What Are These So-Called ‘Cheese’ Fries?

PW’s Alli Katz noticed the strange culinary taste of a New York Times reporter, who is apparently mystified by these “pizza pies” as well:

Question to our Keystone State readers: What is it with this Pennsylvania fetish for bizarre world food combinations? In Johnstown, this New Yorker encountered the artery-clogging prospect of cheese-fries.

Cheese fries! I’m about the pickiest eater there is (natch) and even I don’t think cheese fries are all that strange of a food. Does the NYT’s Michael Powell know that some people eat cow tongue?

Update: Wait a sec. “And in Philadelphia, my college son Nick tells me they serve up a sandwich called the Roethlisberger, named after the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback[.]” That doesn’t make any sense. Where do they serve the Roethlisberger in Philadelphia?

NYT Reporter Mystified By Cheese Fries [Independence Brawl]