My Pennsylvania Eating Adventure

[planojim]

First off, I'd like to thank all of the people that post on this board, who through their love of food, allowed me to know the places at which to eat during my trip to Pennsylvania last week. I was with a buddy to see the Tigers play a series against the Phils, so everything you see, divide by two, since we split everything so we could try more places. I'm a glutton, but not that much of a glutton. All cheesesteaks listed were eaten Whiz-with.

We arrived in Philly on Monday, 5pm and decided to go right to the source

Pat's King of Steaks: Great Cheesesteak. It was our first one in the city, and was one of the two best. Good bread, good onions, moist meat.

Geno's: Probably the worst one we had while in the city. No flavor to the meat, onion were undercooked.

Tony Luke's: Good cheesesteak. I got the roast pork sandwhich with spinach and provolone. The roast pork itself was very tasty, but I thought the spinach and provolone overpowered the flavor of the meat. Once I took that off of the sandwhich, it was great. And, of course, after I finished the sandwhich, I ate the spinach and provolone.

Tuesday

11:30 am Kibitz in the City: Good pastrami sandwhich. Pricey, but good.

noon: Yeungling at McGillins Ale House

12:45 DiNics Roast Pork: Great pork sanwhich. This time, I got it without the spinach. Juicy, flavorful, wonderful. My buddy got the roast beef, which was real good also. Not as good as the pork, but still very tasty. BTW, the sharp provolone that is served in Philly really has a lot of flavor.

Rita's Water Ice: How do they get water to taste like that? If that was available here in Dallas, I'd probably never eat ice cream again.

8pm Schmitter: We were at the ballgame, so I'm sure the sandwhich wasn't as good as the original at McNally's, but I could definitely see that the sandwhich would have its merits. Didn't like the American cheese.

Wednesday:

11:30am Sonny's Famous: Decent, but not spectacular cheesesteak. Onions were undercooked. Not very busy, even though we were there around noon.

2 pm Jim's Steaks: Along with Pat's, the best cheesesteak we had in Philadelphia. Moist, good meat, and onions cooked to the right point.

2:30 Lorenzo and Son's: Decent slice while walking South St. For $2, it's hard to complain.

3:30 Sarcone's Deli: I had the old fashioned italian sub. Best sub I've ever had. From the quality of the bread, to the flavor of the meats, to the way the oil, vinegar and herbs ehanced the flavor. Great sandwhich.

10pm Monk's: After the rainout, we went to Monk's. My buddy got the burger, and I a small pot of mussels. Great burger, good mussels, but the frites were too small. None of them were over an inch long, which made it difficult to dip them in the mayo that was provided. Good beer selection.

Thursday:

9:30am Pat's King of Steaks: Had to get another one before we left town. After eating all through the city, we both agreed that it was the best. Jim's came in a close second.

then we drove to Scranton and Old Forge

12:30 Texas Coney Island: This isn't the one listed on Holly's web site. This is the original one on Cedar Street, under the train tracks. A fine Texas weiner, and the atmospher can't be topped.

1pm Coney Island Lunch: This is the one of Holly's web site. Good Texas Weiner, but nowhere near the atmosphere. Different brand of weiner too. Good to compare.

7:30 pm Ghigirelli's Pizza in Old Forge. I've never in my life had pizza that tasted like this. We got a tray of white pizza and a tray of red pizza. The crust on the red was one of the best ever, and there are just not words to describe the white pizza. I've never seen anything like it. Never tasted anything like it. I don't know how I've lived 36 years without it. I bought two to go to bring back for the wife.

Friday

10am Before going back home, we stopped in to Komensky's in Duryea for 10lbs of their smoked keilbasa. It's just wonderful. Best sausage in the world.

I'm still trying to figure out what the luggage screeners were thinking when they saw 10lbs of keilbasa and 2 white pizzas go through the scanners. I hope next year the Tigers play in Pittsburgh, and we're able to sample the west side of the state. If it's anything like the east side, we're in for a treat.

Thanks again to all of you, especially Holly. If you guys ever come to the Dallas area, I'll point you to the better barbeque places.

Till next time,

jb

[Andrew Fenton]

Hiya, Jim. Glad you had a good time and good eating here in the city of brotherly love. I gotta say, I'm impressed by the amount of eating you did in a short time: good man!

One point must be made:

3:30 Sarcone's Deli: I had the old fashioned italian sub.  Best sub I've ever had.  From the quality of the bread, to the flavor of the meats, to the way the oil, vinegar and herbs ehanced the flavor.  Great sandwhich.

The best hoagie you've ever had. (And it is, it is! Next time you're in town, get to Chickie's: equally good, and worth a comparison.)

7:30 pm  Ghigirelli's Pizza in Old Forge.  I've never in my life had pizza that tasted like this. We got a tray of white pizza and a tray of red pizza.  The crust on the red was one of the best ever, and there are just not words to describe the white pizza.  I've never seen anything like it.  Never tasted anything like it.  I don't know how I've lived 36 years without it.  I bought two to go to bring back for the wife.

I've really gotta make it up to Old Forge one of these days. No excuse for it.

[mrbigjas]

Wow, nice job, Jim. I'm consistently amazed by the amount people can eat when they come here.

Re Chickie's: I agree with Andrew. As a friend of mine says, a Chickie's special is just way better than any sandwich has a right to be. (Not that I disagree about Sarcone's being ridiculously good)

Re Dinic's: I've never had their roast beef, or their sausage, or their veal parm. I've always wondered about them.

Re Monk's fries: I totally agree.

Thanks again to all of you, especially Holly.  If you guys ever come to the Dallas area, I'll point you to the better barbeque places.

edited to say I'm in Dallas a couple of times a year, and would love to hear about this, especially since I'd gotten the impression that it's not a hotbed of great barbeque. But that's off topic for this forum, so I'll just try to keep your name in mind...,

Edited June 23, 2004 by mrbigjas (log)

[Holly Moore]

Well done Jim.

Chickie's vs Sarcone's. Chickies is better, consistently. But I had one of the best hoagies ever at Sarcones. It was one of those magical moments where the flavors came together perfectly.

Pat's. I've gotta get back. Two visitors in a row favored Pat's. Pat's must have gotten its act together.

Monk's Fries. I've had an ongoing dialogue with the owner of Monks. Even got him to switch to thicker cut fries shortly after Monk's opened. For two days. But the customers complained and complained. They wanted their shoestring fries. You can't start with shoestring fries and make a great Belgian fried potato.

Texas Coney Island - Definitely on my list. Knowledgable word has it that the owners of the other Coney Island bamboozled me, so I need to see for myself.

Great report. And Dallas is indeed on my list one day soon.

[Rich Pawlak]

Hiya, Jim.  Glad you had a good time and good eating here in the city of brotherly love.  I gotta say, I'm impressed by the amount of eating you did in a short time: good man!

One point must be made:

3:30 Sarcone's Deli: I had the old fashioned italian sub.  Best sub I've ever had.  From the quality of the bread, to the flavor of the meats, to the way the oil, vinegar and herbs ehanced the flavor.  Great sandwhich.

The best hoagie you've ever had. (And it is, it is! Next time you're in town, get to Chickie's: equally good, and worth a comparison.)

7:30 pm  Ghigirelli's Pizza in Old Forge.  I've never in my life had pizza that tasted like this. We got a tray of white pizza and a tray of red pizza.  The crust on the red was one of the best ever, and there are just not words to describe the white pizza.  I've never seen anything like it.  Never tasted anything like it.  I don't know how I've lived 36 years without it.  I bought two to go to bring back for the wife.

I've really gotta make it up to Old Forge one of these days. No excuse for it.

This SHOULD be the first PIZZA CLUB road trip. I had completely forgotten about Ghigarelli's pizza; Old Forge pizza is unique; man are we gonna have a lot to pick from.

]And yes, Holly, you were bamboozled, and you should also visit Texas Lunch, Pittston Ave. and Birch St, for another good version of the Sranton-style Texas Weiner, as well as Vince The Pizza Prince, a few blocks away, for a legendary pizza, when you next hit Scranton.

[Richie111]

jb - sounds like a great trip. On my recent trip to Philly (reported here), I liked Jim's and Pat's the best of the places I tried. I'll have to check out some of your other recommendations next time I'm down there seeing as how we share similar taste buds and all...

Thanks for the great report!

-Richie

EDITED TO ADD: Welcome to eGullet!

Edited June 23, 2004 by Richie111 (log)

[herbacidal]

Nice trip, Jim!!!

On the heels of Richie's, that was especially awesome.

You can only do eating adventures like that while traveling.

Must be why all my NYC trips are full of food from end to end.