Rather, it was breakfast: there would be a line 20 people long, but you never had to give your order if you were a regular. What astounded me was not the quality of the steaks and hoagies (they were okay, nothing special but competent). George held out for the bucks and went into the real estate business at last report, he had retired to his native Greece. The owner, George, had just bought the building when Rouse announced plans to top Billy Penn's chapeau. in 1979 I began frequenting Steak City, a steak and hoagie and breakfast luncheonette on 17th, roughly where the entrance to the Westin now stands at Liberty Place. One history of the Hoagie attributies the name to the evolution of the term "Hoggie." Supposedly how the wives of the Hog's Island shipbuilders made them for their husbands (called Hoggies) to haul to work. Hollowed out round loaves of Italian bread and filled them with a chopped up and tossed together antipasto of haogie fixin's. Hog Island Hoagies - only lasted a year or so, but took a historical approah to hoagies. A piano in the window, at the keys an attorney playing for his lunch. His wife, Anita, with a personality the opposite of Charlie's, making the sandwiches. Taylor's Country Store - three funky stories of hodge podge ruled over by gruff but loveable Charlie Taylor - akin to the soup Nazi when you were ordering, but a solid friend once you hacked your way through his grouchy exterior. Business had severely died off with the opening of the food court at Libery Place and he couldn't afford home care.Ĥ. His father was in the corner of the kitchen, separated by a folding screen, in a hospital bed connected to Oxygen. Charlie invited me back into the kitchen to meet his father. It was here I encountered one of the strangest restaurant sights ever. Charlie had dreams of turning the floor above him into a Romanian restaurant but could never make it happen. Usually left the place full of meatballs and ate my hoagie later. Heaping plates of free meatballs on the counter. Packing the orders and throwing in some extra baby hershey bars if he liked you. Charlie, always smiling and knowing most every customer by name. Charlie's Waterwheel - seven or eight steps down, on the 1600 block of Sansom. Bought by a corporation who didn't understand what made Levis' special.ģ. Along with hot dogs, famous for its Champ Cherry soda and fish cakes smashed on top of hot dogs. Featured the oldest working soda fountain. Levis' - an old time hot dog emporium on 6th, just off of South. And the carrot cake, still available from Frog Commissary caterers.Ģ. Assertive coffee - a blend of Columbian and french roast. Fresh squeezed orange, grapefruit and other juices. Custom made omelets whipped up at a special bar in the dining area. The Commissary - in its orginal configuration. Philadelphia restaurants long gone and greatly missed.ġ. It's a common discussion across the dinner table.
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