In 1933, as the family relates the story, the brothers were working their stand when they decided to try something different for lunch. Pat Olivieri sent Harry Olivieri to the market for some inexpensive steak. The brothers thinly sliced the steak, then grilled it along with some chopped onions. The aroma attracted a cabdriver who was a regular customer; he asked to try the dish which the brothers called a steak sandwich, though the term originated from Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, describing a similar sandwich. Pat sold him the sandwich for ten cents (). The steak sandwich would later evolve into the modern cheesesteak.
