They taught Jalen Hurts how to make a cheesesteak. His response ‘truly changed our lives.’

Jalen Hurts borrowed an apron last summer, stepped behind the grill at the FoodChasers Kitchen, and attempted to cook his first cheesesteak. And that’s when the quarterback, who has looked flawless at times this season while guiding the Eagles to the Super Bowl, revealed his shortcomings as a short-order cook.

“He wanted to put mozzarella on it,” said Maya Johnstone, who owns the Elkins Park restaurant with her twin sister, Kala. “We said, ‘No.’ He’s like, ‘But I like mozzarella.’ This is Philly. You can’t.”

Hurts called an audible, swapped mozzarella for Cooper sharp, and got to work. The cheesesteak also includes fried onions and mayo and has become a menu staple, aptly called the “Jalen Special.”

Hurts was at the restaurant — which the sisters opened in October 2021 after retiring as principals in the Philadelphia School District — to film a Pepsi commercial and his attempt at making a cheesesteak was an added wrinkle after he wandered into the kitchen.

When he left, Hurts pulled the twins aside and told them he would keep supporting them.

“We thought he was going to come back and buy a cheesesteak,” Maya Johnstone said.

It, instead, has been much more.

Isaac Johnstone used to take his kids every summer to Eagles training camp, listening the whole way with sports-talk radio humming as they drove from Mount Airy to West Chester to watch two-a-day practices. Johnstone was a diehard until his son, Lance Johnstone, was drafted in 1996 by the Raiders.

The Eagles passed twice on Johnstone, who starred at Germantown High and at Temple before playing 11 years as a defensive end in the NFL. That was enough for his dad to pass on the Birds. Johnstone’s other son, Brent, reminded his dad that 29 other teams also declined to draft his boy. It didn’t matter.

“We’re like, ‘Sorry to hear that but we can’t jump ship,’ ” Maya Johnstone said.

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When Lance Johnstone returned to Philly with Minnesota in the 2004 playoffs, the twins rooted for the Eagles and prayed that their brother did good. Their dad, who died in 2012, was still peeved but even their brother understood.

“He’s like, ‘I grew up an Eagles fan, I totally get it,’ ” Kala Johnstone said. “Daddy is just being Daddy.”

Lance Johnstone retired after the 2006 season and the whole family — even their dad — rooted again for the Eagles.

When he left, Hurts pulled the twins aside and told them he would keep supporting them. He posted the commercial onto his Twitter account and tagged the restaurant. He mentioned FoodChasers in October when he was on Monday Night Football’s ManningCast and told the NFL a month later that his Thursday Night Football interview had to be filmed at his favorite spot on Montgomery Avenue, which is about a post route from the Elkins Park regional rail train station.

The quarterback’s seal of approval, the twins said, brought their small business a sizable buzz. But that wasn’t it.

That Pepsi commercial netted them a $10,000 grant. He next connected the twins with Truist Bank, who donated $5,000 to the sisters’ foundation that donates lunches to Philly students. Louisiana Hot Sauce, which recently released a Hurts sauce, now wants to partner with FoodChasers. Hurts even gives the sisters marketing ideas.

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“He’s just a good guy,” Kala Johnstone said.

Lance Johnstone warned his sisters before the commercial that Hurts would probably be a jerk. He crossed paths with enough NFL superstars and figured Hurts would be just like the others. So Johnstone felt validated when a production assistant told the twins that Hurts would need a private room while shooting the commercial.

But when the assistant asked the twins’ nephews to turn off their video games and leave the room for Hurts, the quarterback stepped in and told the kids to stay. Hurts sat on the couch, hung out with them, and played PlayStation while he waited until he was needed on set.

“My brother is like, ‘OK. Not too bad,’ ” Maya Johnstone said.

When Hurts returned to shoot the Thursday Night Football interview, Lance Johnstone said Hurts was growing on him. And when Truist Bank called and told the twins that Hurts said he was letting them pick how he would give back to the community, Lance Johnstone finally conceded that this superstar was different from the ones he knew. Hurts agreed with the twins’ idea to have lunch with the Roxborough High football team after freshman player Nicolas Elizalde was murdered after practice in September.

“He’s like, ‘OK. OK. I like him. He’s my guy,’ ” Maya Johnstone said. “He said, ‘Here’s why I really like him. He’s at the height of his career and he’s sharing his platform. That doesn’t happen often.’ ”

The FoodChasers Kitchen — which is open Thursday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. — is thriving with Hurts under center. The Eagles QB, they said, has “truly changed our lives.”

“Dad, you wouldn’t believe what’s happening,” Maya Johnstone said. “This is unbelievable. It’s dreams that we didn’t even have for ourselves. He’s putting us in rooms with people who we would never dream of meeting. We got laughed out of banks when we tried opening.

“This would never happen if he didn’t always tell people, ‘Call the twins. Call the twins. Call the twins.’ ”

Hurts’ marketing agent texted the sisters on Saturday to see if the restaurant could open for Hurts and his family if the Eagles won the NFC championship. Of course, they said. They prepped the food in the morning, took the Broad Street Line to the Linc, and cheered like crazy for the Birds as they knew a win meant they were cooking for the quarterback.

“We’re cheering extra hard,” Kala Johnstone said.

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They hustled back to Elkins Park and jumped in the kitchen. A few hours after the win, Hurts — his NFC championship hat still on his head — arrived at FoodChasers with 15 friends and family.

They stayed until after midnight as they ate a dinner that included ribeyes, chicken, sweet potatoes, a “Jalen pasta,” macaroni and cheese, wings named after Hurts, and of course the Jalen Special cheesesteak.

The sisters said they were in tears. The Eagles just punched their ticket to the Super Bowl and the quarterback picked their restaurant — a Black-owned business opened less than two years ago that they dreamed about owning for years — for his celebration. They told Hurts how thankful they were. He stopped them.

“He said, I see what you’re doing with kids in the community,” Maya Johnstone said. “I actually admire you. All I want to leave you with is dream bigger. Let’s do something bigger now. I give something to you and you give something to someone else.”

A day later, they thought about ways to meet the QB’s challenge and pay it forward. Their relationship with Hurts has inspired them to keep their dream going. And it started with the mistake of putting mozzarella on a cheesesteak.

“That’s the only flaw we found in Jalen and we’re not even considering that a flaw,” Kala Johnstone said. “He can’t always have the perfect game.”