Columbus Foodie

One of the things I miss most about living in South Jersey/Philly are the ubiquitous cheesesteak shops on every corner. But lucky me had the benefit of working for one of those cheesesteak shops as a teenager, so even though it’s near impossible (with the exception of Benny’s, natch) to get a good cheesesteak here in Columbus, I can just make one at home when the mood hits me.

The secret to making Philly steaks at home (you know, in Philly they just call them “cheesesteaks” because the Philly part is assumed) is having the right kind of meat, usually very thinly sliced top round. You can pay $4+ a pound at the butcher, or do like we do and go to the Mexican supermarket and get it for $2.49/lb. (for locals, we get ours at La Plaza Tapatia right behind Westland Mall). Slice up a bunch of onion (the more the better), and put a bit of oil in a pan and throw the onion in. When the onion is starting to soften, add the steak and cook until browned. Add plenty of salt and pepper and whatever other kinds of seasonings float your boat. Serve on a sub roll with whatever toppings you want (I like cheese, tomatoes, mayo and ketchup myself). If you want to shake it up a bit, there are several variations, like the pizza sub - use Italian seasonings while frying it up, mozzarella cheese, and pizza sauce. You can also add green peppers and/or mushrooms to the onion mix if that’s your thing. The possibilities are endless.

Now, there are some who say that a Philly steak isn’t authentic if it’s not an Amoroso’s roll. While I subscribe to that theory as well, they don’t sell Amoroso rolls around here so I use the super sub buns from Meijer. Not even close, but works in a pinch. Just wanted to mention that if you’re in the Delaware Valley area, look for Amoroso’s rolls if you can get them.

My contribution to this week’s Frugal Fridays event is a go-to recipe for us - extremely comforting, filling, and best of all, cheap to prepare. I grew up in South Jersey, in an area which had a very large Puerto Rican population, so I learned how to cook Puerto Rican food from my friends and their parents. This is an old standby for many families there.

Chuletas are so simple to make. Since the pork chops are so thin, they cook quickly - be careful not to overcook them, as they will dry out. Season liberally with Goya Sazon and Adobo, and fry in oil until browned. Serve with rice and beans.

Here’s the breakdown of the cost of making this meal:
Chuletas (thin pork chops) - 2 lbs. at .99/lb on sale = $1.98)
Vigo Yellow Rice = $1.89
Can of Goya Beans with Sauce = $2.39
Seasoning and Oil= .25

Total cost= $6.51

For an extra buck or two, you could buy ripe plantains and make maduros as well. It’s entirely up to you, though - as this meal is well-rounded and easy to prepare as is.

I moved to Ohio from South Jersey about 12 years ago, and one of the things that I quickly found out upon moving is that although you can find a “stromboli” here, the Ohio version of a stromboli is absolutely nothing like a New Jersey one.

So over the past decade, I’ve searched high and low for a cheesesteak stromboli. No such luck. Even the places that carried both cheesesteaks and strombolis wouldn’t make one for me, even if I told them exactly how to make it. I’ve sated the craving over time by just making sure I pick one up the once a year or so I go back to South Jersey to visit.

So imagine my excitement when I got a call yesterday from my mother and her boyfriend inviting us to come over for dinner last night for cheesesteak strombolis. You better believe that we accepted that invitation in a heartbeat! And now that I know how easy it is to make an extremely credible version of one, you can rest assured I’ll be making these myself from now on.

You start with about 2-3 lbs. (depending on how meaty you want them) of Philly steak (if you go to Schumann’s Meats on the West Side and ask them for “Philly Steak, chipped” they’ll know exactly what you mean) - if not, ask your local butcher to chip either tri-tip or round. Slice a large onion and a green peper, and put it in a pan with a little bit of oil to brown. Here’s a pic of the steak and veggies during the browning process.

Once the meat is done, let it sit a couple minutes to drain, and in the meantime, roll out a ball of pizza dough (either make your own, or buy it - we got ours at Trader Joe’s) into a rectangle. Place the cooked meat in a line down the middle, and top it liberally with pizza sauce (we used some I had canned last summer with local tomatoes) and chopped fresh basil.

Top liberally with mozzarella cheese.

To fold it up, fold the ends inward, and bring the top and bottom toward the middle, kind of like making a burrito. Flip it over so the seams are directly on the cookie sheet. Top each one (this recipe should make 2) with a little more mozzarella cheese.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven 15-20 minutes or until cheese on top is browned and bubbling. To serve, cut into slices.

It truly hit the spot. If you like calzones, give this a try. A great big thank you to my mother and Joe for having us over.

As is obvious by now, we made it home on Monday, driving through 8 hours (the trip should have taken 6) of rain, sometimes torrential. My husband is not a good driver in bad weather, so I drove the bulk of the way home, and got in well after dark on Monday night.

But I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to mention a few other things about our trip that don’t warrant their own entry, but that are definitely worth remembering.

On Friday night, after our dinner at Good ‘n Plenty we stayed in a carriage house at The Osceola Mill House, which was very charming and quite rustic. Although a bit uncomfortable due to our size (the stairs were very steep, the bed was a full, etc), it had a lovely view, a nice little kitchen (I’d come here again if I were staying longer), the location was right near where we wanted to be, and the breakfast in the morning was awesome! (especially the Fruit Soup, which I plan to find a recipe for and make this weekend).

We spent early Saturday making our rounds in the Intercourse area, stopping here and there - Paul got some delicious homemade root beer and fudge from an Amish roadside stand, and in addition to our trips to Stoltzfus Meats and Kitchen Kettle Village, we also stopped at the Intercourse Pretzel Factory where we got hard and soft brown buttered pretzels, and the Bird-in-Hand Farmer’s Market, which was so crowded that I only bought some apple cider and got myself a funnel cake. It kind of makes up for missing The Ohio State Fair this year, because I love fair food, and funnel cake is about as fair food as you can get.

We had planned to eat lunch in the area, but we were so full from the scrapple, egg and cheese wrap, breakfast at the bed and breakfast, and funnel cake that we decided to head right to New Jersey without stopping to another smorgasbord first.

The trip to New Jersey was pretty uneventful. The navigation system in my car took us on a route that avoided tolls that I was unfamiliar with, and we got stuck in some pretty gnarly traffic on the Surekill Expressway that we would have run into either way. We got into New Jersey around 2:30ish, still too early to check into our hotel. We were going to head over to Jim’s Lunch so Paul could try the burgers, but it completely slipped my mind that Jim’s closes for the summer, so our plans for beefy goodness were thwarted. We still had a bit of time to kill, so we stopped into Haar’s Natural Foods and Gourmet Imports on Delsea Drive, a little store that sells mostly health foods (including a huge selection of gluten free stuff, I was happy to see) but has this deli in the back that sells imported German meats. I used to go here all the time with Oma when I was really young, and the place hasn’t changed a bit in 30-odd years. Amazing. We made a mental note to make a stop here on Monday morning on our way out of town.

We finally checked in to the hotel, and then went out driving around for a while (I gave him a mini-tour of East Vineland), and ended up at Crown Market for cheesesteaks. I don’t know if it changed ownership since April (I honestly think it did, based on what they said and who was in there when I went in), but the cheesesteak was very underwhelming this time around (spices were way off, a lot less meat and everything else, the bread overwhelmed the meat and cheese, etc), plus they raised the prices. I don’t think we’ll be going there again.

Sunday morning was a bit rainy, and we were bored, so after a tasty breakfast at the Golden Palace Diner (whatever happened to all the diners? They’re hard to find these days), we decided to drive down to the shore. Paul couldn’t decide where he wanted to go (plus everywhere except the Wildwoods and Atlantic City require beach tags now, blech!), so we drove into Wildwood (on the way I passed a ton of roadside farmer’s markets, I really should have stopped at one!), and then made our way up the shore through Stone Harbor, Avalon, and Sea Isle City. We were going to stop at Mike’s for seafood, but I couldn’t find the free parking they advertised, and there wasn’t anywhere else to park either. So we got on the Garden State Parkway and the AC Expressway and made our way over to Crabby’s for lunch.

Let me just rant for a moment. I spent the first 23 years of my life in New Jersey, drove there for at least 6 years, and cannot for the life of me remember drivers being so friggin’ rude as they were this weekend. Aggressive, nasty, belligerent drivers that expect you to break traffic laws left and right for their convenience. Drivers that like to drive 5 feet off your bumper when you’re already 5-10 miles over the speed limit with out of state tags and have cars in the lane to the right of you so you can’t get over at the moment they crawl up on your rear. Cars who weave back and forth fruitlessly when traffic isn’t moving quickly expecting to make headway but instead just making asses of themselves and pissing off everyone in the process. Cars who don’t obey the “yield” signs and get pissed off when you do. Let’s just say my middle finger got a good workout this weekend. And I’m not usually one to shoot the bird. I’m glad to be back on Ohio roads, that’s for sure!

But I digress. We made it back to Vineland, and dinner that night was at Esposito’s Maplewood 3, which was my favorite stop last time around. The food was good, but not as good as it was in April for some reason. But every restaurant is entitled to an off night, and I’ve had more good experiences there than bad.

We got a really good night’s sleep, and on Monday morning, we ran our last few errands (mostly food to bring back to Ohio) - we got subs for later and Conte’s pasta at Giovanni’s Deli, a bunch of Puerto Rican food from Penalvert’s, checked out the new Polish American Deli on the Boulevard by Park Avenue (NJ locals, if you haven’t checked it out yet, please do - it’s worth a stop!) and got some sausage and pierogies to take home, stopped at Haar’s for German deli meats, stopped at the new Shop Rite for some Jersey tomatoes (the craving of which was the impetus for the trip in the first place). One of the places I really wanted to check out but wasn’t able to is The Sweet Life Bakery near Sixth and Landis. Unfortunately, they’re not due to open until Labor Day, so I’ll miss out on the goodies. But if you’re local to the area, make sure to drop in - I really respect what they’re doing to revitalize that area, and they could use all the support and business you can give them.

The rest of Monday was a blur of driving. I honestly can’t remember if we stopped to eat. I don’t think we did, actually. All I remember is rain, lightning, and more rain. But we’re home now, the air conditioning is fixed, and life is once again back to normal. And as much as I love travelling, there really is no place like home.

Part of our trip took us to New Jersey over the weekend. We figured that there was not much to do in Lancaster County on Sunday (as it is the day off for the Amish, and virutally everything in town is closed), so why not head over to Jersey to indulge in a few favorites and go to the shore and get some good fresh seafood.

If you ask around, everyone has a very strong opinion on where to go for the best crabs in South Jersey. I heard a lot of differing opinions - Mike’s in Sea Isle, The Lobster House in Cape May, but the one name that kept on coming up over and over again was Crabby’s on Rte. 50 in Belcoville near Mays Landing. You would think that a seafood restaurant would be located right on the water - this one isn’t; it’s located in the middle of nowhere in the Pine Barrens. It doesn’t look like much on the outside, hell it doesn’t look like much more than a dive bar on the inside (with a bunch of picnic tables and a few regular tables around a huge bar), but I think that just adds to the atomosphere and the anticipation of what’s to come. If they don’t focus on decor, that must mean the food is really good, right?

We were welcomed like old friends (with a hearty “glad to see you”) by a woman whose bubbly personality and heart was as big as her hair. We were seated at a little table by the window, and huge pieces of brown paper were put in front of us on the table. We were there for one thing and one thing only: crabs. We started with a bowl of he-crab soup (which didn’t photograph well, unfortunately), a creamy sherry-based bisque with chunks of blue-claw crab. Down to business. I got the crab sampler ($33.95), which had a little bit of everything - blue claw, king crab legs, dungeness, and snow crab. It was presented in a huge pile that made me wonder how I’d even begin to eat this much:

The thing about crabs (and eating them out of the shell) is that it is hard work. The amount of effort you put into cracking the shell to bits to get out a little nugget of crabby goodness is almost (note I say *almost*) not worth it. So I spent the next couple of hours tearing my fingers to shreds on the sharp shell to liberate as much crabby goodness as humanly possible. I got full about halfway through (though the seasoning, their own blend, was awesome!), and just started putting my crab bits on top of my husbands linguine for later consumption. I figured it was better to do that there than in the hotel room. Two hours later, were were on our way, after one hell of an experience. But if you’re going to eat fresh crabs, cracking them yourself is the only way to go.

They routinely offer specials - the one that was active on the Sunday afternoon we went was all you can eat Blue Claws for $29.99. Considering it took me nearly 2 hours to make my way through the items I had, I so wouldn’t have gotten my money’s worth unless I was planning to stay there half the night. But other, more expert crab eaters were chowing down with wild abandon.

I’d prefer it if they had more sides (I would have killed for some corn on the cob), but they do what they do very well. If you go, dress casual, be ready to leave smelling like crab, come ready to drink some beer, and have a good time. They won’t settle for anything less.

If you’d like to go: Crabby’s, 1413 Route 50, Belcoville, NJ, 609.625.2722

When I asked for cheese steak recommendations, I consistently got two answers - Crown Market (reviewed here) and Main Liquor. While I kind of was already aware of the former, the latter was truly a surprise to me. After driving by and seeing a sign outside that said “Voted Best Cheesesteak in 2005″, I knew I’d have to give it a try. Bear with the limited information, because I’ve misplaced the menu and can’t find an online presence for them.

The location is smack dab in the rear part of a liquor store, and generally has the same clientele and ambiance as the rest of the liquor store; I didn’t see any seating, so this is a takeout operation only. Also, it has fairly limited hours (the deli closes at 7 nearly every night, while the liquor store stays open longer). I went in, and asked for my usual - cheesesteak with fried onions, mayo and ketchup. Preparation was fairly quick, and the price was mostly in line with what I saw elsewhere ($5.25, I believe - for a 12″ cheesesteak, as opposed to $4.50 for a 10″ inch cheesesteak at Crown). What you see here in close-up is only half of the hoagie I received:

My impressions? The flavor was good, and the seasoning was right, but the steak was chopped very, very fine - almost like ground beef, and much finer than I enjoy it; the sandwich itself was very, very greasy, and very, very messy to eat. Good, yes - but not the best. Crown Market still holds that title, hands down. As for me? I think I’m cheeseteaked-out for a while.

If you’d like to go: Main Discount Liquors and Deli, 106 S. Main Rd., Vineland, NJ

After the underwhelming filled pasta at Larry’s II failed to sate my craving for Italian food, I had avoided eating Italian all weekend in order to save my appetite for what I thought would be an ideal compromise - the Monday Pizza & Pasta buffet at the Five Points Inn. Their web site indicated that it was held every Monday from 5-9 at both the East and the West Side locations - I knew that the West Side location at Delsea & Landis had closed (not by anything indicated on the building, mind you - I kind of figured it out when I never saw any cars there), so I headed over to the East Side location way out on the other end of Landis Ave in anticipation of enjoying a buffet that I knew would be excellent, as I had it on my last visit to New Jersey.

I was disappointed to find out that the Monday buffet had discontinued a few weeks before, with no updates on the website to indicate that. Rather than waste a trip (since this location was way out of my way), I took a look at their menu to see if there was anything comparable I could choose a la carte. On their specials menu, they had a filled pasta combo ($9.95) that included 2 manicotti, 2 ravioli, and 2 stuffed shells that came with bread and butter and your choice of soup or salad.

The pasta was good, as is most pasta in South Jersey. The true test is in the marinara - their version is good but not great. I think I’ve been spoiled by the excellent pasta and marinara I’ve been getting at Carfagna’s for the past 5-10 years. It has become a benchmark to compare everything else to. But I digress - it was definitely edible. And even though I thought it was originally drowning in sauce, in the end it was just the right amount. The only thing missing was grated cheese, which unfortunately they didn’t include at all.

I chose the chicken escarole soup as my side. One of the things I’ve learned about cooking escarole into soup is that you have to add it right at the end, or the broth and everything in the soup becomes very bitter if it’s allowed to boil afterward. Unfortunately, this soup suffered that fate, and was too bitter for me to finish.

In addition, I ordered a side of meatballs and a side of sausage (price unknown, not on the menu, but I think they were $2 each side) - both were excellent - the meatballs were HUGE and flavored nicely, the sausage was left in link form and still juicy.

While it did end up costing twice as much as if the buffet was still active, it wasn’t bad - unfortunately, it also wasn’t as good as it used to be, and I’m sure there’s much better Italian to be had in Vineland. I just didn’t have enough time there to explore to find the best that Vineland has to offer. Any of you South Jersey locals have an opinion?

If you’d like to go: Five Points Inn, E. Landis Ave and Tuckahoe Rd, Vineland, NJ, 856.691.6580

After a long day of travel yesterday, I am finally back at home in Ohio. While I did thoroughly enjoy my visit to New Jersey, I am so happy to be back - living out of a hotel room and eating take out every meal for a week gets very old very quick. Although the food is great, I’m looking forward to getting some fresh produce and healthy food into my system.

The miracle of the whole thing? Even though I ate food that was horrible for me all week, I didn’t gain a pound. I didn’t lose weight, either - but I’m relieved that I at least held steady.

I’ve still got a couple of reviews of South Jersey food to write - one for Main Discount Liquors and Deli, and another for Five Points Inn, which should go up later today.

And since neither myself or my husband felt like cooking last night, we ate at Cameron’s for dinner last night, and I’ll be posting a review of that soon as well.

Updates on the other stuff (events, etc.) will be forthcoming. I’ve got a lot to catch up on. But again, I’m *so* glad to be home.

Rather than stay in Vineland today, I took a little trip to Millville, a small town right next to Vineland. While Vineland is very diverse and ethnic, Millville is home to mostly blue-collar working stiffs, most of whom are employed at the city’s glass factories.

Jim’s Lunch is a Millville institution, having been around for over 75 years now. Closed during the summer, people line up in droves during the rest of the year to get their fix. During busy times, there are lines out the door, and a wait for a booth - if you’re in a hurry, opt instead to eat at the counter.

Even though I spent many years living in Millville, I had never gone there for one of their famous burgers. It wasn’t until I saw this review by Brantastic (and her pics are *so* much better than mine ) that I *knew* that this would be something that I had to try, or it would end up haunting me until I got back to this area again). So it was off to Millville this morning through the remnants of the N’oreaster that brought us buckets of rain and even snow (snow?? in April?) last night.

Luckily by the time I got there the lunch rush was over, and there wasn’t much of a wait, as they very efficiently churn out burgers at the grill by the front door. I opted for a pair of cheeseburgers ($2.25 each), with everything. Everything in the Jim’s sense is mustard, onions, and the secret brown sauce (which tastes an awful lot like Cincinnati chili to me - regular beanless chili with some cinnamon and cocoa added in). I could barely contain myself on the drive back to the hotel, as the burgers were burning a hole in the paper sack as the mesmerizing smell filled my rental car.

No sooner did I get in my hotel room than I ripped off the paper and scarfed these burgers down like eating was going out of style. These are FABULOUS. If I still lived here I’d camp out in front of Jim’s every day for these burgers.

But don’t take my word for it - check it out for yourself. In addition to great burgers and weiners, they have just about everything under the sun on the menu, including wonderful daily specials.

If you’d like to go: Jim’s Lunch, 105 East Main Street, Millville, NJ, 856.327.1299

I had held off going to Esposito’s Maplewood III, even though its menu sounds divine, because of a misguided assumption that I would need to dress up to go there. But my desire for seafood outweighed my desire to fit in, and my sister and I decided that “Family Day” would be the perfect opportunity to blend in if we were dressed casually.

Oh, boy - am I glad we did. I *so* have a new favorite restaurant in Vineland; everything we were served - from beginning to to end - was spot on. And since we were going on Sunday, i.e. “Family Day”, we were offered three menus to choose from - the regular menu, a specials menu, and the Family Day Menu.

I ordered from the Family Day menu - a true value because it includes soup or salad, fresh baked bread and dipping oil, the entree and a dessert for less than $20. I chose the “Crab Lovers Crab Cake” entree, which is described as “our famous pan fried all crab “crab cake” served with a side dish of lump crab in white or red sauce over Barilla linguini fini.” ($19.95). You’ll have to excuse my pictures, the lighting in Maplewood III is dim enough that it was necessary for me to use a flash, and because of that, the pics turned out a bit harsh.

The baguette that they brought out was still warm from the oven, crispy on the outside and soft-chewy on the inside, served with a flavorful olive oil dipping sauce. We liked it so much we finished off two loaves between us.

I chose the soup instead of the salad, whose chicken broth had such excellent flavor that it reminded me of the dumpling soup my Oma used to make me when I was a child. Full of chicken, carrots, celery and escarole, I made sure not a drop went to waste.

My entree was absolutely amazing. The crab cake was just that - all crab, almost no filler. The flavor was intensely fresh crab, seasoned in such a way that brought out the sweetness rather than overpowering it. This hamburger-sized crab cake alone nearly filled me up.

In addition to the crab cake, my entree also came with a “side” (side? this is an entree unto itself!) of linguine with a crab filled clear “scampi-style” broth - the sauce was so perfect with this dish that I wish I could bottle some and take it home with me. It wasn’t a traditional scampi-style sauce - it kind of reminded me of clam sauce with out the clams. Not the canned stuff, mind you - but the fresh kind that can’t be reproduced unless you’re by the shore. That was what impressed me more than anything - the freshness of this seafood was beyond compare. They delivered just the scratch that I needed for my fresh seafood itch. Sorry, Ohioans - but the stuff we get out there isn’t even close. Next time you’re out by the ocean, get seafood. You’ll thank me later.

My entree came with dessert, but I chose to box up the rice pudding for later consumption, and instead ordered off the dessert menu - I chose the Creme Brulee Nocello Walnut Crunch ($5.95), an intensly vanilla creme brulee with a salty-sweet walnut topping that melded perfectly with the sweetness of the custard.

My sister opted to order from the Specials menu, and got the “Seafood Trio Royale”, described as “shrimp, scallops, and jumbo lump crabmeat sauteed in garlic and olive oil. Then we add artichoke hearts, sweet peas, cream and sundried tomatoes. The creamy sauce is tossed with Barilla penne pasta and finished with a drizzle of house-made basil pesto.” ($21.95) Instead of getting penne, though - hers came with linguine as well. She absolutely loved it, declared it the “best meal ever”, and commented that the seafood was super-fresh and the combination of flavors excellent. The portion size was so large that she took half of it home with her.

Her entree came with a salad as well:

For dessert, she opted the “Hot Xango” ($6.59?), a cooked to order “banana caramel cheesecake wrapped in crisped pastry served piping hot, drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce and served with vanilla ice cream” - from tasting hers, it kind of reminded me of bananas foster deep fried cheesecake - but again, the portion size was so large that she was full to bursting before finishing it.

All in all, this restaurant hits the mark on so many levels, that a comparable meal in Columbus would easily cost much more than what we paid here. Service was impeccible, the food was excellent, and the atmosphere was welcoming. What more can you ask for in a dining experience?

If you’d like to go: Esposito’s Maplewood III, 200 N. Delsea Dr., Vineland, NJ, 856.692.2011