--- title: "Philly Cheesesteaks and Subs in Kissimmee for July 4th" description: "The cheesesteak's 1930 origin, how to order \"wit or witout,\" and the hero, hoagie and grinder name map, plus the subs we make in Kissimmee." url: https://thenewyorkpizzacompany.com/blog/philly-cheesesteak-subs-america-250 updated: 2026-11-09T17:05:55.072Z --- [The Daily Slice](https://thenewyorkpizzacompany.com/blog) Food history # Wit or Witout? Philly Cheesesteaks and Subs for America's 250th America turns 250 in Philadelphia this July 4. Here is the story of the cheesesteak, how to order one like a local, and what a hoagie is called up and down the coast. By The New York Pizza CompanyJul 2, 20266 min read ![Double Philly cheesesteak sub](https://thenewyorkpizzacompany.com/_media/e746519a49bee359ccc593dcd37cde45a56779484dc488df99ea136d621f3c59/1280.webp) America turns 250 this Saturday, and the biggest party is in Philadelphia, the city where the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776. Philly has been celebrating for weeks. The Wawa Welcome America festival started its run of events on Juneteenth, and it ends on the Fourth with a morning ceremony at Independence Hall, a free concert on the Ben Franklin Parkway headlined by Christina Aguilera, and fireworks over the Philadelphia Museum of Art. [WHYY has the whole schedule](https://whyy.org/articles/philadelphia-4th-of-july-concert-fireworks-2026/) if you're lucky enough to be there. We're a long way from South Philly, here in the Walmart Plaza on Osceola Parkway, and we can't send you fireworks. We can tell you the story of the sandwich Philadelphia gave the rest of the country, and then make you one. It's a long one, so grab a napkin. Most of it is about bread with hot things inside it. ## How the Philly cheesesteak got its start The best-known version goes back to 1930, when Pat Olivieri sold hot dogs from a stand in South Philadelphia. One day he bought some beef from the butcher, cooked it on his grill, and piled it on a roll for himself. A cab driver nearby smelled it and asked for one of his own. As the story goes, word got around the taxi stands, and by the next day cab drivers from across the city were coming by for steak sandwiches. Pat eventually opened a shop at 9th Street and Passyunk Avenue, and Pat's King of Steaks is still cooking there today. [Visit Philadelphia tells the full story in its cheesesteak primer](https://www.visitphilly.com/media-center/press-releases/cheesesteak-101-a-primer-on-the-who-what-where-whiz-of-philly-cheesesteaks/). Those first steak sandwiches had no cheese. The Olivieri family's own account is that cheese didn't become part of the sandwich until the 1940s and 1950s, and Philadelphia still argues over who added it first. Joe Vento, who founded Geno's across the street from Pat's, claimed the credit for himself. Some tellings also put the first sandwich a few years later, in 1933. Like a lot of food history, the details shift depending on who's telling it and which side of the intersection they're standing on. Whoever added the cheese, the result was thin beef cooked fast on a flat grill, chopped or folded onto a long roll with melted cheese, and it became one of the most famous sandwiches in America. Ninety-some years later, people fly into Philadelphia and head straight for one. ## How to order a cheesesteak: "wit" or "witout" Say the cheese first, then the onions. That's the pattern locals use at the famous South Philly steak shops, and it helps to have it ready before you get to the window. "Wit" means with fried onions, and "witout" means no onions. So "Whiz wit" gets you a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and onions, and "provolone witout" gets you provolone and no onions. Whiz is the classic pick at the old shops, with American and provolone as the usual alternatives. Anything else you want, like peppers or mushrooms, you ask for by name. Practice it in the car on the way over. Say "provolone wit" out loud a few times until it comes out in one breath. If you freeze up when it's your turn anyway, relax. [The Philadelphia Inquirer's cheesesteak guide](https://www.inquirer.com/philly-tips/philly-cheesesteak-guide-20180705.html) says nobody minds if you order "with onions" in plain English. The slang is part of the fun, and the sandwich tastes the same either way. The bread matters more than visitors expect. A real cheesesteak sits on a long, crusty roll that can hold the grease and the cheese without falling apart in your hands, and a soft hot dog bun will give up halfway through. ## Hero, sub, hoagie, or grinder? The Northeast name map Drive up I-95 from Florida and the long sandwich changes names every few hours. It's the same basic idea everywhere, a long Italian-style roll split and filled, but what you call it tells people where you grew up. - **Hero** is the New York City word. It shows up in print in 1937, and New Yorkers use it for Italian sandwiches on long rolls, hot or cold. - **Hoagie** belongs to Philadelphia and South Jersey. In 1992, Mayor Ed Rendell named it the Official Sandwich of Philadelphia. - **Grinder** is New England, mostly Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, and in plenty of places it means a hot sub. - **Spuckie** is a Boston word you'll mostly hear in a few neighborhoods like South Boston. - **Sub** is the one that works everywhere, from Maine to right here in Osceola County. Where "hoagie" came from is a fight of its own. One story says it came from Italian shipyard workers at Hog Island during World War I. The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia doubts that one, because the word doesn't show up in print until much later. The story it finds more convincing is about Al DePalma, a former musician who opened a sandwich shop in 1936 and called his big sandwiches "hoggies," which customers turned into "hoagies." In Philadelphia, a cheesesteak is hot and a hoagie is usually cold. Ask for a "cheesesteak hoagie" there and you get the hot steak with cold hoagie fixings like lettuce and tomato on top. ## Subs and cheesesteaks in Kissimmee, the way we make them We're a New York pizzeria, so in our kitchen these are subs and heroes, but we have a lot of respect for Philadelphia. Our Philly Cheesesteak Sub is sliced ribeye with provolone, grilled onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. In Philly-speak that's a provolone wit, with peppers and mushrooms asked for by name. If you're hungry after a day at the parks, the Double Philly Cheesesteak Sub piles on more meat for $12.99. The Chicken Philly Cheesesteak Sub is built the same way, with sliced chicken in place of the beef under the same provolone, grilled onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. Chicken cheesesteaks are a real thing in Philadelphia too, so nobody up there would call it a cheat. If you're looking for subs and cheesesteaks in Kissimmee to bring to a July 4th cookout, or just want to eat one in our red booths under the painted New York skyline, our page [Big Subs, Hot Parm, Serious Lunch](https://thenewyorkpizzacompany.com/subs-kissimmee) has every sub we make. ## The hot parm side of the menu Cheesesteaks belong to Philadelphia, and the parm hero belongs to New York. The Chicken Cutlet Parm Sub and the Meatball Parm Sub are the two everybody knows. The Sausage Parm Sub is a little different, with hand-pinched Italian sausage, provolone, parmesan, marinara, and grilled onions and peppers, so it lands somewhere between a parm hero and a sausage-and-peppers sandwich from a street fair. If you're skipping meat, there's the Eggplant Parm Sub. If you can't pick, "The Big Meaty Chick" puts half meatball parm and half chicken parm on one sub. "The Boss" is our double-meat chicken parm, for the person at the table who always finishes everyone else's fries. ## The Italian Sub, and a cheesesteak you can slice The closest thing we make to a Philly Italian hoagie is our Italian Sub: ham, salami, pepperoni, and provolone with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and banana peppers, plus a side of Italian dressing. It comes oven-toasted or cold. Order it cold and you're eating it the hoagie way. Order it toasted and the provolone melts into the meats. If you're feeding a crowd for the fireworks, our Philly Cheesesteak Pizza puts the whole sandwich on a pie, with steak, grilled onions, green peppers, mushrooms, provolone, and mozzarella. It comes in 12-, 16- and 18-inch sizes, so everyone gets a slice of cheesesteak and nobody fights over who gets the end of the roll. You can also add Philly steak as a topping to any pizza you build yourself. Happy 250th birthday, America. However you celebrate this weekend, you can order online for pickup or delivery, or call us at (407) 933-8800. Say "wit" if you want to, and we'll know what you mean. All this reading Made you hungry? Order ahead online for pickup or delivery, or come grab a slice. [Order Online](https://order.online/business/the-new-york-pizza-company-141071) [More from The Daily Slice](https://thenewyorkpizzacompany.com/blog) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://thenewyorkpizzacompany.com/#website", "url": "https://thenewyorkpizzacompany.com/", "name": "The New York Pizza Company", "description": "New York-style pizza, just around the corner. 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