john b

I haven't had Cluck U wings in (too many to count) years. The original location opened when I was at Rutgers. They were some of the best wings I've ever eaten. Their sauce was the perfect combination of hot, sweet and sticky, like a combination of buffalo wing sauce and bbq sauce. Now I'm getting hungry...

Kitchen Kapers does knife sharpening, but I don't think its done onsite. I'm pretty sure that they send them out to be sharpened.

The PF Chang's in Marlton is constantly packed. Waits of an hour are common. I just don't get it. Joe's Peking Duck House, right across the street, is pretty good, as is Silk & Spice, a mile or two away on Rt 70.

Mt. Laurel is tough, because it's the land of chain restaurants, and most of the good restaurants are BYOB. Are you trying to keep it close to the turnpike? If not, maybe Cafe Lamberti in Cherry Hill or Catelli in Voorhees. If you want to go the banquet hall route, I've been to a bunch of events (weddings, Christmas parties) at Regency Palace in Mt. Laurel. It's a nice place, attached to a hotel, and the food has always been great.

I think most, if not all, of my college (Rutgers) eating dives are gone: Greasy Tony's Campus Pizza Evelyn's The Ledge

Coincidentally, I went to Moore Bros this morning to buy some wine for the snowstorm. They are very excited about the NY store. You'll see a great variety of wines in the $12-$20 range. Their focus is on food friendly wine, not the big, Parkerized, high octane wines that kill good food. Most of their inventory is French, Italian and German. What little US wine they carry I'd say is European style rather than California style. A great way to "introduce" yourself to their wines is to buy one of their pre-mixed Bon Marche' cases for $100--six reds, six whites, from small wine makes in some off the beaten path regions of France, Italy and Germany.

New York wine drinkers are in for quite a treat. I've been a loyal Moore Brothers patron since they first opened in NJ. Their focus on customer service is like no other place I've ever shopped. Have a recipe for a special dinner? Take it with you, they'll offer you three or four wines of varying prices that will be great matches for your meal. Whether you are the type who wants to spend time discussing the most intimate details of the wine you are buying, or you just want to run in and grab a bottle for a party, the staff is there to help you. It doesn't matter to them if you are spending $8 or $80 on a bottle, you'll get the same level of service.

Hey, nice Kamado!

Along the same lines, Sarcone's roasted vegetable hoagie is very good. I'm not a vegetable person, but I found myself really digging it.

That "someone" whose cajones are in the vice grips (ouch!) is the state legislature. It seems that every few years, some legislator will give some lip service to the idea of privatizing the liquor biz, then the idea quietly fades away. Thankfully, I live in NJ.

The only two I know of are what is now Dinic's NJ and the other is on 130 S at Federal St (it's unoccupied).

On the SE corner of the BHP and King's Hwy. It's an old White Tower burger place, so it seats about six.

From what I understand, Dinic's at the Terminal doesn't offer rabe as an option because most of their crowd doesn't know / like broccoli rabe and they were wasting their money keeping it on hand. ← Dinic's NJ outpost (Black Horse Pike, Mt. Ephraim) puts roasted peppers on their sandwiches. I'm pretty sure they have spinach, but I don't think they do the rabe thing.

There's a pasta dish with grated/shaved bottarga on the menu at Cafe Lamberti in Cherry Hill.

I like Dinic's for its slop factor. They really lay on the jus, which makes for a messy and very tasty sandwich.

I bought a Magic Hat holiday 12 pack the other day. I was told that the "mystery beer" in the 12 pack (which contained #9, Fat Angel, Ravell porter and the mystery beer) was a must try. Well, I guess the guy at the liquor store was just trying to get the stuff out the door, because the mystery beer, called 369, was mediocre at best. Magic Hat's website, for what it's worth, is a pain to use.

I made my first trip to John's today. I had the roast pork with sharp provolone. I didn't notice anyone ordering "greens" on their pork, so I guess they don't offer spinach or broccoli rabe. Oh well... The sandwich was great. The pork was sliced a little thicker than Tony Luke's, which gave it a better texture. I think John's may season their pork with a few more herbs than TL's. TL's pork is dominated by garlic (which is a good thing with pork); I noticed the garlic with John's, but also noticed other flavors...rosemary??...thyme?? John's wins in the bread category. Holly's site says that their bread is from the Carangi Bakery. It was very similar to Sarcone's bread. John's offers American, mild or sharp provolone cheese for the pork and beef. Service was a bit chaotic--the same line for the grill (cheesesteaks) and the "not the grill" (roast pork and roast beef) orders, so it can be a little confusing for a first timer when you end up ordering before the big truck driver in front of you Overall, I don't think you can go wrong with either John's or TL's (or Dinic's). I'd love to have the broccoli rabe option at John's (did I miss it somehow??), but I really liked their pork and their bread.

Today, Bell Beverage (Front St, Philadelphia, around the corner from Tony Luke's) had Hop Devil and Prima Pils on sale for $19.99/case. This is the first time I've ever seen them on sale.

Back in college, a local shot and a beer bar (patronized by the locals,not the college kids) started to draw a college crowd by selling $1.00 imported bottles every Wednesday night. Trying a bunch of these beers is what got me into the beer thing. After running through the list at the bar ($1.00 for a big Paulaner Hefeweizen?!?!), we found out about a liquor store across the river which had a wine and beer cellar. Every few weeks, we'd go to the store and buy a six pack of whatever beers we had never heard of. When I saw the hang tag on the Samichlaus (World's Strongest Beer!) and Thomas Hardy's (Rarest Beer in thr World!), we HAD to buy them. I knew nothing about beer at the time other than, "It tastes good," or "This sucks!" I read the label on the Hardy's, which explained that the beer could be aged for twenty five years. I drank one and thought, "Strong, dark, sweet...I'm not sure about this one." I don't think I liked it, but it didn't suck, either. So, I put the remaining bottles in a paper bag, took the bag home and put it in the closet. Somehow, the bag didn't get thrown away and I got it back when my mother gave me one of her many "Whatever you don't take out of the house this weekend gets thrown out next trash day" edicts. I decided that the holiday weekend would be a good time to try one of my two remaining bottles of this beer. I shared it with my cousin, who homebrews and worked as an assistant brewer at a now defunct microbrewery in PA. We cracked it open last night. Wow! Eighteen year old beer! Intense chocolate, toffee and raisin aromas. Most, if not all, of the carbonation had dissipated over the years. It was intensely sweet and viscous, no noticeable hops. I was amazed that a beer could hold up this long. So now I'm down to one little bottle. I think I'll wait until 2006, it's 20th birthday.

My favorite are mushroom caps stuffed with bacon, cheddar cheese, green onion and garlic. Sorry, I don't have a recipe, I've been making them for so long I just add the ingredients in a bowl until it tastes right.

Winter is my favorite time of the year to go beer shopping. This year's purchases (and I'm not done yet): Victory Old Horizontal Anchor Our Special Ale 2004 Corsendonk Christmas Ale Stoudt's Winter Ale Unibroue Edition 2004 2003 Samichlaus Still looking for: Troeg's Mad Elf Weyerbacher Winter Ale (which has the best label of all the winter beers!) Are there any others that stand out this year??

Modification: Your next lunch choice should be: on a spring or early fall day, Tony Luke's at the corner of Front and Oregon Streets, just off I-95. You and Lou can split: the chicken cutlet with broccoli rabe the roast pork with broccoli rabe and if you really must the cheesesteak. ← I know that Tony Luke's cheesesteaks are not held in as high regard as their roast pork sandwiches, but I found the cheesesteak with sharp Provolone and broccoli rabe as sublime as the other sandwiches above. Besides, where else are you going to get sharp Provolone on a cheesesteak? That alone, IMO, is worth giving it a try, although I will concede the roast pork sandwich is a cut above it. (Haven't tried the chicken cutlet yet.) ← After eating a hunk of 2 yr. aged provolone from DiBruno's this weekend, I'm convinced that provolone would taste good on anything. I like sliced, deli counter provolone on my cheesesteaks better than American (when Whiz is not an option). It has more flavor, it's less creamy and when it cools just a bit it gets pully and stringy, and I like pully and stringy.

I think the name might be a nod to the butchering terminology, whereby carcasses are broken down into 'primal' sections which are then cut down further into the usually traded cuts. Perhaps it's a legal grey area that needs tightening up; I suspect the majority of people buying prime rib think that they're buying USDA Prime meat. ← Allan "culinary bear" Brown nailed it! There's a big distinction between "Prime-as-in-Rib" and USDA Prime Grade beef. Most "Prime Rib" roasts are USDA Choice grade, and given the thick fat cap on the roast, the Choice grade beef usually does just fine - as long as it isn't overcooked. I'm impressed that someone from the UK noticed the distinction, when many many of us in the US are still baffled. ← I agree with the giving a big thumbs up for the choice graded rib roast. It works great, as that is the cut and grade the majority of us here in the US have access to. So John b, care to share your cooking method with us? When I do a rib roast it's always fresh popovers to go along, with twice baked taters, cheesy and rich with cream. woodburner ← I'm leaving the cooking to my mother this year. My contribution will be some sort of horseradish and/or blue cheese sauce for the beef and something for dessert. The twice baked potatoes are a must, IMO, with a rib roast.

It'll be bone-in, and I'm counting on leftovers.

Christmas dinner this year is going to be a prime rib roast, for ten adults and 4-5 kids. Is there a standard formula for ordering prime rib? I'm guessing one lb. per adult portion and 1/2 lb. per kid. Does that sound about right? Thanks.