Rich Pawlak

An interesting opinion on this topic can be found in the latest installment of "Buzzin'" a monthly feature of beer writer Lew Bryson's website, www.lewbryson.com, and his place to vent and opinionate. This month's take on buying light beer is just classic. This is a consistently entertaining and informative website, IMHO.

And rest assured, Philadelphia loves you back! Oh Jesus, I hope not. That damn advertising campaign done sunk in your brain, boy.

Well, that's always been the nasty rumor about Corona. Let the stuff get warm, and it will really freak you out.

Some of the worst beers I've tasted: Billy Beer Old Milwaukee Keystone Schmidt's of Philadelphia National Bohemian Cave Creek Chili Beer Budweiser Michelob Michelob Ultra Coors Cutter I swear, it doesnt get any worse than that.

From my Penn college days, I'd been a big fan of Miss Bea-Bea's and then Ron's. Only the Rib Crib in Germantown came close for quality and consistency, though they were always more expensive. Never had a bad rib or plate of chopped meat at Bea-Bea's or Ron's. I've heard great things about the BBQ in Lawnside, NJ, near Collingswood, and I think it's about time to check them out.

There are more than a few domestic smoked beers out there. On the east coast, one of the best versions I've had in a long time comes from Heavyweight Brewing Co., in Ocean Township, NJ, and is called "Cinderbock", a wonderfully sweetly smoky brew that comes damn close to being a Xmas ham sandwich in a glass, missing only mustard. It is surprisingly easy to drink, smooth and very balanced. Thye have even produced a version on an aged wood cask, most recently served at The Standard Tap in Philadelphia. Baltimore Brewing Co. produces a terrific Ruachbier annually for their Degroens label, and it is slightly more assertive than Cinderbock, with somewhat less sweetness in the mouth. At last year's Great American Beer Fstival, smoked beers were a dominant style of beer, made in nearly every part of the country by microbreweries and brewpubs, some more successfull than others. Pizza Port Brewing of Solana Beach , CA, regularly makes a smoked porter, and has also made a wooden barrel aged version, both utterly spectacular. Dogfish Head Brewing from Delaware has also experimented with smoked beers, and may yet produce another one this year, at their whim. Old Dominion Brewing in Ashburn, VA also produces a mighty fine smoked beer, available usually in late summer/early fall.

Holly, there has been a Wegman's in Lawrenceville, NJ, 45 min or less from CC Philly, for more than a year now. Now you can take your pick. RP

Such a northern NJ bent to this topic! When the truly finest pizza in the state exists humbly in Trenton and its environs. Both of the Delorenzo's pizza joints serve perhaps the finest tomato pies in the state, hands down. The Hudson St. Delorenzo's may be the best representation of the genre, with the Hamilton Ave. Delorenzo's (relatives of the original, but not affiliated) serve nearly the same product, with slight, almost imperceptable variations (a white pie with broccoli, a more garlicky white clam pie, a slightly saucier red pie). Either place is pilgramage-worthy, hour-long wait worthy, and astonishingly good.

I too am very fond of both Marra's and Sarcone's Bakery tomato pie. Living near Trenton, I am spoiled with Delorenzo's nearby, but ridiculously busy most of the time. I can however vouch for both the quality of Top Road Tavern's pizza, on Brunswick Pike in North Trenton (pretty smoky bar area though, one big demerit). And tonight I actually broke down and ordered takeout from the OTHER Delorenzo's in Trenton, this one located on Hamilton Ave and Fairmount Ave., a cousin to the original on Hudson St., and both the tomato pie and white clam pie were fabulous, yeasty charred crust, thin and light with that perfect Trenton mix of sauce and cheese on the one, clams, garlic parsley and olive oil on the other. And for all these years, I had heard it was not as good as the original Delorenzo's. Poor stupid me for listening. Andrew, the next time you make your way here, we will hit this place, much less of a wait. And a bathroom! RP

I swear this sounds like another DDC suggestion. Hmmmmmmm.. Rich Pawlak Stirring the pot

It is 4 yrs old, we were told by the staff.

Thank God Ive been getting out to eat in the past few days, the affects of cabin fever, no doubt. Tonight our foursome ventured a little north of Princeton to tiny, utterly romantic La Principessa, located in an unlikely, and very un-romantic shopping center on Rte 27, called the Kingston Mall, a few miles north of the college town, in tiny Kingston, NJ. A single, 40-seat dining room, framed like four-poster bed in white trellis-work covered in faux grapes and grapevines, a small, 6-seat full service bar beyond that, and that is the entirety of the place. Two cheerful waitresses working. We got there, fortunately, early, and the place soon filled up. On a Sunday night no less. We started with warm, crunchy, little garlic-sesame knot rolls brought to the table with a herbed olive oil, yummy. We ordered the Antipasto La Principessa, a "specialty of the house", and were not disappointed. On the huge plate were roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella disks, roma tomato slices, sopressata, garlicky brocolli rabe, grilled zucchini, hot cherry peppers stuffed with ham and provalone and flawlessly fried calamari served with a fra diavolo sauce, some of the best calamari I've had in a long time. We asked for, and received some bread for accompaniment, and it came sliced, warm, rustically crusty. Complimentary salads with dinner, and no afterthought salads either. Organic field greens and roma tomatoes, as promised on the menu, dressed in a nice balsamic vinaigrette. Entrees were enormous and pretty decent. A good rendition of fettucini Alfredo, made with home-made fettucini, was the classic, eggy, cheesey delight, almost feather-light, with good bite to the pasta. Nephew chose a safe bet, Chicken Parmigiana,an enormous, lightly breaded cutlet over home-made linguine, sauced with a beautiful tomato-basil gravy. A very nice version, and almost laughably huge. But nephew is 16; he didnt leave a bite on the plate. Another dining partner chose roast pork loin, with side of broccoli rabe and pasta. The pork itself was tasty, but lukewarm, and the surrounding demiglace was a bit congealed, perhaps spending some time under a heat lamp. Her pasta was more of that superb fettucini, sauced with some of that outstanding red gravy. The broccoli rabe, as it was on the antipasto platter, was served cold, an odd thing to me, but it took all of the rabe's bitterness away. Our waitress couldnt explain why it was served that way, and never returned with an explanation from the chef, as she had promised. My entree was outstanding, a rustic bowl of grilled, marinated chicken breast tossed with fennel-filled sweet Italian sausage, portobello mushrooms, red bliss potatoes (the menu described Yukon Golds) and home-made linguini. Like my nephew, I didnt leave a scrap. Everyone at the table agreed that I had the best entree, but no one was really complaining about theirs either. Peace at last, and relative silence at the table, with everyone concentrating on their food. We noticed that was pretty much the drill with every table around us. A table full of food brought relative silence, and humms of pleasure. Too stuffed to even consider dessert, we departed, after paying a modest bill of $80, an oustanding value for the quality (and quantity ) of food received. Wine list and beer list (plenty of Italian selections on both lists, including Moretti Birra Rossa, the hard-to-find Italian red beer) both looked good, but none of us was in the mood for alcohol. Perhaps our next visit, which, I am sure will one of many more. Rich Pawlak

We dragged our teen nephew out to the Turkish Restaurant-A Family Place last night. Fabulous. Not good. Fabulous. We first drove over Rte 1 and onto Rte 13 South in PA from Trenton, and went to the the first Turkish restaurant you encounter (yes there are TWO on Rte 13), this one just south of the Bucks County Courier- Times building and the Tullytown train station on the east side of Rte 13 south. This diminutive place had a cowded parking lot ( agood sign), but when we entered, we were hit with two blasts: dense smoke and frightfully loud, live Turkish music. We ran back to the car and proceeded further south to the Turkish-Family restaurant. Also a full parking lot, and still a few tables open. No smoking is allowed here, thankfully, and no live music on this night, but pleasant enough Turkish dance music in the background. Tables full of loud, Russian families and couples on this night, all lustily enjoying their food and drink. "I dont understand this menu" the 16 yr old nephew whined. "What am I supposed to order?" we walked through the menu as best we could, but the English translations aren't much help, nor is the waiter we had, but he was earnest and tried very hard to explain dishes to us (remember I was not dining with even remotely adventurous diners, though the nephew has potential). We ordered thusly: Hummus, as good as Ive ever had, served up with dense slabs of rustic,Turkish bread and some lavash (thin, light pita); Shepherd's Salad, a toss of diced tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and green peppers, with fruity, gorgeous olive oil. Heaven when using the bread to dunk into it all. Cizcik, the yougurt-garlic-cucumber sauce, just a good condiment for everything, classic. Beef Kabob, which came out, not on skewers or even loose over rice, but as a stew with potatoes, carrots, onions, peas and a light gravy. I should make stew this good in my life; it was as if the whole stew was charred over flame, magnificent flavors. "Some kebob are not kebob on stick, you know," said our waiter. Well, thanks for that. But I wasnt about to let this humble plate go back to the kitchen. I was more enthusiastic about this dish than the dining partner, but hey, you know the story. It was that good . My choice was Adan Kebob Spicy, which was seasoned ground meat formed around its skewers and grilled, served over lavash bread and with rice and bulgar pilafs, and some lettuce and veggies for stuffing into the lavash. Spicy and very very good. You play mix and match and play with all of the food on your table and you are feasting, my friend, a little of this and that, and it all makes sense and it all works. Nephew ordered from the "Pitas" side of the menu and ordered an "Everything", which brought out thicker pita , toppped with seasoned ground beef, Turkish pastrami and Turkish sausage ("beef cold cuts, you know, like in deli", our waiter told us, confusingly), and Kaseri cheese, baked like a pizza. It was dramtic presentation, like a giant oval pizza cut into almost symetrical slices, really a nice dish, very generous and fun to eat, a superb combination of flavors. Even nephew liked it. Desserts were down to just a few things , owing to the later hour, and the large parties before us, no doubt, but we shared a large, foil baking pan of Turkish rice pudding, with a thin cream cust on top, very sweet but also very refreshing after all of the garlic and spices in our savory dishes. Lots of Turkish coffee being seved at the other tables, but we dared not, as we wanted to sleep for the next few days . Our bill came to $54 for 3 people , an amazingly delicious bargain, considering we took home half of the "pizza" and most of the cucumber yogurt. I cannot wait to get back to this place, the menu should be full of future fun. I counted AT LEAST 45 seats here, more than enough for a DDC dinner on a Monday or Tuesday night, I'll bet. $25 or less should also buy us an amazing variety of food, all prepared with obvious pride and care. This place is a real gem.

Well, Steve is was indeed a pleasure to meet up with you and your lovely wife as well. Damn, it was a lot of food, and I found, on the whole, that the rodizio offerings matched the quality of the several Newark Ironbound rodizio places I've been visiting for years, and the side dishes were actually better than I've had. The service was much warmer and more genuine than at any of the NY or Newark places, too. And the price we paid, so terrifically orchestrated by Gary Kritz (SJ Epicurean), was an outstanding value, something for which our DDC dinners have become known. I was really glad you could spend some time with us. RP

I didnt order in Spanish, and my dining companion, who can speak Spanish, is not an adventurous diner, so that didnt help--or hurt--matters. A few weeks back Joan Belknap reviewed the place in the Trenton Times (I was shocked she would venture to such a place. She is less adventurous than my dining partner) , and raved about several of the dishes. Had we been with a few others, I would have surely tried one of the fish dishes, like the Kingfish. But I was tickled to death with the mofongo (secret ingredient, as told to me by Jose Diaz---a little yucca), just a spectacularly earthy dish.

We slipped into the new MAMBO'S last Friday night, in a horrible torrential rain, and what a bright, friendly place (albeit almost empty) laced with salsa in the background. This is the location of the former Joe's Tomato Pies on Clinton Ave. (550 Clinton Ave., not far from the Trenton Amtrak station) on the very edge of Chambersburg. It has been freshened with blond woods, wrought iron accents, Latin record album covers and wonderful aromas. Joe's venerable pizza ovens remain, and so does pizza as a menu item! But the rest of the menu, confusingly printed, is decidedly Latino, with Cuban, Puerto Rican and what I'll call "fringe Latin" dishes. A hearty chicken vegetable soup was perfect for the weather outside, a rich, cloudy broth full of torn chicken and diced veggies. Its fragrance filled the room. An appetizer sampler plate. called a "Pachanga" was piled with cornmeal sticks, fried cassava, and fried and sweet plantains. Empanadillas were feather light, crisp-crunchy and nicely filled with seasoned meat and peppers. A mild , orange dipping sauce was alongside and outstanding. A basket of garlic knot rolls come to the table with butter and more mild dipping sauce. Get a bottle of this stuff to take home. They actually offer it on the menu, along with bottles of house "hot sauce", which is impossibly hot, but delicious. But really really hot. A bottle of the hot stuff is on every table, and you will feel even the tiniest drop in your food, I swear. Fire-breather stuff. I chose Mofongo (mashed plantain mixed with garlic) for my entree, and here it's molded into a large crispy cup and filled to ridiculous overflowing with (my choice) roast pork. It was fabulous, the mofongo was again crispy on the outside, moist and fluffy on the inside, and the pork was classic, shredded suckling pig, sweet, smoky skin and citrusy meat. This dish can also be had filled with broth (!) or seafood (my next visit, I will order it this way). I've had mofongo in Puerto Rico, but it was never this good. Shrimp and steak kabobs were nicely done, layered with onions and peppers, served with moist yellow rice and magnificent "house beans" smoky red beans in a piquant sauce. Portions are huge here, hence we had no room for desserts. Prices are extremely low. Service was not the best, a tentative teenager who really didnt know, or understand , the menu. But the owner, Jose Diaz, who circulates, makes up for it in enthusaism. Almost. Most of the clientele when we were there were Hispanic, and all seemed to really enjoy what they were eating. I know I did. And I did get a bottle of the mild house sauce. It is heaven in a bottle,and unique. Get to this place soon. Run. I'm serious. There is something special going on here. Rich Pawlak

Uh, no.

<<<<<>>>>>> Believe it or not, there are hamburgers south of Exit 10 of the NJTP. In Trenton, near my home, are: Rossi's Bar & Grill Caesere's Good Times Tavern All are within blocks of each other and are in the Chambersburg section of the city, and produce huge, hand-formed, carefully grilled burgers. Rossi's is the most famous of the 3, but I actually think Good Times serves up the best of the 3. At Rossi's however, insiders are known to ask for their homemade potato chips, a stunning mountain of flawless, greaseless, hot potato chips. The huge fried zucchini sticks are also pretty impressive.

Not much different that what was going on when David Fields was at Philadelphia Magazine under the guise of a nomme de plume. He was a well know fashion and cookbook photographer, took photos for more than several Philly restaurants' ads, and was the worst kept secret anonymous reviewer ever. It was a sham. and a shame.

In my book, the more dangerous the better. But Perth Amboy aint so bad.

To add to this thread, here are the tentative plans for future DDC events: A Chinese New Year banquet, to be scheduled sometime in mid-February, in Philadelphia's Chinatown, priced slightly higher than our usual dinners, but not much more so. Details will be posted here as they unfold. A Rodizio get-together/road trip to a place in Perth Amboy, NJ, scheduled for March 1, 2003, 2-6PM, a Saturday. Tons and tons of food----and drink----for $25 per person inclusive. Anyone wanting to be added to our e-mail list, hit me up at esterrick@aol.com. I have no affiliations worth discussing, but, I did start up the whole DDC silliness back in the late 80's, and with the help of a few brave and trusting souls, started it back up again about 18 months ago. RP

I agree, Philly has been WAY behind the curve with regards to smoking bans in restaurants and bars. I happened to be in Los Angeles in April of '97, during the very week when the California smoking ban took effect. Oh, the cries of restaurateurs! The bar owners! Within a WEEK, not a word was uttered on the subject, and people went to their fave restaurants and bars.. They've adjusted quite nicely, almost seamlessly, by observation, every time I've returned to California. I only wish we were as enlightened. My lungs, nostrils, taste buds and clothes would all be grateful. RP

So far, the organization of the DDC has remained nice and loose. We chat about our ideas for the next dinner while we're enjoying the current dinner; someone rises to the occasion, and we let them run with it. Sometimes we've discussed it on Chowblech (which caused those doofs to ask us to move somewhere else....) and then planned a dinner. We have a Excel file of names and e-mail addresses, and all someone has to do is WANT to host a dinner, plan the event with the particular restaurant (early weeknights so far, for ease of acceptance), design an invitation, and off they go. And I hope it stays that casual and simple. RP

Our price range per person doesnt include beverages, simply because some people drink alcohol, and some dont. We just run a separate tab when we are in a restaurant that has a liquor license.

Well, it's about time. Bohemian vibe or not, I could never bear the smoke level in either la Colombe location , Rittenhouse or MAnayunk, and it made enjoying their coffe brutally difficult. When I worked in Center City, I used to enjoy MY La Colombe at the Bellevue's food court (well, I worked in the building as their PR guy....), at Everything On A Bagel, the little bagel stand there. Bucka cup. Best steal in town for good coffee. They used to serve a few of the La Colombe blends there, dont know how many theyre serving now. I miss that place.