Olde City Cheesesteaks & Brew Is Bringing A Taste Of Philly Into New York City

According to owner Evan Stein, Olde City Cheesesteaks & Brew is bringing a home-town taste of Philadelphia into its larger rival New York City. Olde City functions as a neighborhood sports bar, but the food is centered around Philly. In fact, its name Olde City derives from a historic and arts district in Philadelphia.

Olde City has two outposts in New York City: one in Hell’s Kitchen and the other in the NoMad district. And a third outpost is set to debut in May in Chelsea on Eighth Avenue near the Joyce Theater.

And Stein isn’t content to stop at three. He’s looking for the right location on the Upper East Side for his fourth Manhattan sports bar. And he’d love to return to Philly to open an outlet near the University of Pennsylvania campus.

A sports bar Olde City Cheesesteaks & Brew with Philly-inspired food is winning over New Yorkers, opening its third location and aiming to expand beyond that number.

The nature of Olde City is “to take a South Philly-inspired menu with incredible food and pair it with a bar with 20 beers on tap,” Stein noted. And one of its best sellers is Yuengling, the noted Pottsville,Pa.-based beer, along with five to eight other Pennsylvania drafts.

What makes its menu and food truly Philly? Stein rattles off a host of examples including: bread shipped in three times a week from Le Bus Bakery in Philly (which comes pre-baked and prepared in its ovens); pretzels from the Philly Pretzel Factory; Cooper Sharp American cheese, a Philly staple, and roast pork with broccoli rabe.

The cheesesteak is the piece de resistance because it contains razor-thin cut streak, which is grilled and then topped with either Cheese-Whiz, provolone or American, sauteed with friend onions.

Stein admits that dining on cheesesteaks several times a week won’t be beneficial to your cholesterol level or all-around health, but “most people come in once a month or so,” so it won’t be too damaging.

Stein says it attracts a host of Philly expats but “you’ll see professionals, families, construction workers,” a mélange of people. But during football season, he admits, that most New Yorkers, especially those who root for the Giants and Jets, stay away on Sunday’s “because we are jam-packed with Eagles fans.”

And most nights he said Olde City will beam Yankee, Mets games or NY Rangers games, and half the bar is filled with Yankee fans and the rest are Mets fans or Rangers supporters, and Philly has no bearing on the evening. Except when they’re playing the Mets.

New Yorkers are attracted to good food, he suggested, no matter where it emanates from. “And cheesesteaks, when they’re done right, are incredible,” he pointed out.

Stein is 51-years-old, was raised in Newtown Square, a suburb of Philadelphia, graduated from Lehigh University in Easton, Pa and then gravitated to New York City where he worked as a broker for Merrill-Lynch and Bloomberg and then Doubleclick, one of the first online advertisers.

He started an internet company Wise-Ads, which he eventually sold to a publicly-traded company About.com in an all-stock deal. And that gave him the capital to launch his passion, a cheesesteak eatery.

He then cold-called Tony Luke, who operates, a well-known eponymous cheesesteak shop in Philly, which led to Stein’s opening Tony Luke’s in 2005 on 9^th Avenue and 42^nd Street near the Manhattan Plaza housing complex. It however only lasted a year.

“The cost of having the product delivered directly from Tony Luke’s at that time became far too expensive,” he acknowledged.

Stein founded another New York City chain devoted to Philly food, Shorty’s in 2006, but had a falling out with his partners, and shed ownership in 2019. It once had four outposts, but now has three outlets in New York City.

Does Olde City therefore butt heads with Shorty’s and consider them an arch rival? Stein replied, yes, there is competition between them but “only for delivery as they are take-out and delivery only.”

He was able to attract a number of angel investors, mostly with Philly connections, that helped him open Olde City. Stein declined to name who they were specifically but said “they are major players in the investment, sports and entertainment worlds.” However, he has raised enough capital to open three locations and if he expands will need to attract more funding.

In the future, he expects mounting up to seven or eight locations in Manhattan, and then look to expand around the country.

Asked the three keys to its future success, he replies: #1) Consistency with the product and food, #2) Real-estate or choosing the right locations, #3) Culture, creating a hospitable environment where bartenders get to know your name.

Stein has lived for 30 years in the New York City area, so what is he, a New Yorker or Philadelphian? “I’m a New Yorker,” he replied, “with a love for my hometown city so much that I decided to devote my entire life and career to showing what Philly has to offer,” he said.