It Turns Out That Not Everybody Is a Fan of Angelo’s Pizzeria in South Philadelphia
Plus, a Main Line fracas over a Philly bagel shop.
The line outside South Philadelphia’s Angelo’s Pizzeria, where people wait in line for hours for cheesesteaks (photo by Gene Smirnov)
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It Turns Out Not Everybody Is a Fan of Angelo’s in South Philly
In the April issue of Philly Mag, as part of our sure-to-be-award-winning Cheesesteak 2.0 feature, my fabulous colleague Emily Goulet penned this piece about the subculture that is the line at Angelo’s, aka the cheesesteak and pizza shop that has people waiting for two hours to get fed, a phenomenon I shall never understand let alone participate in. Soon after we published that story, we started hearing from readers who live in the Angelo’s neighborhood, saying they weren’t too happy with the ongoings at Angelo’s.
“You have all these ‘influencers’ and all these out-of-towners who don’t care about the neighborhood crowding the sidewalks, leaving their trash everywhere, being rude when you ask them politely to move off of your stoop so you can get in your front door,” one such neighbor told me.
It’s only escalated since then, with community members trying to figure out what to actually, you know, do about the problem. And now The Inquirer, 6ABC, and NBC Philadelphia just ran stories about it all, with neighbors referring to the line at Angelo’s as a “nightmare” and “unbearable.”
Perhaps the neighborhood will get some relief thanks to Joey Merlino. I hear that lines at his new South Philly cheesesteak joint, Skinny Joey’s, have also hit two hours. And knowing Merlino, if you go down there, you better not eff with the neighbors!
Meanwhile, in Lower Merion
A bagel shop on the border of Philadelphia and Lower Merion (honestly, it’s the best bagel shop around and the one I visit weekly) finds itself in the middle of some major turmoil in Lower Merion over accusations of antisemitism. Sorry, folks, but I’m still eating at Chick-fil-A and getting packages delivered from Amazon.
Meanwhile, in Trumpland
The Trump administration has transported a Venezuelan man who was working in Philadelphia to Texas, likely for deportation, even though a federal judge said not to do that. Because why would you listen to a federal judge, right? I was just listening to a show on NPR the other day — I think it was Fresh Air — where the guest said outright that once you have a president who is outright doing what federal judges (or the Supreme Court) tell him not to do, you’ve officially crossed the dictatorship threshold.
By the Numbers
2: Years it’s been since the city did a massive overhaul of Washington Avenue. And it sounds like it’s working.
19: Age of the Jersey guy charged with starting the huge wildfire. I’m sure his parents will say he just made a bad choice.
5/21: Premiere date of the latest Gordon Ramsay series, which sounds like it might have duped this Delco restaurant into participating.
20: Years that this South Philly guy has been donning false eyelashes and big heels for your pleasure.
Local Talent
Did you know that Philadelphia helped launched the vegan and vegetarian movement in the United States? Neither did I. Local author Vance Lehmkuhl tells us all about it in his aptly named new book, Revolutionary Peace: How Philadelphia Launched the U.S. Vegetarian and Vegan Movement. There’s a release party on Friday night. I’m thinking you shouldn’t expect cheesesteak egg rolls to be among the hors d’oeuvres.
Speaking of food and parties, if you loved this Pat’s Steaks-hating guy in the latest season of Hell’s Kitchen, you can drop $155 to attend his dinner tomorrow night in Northeast Philly.
