Philly Cheesesteak Joint Demands Customers Order in “English Only”

The Philadelphia Cheesesteak is a culinary phantom, full of hype and lacking in anything extraordinary. After all, one well-known recipe calls for “Cheez Whiz®,” a processed cheese-like sauce that Kraft Foods claims is safe to eat. Yet, Philadelphians swear by these sandwiches. Recently, Geno’s Steaks, one of the temples to the cheesesteak, put up a sign that read, “This Is AMERICA: WHEN ORDERING ‘SPEAK ENGLISH’ [upper case in the original].” So much for the City of Brotherly Love.

Owner Joseph Vento is the grandson of Italian immigrants whose ethnic neighborhood has seen an increase in recent arrivals from Mexico, some with and some without papers. “They don’t know how lucky they are. All we’re asking them to do is learn the English language,” said Mr. Vento. “We’re out to help these people, but they’ve got to help themselves, too.”

Fair enough, maybe, but Rachel Lawton, acting executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, told the Philadelphia Inquirer, “We’re alleging that the sign itself is enough of an unwelcoming message that it may violate the Fair Practices Act.” See, despite having the right to free speech, as a public accommodation, Mr. Vento’s restaurant has limits placed on it so that it must serve everyone equally.

Mr. Vento’s staff is more than willing to help non-English speakers order in English, working with them until they can mouth the word “cheesesteak.” Of course, if they want fries with it, they have to say “Freedom Fries” because Mr. Vento is still protesting the French opposition to the war in Iraq. Media reports have failed to establish whether he serves Coke or Pepsi, but one should order a “cola” just to be safe.

Needless to say, the competition is taking the opposite view. The manager at Pat’s, Kathy Smith, said the English-only policy was “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I’d rather listen to the Spanish than the foul language of the college students.” Tony Luke’s issued a statement saying everyone was welcome “whether or not they speak a ‘wit’ [sic] of English.”

One wonders what the whole fuss is about. After all, it isn’t like customers go into any of these places and order coq au vin, lobster thermidor or penne a la vodka in a language other than English. How much stupider can this debate get?

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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