Rich Pawlak

GUy,we are ALWAYS on every Friday on Starchat.net.

Oh a topic gift from heaven. Lately, Ive had fabulous fries at: Chickie & Pete's, Robbins and Frankford, just around the corner from the fabulous Grey Lodge Pub.. two words: Crab Fries! Curran's Irish Pub, 7201 Old State Rd. really great handcut beauties, with awesome wings (get the Cajun Wings) and big charcoal burgers to accompany; Great American Diner, Street Rd, Bensalem, more great handcut fries served with above average diner food and brick oven pizza; Ten Stone's (21st and South) fries, to me, have always been spectacular, and not oversalted when Ive ever had them (but that may explain my high blood pressure, now that I think of it.....) I also still have a soft spot for the seasoned fries at Rocco's Hoagies in the Bellevue Food court; they're tweaked "crab fries", but theyre done very nicely.

I can STRONGLY recommend the homemade scrapple at Cartlidge's Meats in the Trenton Farmers Market, 900 Spruce St. in Trenton, meatier and nicely spiced.

I've had an early report about (but havent yet seen) Dogfish Head Punkin being an excellent version this year, as it was last year. Killer food pairing suggestion for pumpkin beers (thank me later): Nachos

I had a glass of Heartland's Pumpkin last fall, and I found it too spiced and also quite thin. But let's stick with FEST beers on this thread. Pumpkin beers are an entirely different (and potentially delicious) animal.

Well the place was never packed any night I ventured in. But with the increasingly Latino population in the Chambersburg section in which Mambo's resided, I would have expected it to flourish. The demographics of the increasingly Latino population is decidedly more Guatemalan and Mexican and Salvadoran, so perhaps Puerto Rican cuisine was not compatible with the newer residents. I dunno. It's just sad. New restaurants just dont seem to take root in Trenton. Damn.

Last night's tasting of Flying Fish Oktoberfish and Lowenbrau Oktoberfestbier on our weekly beer chat onStarchat. net with some fellow inbibers, went as follows: FF Oktoberfish: rich, deep amber, with a slight sour cherry/plum aroma in the head, and a dense, malty first sip, almost a molasses note, and a nice smooth, tight finish. A great big mouthfull of Oktoberfest. Lowenbrau Oktoberfestbier: light golden with a puffy white head, slight skunk, and no malt discernable at first, but as it warms, great big bites of malt and hops, sharp and sweet all at once. Lighter than the FF (and most other American versions of this style), but pretty decent, if unexpectedly light in color and texture.

This is truly sad news. This was a terrific restaurant dedicated to the Puerto Rican culinary ouevre. Sad.

They're HERE! The beverage store shelves are starting to show this season's Oktoberfest beers, and it's a wonderful time of the year. SO far I've grabbed sixers of local Flying Fish Oktoberfish (had a glorious glassful of the stuff at Philly's Grey Lodge Pub the other night, and baby, it's a winner) and Lowebrau's Oktoberfestbier, and am planning to sample them tonight in our weekly beer chat on www.starchat.net (click on StarPirch, Channels, the "No Bull Inn") at approx 11:30 EST. Tasting notes to follow..... So what have you found out there, Oktoberfest-wise? Tasting notes, please!

If only Pigalle were open; it closed a few months ago, but I agree with you, it was.

What are your favorite romantic restaurants in the Philadelphia area, defined for my question as Philadelphia, the surrounding 5 counties of PA, and South Jersey? I'm working on something and I need your help. Thanks in advance!

MELT definitely works, and will get you a LOT of attention, I'd bet.

For a time, every Wednesday at the Grey Lodge in Philly, an Iranian friend of mine would join us to play Quizzo, and this friend, Fari, would bring along some of the coolest Middle Eastern food, felafels, kibbe, hummus and pita, schwarma, and often kebabs. That was just when Aprihop came out, and when we paired it with the food Fari would bring, it was an absolute revelation. A great counterpoint between the sweet and hoppy Aprihop. and the tangy, garlicky food. I live for beer-food pairings like that.

Or with one of the local breweries, for that matter. I'd love to see them team up with Yards or somebody like that. A Trubbel de Yards gelato would kick ass, very champagne-like with lots of rock candy and hop notes. As might a gelato made with Monk's own bottled Flemish Sour. Then there could be a Victory Golden Monkey gelato. And one with Sly Fox's Incubus. Flying Fish Coffee Porter gelato...and a Heavyweight Perkuno's Hammer Baltic Porter number, all plummy and dark.. Oh man, the possibilities are endless.

Thread hijack: Isn't Tartufo owned by the same folks that own Tiramisu (on, um, South St)? I'd be curious to hear a comparison: in my experience, Tiramisu is pretty expensive and only okay food. But they're the only place in town (of which I'm aware) that has fried artichokes regularly. We'll sometimes just sit at the bar and drink and eat artichokes. Tartufo is owned by Albert Delbello, who owns Il Portico and Tira Misu Kansas City Prime closed a while back, and has become another Kildare's Irish Pub, another outpost of a local chain.

Happy Birthday Bobbo! Hope you quaffed up a storm. Er, you're a homebrewer, right?

I would certainly say the elusive Eric Boerner, of Adam's Mark, Tony Clark's and Striped Bass fame, now working, I believe, for the Derek Davis Manayunk restaurant group. I would also nominate the unnamed person (might be chef-owner Peter Lamlein) who does the pastries for Overtures resataurant, damn talented stuff. And the unnamed pastry chef at 841 in Marlton, NJ, who made one mean sexy chocolate creme brulee and a blueberry lemon curd tart to die for, I swear.

Its a damn shame the bottles will have Iron City in them, though.

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS, CRAIG! Have a Moretti Birra Rossa!

Oh Lord, the meat! (and the salmon!) Oh Lord, the rain! (but the hush puppies at Smoke N Dudes were very nice) I can still smell the smoke! Oof.

Has it really? I don't know of anything there before. I do know of 5th and Bainbridge's history, but that's a different story. Gotta be a half dozen restaurants at that 4th and Bainbridge corner: when I was in college (about the time of the invention of electricity), the address was home to Shippens, a hugely popular bar/restaurant with exotic beers and wines by the glass, and by the mid-80's , maybe, it morphed into a French/Thai place whose name escapes me, another terrific restaurant, then something else, then Red's, then Tartine. And I know there were at least 2 other incarnations there. I've laso heard that the new owner of Tartine will be a sous-chef from a VERY popular BYOB.

Excuse me, but Delorenzo's in Trenton. End of story. But Philly Mag is just too chicken to venture there. And I know of what I speak; I used to write for the Best of Philly issue. But I will give ya Vitarelli's and Tony's; good pies!

And I gotta just say again for the record: we in Philly are lucky to have a Grey Lodge (soon to open a restaurant upstairs with an impressive menu!) in town, that can orchestrate an utterly unpretentious beer festival, with a wide variety of offerings and always some surprises, and then go right back to its everyday operation with even more stunning beers on tap. Case in point last night at the GL: Sly Fox Pete's Black Raspberry Wheat, an actually delicious fruit beer, and yet a discernable wheat prescence; Lancaster Alt, rich and malty and with some hops in there ! Heavyweight Pegalina Pale, a hoppy knockout of a pale ale; Brewers Art Resurrection Ale, a damn fine Belgian strong Weyerbacher Hefeweizen, crisp and light as a summer morning Never a letdown at this place; that's why I'm there every week, religiously.

From Michael Klein's Table Talk in today's Inky: Table Talk This is sad news, and I'll be curious to see what KIND of hands it's being turned over to. We dropped the ball on this one, folks; as mrbigjas noted in a previous thread, this was a place worth supporting.

Holly? You're on!