To say that Rob Rush and his friends are devoted to the cheesesteak may be an understatement. On their Web site Cheese-steak Town (www. cheesesteaktown.com), they write under aliases such as "The Big Cheese" (Rush), "Fried Onion" (talent agency owner Kenny Fine), and the "Ozzard of Whiz" (lawyer and cartoonist Andy Stein), waxing poetic about D'alessandro's unpretentious lunch counter" in Roxborough, and pay homage to South Philadelphia's Pat's King of Steaks as the "sacred temple and the holy shrine of the Philadelphia cheesesteak."
Rush says Cheesesteak Town gets about 1,000 hits a day, which the ebullient 55-year-old describes as "shockingly high" because the site hasn't been heavily promoted. Yet, Cheesesteak Town has caught the attention of city tourism officials. And of the Roller Derby Hall of Fame, which asked the site to help promote its "Hall of Fame Weekend" last month. Web site users can write reviews, and vote for their favorite cheesesteak joints. They also can vote in photo contests for "Mr. Cheesesteak" and "Miss Cheesesteak." (For people more versed in cheesesteaks than Web production, these sorts of things are called user-generated content. This stuff, the theory goes, tends to keep Web users on sites longer, makes the site more attractive to advertisers and users more receptive to targeted marketing messages.)
In an interview with PhillyInc, Rush discussed his numerous careers, his devotion to the cheesesteak, and his plans for the Web site.
Question: Who are you, and why did you start the site?
Answer: I did it with a few friends of mine. It's three of us who run the thing, and we have a crew who helps us execute events and do press. I am a professional rock musician, and write for a British rock paper, The Beat.
Q: Really? Did you play in any well-known bands.
A: I was asked by two of the original members to reform the Ripchords [best known for the hit "Hey Little Cobra"]. ... I also played with the Archies.
Q: Did you play on the Archies' hit "Sugar Sugar"?
A: No. I was their touring musical director. ... Right now, my title is doctor. I'm a chiropractor. When I got off the road, I decided to get into this.
Q: Why did you decide to convert your passion for cheesesteaks into a business?
A: Our families were out having sushi one night and my friend Andy Stein mentioned the idea. I went, "Oh my God, we have to do something." Then I pulled in a third friend, Kenny Fine. He built and runs the site. ... The city, specifically the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation, contacted us and said, "We love your site," and they did our initial run of press releases.
Q: Are you connected with the cheesesteak restaurants?
A: No, we're just sort of allies and admirers. ... We are very indebted to their encouragement. We are strictly gourmands. All of us here absolutely love cheesesteaks. We decided Philadelphia is primarily a cheesesteak culture. We (also) decided to make the site about the interesting and odd aspects about Philadelphia.
Q: What are your plans for the site?
A: We'll do advertising. ... We want to shame every place into making good-quality cheesesteaks with good rolls.
Q: How often to you eat cheesesteaks?
A: In fact, we (recently) went to four different places. I'm afraid I'm going to have to swear off them for another week or two.
Q: What does the roller derby have to do with cheesesteaks?
A: If there ever was a sport for the cheesesteak culture, it's roller derby.
