"It's a blessing": South Philly pizza, cheesesteak shop thankful for T. Swift's business
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It started out with a call Christian Palamone could not believe.
"One of my managers called me and she said, 'Oh my God, we gotta make pizza for Taylor Swift!' And I'm like, 'What do you mean? You sure it's for her?'" Palamone recalled.
On Saturday, the Avenue Steaks and Pizza partner on S. Juniper Street near Broad and Oregon in Philadelphia said he asked his manager to call back the number to make sure the order was indeed for popstar, Taylor Swift.
"I'm like, 'Can you just call back to like make sure?' I don't want to get pranked or anything, because it was a lot of pizza," Palamone said.
Once they validated that the original order of 50 pizzas was for Swift and her crew at Lincoln Financial Field, Palamone got busy preparing. On Sunday, he said the Berks County native's team called back to add 25 more pizzas to the order plus cheesesteaks, fries and the like.
"We had a like a monumental task ahead of us, but I knew we had to do it," Palamone said. He continued, "It was like a dinner impossible type thing!"
On Sunday at 9 p.m., the South Philly business owner said Swift's team came to pick up the order in two vans.
"Everybody on the phone was like super supportive. Once we told them why we couldn't give them a pizza right now. We're like call back in like an hour and a half, We're making pizza for Taylor Swift," Palamone.
It took about two hours to complete the order. They shut down the restaurant to finish Swift's order.
"I always liked her music, I mean, obviously, she's a huge star. She makes good music, very popular, and now, you know, I kind of feel more connected to her with all this crazy stuff that happened," Palamone said.
Since posting the moment on social media, Palamone said he's been inundated with messages of support from Swifties.
"I believe we have great pizza, and if it's good enough for Taylor Swift, it's good enough for everybody, so come and try it," Palamone said with a smile.
Over the last few days, fans have also been coming to the restaurant, mentioning they came only because Swift ate there.
"She's an Eagles fan, and she's pretty much a hometown girl, so it's really cool. It's cool what she did. She supported a lot of businesses locally," Palamone said. He added, "It's a blessing for us."