
Photo by Jason Varney
Photos by Jason Varney
It all started with a hot dog.
I’m sitting with Frankie Olivieri Jr. outside his restaurant, Pat’s King of Steaks, a South Philadelphia institution that pumps out the city’s famously messy sandwich 24 hours a day. It’s 10 a.m. and the cherry-red picnic tables are mostly empty; I’m here during the lull between workers coming off the night shift and the crush of afternoon tour buses that precedes late-night revelers.
The cheesesteak I smell frying is nearly the same as the original born here 85 years ago: An Italian hoagie roll packed with thinly sliced rib eye and Spanish onions, both sautéed on a flat-top grill, sometimes with peppers and mushrooms. Cheese, whether you opt for provolone or the iconic Cheez Whiz—just “Whiz” in local parlance—holds the whole thing together.
But ask anyone what really makes a cheesesteak and they’ll tell you it’s the roll. A descendant of an old-world Italian bread, the chewy, slightly crusty hoagie roll (Olivieri swears by New Jersey–based Aversa’s Bakery) is the perfect vehicle for dripping meat.
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Only Pat’s can claim to be the original. The cheesesteak, Olivieri tells me, was invented in 1930 on this very corner by his grandfather Harry and his great-uncle Pat Olivieri. The duo worked as hot dog vendors in an open-air Italian market, and when times were good they would buy beef and fry it up with onions for their lunch. One day, a taxi driver asked if he could buy the sandwich instead of a hot dog. Pat offered to split it. The driver, smitten, advised the pair to sell them.
It wasn’t until World War II, however, that the cheesesteak became a Philly emblem. A true showman, Pat started a rumor in the days of WWII rationing that his sandwiches contained horse meat, then, in mock outrage, offered a $10,000 reward for someone to prove it. Business boomed and competitors followed.
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