May 06, 2024
Michaela Althouse/PhillyVoice
Pat's King of Steaks reopens Wednesday after several months of renovations. With its return, the steak shop at Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue in South Philly, is adding breakfast sandwiches and chicken cheesesteaks to its menu.
The famous origin story of Pat's King of Steaks involves founder Pat Olivieri at a hot dog stand deciding to make himself a sandwich with chopped meat and customers asking for that instead of hot dogs. There's a similar story behind the birth of the cheesesteak shop's new breakfast sandwiches.
"We make them for ourselves," said owner Frank Olivieri, the founder's great-nephew. "There's been a lot of times when people come up and they see us making a sandwich and we make it for them, and that's basically how it all started."
The South Philly 24-hour cheesesteak shop closed earlier this year, operating for months out of a 22-foot, custom food truck. After four months, it's finally ready to reopen Wednesday with breakfast options and a chicken cheesesteak. The new menu items will be offered for the first time in Pat's almost 100 years in business, with Olivieri saying it was just a move to keep evolving with food trends.
From 6 a.m. to 11 a.m., customers can grab an egg and cheese sandwich with bacon, pork roll, sausage or steak, served up on an Aversa's Bakery roll. Sandwiches are available "wit or wit-out" onions and the option to add a hash brown. Pat's is also adding the new Widowmaker sandwich: egg, cheese, bacon, pork roll, sausage and hash browns altogether, plus optional onions.
Pat's Widowmaker sandwich includes egg, cheese, bacon, pork roll, sausage, hash browns and onions.
Renovations started about two years ago, though most of the changes won't be noticed by the public. The restaurant got a new roof, moved the office back to its original location on the second floor and added brick detailing on the 9th Street side to replicate the building's original appearance.
Since closing in January, Pat's has been operating out of a 24-hour food truck parked nearby on Passyunk Avenue. Olivieri said sales dropped dramatically during the closure, and he's eager to get the regular takeout windows reopened.
"The scariest part was the front closing," Olivieri said. "We didn't close when Pat passed away, so the store has never been closed before other than for a holiday. I was just hoping people didn't have a mindset where they didn't want to eat out of a food truck because they're used to coming here."
Pat's has been serving its cheesesteaks out of a 22-foot food truck (above) since January.
Following the reopening, the truck will be available for private events such as weddings and tailgates. Later this summer, it will be at Canadian Ambassador David Cohen's Fouth of July party. Olivieri is also thinking about adding some smaller trucks for more intimate events.
"I can't reinvent the cheesesteak, because it's invented, it's perfect, it's balanced," Olivieri said. "But I can reinvent how you get the sandwich."
Pat's also ships its cheesesteaks nationally through Goldbelly.
