The story behind the sign
Every Philly kid knows the name. Here's who he is, and why he's on our sign.
Tony Gazzo is the South Philly loan shark Rocky Balboa collected for, before he ever got his shot. We're from that South Philly, so we put his name on our shop.
01
In Rocky (1976), Tony Gazzo is the neighborhood loan shark in South Philly. Before Rocky Balboa was anybody, he was a club fighter making ends meet as Gazzo's collector.
Gazzo wasn't the hero, and he wasn't exactly the villain. He was the guy everybody on the block knew: a ledger, a cigar and a long memory.
02
Then the impossible happened. A nobody from the neighborhood got a shot at the heavyweight title, and even Gazzo backed him, handing him cash to go train.
That's the part every Philly kid remembers: the neighborhood guy, written off by everybody, going the distance.
03
We're South Philly, born and raised, from the same kind of block. Tough, loyal, a little rough around the edges, and everybody knows everybody.
So when we opened a steak shop, we named it after the guy who backed the underdog. Then we set out to make our own run.
How the story shows up in the shop
Rocky went from collecting for Gazzo to fighting for the title. We went from a weekend food truck to a line out the door, so the sign says The Champ of Steaks. In 2025, Philadelphia Beautiful made it official.
Boxing gloves on the counter, a LOVE sculpture, a PHILLY plate and a room signed by famous athletes, restaurateurs, comedians and actors. Walk in and you're back on the block.
“Bringing our South Philly roots to the burbs.”
Our family goes back generations in South Philly. Plenty of us are still Mummers and march up Broad Street on New Year's Day. The family ran restaurants down there too: Manny Brown's, known in its day for some of the best barbecue in the city, and October's Fine Dining on Front Street.
We live in Montgomery County now. What we couldn't find out here was city food done the city way, so we started making it ourselves, on South Hanover Street in Pottstown.
The Champ of Steaks, for real
The title, the wins, the press and the money we've raised for the neighborhood, all in one place.
See our wins and press2025
Philadelphia Beautiful Best Cheesesteak Champion
2024
Bite for the Fight winner
$3,500
raised for the Transplant Alliance Foundation
The rest of the story
Way back
Generations in the neighborhood, Mummers on Broad Street, and a family in the restaurant business.
2022
A weekend thing in Pottstown. Some days it sold a dozen sandwiches. Then the line started.
May 2024
The truck couldn't keep up, so we opened the shop. There was a line before the doors opened.
2024
We took Bite for the Fight at the Fight on Makenna Foundation's festival at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. The foundation supports kids with pediatric cancer and their families.
2024
$3,500 raised for the Transplant Alliance Foundation, one $5 magnet at a time.
2025
Philadelphia Beautiful made The Champ of Steaks official.
Today
Frozen 3-packs to anyone who misses a real one. Most of our boxes go to Florida and California.
Game day
We're Birds fans like everybody else in this city. Green on Sundays, win or lose, and nobody talks during the game.
Every now and then you'll catch us out in the lot before kickoff, tailgating with the rest of the faithful. Go Birds.
Scenes on this page are illustrations, not photos or film stills. Gazzo's Steaks isn't affiliated with or endorsed by the Rocky films, their studio or anyone in them. We're just fans from the neighborhood.
