants, the corporation that owns the Main Street Grill. The Idaho effort bested the previous record held by a place called the Steak Thyme Bar & Grill in Miamisburg, Ohio — yes, Ohio — which created a 650.3 foot long cheesesteak in May to celebrate a year in business. (They made it in the restaurant’s parking lot.)

Breathe. Actual Philadelphians have held the record in the past.

In 2021, more than a dozen Philly chefs and restaurants collaborated to build a 510-foot cheesesteak that stretched three blocks through the Italian Market. That combined effort was led by French chef Rene Kobeitri, owner of Rim Cafe at Ninth and Federal, as part of his own birthday celebration. That enormous cheesesteak included offerings from restaurants including South Philly Barbacoa, Yakitori Boy, and the now closed Greek restaurant, Koukouzeli. (There was some debate if the finished product actually counted as “one” sandwich.)

“I make that one just for fun,” said Kobeitri on Tuesday. “I don’t care about Guinness. I am my own Guinness.”

In 2015, a 480-foot steak created by Steve’s Prince of Steaks inaugural Philadelphia Cheesesteak Festival at Lincoln Financial Field was billed as the world’s largest.

“Let’s put it this way, Philly is the town for cheesesteaks,” said Steve Steven Iliescu, owner of Steve’s Prince of Steaks, when told of the new record.

Although both the Idaho and Ohio restaurants claimed to be vying for the Guinness World Record for longest cheesesteak, they may have only won bragging rights.

That’s because Guinness World Records does not monitor a record title for “largest cheesesteak,” said Kylie Galloway, a Guinness spokesperson. The most similar record, she said, is “longest torpedo (submarine) sandwich.” That record has been held for 44 years by chefs in Peekskill, New York who built a 1058 foot long sandwich on one continuous loaf of bread in 1979.

Webster, who lives in Idaho but does have Jersey ties, said he is currently trying to register the record with Guinness.

“There are so many things you have to do in order to capture a record,” Webster said. “We had to fill out paperwork and had to videotape actually making the product from start to finish.”

It may seem like heresy that a Idaho town of about 35,000, some 2,500 miles away from Pat’s and Geno’s, could hold any record having to do with Philly cheesesteaks. After all, the Main Street Grill makes their top-selling cheesesteaks with shredded rib eye, but also swiss cheese and mayo, Webster said. (For the record winner, they used a special Monterey Jack cheese sauce to better keep the sandwIch hot.)

» READ MORE: How to order a Philly cheesesteak, the right way

Webster, whose family is originally from Absecon, N.J., said his cheesesteak was made with a pride that Philadelphians could respect. By selling 6-inch portions of the 700-footer, the restaurant, which opened in 1988, raised over $10,000 for their local Boys and Girls club, he said. More than anything the valley town of Lewiston, which is named for Meriwether Lewis of Lewis and Clark, and tucked along the banks of the Snake River, needed something to be proud of, Webster said.

“We don’t have much here — we’re a small community,” he said. “Everybody loves a Philly cheesesteak.”