Throughout the NFL season, a brewpub in Collegeville is serving cheesesteak flights featuring flavors and puns paying homage to the Eagles’ opponents that week.
Every Sunday at 1 p.m., Troubles End Brewing, located at 50 W. Third Ave., unveils its flight of the week. Each flight costs $23 and includes three cheesesteaks — each about 5 or 6 inches long. They’re available to order in the restaurant or for takeout until they run out.
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“We are pretty unconventional as a company,” said Kris Serviss, Troubles End’s head chef and the mastermind behind the cheesesteak flight. “We just thought probably one of the most ironic things would be to be a brewery that doesn’t offer flights of beer, but to offer a flight of cheesesteaks for football season.”
Serviss, a Northeast Philly native and Walnut Hill College culinary school grad, has been with Troubles End since it opened in 2020. Before that, he owned Philly restaurants including Culture on the Circle and Blue Duck, which he partnered with former Eagles tight end Brent Celek to open. Serviss first began serving the NFL-themed cheesesteak flights at Troubles End in 2021, but a post on X (formerly Twitter) about the unique offering on Sunday has been viewed more than 480,000 times. Newfound social media fame aside, the cheesesteak flight has been a crowd-pleaser for years, Serviss said.
“We do have a very religious following for it every Sunday, as soon as 1 o’clock hits, it’s just full on war with cheesesteak flights,” Serviss said. “Everybody in the dining room that’s here for brunch or for the games, they all inquire, and everybody starts popping their heads up and looking because it’s the majority of what the people are here for. It’s always kind of a surprise (for the customers). … It’s an event every Sunday during football season.”
For the first game this season, Troubles End rolled out a flight with flavors of Brazil and Wisconsin cheese, to honor their game in Sao Paulo against the Green Bay Packers. This week, since the Eagles are playing the Atlanta Falcons, Troubles End released a flight that includes a “Georgia Peach” sandwich full of chopped ribeye covered in peach-balsamic glaze and brown sugar bread crumbs.
Through the season, Serviss said the Troubles End team tries not to repeat any of the cheesesteak varieties, which can prove difficult given that the Eagles play their NFC East rivals twice. There are certain opponents that lend themselves better to inspiring cheesesteaks, which act as vessels to highlight the home city of the other team.
“I think everybody always gets excited when we play New Orleans because we get to put a lot of Cajun and Creole ideas in there,” Serviss said. “And it’s, ‘Can we make a funny pun with a player or the team name?’ I do a ton of research on the food scene of the city from the team, focusing the history of it. I myself have learned some stuff I never thought I’d know; there’s a lot of weird eating trends.”
Players on other teams are also fodder for cheesesteak puns. A few years back, before the Eagles acquired Saquon Barkley, Serviss said he made a “Saquon Barkley Prime” — with foie gras and truffle cheese whiz — a play on the $140 luxury cheesesteak served at Rittenhouse’s Barclay Prime.
Serviss has a working spreadsheet to keep track of his ideas, and he’s already come up with cheesesteaks through at least Week 10 of this season. One such idea he has is when the Eagles play the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 27, Troubles End will serve a “Sticky Shuffle” cheesesteak, made with honey marinated chicken, hot honey and honey-smoked Cooper American cheese (a play on the Bengals’ “Ickey Shuffle” touchdown celebration).
As far as other cheesesteak flights Serviss is looking forward to this season, he said the Cowboys game always sparks some of his best work. One year, Troubles End simply put “Dallas sucks” in front of the names of each of the cheesesteaks.
“I think it’s even in our handbook that you can’t wear Dallas Cowboys apparel in the building,” Serviss said with a laugh.
This year, when the Eagles face the Cowboys for the first time on Nov. 10, Troubles End will offer “Chow ’bout them Cowboys,” a chicken chow mein-style cheesesteak. As the season goes on, Serviss said the cheesesteak offerings will get more “Eagle-centric.” They also always do a special flight for the Super Bowl, “which is fantastic when the Eagles are in it,” Serviss said.
Serviss said the Troubles End team always welcomes cheesesteak ideas from the public, and he would love to one day work with a former or current Eagles player on a special cheesesteak flight.
“I know some (Eagles players) live out this way,” he said. “If they ever wanted to have their own cheesesteak, they’re more than welcome to on the flight. I think it would be a great honor. … Jason Kelce once told me my General Tso’s wings are unbelievable. If him and Kylie ever want to come in, feel free.”