Heading to Philly? A stop at Tony Luke’s for a cheese steak and fries is just the thing you need.
Who goes to Philadelphia, the “cheese steak capital of the world,” and orders a cheese steak with roast pork and broccoli rabe, instead of the steak, yellow cheese, and caramelized onions legit version that everyone covets?
… meekly raising my hand ….
That would be me.
Partly because I was trying to be virtuous. And a friend raved about it. And the kids aren’t fans of broccoli rabe, so when it’s presented as an option, I’m all …. GIMME.
Which is exactly how I found myself sitting in my car on East Oregon Avenue in Philadelphia, underneath an overpass, parked in front of Tony Luke’s, and delving into a little dashboard dining.
Delicious in the most ridiculous sense.
This was the kick-off to a Girls Weekend in Philadelphia back in August. In that, it was our first stop. Because we pretty much planned to eat our way from one end of the city to the other.
And I think we did.
The restaurant is a blink-and-you-miss-it type place.
In fact, it was so non-descript, it wasn’t until I was standing in front of a poster inside that I realized it was owned by Tony Luke, Jr., one of the guys on Frankenfood, a show on Spike TV. And then I quickly texted Nick to tell him where I was, because it’s a show we all watch together.
And then I, of course, bought him a t-shirt because I felt bad he wasn’t there to experience the moment with me.
#momguilt
Opened in 1992, the place is small, with a handful of tables inside and a long counter to order from. There is an adjacent parking lot, as well as on-street parking. They actually didn’t sell cheese steaks when they originally opened, but added them about six months in, based on customer demand. Now they have 22 locations, as far reaching as Bahrain, and even have a few of their menu items available to be shipped frozen straight to your door.
…
