Original Steaks and Hoagies open on Madison St. 

There’s a new sandwich in town.  

The Original Steaks and Hoagies at 7748 Madison St. held a ribbon cutting Nov. 5 and its grand opening the following day, where the first 100 customers in line won a free cheesesteak every month for a year. 

“I think the most exciting thing about being open is showing everyone what we do, how we do it, how it’s supposed to be done — how a hot sandwich should be. That’s all I think about,” said Jeff Wiseman, owner and franchisor of all 25 Original Steaks and Hoagies locations in the country.  

Wiseman describes The Original Steaks and Hoagies as “an upscale sandwich shop.” It sells a range of authentic Philly cheesesteaks — like different kinds of shaved ribeye, chicken and cauliflower sandwiches — plus hoagies and sides.  

“The sides are probably one of my favorite things,” Wiseman said, adding that they’re made to order. Sides and starters include tater tots, fresh-cut fries, house-breaded chicken tenders, Cajun fried pickles, onion rings and Wisconsin cheese curds. 

(I tried the whizzy tots — fried shredded potatoes with Cheez Whiz — and thought they were the perfect combination of French fries and mac and cheese bites. I also got an original cheesesteak, the most popular according to Wiseman, which comes with mushrooms, onions, sweet and hot peppers, and your cheese of choice. The sandwich rolls come from Philadelphia, and the cheesesteak melts in your mouth.) 

“It really is a piece of Philadelphia right here,” Wiseman said. “There’s all this other food here, but we don’t have any hot cheesesteaks,” he added of the Forest Park area. 

Wiseman said he brought the cheesesteak shop, which started in Ohio, to Forest Park because he wanted to access a larger market close to Chicago.  

“When you’re looking at Ohio or you’re looking at Wisconsin, you’re looking at 100,000 people within five miles — not a lot of people. I think the whole time, we wanted to get into these bigger markets where we have more eyes on us,” Wiseman said.  

“I fell in love with the little town,” he added of Forest Park specifically. “I thought that was just a perfect area for us. It hits all of our demographics. In my eyes, I think it’s going to be one of our busiest stores.”  

The original cheesesteaks 

Bill Fromholzer Jr. — affectionately known as “Billy from Philly” — grew up in Philadelphia, where his family owned and operated three cheesesteak shops. He brought that recipe to Twinsburg, Ohio in 2010. 

Years later, Fromholzer was ready to retire and move back to Philly. So in 2017, Wiseman bought the cheesesteak shop in Ohio. He said he and his business partner, Josh Bierman, were looking to be franchise owners at other sandwich shop locations, like Jimmy Johns and Jersey Mike’s, but they were too expensive. 

“And it wasn’t fresh. It wasn’t real,” said Wiseman, who’s been in the restaurant business his whole career. “Cheesesteaks were always my favorite sandwich.”  

By 2021, the business partners had opened three more locations in Ohio and launched a food truck. Around that same time, they made The Original Steaks and Hoagies a franchise company.  

The Forest Park franchise location used to be Yum Thai. Though they kept the restaurant’s exhaust hoods, when The Original Steaks and Hoagies moved in, ownership installed new flooring, walls, ceilings, countertops and lights. 

The Forest Park location currently sells fried cheesecake, but Wiseman said the sandwich shop plans to add hot desserts. It also plans to add pickup and delivery orders. 

“I’m just excited for people to try the food,” Wiseman said of opening in town. “That’s probably the most important thing.”  

The Original Steaks and Hoagies is open daily at 7748 Madison St. starting at 10:30 a.m. It closes at 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 8 p.m. on Sunday.