It's Terminal Alright

The Phillies may have won the World Series on Wednesday, but another Philly tradition didn't fare so well that day.

I wrote about the great steak controversy before, where the owner of Rick's Steaks was evicted from the Reading Terminal Market. Rick Olivieri fought the eviction, but the ensuing litigation ended up being settled out of court.

As a result, Rick’s Steaks has officially closed up shop at the Reading Terminal Market on Wednesday. He cleaned out his stuff today. After 25 years at the Reading Terminal, Olivieri was evicted from his sandwich stand after a lease battle with the nonprofit board that manages the Market. Rick's Steaks serves its last at terminal. The legal ordeal cost Olivieri over $310,000 in legal fees, and still resulted in his having to leave the Reading Terminal. A recent Philly Magazine piece describes the epic battle, that ended up being a clash between the market staples, like Olivieri, and the new face of managment who wants to turn the Market into the same vanilla-type eatery that you would find in the food court at the mall. Icons: A Volatile Market.

The only good news is that it appears that no one is planning to take Olivieri's spot for the foreseeable future. At first, it looked like Tony Luke’s would take over the spot, but the future is now is unclear. I hope the ghost of Rick's Steaks lingers for a while.