Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce was recently asked on a football podcast to share his favorite cheesesteak spot in the city where he — a seven-time Pro Bowl player — spent all 13 of his NFL seasons.
While he dropped names of current Philadelphia hot spots like Dalessandro's and Angelo's, Kelsey also said that Tony Luke's was the first place he went to Cheesesteak Due to its proximity to the stadium where the Eagles play.
“This is the thing I went to growing up and it was great,” Kelsey said.
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Although Tony Luke's exact location is no longer there, Eagles fans can still enjoy the restaurant's cheesesteaks from Lincoln Financial Field when Philadelphia hosts the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
The company said that Tony Luke's Restaurant has been running a grandstand inside the stadium since its opening in 2003.
Former Philadelphia Eagles player Jason Kelce, pictured above, says he first tried a cheesesteak at Tony Luke's. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images; Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Praised by Philadelphia Magazine as serving “the best cheesesteaks” in the city, Tony Luke's opened its first location in South Philadelphia in 1992. At the time, cheesesteaks weren't even on the menu.
“We sold roast beef and roast pork and… Chicken cutlets “Kind of an Italian specialty,” Tony Lucidonio Jr. told Fox News Digital. “That's all we did.”
It only lasted about six months, said Lucidonio, known in the City of Brotherly Love as Tony Luke Jr. “Word of mouth is what really made us,” he said.
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Before long, “Luke had this crazy idea of doing these terrible commercials that had nothing to do with food.”
“They were stupid. They were stupid. They were kind of funny,” he added.
“And it wasn't a typical restaurant or deli.” But the commercials got people talking.
Eagles are as ingrained in Philadelphia as the city's signature sandwich.
The original Tony Luke's restaurant that Kelsey frequented years ago was renamed after Luke Jr. separated from his father and brother amid a franchise dispute.
Today, Luke Jr. has New concessions at Philadelphia International Airport and in Las Vegas and other cities mostly throughout the Northeast. There are up to 22 Tony Luke's franchises in Bahrain.
Like the cheesesteak, the Eagles are as ingrained in Philadelphia as the city Signature sandwich.
Tony Luke's original location, pictured above, has a new name, but there are other locations mostly in the northeast and in Bahrain. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Luke himself has been a lifelong Eagles fan – his enthusiasm was demonstrated in the 2006 biographical sports film “Invincible.”
“My character in Invincible was a huge Eagles fan,” Luke said of his cape-wearing character.
Luke is also the former host of an Eagles fan show on TV in Philadelphia.
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Although the cheesesteak was invented in Philadelphia, it is not the city's “perfect sandwich,” Locke said.
“It's roast pork,” he said.
The cheesesteak has since become a well-known sandwich across the country, often associated with its birthplace. But the ingredients have evolved from one place to another.
Tony Luke's cheesesteaks come with a variety of options, but pepper isn't one of them. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Then someone decided to put pepper on a cheesesteak,” Luke said.
“No one in Philadelphia puts pepper on a cheesesteak.”
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A true cheesesteak is meat, bread, cheese, onions or no onions, Luke said. That's it.
One of the biggest differences between Tony Luke and others Cheesesteak restaurants This is how cheese is cooked. (Watch the video at the top of this article.)
“No one in Philadelphia puts pepper on a cheesesteak.”
“Once the steak is cooked and you put the cheese on top, you're now overcooking the steak waiting for the cheese to lift,” Luke said.
“So, what we do is once the steak is done, we put the cheese on top of it and then flip it over so the cheese is at the bottom of the grill.”
Tony Luke's steak is drizzled with melted cheese throughout the entire sandwich. (Tony Luke)
He added: “What's happening now is that the cheese is melting, but it's not making the steak continue to cook. Now the cheese is melting all over the steak, not just on top of the steak.”
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In Luke's opinion, the only meat that should be used to make a cheesesteak is prime rib. It has the most flavor – and it's also the fattest.
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“Cheesesteak is not, never has been, and never will be a healthy alternative food,” he said.
