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(CNBNews)--The South Jersey Times newspaper has been conducting a contest to find the best cheesteaks in South Jersey.  Their approach is to use a reader poll to identify the 2 best sandwiches in 5 regions, and then visit each location for the final showdown.

Two very local restaraunts are in the finals representing the Camden/Burlington County region.

• Gaetano's in Brooklawn, NJ
• Carmen's Deli in Bellmawr, NJ

Carmen's Deli, which originally established its reputation with amazing hoagies, has come on strong in the Cheesesteak category since adding them years ago (sometime after I was a kid, but not too recently!).    Their website mentions 25 overall awards, but one of the most notable awards was when the Food Network's Aaron McCargo (Big Daddy's House) appeared on one of their "Best things I ever ate"  segments and chose Bellmawr's Carmen's Deli cheesesteaks as the best thing between bread.

Check out Aaron's video of his Carmen's Visit a few years ago, where he samples a Carmen's Deli Cheesesteak.

 

Another good read, blog "It's Not Even Noon Somewhere" wrote a great post about Carmen's Cheesesteaks.

Back to the SJ Times Cheesesteak Showdown... it's a fun series of articles put together by South Jersey Times (Jessica Beym).  The finalist results article is here, and see all of the Food Showdown articles here.

These two great cheeseteak places are both located on Browning Road just a few miles apart, and it's probably a good thing that located between them on the same road are two national based fitness gyms, Planet Fitness Brooklawn, and RetroFitness in Bellmawr.   We're going to need to work off those extra pounds before summer really kicks in!

Unfortunately, I am gluten-free and have to pass on these delicious sandwiches, but I have my own favorite Gluten Free places and sandwiches...   so maybe I'll do my own best GF food search.  :-)

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