Rich Pawlak

Tim, Sweetbreads will be included, right? If not, fermented fish kidneys would be an acceptable substitute. Oh sweet mother of God, this is taking a wrong turn.

Sounds like you're doing just fine, Mongo. Hope you get to try REDFISH; my last visit there they put out some killer Belgian brews, and some very nice Cajun cooking. Also OASIS is worth a visit.

Isn't the place in Boulder called Mountain Sun? Great beers, and some very good food, and the 60's hippie vibe thrown in for good measure.

The hand-made knot of a really good Amish sourdough pretzel (Gibbles, Bachman's, Uncle Jerry's, Revonah, Wege, King's, Utz, Redner's, Hammond's, Martin's and a few others from Lancaster, Berks and York counties in PA), especially when it is covered with a generous coillection of salt. Glass of milk. Heaven.

Food-beer pairing suggestion: Aprihop and Middle Eastern food (hummus, baba ganojh, felafel, kabobs)! An incredible match!

I will be in Miami from 5/2-5/9, and need a few suggestions. I have already made plans to dine at Norman's, Chef Allan's and Mark's South Beach, along with must-visits to Versailles and Tap Tap. I am also looking for opinion on Norm Van Aken's new place, Mundo, as well as OLA, the new Doug Rodriguez place. Any others I should add to my list? I havent been to Miami in about 5 yrs, and I'd like a mix of luxe spots (already may have those) as well as less expensive (and less pretentious) places. Is Lil' Red's still around in Ft. Lauderdale? That was one funky fun BBQ joint! Also, any decent beer bars or brewpubs? I know the chjoices aren't great, but at least one beer place will do. Thanks!

Lisa, as always with the DDC, you will get an e-mail invite with details, prices and whom to RSVP to, in a few days. So check your e-mail everybody, and don't panic! BTW, lots of pics of you at the SCANtastic event on Ch. 6 Friday night! Dishing up that cheese!

I like the idea, but let's discuss this in PM and by phone and really plan! A DDC thing can bring 40-60 people, no joke, always has.

Sorta like asking which one of your incorrigible, bratty kids you love the most (not that I know anything about that....). I actually like Rolling Rock with pizza and red sauce Italian; inobtrusive and refreshing against the garlic and acid in red sauce. Pilsner Urquell with Sechuan Chinese dishes, a terrific pairing that enhances the hot-sour nature of Sechuan and still cools some of the heat. PBR isn't a bad lawn-mower beer (actaully tried one last summer, very palatable) Coors Extra Gold and Winterfest are both also acceptable , richer brews but still with that Coors sweetness. Beck's Dark with hot dogs, brats or other sausage makes a decent pairing when you can find the stuff.

If you look at that exterior shot, it looks like definitely some characters there! Sorry the pizza was not up to par, guys. I still enjoyed the slkinsey photo-journal. Katie, I love the idea of an East Coast Pizzapalooza. It's a full day, but Philly is a do-able day trip from NYC. I suggest Staten Island (referencing Ed Levine's NY Times article of last year, comparing about 5 or 6 SI pizzerias), or a return to Trenton, midway for all of us, and, still, to me, the best stuff on earth.

I still think (and this is OT too, sorry) that the best Quizzo in the city is at the Grey Lodge (6235 Frankford) on Wednesday nights: awesome tap selection, wines by the glass, and an impressive selection of whiskies and bourbons, along with the most perfect beer food ever created, Magic Mushroom Wraps, and NE Philly-style tomato pie (cheese on bottom, sauce on top). Tough questions, too, and bawdy (no, sorry often obscene) team names.

There is now a new Famous Dave's on Route 1 in Edison. Eager to try it now!

Place I miss around Philly: Nicolosi's Roast Beef and Pork on 7th St in South Philly: tiny, little place, stand up only, and great spoleto rolls that made the sandwiches look that much better. DiNic's on 10th and Oregon: in college, it was open 24 Hours,and man, did the roast beef and pork taste great at 2 or 3 AM...... Strolli's: food like my nonna made, and so cheap and nostalgically romantic, it was actually a cool date restaurant! The Commisary: because it opened our eyes to creative food and let us watch most of it being made to order for us, a clever idea Frog: because it went the next logical step from Commisary and made simple American food grand.

Old Original Levis was a revelation to me in college, in the mid-70s, when a bunch of us from Penn would venture down to then-still-funky South St. and hit Levis and eat like kings for a couple of bucks. Still the best hot dogs I've ever had,and I grew up on good dogs in and around Scranton (Yankee Lunch, Coney Island, Abe's in Wilkes-Barre, and the great dogs from Gutheinz butcher shop). Levis dogs were spicy, popped when you bit into them, and when I finally had the hot dog-fish cake combo sandwich, great mother of God, it was pure heaven.

I smell a DDC dinner all over this place; we've gotta keep a place like this busy and thriving.

I have 6 bottles of PJ Le Fleur 1988. Any reviews or comments available for this vintage? I've been unsuccessful in locating any reviews.

My fondest memories are of Sunday dinners at my maternal grandmother's kitchen table, crammed into a small kitchen in Scranton, PA; Nonna was Southern Italian, from Bari, and created magnificently simple Sunday dinners of home made gnocchi or ravioli or cappaletti (she never called them orrechetti --"little ears"--but rather cappaletti --"little hats"), meatballs, sausage, and pork chops in a smooth red sauce; tangy, bitter salads of chicory and lettuce; and hard cookies and fresh fruit for dessert. Truly spectacular food that I still attempt to recreate in Sunday dinners at my house with friends and family. My mother's family was quite large, so when the last-minute invitation came from Nonna , you dropped whatever you were doing and accepted, because it might be some time before you were invited again.

The OD Oak Barrell is one of the finest beers, if you can even call it that, that I've ever experienced. I will be heading down to State Line Liquors in Elkton, MD, as soon as they have a case.

Lemme clear the air about this Horn & Hardart stuff, revived because of a new post. H&H was my account about 2 yrs ago now, when I worked as PR Director for their ad agency. For years after the demise of the automats ( I ate at the last Philly one when I was in college in the 70s), Arnold Katz purchased the recipes and continued to make some of the classic dishes as frozen take-out items, and fresh-served take-out items for delis and supermarkets, primarily in the Philadelphia area. Some of you will remember the many H&H retail stores that used to dot the Philly area, in strip malls and train stations, as late as the 80s. Well, early in 2000 Katz and his son, Rob, decided to revive the name and many of the dishes and coffee with coffee bar/cafes bearing the H&H name, and began franchising as such, starting, of course, in Center City Philadelphia, and soon selling stores in the suburbs and New Jersey. That's when I came aboard, and began to work on their account. Over the last year or so, the elder Katz passed away, and there have been many, many, somewhat ugly franchisee disputes, among other things, and I have left the agency who represented them, and the agency dropped them as a client, mostly due to a lot of past-due bills. There have been several locations that have closed, or been changed into other kinds of coffee houses. I can remember doing the PR work for Leonia and the Trump casino location, as well as a few of the Philly and NJ stores. I cant even imagine what some of the franchisee disputes have been about, but I'm not surprised by the collapse of some of these places. I will say this: the macaroni and cheese is as good as I remember from college, as are the baked beans, creamed spinach, tapioca pudding and the smooth, robust coffee. Thank God they remained faithful to the old recipes at the corporate kitchen. I imagine that the H&H website should have an accurate listing of current locations. They had plans for a big expansion into suburban New York, but I have to wonder how that may be coming along.

Whatever you do,don't miss KIM'S in Christiansted, a wonderful, homey, authentic Cruzan restaurant.

It's always been a good time, Jim and Herb, and I must say that this year's beer menus throughout were spectacular. Broadest variety of styles and breweries, as well as superb food, especially with dinner.

In what pic, Steve, and what would be your teacher's name? I have the attendee list.

Thanks for the kind words, Chia, but the Tours are a reflection of the fun people who attend it. Here are a few more pics, this time of the March 20th Tour, courtesy of the aforementioned Ms. Chen and her friends. Most of these are exteriors of the locations visited, for the exterior-impaired. Ludwig's Garten, our lunch stop. The venerable McGillin's, on tiny Drury Lane in the shadows of Center City Philadelphia McGillin's owner Chris Mullins, giving a traditional Irish Toast to the Tour-goers, as a fedora-wearing Gary Bredbenner contemplates his next beer. McMenamin's Tavern in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philly The Standard Tap, festooned with logos from local microbreweries Flying Fish, Victory and Yards The fermenters at Yards Brewing Co. And yes, we often get to sample beer directly from them. The tavern/reception room at Yards, everyone's favorite new lounge, with Inquirer reporter George Ingram (3rd from l. rear) digging the vibe. Tour-goers outside the Grey Lodge Dinner at Independence Brewing Co. Chia Chen's large group of friends and love slaves at Independence

And you literally rescued the first Tour form near-disaster, Chris, so much thanks. I also had several people comment on how I was obviously getting a better class of driver these days, and I know they weren't talking about Lazar or me.

"Sloshed vans"??? Were you drunk when you wrote this? We didnt have no stinkin sloshed vans! Did we?