Family businesses intersect with Mastrocola pork at Glenolden’s Prime Steaks

It’s the connection of families and generations and shared values passed on from the next to the next to the next taking form in a roast pork sandwich available at Prime Steaks in Glenolden.

Danny Laskaris, with the help of his mom, Sue, opened Prime Steaks at 148 N. MacDade Blvd. in Glenolden seven weeks ago.

“My parents own restaurants, my grandparents own restaurants, my uncle — it’s like my whole family,” the 2017 Marple Newtown High graduate said. “I tried going to school but couldn’t really find a future in it and deep down, I always knew I wanted to own my own business.”

He liked restaurants but wanted to pare down the pizza shop menu.

“All their pizza shops, their menus were too big and I just wanted to condense it down and make it dummy proof,” Laskaris said. “I want to do a few items but do them well instead of having a million items and not being perfect at them.”

From his first bite of Mastrocola’s Philly Roast Pork, Laskaris knew it had to be on Prime Steaks’ menu.

“As soon as I tried it, it was delicious,” he said. “I didn’t try anything else after I tried it. I was like, ‘Wow!’ We’ve gotten so many compliments.”

Mike Mastrocola Sr. crafted the recipe for the roast pork after visits to the piazza of Cortona, Italy. There, street vendors sold cuisine created from the ingredients available in the region. Mike Sr. took these tastes and refined it to become the signature menu item for his Italian delis, opening the first in Plymouth Meeting in 1979.

Others followed in Conshohocken, Trooper, Norristown and Audubon. Eventually Mike Mastrocola Jr. opened a stall in Booth’s Corner to sell the delicacy until closing it during the pandemic.

Today, the roast pork is made by B&M Philly Steaks, one of the largest cheesesteak manufacturers in the United States, with premium whole muscle pork and a secret blend of rustic herbs and spices slowed cooked for 12 hours in its own au jus.

Mastrocola said the recipe has remained the same.

“When we took it to B&M Philly Steaks, they spent months going back and forth … made some tweaks and it’s just a phenomenal flavor,” he said. “When I show friends and family, they’re like, ‘Wow!’ ”

Last year, it was available in the suite level at Citizens Bank Park during the Phillies season, according to broker Bryan Hinderer of National Food Sales Inc. He said Sysco Philadelphia and Gordon Food Service also now carry the product.

“My dad passed about five years ago and I wish he could’ve seen this leap,” Mastrocola said. “He would come with me to the markets because he was retired. He loved to see people enjoying it.”

Now, it’s reaching even more people.

“Going from a one-guy show, very high volume farmers market to where we are now: full blown distribution,” Mastrocola said, adding, “For Danny and Sue to say they’re getting so much great feedback from the customers on the roast pork and to be in Delco, it means a lot.”

Evan Kanellopoulos of B&M Philly Steaks was the one who made the connection between them.

“I came here as a blind call for one of the distributors I work with,” he said of his initial visit to Prime Steaks over the winter.

When he arrived, he noticed Sue Laskaris looked familiar.

“I was like, ‘We know each other from somewhere,’ ” he said. “Then, finally, it was, ‘Oh my God!’ I knew her from back in high school. Her older brother and my older brother always used to hang out. We hadn’t seen each other in years.”

Both families attended Upper Darby High School.

Kanellopoulos also knew the Mastrocolas from back in the day.

“I’ve been in the food business forever since I was a little boy, just like they were,” he said, noting his father had a food establishment off Long Lane in Upper Darby. “His family was out of Drexel Hill. His father was customers of ours, Mike’s dad, Mike Sr. Very nice guy. Very nice guy.”

Mastrocola remembers the call about Prime Steaks.

“(Kanellopoulos) calls me up and he says, ‘Hey, I got a place up in Glenolden. You’ve got to check them out: Prime Steak. Mike, they’re doing fire on your roast pork and the steak and they just opened,’ ” he said he was told.

“I think he called me Thursday. I was up here Friday night with my wife,” he continued. “Evan said this is a really nice family. Actually, when I came in, it reminded me of my family: small business, mom, dad, son.”

He also learned something else.

“They’re nailing it,” Mastrocola said of how they serve the roasted pork. “The broccoli rabe — the father makes the broccoli rabe — very homemade, very hands on and that makes a difference.”

For Danny Laskaris, it’s all about pleasing the customer.

“I want to make sure everybody’s happy,” he said. “I like to form a relationship with the customers. You meet a lot of cool people doing this.”

Hinderer said all of these connections makes it special.

“I think there’s a unique connection among all of them,” he said. “B&M, the company that’s making it, is family owned. My father started our brokerage in 1985. Mike’s still using his and now you have a family here. So much of today is Walmart and Target and there still is a small-business side of the country that still makes up the country’s economy. It’s kind of unique when they can all come together and all survive together.”

Prime Steaks

• 148 N. MacDade Blvd., Glenolden, across the street from Royal Farms.

• Open daily 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

• Contact: 484-494-6410; website is primesteaks.net.

• For more information about Mastrocola Roast Pork, contact info@nationalfoodsales.net.