West Chester pizza guru opens a cheesesteak shop. The rolls have star power, too.

Two years ago, Speer Madanat threw open the door of a white-tiled former bakery at 136 E. Market St. in downtown West Chester and started selling pizza.

Just pizza: by the slice or the whole pie, plain, white, or pepperoni. Walk-ins only. Cash only. Odd hours, gleanable only via Instagram. (It was open from noon to 3 p.m. and 4:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, for example.) No phone or email. His website redirects to a “coming soon” banner. The sign outside says only “pizza.”

Of course, customers, critics, and cognoscenti swooned over the crispy, well-cooked 16-inchers. Barstool’s Dave Portnoy showed up in November 2022 to award Madanat an 8.4 rating in his One-Bite Review.

Last weekend, Madanat expanded his empire five blocks away on the outskirts of town with a shop simply called Steaks West Chester, a former caterer’s kitchen at 698 E. Market St. The menu: cheesesteaks and chicken cheesesteaks, plus fries, for now. He said he’s planning to add wings, meatball sandwiches, salads, chicken fingers, and hoagies.

As he does with his pizza, Madanat is paying close attention to ingredients. The fries are made from hand-cut Chipperbecs, a starchy, low-moisture, low-sugar potato. He slices down rib eye and adds coarse-cut Cooper sharp American and rough-chopped onion for texture, and griddles in olive oil.

The meat is neither slab nor chopped. Because the secret to a good sandwich is the roll, he commissioned West Chester bakery La Baguette Magique — owned by chef Anthony Andiario of the peerless Andiario’s restaurant — to make him one. Andiario and head baker Scott Weymiller developed a sesame-coated roll that gives you a crunch while keeping the ingredients together. (I drove one 45 minutes with no sogginess.)

Madanat’s workers Ludwin Zavaleta and Javier Cordero run the show, while Madanat handles pizza duties at Pizza.

The system at Steaks West Chester is more customer-friendly. It has regular hours (11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily except Monday, or until sellout), and orders are taken by phone (484-373-5500) but not online. It also takes credit cards and cash.