Meet Gabrielle Dillon: Influencer, foodie, entrepreneur, mother, and wife of new Eagles running back AJ Dillon
The Green Bay native is ready to explore the best food in Philadelphia — and she’s bringing her husband, AJ Dillon, along for the ride.
Growing up in a tight-knit family in Green Bay, Wis., Gabrielle Dillon always viewed food as a bonding experience between friends and family. Now, the 25-year-old is combining her love for food with her influencer lifestyle, and her husband, Eagles running back AJ Dillon, is supporting her every step of the way.
“I had a TikTok a really long time ago, and I posted a video called ‘A Day in the Life of an NFL Wife on Gameday’ or something along those lines,” Dillon said. “And I remember it just kind of took off and AJ was like, ‘You should continue to do social media. You should make this work. You’re really good at it.’”
Since then, the University of Wisconsin graduate has gained more than 150,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram combined, using her platform to create lifestyle and food content. But the political science and history major isn’t limiting herself to one specific brand.
“[My content] is really just kind of everything under the sun, so I kind of brand it as lifestyle, but I don’t want to be too tied to one thing forever,” Dillon said.
On Dillon’s personal social media page, followers can find family recipes from her “Table for 3” series, photos from her and her husband’s work with the Dillon Family Foundation, and pictures of their 2-year-old son, Trey, who happens to share the same birthday as AJ (May 2).
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Dillon also shares an Instagram account and a food blog with her husband, called Dining With the Dillons, which has gained more than 20,000 followers on Instagram. The page features food reviews from Green Bay, Florida — where her parents now live — and of course, Philadelphia.
After Dillon signed with the Eagles in March, the family packed its bags and made the move just four weeks later. After living in Philly for almost three months, she spoke with The Inquirer about her foodie adventures, being a mother, and adjusting to a new life in a different city.
“Since we have our little one, we wanted to make the move here and get settled in, get to know the area and get to fall in love with Philly before the season starts,” Dillon said.
This Q&A has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Had you ever been to Philly before moving here?
A: I hadn’t. We flew to Philly for AJ to sign with the Eagles, and that was literally my first time here. And then the second time we were looking at apartments and condos and such. So, I have never been. But thankfully, I do have quite a few friends who are from the suburbs of Philly, so I was calling them right away when I found out we were coming here.
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Q: What did you know about Philly fans coming into this?
A: I knew they were very passionate and gritty. And that’s kind of like what I’ve been told. I know the Packers have always been full of really passionate fans, but everyone says that Philly fans are just die-hard. I was almost nervous at first, but not anymore. I’m so excited.
Q: When you did come down for his contract signing, what was your favorite thing about that visit?
A: Honestly, I just loved the organization right away. It’s intimidating moving somewhere that we don’t really know anyone. I’ve never been here before, and we have a toddler. So just finding out how welcoming and supportive they were was my favorite part. But then getting into the city, I was really excited that there was going to be such a good food scene.
Q: Let’s get into the food scene. Can you tell me a little bit more about how Dining With the Dillons got started?
A: [AJ and I] met during COVID and we couldn’t really go to many places, but we were always trying to think of things that we could do. So, we started making a list of restaurants that we were going to try in Door County, Wis. Once things started to open up, we would go to all these. So we just started by having this giant whiteboard in his apartment that we would use for everything — lists and goals and all that.
Then we’d rank them based on service, the ambience, the food. And eventually we checked them off slowly and said we should start a food account. So, we started doing that primarily in Wisconsin, but we expanded it on trips and to Florida, and now we’re doing it here in Philly. We love to do it, and we have so much fun on our date nights. Food is such a culture and people have stories with it and it’s perfect to bond over.
Q: Were you both foodies from the start?
A: I would say yes. I think we’ve always been foodies, but I think we kind of expanded on it together. My family’s always been really big into it. Food is seen as a get-together. When we go out to eat, we’re not on our phones. When we’re at home, we’re in the kitchen, cooking together. It’s been a really big part of my lifestyle of family and togetherness.
Q: Someone else who’s also a huge foodie with the Eagles is Howie Roseman. Have you had any food conversations with him yet?
A: I got to meet Howie right away when AJ signed with the Eagles. He was so excited that we were foodies, and he was really excited that we were going to get to check out the foodie Philadelphia scene. So that was fun to have that connection. I know he’s given AJ recommendations too, which is always really fun.
Q: And I see you’ve already tried a lot of spots in Philly. Were there any of them that really stood out to you so far?
A: Well, I would say Fiorella was definitely one of our favorites. The pasta there was so good. We love Parc, always. That’s kind of one of our good go-to spots now. I would say AJ’s favorite is Shay’s Steaks and Butcher and Singer.
Q: I saw the video of you trying Angelo’s after Big Dom’s recommendation. Was that actually your very first cheesesteak ever?
A: Nobody come at me for this, I’d never had a cheesesteak before, which is funny. I’m from a place where people love meat, cheese, and bread, but I had never had one before. So I feel like I don’t have much to compare it to, but it was really good. I was very pleasantly surprised. … I liked the pizza more than the cheesesteak. Now, I don’t know if that’s because I like pizza more than cheesesteaks, but we got their pizza and it was definitely one of my favorite pizzas ever.
Q: Besides the cheesesteaks and pizza, has there been anything else that’s really surprised you about Philadelphia?
A: I think what really surprised me was just all it had to offer. I haven’t been to Philadelphia before, and I really didn’t know anything about it, and I feel like the rep is always just crazy fans. So I was like, is this going to be an intimidating location? I know I love the team. It’s such an awesome team. But ever since we moved to Philadelphia, the people have been great. There’s so much to do. I love history. So, I’m having way too much fun booking museum trips and such. I think I was just surprised at how much I would love the city. I’m obsessed with it here.
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Q: And I love that you guys are still doing all the date nights. I know that’s probably more difficult with a toddler.
A: Yeah, it’s so difficult. That’s actually why we started doing it. It was one of our New Year’s resolutions. We were doing different things where we had sitters for, but it was never really quality time. We love Trey so much, but there’s no face-to-face time. He wants to be the center of attention. So thankfully, I found an awesome sitter out here and we are able to go out.
Q: Before we go, can you actually tell me more about the Dillon Family Foundation?
A: We started this foundation a little over a year ago. We’ve just always wanted to give back, and we felt like just having this platform and this short period of time in our life where we just have such a big audience, this is something we could really capitalize on and really utilize to give back. Our goal is to combat food insecurity, and that’s just always been something that we’re really passionate about as foodies. We have this luxury to always have these awesome meals, but some people just do not have that, and you see it often everywhere you go. That’s primarily been our effort. We want to give back to families in any way we can. We primarily started it in Wisconsin, but we’re excited to expand our efforts out here.