Cheap & Easy Eats:

Local’s Backyard Cheese Steak

‘What Philly DOESN’T Have!’

By Chef David Menges

     While living in Key West, Florida, David Menges met a saucy Jamaican lady called Mamma Lou, and the rest, he says, is  history.  “She gave me a list of basic ingredients for her Jamaican Jerk sauce, but only the names of four of the herbs, or spices, that were her secret ingredients. She said she couldn’t remember the exact amount of the spices, but she thought there was ‘more of this one, than that one.’ After about six months of trying different combinations of the ingredients, I figured I had something that Mamma Lou oughtta try. She tasted it and went ballistic,” recalls the Chef. “She said, ‘This is better than my Mamma make. Mon …you got it’!”

     What he’s got is ambition to match his personality. His Jamaican Jerk sauce and other trademark flavored barbecue sauces are now available at his restaurants and online at www.localsbackyard.net. Menges and his partner, Vicki Wakefield (below), started Local's Backyard Gourmet Grille & Sauce Emporium in Key West, Florida, after one of the guests at their frequent backyard barbecues suggested that they open a restaurant. From Key West, they went to San Diego and opened a Local's Backyard in a small mountain-top hamlet called Julian. They now live in Las Vegas and have their sights set on a resort in the Redwood-covered mountains of Northern California.

     “I like to be around happy people, and my food makes people happy,” says David, with a wide grin. He is developing a cooking show for TV, and a video cookbook is in the works. His recipe for Backyard Cheese Steak is guaranteed to spice up your summer.

—The Editors

Ingredients

Half a pound of good roast beef, shredded or stripped

Butter

Granulated garlic

Worcestershire Sauce

Local’s Backyard Key Lime Honey/Mustard Sauce, or reasonable facsimile

Mozzarella Cheese

Mild Cheddar Cheese

1 each Green, Yellow and Red Bell Peppers

1 Purple Onion

Mushrooms

Buns

Preparation

In Philadelphia, you can get a “famous” Philly Cheese Steak, and they’re not bad. However, Local’s Cheese Steak is MUCH better. Start with about a half pound of good roast beef, shredded or stripped, and begin heating it in a frying pan (better yet, on a griddle, if you have one) with a little butter. While heating the beef, add a light sprinkle or two of granulated garlic, a couple of dashes of Worcestershire Sauce, and about 1/4 teaspoon of Local’s Backyard Key Lime Honey/Mustard Sauce. If you don’t have Local’s Backyard, you can use another type of “honey-mustard,” but it won’t be the same.

Stir and fluff with a fork or a spatula. On top of the meat, pile on a small handful of Mozzarella Cheese and a slice of Mild Cheddar, with a little more Mozzarella on top, and cover the pan. Remove from heat and allow the cheese to melt. While the cheese is melting, melt a teaspoon of butter in a sauté pan and sauté some diced green, red and yellow bell peppers and some purple onion. We use fresh mushrooms, also. Sauté the peppers and onion in the butter for about four minutes, tossing periodically so as not to burn them. You want them just limp and still crispy. Top a toasted bun with the meat and cheese, dress it up with some Key Lime Honey/Mustard (it’s great with our Southwestern Apple BBQ Sauce, too—but I don’t want to sound like a commercial), pour on the peppers and onions, and see what Philly DOESN’T have!