The owner of a south Philadelphia cheesesteak shop who once instructed customers to order only in English has died, according to to relatives.
Joey Vento had a heart attack at home and died Tuesday on the way to the hospital, said Joseph Perno, his nephew and manager of the shop.
Vento was 71 years old, local media reported.
Vento founded Geno’s in 1966 in Philadelphia, where it sits across the street from another cheesesteak shop, Pat’s King of Steaks.
Pat’s claims to have invented the cheesesteak in 1933, but both stores welcome a plethora of visitors to the City of Brotherly Love each year, and serve the popular steak sandwiches 24 hours a day, seven days a week.