No joke! Cheesesteak shop owners thought Ed Sheeran’s visit was prank

By JASMINE PAYOUTE, CBS NEWS PHILADELPHIA STAFF

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — No joke! Owners of Philip’s Steaks in South Philadelphia thought a visit from Ed Sheeran was a phone prank.

CBS News Philadelphia reporter Jasmine Payoute stopped by Philip’s on West Passyunk Avenue to talk to the owners about the superstar’s visit.

“So earlier in the week we received a phone call from Ed Sheeran’s team, stating that he was going to come down, he was playing at the Linc and he wanted to come and possibly perform and make some steaks,” Philip’s co-owner Joseph Baldino said. “We were blown away by it, actually thought it was a practical joke, low and behold they show up about an hour before he arrives, 2 o’clock or so, he posted for everyone to come to Philip’s Steaks. Within 30, 40 minutes we might have had 1,000 people out here, line stretched for blocks it was absolutely fantastic.”

“Ed was a great guy, he was signing autographs, people brought their own instruments, guitars, he was signing everything. Very down to Earth, wonderful guy,” Joseph said. “It was unbelievable, I had said before it’s surreal, a situation like this I don’t think it even happens once in a lifetime, so for me and my brother Philip being a homegrown family-owned and operated business we couldn’t ask for anything more. It’s unbelievable. I can’t put it into words.”

Joseph says his mother was the foundation of Philip’s Steaks. She passed away from breast cancer four years ago.

“Being from a South Philadelphia Italian family, I can hear my mother say “Mom, this is unbelievable,” and it really is because for something like this to happen to local people, it doesn’t happen,” Joseph said.

Co-owner, Philip got to sit down and talk with Sheeran.

“Ed Sheeran was great,” he said. “He walked in, I thought he was a natural on the grill. He made your traditional wiz wit, it’s a South Philly favorite.”

Joseph and Philip joked that the shop may need to rename the sandwich “The Sheeran.”

Ed Sheeran brings his Subtract tour to Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Saturday and Sunday.

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