No problem. Just take a trip to Humboldt where a new restaurant offering genuine Philly cheesesteak sandwiches is open for business.

Philthy Phillys opened in downtown Humboldt a couple months ago. Located at 619 Sumner Ave., the new restaurant really means it when promoting authentic Philly cheesesteaks.

Amanda and Ariel Echevarria own the restaurant. She hails originally from the Philadelphia area and said she gets all her ingredients from the Philadelphia area.

“My husband was in the military and we moved around several times,” she said.“We moved to Humboldt 11 years ago and there really wasn’t anywhere outside of Philadelphia that we could find an authentic Philly cheesesteak. No matter where we lived, we couldn’t find a good one.”

-Messenger photo by John McBride
The Philadelphia influences aren’t just limited to the sandwiches at Philthy Phillys in Humboldt. Amanda Echevarria, who hails from the Philadelphia area, offers authentic Philly cheesesteaks at her new restaurant.

“We kind of threw around the idea of opening a restaurant for a while, but the timing was never right,” she added. “Last year, I was going back to work after having our youngest child and we were trying to decide if I should work for someone else or am I going to bite the bullet and do this.”

They decided to look for a place to open their restaurant, originally looking in the Laurens area. But they decided they wanted something closer to home so they could support their own community and not miss out on family time with their two children.

“Everything just kind of fell into place last summer,” said Amanda Echevarria. “We put a lot of work into this business and this building over the last six months before we opened in January.”

She said they looked at other locations in Humboldt, but each time they found a building they liked, it would be purchased by someone else. Finally, they heard about their current location, which wasn’t even on the market yet.

“This building really had a lot of what we needed to start our restaurant,” she said.

Amanda Echevarria said she and her husband have plans to give back to the community once things are running smoothly with Philthy Phillys.

“Everybody’s been so supportive. They’ve been so good with the opening and showing up and being supportive of our business,” she said. “We just want to be able to give back in some way.”

Currently Philthy Phillys has six employees besides the Echevarrias. She’s hoping to add more staff.

Right now, the restaurant offers dine in and carry out options. Amanda Echevarria said she’s hoping they can add delivery and online ordering in the future.

The restaurant’s to-go-orders also offer a unique packaging that keeps all the ingredients separated so customers can build their sandwich after they get home, assuring the bread does not get soggy. Amanda said that’s been a popular feature for people coming to the restaurant from. out of town.

“We really want our sandwiches to be as authentic as possible without being in Philadelphia,” she said. “The more authentic ones are where people add their own toppings and build it themselves. We ship all our ingredients from the Philadelphia area and our bread comes from bakeries in Philadelphia.”

Currently, Philthy Phillys has six different sandwiches on its menu. They also offer side salads, fries and drinks. There is also an option for gluten free bread. There is a kids’ menu as well.

The restaurant’s hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Their phone number is (515) 604-6439.

Philthy Phillys’ website is https://philthyphillyscheesesteak.com. They also have Facebook and Instagram pages.