These Philly restaurants say they didn’t refuse to serve the Astros
Danny DiGiampietro of Angelo’s Pizzeria and Mike Strauss of Mike’s BBQ say they had good reasons not to deal with the Astros. But they had nothing to do with ill will, they point out.
Philadelphians have been giving the Houston Astros a great deal of razzing while in town for the World Series, but deny them their dinner?
Two South Philadelphia restaurateurs — Danny DiGiampietro of Angelo’s Pizzeria and Mike Strauss of Mike’s BBQ — are bristling over a news report that contended that they had snubbed the Astros by refusing to cater opposing team meals at Citizens Bank Park.
NBC Sports Philadelphia walked back much of its report Wednesday afternoon after it became clear that it was overstated. A spokesperson said the article was updated “to reflect the restaurants’ comments.”
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Ratings sites Google and Yelp also were bombarded with negative reviews after the report, which other news outlets, such as the New York Post and Barstool Sports, picked up.
DiGiampietro at Angelo’s and Strauss at Mike’s said they had good reasons not to serve the Astros: Angelo’s would have been closed at the time of the desired late-night delivery, and Mike’s serves barbecue, not the requested “Latin food.”
What apparently inspired the article was DiGiampietro’s Instagram story Tuesday in which he said he would not be providing pizzas to the Astros after Wednesday’s game. DiGiampietro, however, didn’t mention the timing problem on Instagram, where he has nearly 95,000 followers.
But, as he later related by phone, he starts his workdays before dawn, and his shop closes at 7 p.m. “or when we run out” — which happens frequently.
“I had a very nice conversation with [a representative of] the Astros,” he said. “I told her that there was no way I could deliver 10 pizzas at 10:30, 11 o’clock at night.” Further complicating the situation, DiGiampietro had tickets for Wednesday’s game and could not be in two places at once.
So it was a no-go.
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When he remarked on his since-expired Instagram story that he would not fulfill the Astros’ request, he said he received direct messages from people accusing him of “starving the Astros.”
Not that DiGiampietro has it in for opposing teams. “Hey — I just did 180 [meals] for the [Pittsburgh] Steelers,” he said.
But DiGiampietro’s explanation never made it into the article, published Tuesday. DiGiampietro said the reporter, Adam Hermann, never spoke to him.
Meanwhile at Mike’s BBQ, Strauss said the Astros had reached out to request four orders of “Latin food.” Mike’s does not serve Latin food — only American barbecue, as he replied to the Astros.
Strauss, realizing that his shop’s concept was misstated on a restaurant list provided to the team, posted the text exchange with the Astros’ representative. Strauss added the line: “I’m not feeding them ... lol.”
Clearly not.
Strauss said he never spoke to the reporter before the NBC Sports story was initially posted.
Both anecdotes were rolled into Hermann’s story headlined “Philly BBQ, Pizza Spot Shut Down Astros’ World Series Catering Request: Philadelphia is not making it easy for the Astros to cater food.” It included the line, “Hilariously, they’re having a hard time because the people behind some of the best food in this city are putting sports allegiances over money.”
But they weren’t.
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After The Inquirer contacted NBC Sports Philadelphia, the article was edited Wednesday afternoon to read, “Hilariously, it seemed Tuesday night like they were having a hard time finding the right post-game meal.”
Catering jobs are a competitive game. Scott Calhoun, an owner of the South Philadelphia restaurant Ember & Ash, said, “I don’t know any business, especially in this time we’re in, that would turn down that kind of opportunity.”
This week, without any social-media fanfare, Ember & Ash fulfilled an order including steak, chicken, chicken wings, burgers, pasta, crispy potatoes, and a salad for 50 people in the Astros organization.
“We’d like to think we fed them so well that we lulled them into a food coma last night,” Calhoun said of Tuesday’s 7-0 Phillies shutout win over the Astros.
But on a serious note, “our fire-suppression system went off Saturday, and that cost us like $2,000 to fix and clean up,” said Calhoun. “That money came in handy.”