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In a challenge to owner, protesters get their cheesesteaks. To test Joey Vento's mantra that he has never refused service to anyone, a group of out-of-towners descended on his South Philadelphia steak shop with one goal: to order cheesesteaks in Spanish, then see what happens.

"What we seek is to be served when we order in Spanish," said Gilberto Garcia, a North Jersey lawyer who organized the event Saturday at Geno's Steaks, timed for the Fourth of July weekend.

Garcia stood to the side while 30 other Spanish-speaking immigrants lined up, wearing white T-shirts saying, "Pan, Bisteck y Queso, Por Favor" ("Bread, Steak and Cheese, Please").

On the sun-filled day, customers from as far as Montreal had bought their $7 cheesesteaks. Some said they had visited to support Geno's signs that say: "This is America. When ordering please 'speak English.' " Below them, other signs say: "Management reserves the right to refuse service

Owner Vento posted the signs more than six months ago. In interviews, he has said the newest immigrants are coddled with services available in Spanish.

Cruz Rodriguez, 34, of Baltimore, was the first protester in line Saturday. The native of Puebla, Mexico, said he could not speak English.

He was there "because if we don't speak English, we're going to see what they do," he said in Spanish.

Approaching the order window, he said, "Pan, pan."

Carmen Salavarrieta, a member of El Centro Hispanoamericano, a community outreach program in Plainfield, N.J., tried to help.

"Pan, bistec, queso," she told the Geno's staffer.

The order-taker gave Rodriguez a cheesesteak. The protesters applauded.

Garcia, 46, heard about the signs last month from a caller to his Englewood Cliffs office. He contacted Salavarrieta, who networked among immigrant communities to gather most of the protesters. One by one, they spoke Spanish at the order window, and a cheesesteak was handed over for cash.

No one was denied service.

Last month, Philadelphia's Human Relations Commission filed a complaint saying Vento's signs violate the city's Fair Practices Act. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission supported the agency's decision.

Local immigrant organizers, however, were not happy about the out-of-towners' event.

"I feel like this protest is a media stunt," said Peter Bloom, director of Juntos, a South Philadelphia community center for Latin American immigrants. "My concern is I don't know what it's going to resolve."


http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news ... iladelphia