Rich Pawlak

From beer writer Lew Bryson tonight, via Twitter: "God help me: Deus & crab fries is a delicious match."

"Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for lunch, maybe early dinner," says the owner in the Trenton Times on Sunday. "And now cash only, like the old days." Yeah, classy, too.

Katie, the NJ Hot Dog Tour is one wacked-out,hot dog geek's-dream-come-true of a day, and this year's Tour also included a stop at a great German butcher shop. Like any Tour, if you pace yourself, you can really experience some terrific eating. This year's Tour was my third, and I hope I never ever miss one.

The pie's what? (apostrophe alert!) LOL

I can attest to the utter deliciousness of the pies at Nomad; not always perfect, but pretty damn good, some of the best I've had in a while. And I live amidst pizza riches in the Trenton area.

Theree beers made it into the beer fridge last week: Flying Fish Oktoberfish, denser, richer, maltier than last year, with a discernable hop bite, a very nice Festbier indded! Saranac Pumpkin Ale, my beer of choice with a hot plate of nachos; subdued spicing, nice round mouthfeel with nice amlt profile Yards Brawler, the brewery's session beer, a roasty, toasty brown mild that satisfies greatly, and goes well with steak, beef stew, even maple-glazed grilled salmon!

Once one of the state's finest steakhouses, and a wildly popular place for state politicos in Trenton, Pete Lorenzo's Cafe, seems to have done an el foldo, according to today's Trentonian newspaper: http://trentonian.com/articles/2009/09/19/news/doc4ab4686417c73655588099.txt Sad. Once a great restaurant.

Knowing Carmen, I seriously doubt that his rolls would come from Amoroso's. He used a little known bakery in South Jersey when he ran Rocco's Hoagies in the Bellevue Food Court. He is a serious hoagie roll fanatic.

Those pics are mouth-watering.

POTUS is in fact a beer guy, too, and favors local Goose Island beers when in Chicago. And he's made more than few stops at brewpubs when on the campaign trail.

Also grabbed a quick lunch at Shank's today, a chicken cutlet Italiano, as good as it ever was, which means it was great.

We're putting the finishing touches on the Memorial Service for our dear friend Gary Bredbenner at the Grey Lodge Public House on August 18 at 6:30. Several of us will speak; Lew Bryson will read from his touchingly brilliant telling of Gary's burial and wake, and we'll be enjoying some very good stories, food and drink in Gary's memory. I hope you can join us. http://www.theomnivorenow.blogspot.com

A Philadelphia -area memorial will take place on August 18, 2009 at 6:30Pm at the Grey Lodge Public House, one of Gary's very favorite places to be. Details are HERE. We hope to see you there.

This is an exceptional piece of writing, Lew Bryson's poignant telling of Gary Bredbenner's funeral on Monday. A fitting farewell to our friend.

And here is Gary Bredbenner's obituary from today's Philadelphia Daily News: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/obituaries..._a_fun_guy.html

Here is Gary's OBITUARY, from a newspaper in Sunbury, PA, near his hometown of Danville. ANyone wanting to attend the funeral on Monday, please PM me to discuss car pooling/ride sharing from the Philly area.

Matt you were probably at a lot of beer and food events where Gary was also in attendance, like Grey Lodge's Friday The Firkinteenth, or a slew of Philly Beer Week events, or The Book and the Cook, stuff like that. Gary always seemed to be everywhere. That's why he'll be sorely missed here and around Philly.

My dear friend Gary passed away this week. Here on eGullet, you saw his many posts as "gbredben". He was 44 and lived in South Philadelphia. He died of a pulmonary embolism. In Philadelphia, and on much of the East Coast, if you went to a beer event, beer festival, or food festival, you saw Gary Bredbenner. He was ubiquitous. And his passion for food and drink was contagious. He was a regular prescence on eGullet. org, Facebook, Twitter and a lot of other beer and food websites. He chimed in almost every week on our weekly Friday night beer chat, The No Bull Inn on http://www.starchat.net/. Beer writer Lew Bryson has this to say:"Gary always was the happy person in the room. I'll miss his smile and jolly eyes. Nice guy, loved beer, good to be with." Famed Philly bartendrix Katie Loeb, who works at the new Oyster House wrote me too: "I always looked forward to having Gary come visit me at wherever I was working at the time. He would make my day with his sense of humor, great stories and incredible joie de vivre. He was a ray of sunshine. I will miss him." Gary loved barbecue, and was a regular practitioner of the art himself. He was an avid homebrewer and made some pretty tasty beers. And he loved those Philadelphia Eagles and went to their training camp at Lehigh every summer and to as many home games as he could. He loved the Phillies, too, but he bled Eagles green. He is the only person to have participated in every one of my annual Golden Age of Beer in Philadelphia Tours across 11 years. That's always amazed me. But he loved them, and was always one of the first folk to sign up every year. But aside from all that, Gary was a good soul. He was sweet to my kids. Ben and Sophie loved when we would have dinner with him, or meet him at my favorite watering hole, the Grey Lodge. That is where I last saw him a week ago, celebrating Xmas in July, just as you'd expect him. His funeral is Monday July 27th, 11am @ The Roat Kriner Funeral Home 1715 Bloom Rd Danville, PA 17821 p: 570 275 0412

Finally got to slip into the place yesterday (alas, no Katie!), and was able to squeeze in a new classic Philly fishhouse lunch: fried oysters and chicken salad, with a glass of Yards Brawler. And it was superb, the oysters juicy and judiciously breaded, the coating virtually crackled under the times of my fork. The chicken salad was nicely turned out, with really flavorful chicken. It was just a terrific combo. The Yards Brawler was the perfect beer with this dish, robust and malty with a wisp of hop character to remind you it was a Yards. And a low alcohol session beer, especially helpful for lunch, and with a 50 mile drive ahead of me. The place was evern more handsome than pictures have previously shown; the oyster plates displayed on the whitewashed brick walls are just stunning, and the rest of the place is just open and inviting, a great re-do of the space. Lots of happy oyster eaters dined alongside me at the bar. All the oysters looked gorgeous. More on my blog, The Omnivore, including pictures, soon.

Moustache Bill's in Barnegat Light for breakfast and lunch. As good as it gets on LBI.

Little Szechuan is VERY good, as is the grocery next door. It's a popular place with the area's Chinese and Malaysian restaurant chefs and workers, as is Szechuan House on Nottingham Way in Hamilton.

The new BLACKFISH in Stone Harbor, a branch of the one in Conshohockem, PA, is a must-visit. Chip Roman is a young genius chef, especially with seafood.

We forgot the obvious: Holly Moore

I can solidly recommend Ha Long Bay in Bryn Mawr (816 W. Lancaster, just a few dorrs down from the Bryn Mawr Theater), a delightful Vietnamese, with fragrant pho, killer shrimp pancakes and well executed bun dishes (broken rice variations). Very inexpensive and the touch is light, but auithentic.

Ain't what it used to be, be prepared. ← Deorenzo's, Top Road Tavern, and now La Tropical and Kebab House all make Trenton a bit brighter place by just being there.