In Case You Missed It...
/Last month, Center City Business hosted another successful Lunch with the City's Leaders event. This time with a twist. Dubbed Lunch WHIZ the City's Leaders, the special event featured a panel of some of Philadelphia's beloved classic and rising cheesesteak makers and business owners. While celebrating the city's most iconic sandwich, they shared candid insights into the challenges, opportunities, and passion behind running these businesses.
Special thanks to our panel:
John Bucci, Owner, John's Roast Pork
Kevin Dolce, Owner, Taste Cheesesteak Bar and Hi-Def Hospitality
Nish Patel, Owner, Del Rossi's Cheesesteak & Pizza Co.
Ken Silver, President, Jim's South St.
Pidor Yang, Owner, Sahbyy Food LLC
Moderated by Colin Comstock, Owner and Executive Producer, Astrobus Media and Director and Host, Cheesesteak City
If you missed the event or just want to revisit the conversation, here are two ways to get more cheesesteak: Read Meir Rinde's feature article in Billy Penn (below), and watch the full video produced by Colin Comstock—creator of Cheesesteak City.
Top Philly cheesesteak-makers balance tradition and reinvention
by Meir Rinde, Billy Penn
“You learn that you’re more than just a cheesesteak shop. You’re part of people’s history and part of people’s expectations,” Ken Silver said.
After John Bucci Jr. took over his family’s roast pork shack in South Philly in the late 1980s, one of the changes he made was to revamp their rarely-ordered cheesesteak.
“My dad, God love him, God rest his soul, he made the worst cheesesteak,” Bucci recalled. “It was like two, four ounces of frozen meat. He would put it on the grill. He would cook it for a little bit. Put two slices of cheese, and he would put it on a roll. And it was only two and a quarter.”
At a panel discussion of Philadelphia cheesesteak-makers in Center City on Thursday, he described the new sandwich he came up with: 12 ounces of fresh-cut meat, six or seven slices of cheese, on a fresh roll — and sold for $6.75, triple the old price.
His father “hit the roof,” Bucci said. “Like, the only bigger argument we had was when we started selling bottled water. He was like, ‘Why would you buy bottled water? It comes out of the spigot, you know.’”