Ask anyone in Philly or beyond who they think makes the best cheesesteak and pizza in America and the name on everyone’s lips is the same. Angelo’s. So on a recent trip to Philly during that same Annual TMA Conference I mentioned last week, I had a grand plan to score more of Philly’s finest foods. Knowing the take-out only line is always insane and begins way before the doors fly open at eleven sharp, I started calling Angelo’s at 10:59am. And kept calling. And calling. Undeterred, I got a busy signal the first twenty-six times I tried. Ya, you read that right. Twenty friggin six calls!
But on lucky call number twenty-seven I got through! A lovely female voice answered the phone and took my order of a Cheese Pie and two Cheesesteaks with Cooper Sharp, one with onions and one without. We were in business!
I hadn’t exactly broken the plan to my lunch guests but figured for food this good, they’d be up for the adventure. So we met in the lobby of their hotel and boarded a gigantic Uber bound for Angelo’s and I explained on the way that we were picking up the order and driving straight back to my hotel lobby to enjoy the spoils of my own personal telethon. They were good sports about it and we chatted for the 15 minute ride over to 9th Street. While on the way, my phone pinged. Our order was ready. Perfect timing! (I just love it when a plan comes together.)
When our embarrassingly gigantic black Suburban with the dark windows rolled up to the corner, a massive crowd was gathered out front. Feeling a tad self-conscious, I emerged, sunglasses on to hide my smug brilliance that I knew to order ahead. I skipped the crazy line entirely, hopped up to the counter and offered my name. Our takeout was indeed ready. They handed over a huge pizza box and a heavy brown bag stuffed with our two sandos. I paid in cash because that’s all they take and gratefully stuffed a $10 spot into the tip jar.
Carefully balancing the takeout, I headed back out to our driver. But just as I exited the restaurant, a friendly face appeared in the hungry crowd. And I knew him! It was a pal from the same conference waiting on his order. And the biggest coincidence was that Matt who was waiting outside amongst the hungry revelers was a great friend of Marc who was sitting patiently in the blacked out windowed car from which I emerged. So Matt walked me over and tapped the glass. It was like a reunion scene out of a movie! Hilarious.
We hightailed it back to my hotel and set up shop in the lobby, scoring drinks from the mini market and making quite a spread for ourselves at a table in the bar area. What a treat! We popped open the pizza box first and the smell alone was outrageous. The pie was perfectly done sporting Angelo’s iconic charred undercarriage, fresh basil and a great pull on the mozz cheese. Sensational! And that crispy crust. Wowza.
The overstuffed Cheesesteak was enormous and two of us could barely finish one! The meat was piping hot, tender, perfectly cooked and that Cooper Sharp was incredible smothered and oozing from every corner of the housemade hero bread. It was easily a ten napkin extravaganza. The whole experience was Angelo’s overload in the best possible way.
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