JD Vance stops at Pat’s in Philadelphia for a cheesesteak

Adjustment: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Vance said he liked Swiss cheese. Instead, he asked why Swiss cheese was offensive while ordering a cheesesteak.

U.S. Senator J.D. Vance wanted to know why Pat’s King of Steaks had no Swiss cheese.

“I don’t like Swiss cheese either… Why do you hate Swiss cheese so much, what’s the story?” the Republican vice presidential candidate asked at the counter Monday afternoon.

After campaigning in North Philadelphia, Vance went to Pat’s for a cheesesteak.

“He asked why we didn’t have Swiss cheese,” Pat’s manager, Sammy Garcia, said with a laugh. “We thought it was funny.”

Candidates ordering a cheesesteak when visiting Philadelphia is a long-standing election-season tradition, but it doesn’t always produce positive results. As a presidential candidate in 2003, former U.S. senator and secretary of state John Kerry ordered a steak with Swiss cheese, a culinary blunder that ended in a major mishap. (“Swiss cheese, as any local knows, is off the table,” Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan wrote at the time. “The Massachusetts Democrat might as well have asked for cave-aged Appenzeller.”)

Vance didn’t suffer the same fate and instead ordered the whiz wit — or, for those outside the region, a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and fried onions.

During his appearance at DiSorb Systems on Monday, Vance mentioned that he would order a cheesesteak after the event. He did not answer an Inquirer reporter’s question about which cheesesteak shop he would visit.

Vance did not stay long at the South Ninth Street facility, where he was taken about an hour before his scheduled arrival time.

“He was pretty cool though, he was nice to us,” Garcia said. “He tipped us well.”

Last year, former President Donald Trump stopped by Pat’s after attending the Moms for Liberty Summit. Trump also stopped for a cheesesteak in 2016, but at Geno’s across the street. Earlier this year, Trump stopped at Tony and Nick’s before a rally in North Philly.

Not all of Vance’s fans got a chance to see the Republican candidate on Monday, including Maureen Fratantoni of South Philadelphia.

“I think he’ll do a good job,” Fratantoni said of Vance, waiting for a cheesesteak while wearing a MAGA hat embroidered with Trump’s signature. “He’s younger, he’s got a lot of energy and he wants to do good.”

Megan Heaton, also of South Philadelphia, was finishing her lunch as she explained that she liked Vance for his tough-on-crime approach — an approach she said local prosecutors do not take.

She came to Pat’s with her friend Oz Sultan, the New York GOP district leader. They were both yearning for Vance, a candidate they hoped would address their concerns about inflation and the economy.

“Sixteen dollars,” Heaton said in disbelief when she saw how much she paid for the cheesesteak.

“I remember in 2010 the cheesesteak was bigger too,” Sultan said.