Little Sicily

Little Sicily online: https://www.facebook.com/Little-Sicily-Pottsgrove-PA-393829480764617/

Had lunch today with Joel at a new pizza place, Little Sicily.  I think the location was a pizza place previously as well, but this was new to both of us and I think relatively new in town.  It is located right on the corner of Buchert and Keim.  I ride my bike past here all the time, maybe next time I'll stop in for a slice.

I called in advance to ask if it was alright if we brought some beers to enjoy with our lunch and there was no hesitation, BYOB welcome. It looks like a typical pizza place.  You go to the counter to order or pick up your food, there are a few pizzas behind glass you can order by the slice and they have a bunch of cookies in plastic clam shell containers that I forgot to ask about.

We decided to order the Margherita pizza and an eggplant parm sandwich.  We sat down and poured a homebrew first.  For two craft beer drinkers there was some concern about what beer really goes well with pizza besides Bud.  I think a belgian/saison or light IPA work well.  Our food was delivered with plates and utensils to our table.

The pizza got pretty high marks from both of us.  The sauce was fresh tasting, not sweet or overly spiced.  There was fresh mozzarella as you would expect on a Margherita pizza and also pieces of fresh basil.  The crust was crisp, but maybe could have been a little less flat - maybe a little more rise?  The center of the pie, like the points of the slices, were pretty floppy and wet.  Overall the flavor and texture was pretty good.

 The eggplant parm sandwich was on a long roll that was toasted and perfectly crisp on the outside.  The eggplant itself was thin-sliced and fried.  It was topped with some melted cheese and finished with a little sauce.  When I squeezed the sandwich there was a little oil coming out of the eggplant and you could taste the frying oil, but it didn't drip so I don't want to say it was overly oily, that was just part of the flavor.  I thought the texture was perfect.  There wasn't too much cheese either which I think can be an issue for pizza place fare.

I definitely want to go back to try their plain pie - or get one delivered.  The service was friendly, the food was good and the place was clean and welcoming.  Now I have a new menu in my drawer for takeout!  Thanks to Joel for the company, the suggestion of a new place and for getting me back to reviewing local places.  It really makes eating out more interesting :)

Nick's Pizza

Nick's website: http://www.nicksstowe.com/

I ordered delivery again - hey, it's winter, who wants to go out?   This time I was laying in bed with my cell phone and I went to Nick's website where they offer an opportunity to order online.  The link to order online is: http://order.ehungry.com/nickspizza/?form=ordering&form=ordering.  This was great, I could lay in bed, order food without even speaking with anyone and maybe by the time I got up and got dressed the delivery guy would be at my door...

The site was pretty easy to use.  I clicked on Italian Dinners and chose Spaghetti and Meatballs.  When you click on the dinner it takes you to a page where you can choose your salad dressing and whether you want garlic bread or homemade bread and butter.  I chose Ranch Dressing and homemade bread.  There was a section for Special Instructions.  Realizing I had no parmesan cheese in the house I entered a request for a side of parm not sure if I would actually get it or not.  Under Appetizers & Side Orders I chose a side of Sausage in Sauce.

The site looked like it was estimating my delivery time at about 30 minutes, but not sure that's actually what it was saying.  The checkout was easy enough for me to do it on my phone and I used my credit card.  There was a section to add a tip as well which I did.

The delivery took more like an hour.  When it arrived the delivery guy handed me my food in a short cardboard box and quickly left.  I didn't have to sign anything, but I noticed later that the tip I had added to my order was not included.  I didn't get the chance to see that before he left - sorry.

The first thing I noticed was the massive amount of bread that was included in my order.  It was a little late so it's possible that they were giving me whatever was leftover at the end of the night, but whatever the reason, it was a ton of bread with a ton of butter.  The bread was kind of dense and chewy, a little crisp in the crust and it was warmed.

The salad had iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, roasted red peppers and a pickled cauliflower topped with croutons.  I appreciate the effort to improve the basic salad with things like the peppers and cauliflower, but it's not really my cup of tea.  The ingredients were fresh though.  The dressing was Ken's, who can argue with that?

The pasta was not spaghetti.  It was more like a linguine which I didn't mind.  And hey, look, they sent me my side of parm, woohoo!  I always think pasta is a risky choice when ordering delivery because the hot pasta is closed up, soaking in it's own steam for an undetermined period of time before it arrives at your door where it will likely be completely overcooked. This wasn't bad though.  Linguine was probably a better choice for this anyway.

The sauce wasn't too sweet or spicy.  It was a little herby and thick.  It's a little generic, but good.

I thought the meatballs were quite good.  They were very light in color inside with some herbs mixed in.  They appeared to be handmade, a little irregular in shape.  Nicely mixed, not too dense.  You didn't even need to chew them, you could just kind of squish each bite in your mouth, they fell apart easily, but didn't quite melt - still maintained some texture.  The sausage was nothing to write home about.  It was a basic, Italian sweet sausage with a fennel flavor.  The portion was good.  It wasn't really browned on the outside or anything so I would guess it was probably boiled vs cooked on the grill.

So, I would definitely order from Nick's again.  Their food was good and the service was decent although the delivery may have been slow.  Maybe the guy drove around with my food extra long because I didn't leave a tip.  The online system was easy to use except, apparently for that pesky tip.  Love that they included my request for parm.  Now, what to do with all that bread?  

Giuseppe's Pizza

Giuseppe's has a facebook page at:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Giuseppes-Pizza-Restaurant/182623725135386

(menu)

I ordered delivery from Giuseppe's Pizza on a Monday night.  I went out on a limb and ordered the Giuseppe's Special.  It was listed on the menu under "Chicken Steaks", but it was described as Breaded chicken, tomato, onions, bacon, ranch, mozzarella cheese, baked in the oven."  It is not something I would normally order and especially not for delivery because certain things don't hold up well to being wrapped up and transported.  I asked for a side of marinara sauce which the guy on the phone seemed to think was odd, but he did it anyway.  The menu says sauce and fried onions are free for steaks.  I also threw a small salad in there for my guilt over the sandwich.

He said it would be 40 minutes and it turned out to take about 50 minutes.  The delivery guy called me Sweetie which is fine with me.  He was quick and friendly.  The salad was in a styrofoam container.  It was basic lettuce, tomato, cucumber and purple cabbage.  The dressing was wrapped in foil which was overkill, maybe, but better than spilling in the bag.  The veggies were crisp and fresh and you can't ask for much more from a basic side salad.

The sandwich had one of those little plastic sheets on top, then was wrapped in foil and then paper.  I appreciate good wrapping because it does help the sandwich survive that dreaded delivery, staying somewhat crisp and warm.  The outside of the sandwich was toasty and even though there was ranch on it, there was no sogginess at all.  (Awesome!)  

I had a hard time getting a decent picture of the sandwich.   It was just as described.  The fried chicken fingers were still crispy.  The tomato and onion were raw which I found interesting, but they were warmed inside the sandwich and I thought it worked well.  The dressing was in there, it was sprinkled with small pieces of bacon and then everything was apparently baked with the cheese on top.  I am not a huge fan of raw onion so I pulled most of them out, but it wasn't a ton of onion, just a personal preference.  I loved the texture of the chicken, raw onion and crispy bread with everything else.  The ranch was there, but not overdone a little bit of bacon in there, just a nice balance compared to some of the "chicken, bacon, ranch" variations I have seen out there swimming in a puddle of grease and dressing.  This was way better and doesn't deserve the stigma.  

The marinara (also wrapped in foil) was unnecessary but actually went ok with everything else.  It tasted mostly of pureed tomatoes, so nothing exciting, but sometimes that's a good thing.  

Previously I had pizza from Giuseppe's.  I stopped in there and picked it up.  They were friendly there too and the pizza was good.  I will definitely go back.

Beijing Gardens

Beijing Gardens' menu is online at http://www.beijinggardens.com/

Ordered delivery lunch on a Tuesday from Beijing Garden.  I ordered around 11:00 and put the purchase on my credit card.  The person that took my order was reasonably friendly, a little hard to understand.  It only took about 20 minutes for my food to arrive.  The delivery person wasn't rude, but he didn't say one word to my "hello" or through signing the check or my wish for him to have a nice day.  Could have been worse I guess.

I ordered a small #17, Wonton Soup, #38b, Shrimp Pad Thai and V1, a Vegetarian Spring Roll.  My delivery came with mustard, soy sauce and duck sauce.  I also got a bag of those wide, greasy fried noodles, I'm assuming they were included because of my soup.  They also threw in two fortune cookies.  Sometimes I can tell I've ordered too much food if I get like 5 cookies, but I think 2 is probably standard.

The wonton soup looked mostly typical.  There wasn't anything in the broth besides some scallions though.  Once I cut into the wontons, I felt they were a bit short on meat.  More on a wonton soup experiment in a future post.

A lady I know makes these amazing spring rolls in a moist, rice-paper wrapper.  Sometimes when I order a spring roll I hope for something like that.  Unfortunately, this was more like a regular, fried spring roll with a thin shell.  It wasn't very dark in color, but it was fried and the outside was crispy.  The inside had big pieces of cabbage, carrots and mushrooms.  It was pretty good, actually.  

I ordered the Pad Thai mostly because I'm trying to mix it up.  I can't write about the same meal over and over and part of my purpose with this blog was to enjoy some restaurants and some menu items I might not have otherwise.  So, I don't have a lot of recent Pad Thai experience.  I turned to the interwebs for an idea of what makes a traditional Pad Thai and that is where some of my evaluation comes from here.


The Pad Thai was packed pretty tight in the container.  Lots of noodles and bean sprouts.  One corner of the container was filled with crushed peanuts which are a typical accompaniment.  There was a lemon slice and from what I can tell, lime would have been the more traditional choice.  I did think the lemon was a nice touch though and cut the sweetness of the noodles nicely.    Once I stirred it up I found a good amount of shrimp in the bottom.  The ratio of noodles to shrimp was pretty good.  Mixed in with the noodles and shrimp were some scallions/green onions and egg.  The flavor was sweet and maybe a little sour from the tamarind, but benefited from the lemon that I squeezed over the top and I enjoyed it.   Loved the peanuts, maybe next time I'll ask for extra.



Even with my exhaustive research on Pad Thai, there were some items in the mix I couldn't identify.   I ate one or two and what is pictured here was a little giggly, but easy to bite through. Can someone tell me what that is?Looks a little like an ear, someone suggested it might be pieces of squid - not sure about that one.  There were also a couple other pieces that looked more like beef.  Maybe it's like the buffet at Ponderosa and pieces from the other dishes fall into the nearby containers?


Anyway, I liked the Pad Thai, but maybe shouldn't look at it so closely.  According to my cookies, "All is well."  I'm OK with that.

Mike's Brick Oven Pizza

(menu)

Anyone looking at these posts must think I have a lonely, binge eating life.  Really there are just a ton of takeout places in Pottstown.   I should grab a friend and a sixpack soon and make more of my local pizza places.  This time, though...I got takeout for myself.  Close to my house is Mike's Brick Oven Pizza.  They're right on Charlotte St., south of what I would consider the North End.  I'm sure you're all sick of my pepperoni and plain pizzas.  Sometimes I think the basics are the measure with which to judge these places, but I wanted to mix it up so I ordered Chicken Parmesan on Spaghetti, yum!

Ordered over the phone and went to pick it up.  I was a couple minutes early and it wasn't ready when I got there, but the lady at the counter was nice and said it would be out shortly.  They have an old TV in there and a couple tables.  I hung out for a few and my food came out.  Friendly service.

On to my kitchen where food would be consumed but not prepared.  The Chicken Parm came with garlic bread and a salad.  The salad looked nice.  I have to confess that I didn't eat it, but robbed it of veggies for a later meal.  It had cucumbers, tomatoes, black olives and cheese.  Pretty good for a takeout place.

The garlic bread was made from a long roll - half of one of their sandwich rolls I'm guessing.  That's typical for these takeout places.  It was toasted, nothing special, but I definitely ate it :)

A problem that I have with takeout food is that you take things that are nicely crispy or toasted and you wrap them up so their heat steams away and makes everything soggy.   I'm sure in this case that fact made the bread less than crisp and it usually would overcook the pasta as well. The pasta really wasn't overcooked like that though.  Of course it isn't going to be like it was prepared fresh and served on a plate, but it held up pretty well to the steam bath.  The chicken was real, not reformed patties.  The portion ended up lasting me for something like two more meals so it was definitely worth the price.

I would recommend Mike's. Like a lot of these takeout places, I should go back and try their specialty or something unique and report again.  I will keep you posted.

Paleromo Pizza

(menu)

Alright...I'm going to confess something here.  Please do NOT repeat.  I enjoy eating in public with friends and family, but the real secret is that I am also kind of a closet eater.  Sometimes I eat in my car or at my house where no one can see.  I make bad decisions and they are tasty.

So Palermo has been on my list as a recommendation from a friend.  It's on Charlotte across from the Redner's and North End Wine & Spirits.   They do not deliver so as I was passing through one Saturday on my way to Boyertown's Octoberfest I thought it would be a great place to pick up some dinner.

I called in my order of a small pepperoni pizza and picked it up without incident.  The people were friendly and they have a large selection of crappy domestic beer for takeout. Great if that's what you're into.

What I'm into is eating pizza in my car apparently.  This is the closet eating part.  Not sure what my issue is, but pizza in the car is a bad idea and I do it anyway.  The pizza had a great smell which caused me to eat it in the parking lot of the very building where I picked it up.  When I pulled the first slice from the pie a lot of the cheese came off.  This could have been from the temperature - it was still very hot.  Maybe it should have cooled a bit before consumption, but that didn't stop me.  For the record, the second slice also lost it's cheese in transit to my mouth.

It was a little greasy, but I feel that my vehicular indulgence may have effected the quality of the pizza.  So, that being said, I will report that the pizza was good, possibly loose and greasy, but I will do my duty and go back and report again.  Let's call this a confession and not a review.  Please don't tell anyone that I ate a pizza in my car.

China Bar

I didn't ask for a menu and I can't find one online so I will add it here sometime in the future.

I've seen this place lots of times in my travels but I had never been there until this past Thursday night.  Steve and I ventured out and drove past it a couple times before actually getting there.  We parked on the left side of the building and walked in.  You walk into the dining room and the bar is in another room further in. It was a little dark and no one greeted us.  We decided to head into the bar.  The place is a little shabby, but clean.  Not modernized or anything, I wouldn't take a date here until after we were already drunk.

We sat at the bar and were greeted by the bartender who I believe may have been the owner as well.  I saw quickly that only the standard beers were on tap: Bud, Miller Lite, Coors Lite, Yuengling, some kind of line up like that so I asked about bottled beers.  There was a takeout cooler on the other side of the bar and we were directed there to peruse the selection.  Steve made the trip over (I was not so optimistic) and he reported back that there was nothing more interesting than an entire shelf of 4Loco.  Wasn't that stuff banned?  I asked for white wine and the bartender said they had White Zinfandel.  Then he found a bottle of Moscato.  Neither is my cup of tea so I ordered a Stoli and club with a splash of cranberry.  Steve got a Lager.  For the record, the beer prices were pretty good with $2 mugs and $3 pints.  We were carded and the bartender used our first names when returning our cards and followed up to make sure my drink was made properly too.

We asked for food menus and they were pretty standard for a chinese place.  They have lunch specials that looked ridiculously cheap.  That's worth a look on another day.  They have all the regulars, soups and egg rolls, chicken, shrimp and beef with different sauces and veggies, bean curd and steamed options and then a back page with specialties.  Steve didn't want to go with the standard so he ordered Braised Duck with Lychee.  I ordered Beef with Spicy Garlic Sauce.  We both got Wonton Soup and an Egg Roll. The additions were a good deal at only $1.99/person.

I think it at least twice as long to get the food than it should have.  Our bartender may have been cooking it as well as getting our drinks.  There were two other guys at the bar though and it turns out they were quite good conversationalists and both had some opinions about the current state, past and future of Pottstown.  I love chitchat about Pottstown - certainly everyone has something to say.  I was sad to learn in this conversation that the bar closest to my house, Brian's, was shut down last weekend.  Too bad I didn't get to try their food yet, I hear they had goat.

Our food did eventually come out.  It was preceded by a bowl of straggly, fried Chinese noodles.  You can almost see them in the upper left hand corner of this picture.  They were super tasty.  Both Steve and I could see ordering just those after a couple of drinks.  We were also given a sweet sauce - my guess is duck sauce and a spicy mustard, one that would certainly clear your sinuses.  The bowl of soup was a nice size.  It was flavorful enough, a pretty standard Wonton.  The pork inside was maybe a little dry.  The egg roll was fried crispy with a thick shell and it was good with both sauces.

The duck came out with lots of lychee which was the reason Steve ordered it in the first place.  There were maraschino cherries too which I wasn't personally excited about.  The dish overall was very sweet, too sweet even to kill with the plate of white rice.  The duck was cooked so much that it was almost impossible to cut.  It was dry like when you overfry wings to the point that you can chew through the bone.  It was so unnatural I wondered if maybe the duck had been freezer burned and that's how it got so dry.

The beef and garlic sauce had a surprising variety of vegetables including broccoli, carrots, celery, asparagus & string beans.  I can't say for sure if they were fresh because of the sauce, but they were nice and firm.  The beef was typical of American Chinese Food, sliced thin and tender in that odd way.  The sauce was a little thick for my taste, but spicy which is what I was looking for.

So, my curiosity has been satisfied.  I know what China Bar is all about now.  The service was friendly and personal even if it was a bit slow.  I recommend sticking with the standard offerings on the menu and not ordering something from the 'specialties' menu.  If you're looking for a snack, the egg roll was good and those little Chinese noodles were totally awesome.  I may swing in there again for the nice conversation.

Parma Pizza

(menu)

#14 had to be done.  When you move people send you all kinds of stupid coupons in the mail hoping to gain you as their newest customer.  Most of these I went through and recycled.  Others I set aside only to let them expire before they could be used.  This one was special though.  It was for a whole free pizza.  You don't see that every day and the expiration date was fast approaching.  I called Parma Pizza on my way home one Wednesday evening.  I waited until I was about 25 minutes out and ordered a pepperoni pizza.  The coupon was only for a cheese pizza, but I explained this and they took my order right away.

Then she said it would be an hour.  I almost argued with her because that seemed crazy.  "An hour?!"..."Yup."  So, you can't argue with an honest estimate of time and it was a free pizza after all.  What did I expect, special treatment?  Good thing my favorite bar was on the way.  I could kill the extra 35 minutes or so.

When I got to the restaurant to pick up my pizza I was waited on pretty quickly.  My pizza was sitting out, in the box but hadn't been cut yet.  I guess an hour was perfect timing.  They sliced it up and charged me less than $3 for my pepperoni and I was off.  The worst part about picking up a pizza is having to smell it the whole way home so I put it way in the back of the Prius so I wouldn't be tempted to pick on it before I could get a good picture.

Somehow the pepperonis were all askew when I opened the box.  It remained flat the entire time I had it so maybe that happened when they put it in the box.  It's fixable though and I've seen a lot worse.  The cheese was still in place.  I straightened the pepperoni and dug in.  This is everything I have wanted in a pizza plus a whole lot of extra grease.  It was tasty grease though.  The flavor of the pizza was definitely affected by the pepperoni and its accompanying grease.  The amounts of cheese and sauce were perfect in my estimate.  The dough was well done and a little crispy the way I like it, but with a chewy center on the outside.

This is probably the best pizza I have had in a while.  I didn't even try to mop off the grease.  I will return to Parma Pizza as a paying customer one day soon and I will be sure to plan on a little extra time for my order.  No wonder they're so busy.  (Best 'welcome to the neighborhood' coupon ever!)

Sakura Asian Cuisine

(menu)

Lucky #13 brings us to a BYOB in the strip mall kind of behind Friendly's.  It's one of those spots that you would forget was over there if there wasn't some great raw fish just waiting to be eaten.  Sakura is a BYOB sushi place with modern decor.  I've been there before and the dining room is usually pretty empty.  I believe they do a good amount of takeout business as well.  Normally we just get sushi and sashimi here.  This time we decided to mix it up a little.  We ordered the Sashimi Deluxe and one of the entrees, Teriyaki Steak.

The Sashimi Deluxe comes with rice and soup or salad and the Steak came with soup and salad.  Sakura gives you the option of white or brown rice.  I've had both and they're both nice and sticky and a little bland, the way a side of rice at a sushi place should be.  I ordered the miso soup which was pretty standard, cloudy and sweet.  This one had a lot of green onions though, maybe a few too many, but it was a good soup.  Steve ordered the hot and sour soup.  The salad came out.  It looked like a nice, fresh side salad with ginger dressing, but we never touched it.  Too much other food to try.

The sashimi came out first.  The presentation was nice, but pretty basic.  I have seen them do some nice arrangements that look like flowers and landscapes, but maybe you have to get the bigger order of sashimi for that.  The pieces were yellowtail, tuna, salmon, striped bass and red snapper.  Typical selections for a sampler like this, maybe next time I'll pick something crazy out.  The fish was fresh.  The wasabi didn't break up as much in the soy sauce.  I don't have extensive knowledge of what's authentic or not, etc. It just seemed to me that it was a little more like play-doh than usual.

The Beef Teriyaki came out on a sizzling platter on a bed of carrots that were somewhere between shredded and julienned.  It was accompanied by some broccoli, more carrots and zucchini.  We ordered the steak medium rare and that's the way it came out.  It looked like it was cooked as one piece and then sliced and coated with sauce. and sesame seeds.  The flavor of the teriyaki was a little sweet and it was thick.  The meat was great, but a little difficult to eat with chopsticks.  We could have been less stubborn and asked for a knife, but what fun is that?  The veggies were nice and al dente.  My only complaint is that the sauce was only on the steak and underlying carrots and not on the veg.  Half the reason to have broccoli in a teriyaki is that those little flowers soak up all the sauce and make for an awesome bite.  Easy to ask for extra sauce next time or sauce on the side.

The service was good.  The waitress was not familiar and she mentioned that she hadn't tried the hot and sour soup yet so I gather she was somewhat new.  She said she was working her way through the menu and I think that's a great idea for any server so they can get to know the menu and it also implies that she enjoys the food.  Although the place is usually empty I think the service and ambiance are good and it;s a great spot to go to before a movie up the road.



  

Pub 990

(menu) 

I've been waiting years for #12 to reopen.  The former Jack Cassidy's Irish Pub has been closed since the end of 2011 when they had a fire that shut down the business.  There were constant rumors of ownership change and updates on renovations and repairs since 2011, some true and not so true.  They finally opened again on June 9, 2014 with the new name, Pub 990.  The bar seems to be much like I remember it from when it was Cassidy's.  They have lots of TVs so there is one in view no matter where you sit at the bar.  There are tables as well.  I think they will get a nice crowd when football season starts up in September.

We sat at the bar and were happy to find a couple craft beer selections.  They definitely don't specialize in craft beer, but they are trying to have something for everyone.  We ordered Troegs Perpetual IPA and the pumpkin ale from River Horse Brewing, Hipp-O-Lantern.  They also had the IPL from Magic Hat on draft which one could argue is or isn't craft beer, but the bartender made an  effort to explain what type of beer it was.  I appreciate that.

Steve ordered the Prime Rib Sandwich.  I was worried because Steve's not one for excess fat and connective tissue that I sometimes see in a prime rib sandwich, but good for him for taking risks.  One thing I liked about the menu was the option of choosing one side with most items.  I'm not much of a french fry girl and I hate asking to sub a side salad all the time.  The sides included fries, mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, veg, applesauce, coleslaw or salad.  Steve chose rice pilaf - another risky choice in my eyes, but why not?

Sometimes risk-taking pays off and this was one of those times.  The sandwich was good.  I found it a little greasy, but the flavor and au jus were solid and the steak was tender without too much fat.  Maybe it could have used a little salt.  The rice pilaf came out and looked a lot like plain rice, maybe a little brown in color.  I should learn not to judge.  I remember there was a radio show I heard where they were talking about the different styles of pilaf in different cultures - they don't all have peas and carrots cut into neat little squares.  I guess this is the Pottstown version of pilaf.  On a closer look I could see there were some onions and maybe celery that blended in with the color of the rice.  The rice was pretty good.  After a couple bites there was a nice spiciness that grew.  I still think it's a peculiar side for a prime rib sandwich, but I love that there were options.

I chose the Cuban which I ordered as a panini.  I could have gotten it as a wrap as well.  The Cuban was listed as being prepared with spicy mustard.  I usually see Cubans with yellow mustard, but if Steve could take chances so could I.  I ordered coleslaw as my side.  The panini was good.  There was plenty of meat and the bread was nicely toasted from the press and not greasy at all.  I still think I prefer yellow mustard to accompany the pickles in a cuban, but the spicy was acceptable too.  I really loved the coleslaw.  It was a little on the creamy side and a little sweet.  It didn't have that sweet/sour pickled flavor that some coleslaws have, but a different sweetness.  I would definitely order that again, even with the other sides as choices.

So, verdict is that it's a bar, with bar food, but the bar food was good.  The service left a little to be desired.  We were there for a late lunch so it was that odd time when there isn't much of a crowd, but maybe the service is still slow.  There were two girls and a guy behind the bar.  The guy took our initial orders, but didn't stay real close.  I assumed that the ladies behind the bar should have been taking care of us as well, but the service from them was slow and it took me a while to get my check and cash out.  I'll definitely go back to catch a game sometime and I hope the service is a little better next time.

Mannino's Pizzeria & Eatery

(menu)

#11. This is turning into a takeout tour. So, in this area there are several restaurants that are shaped like cups, like soda cups. From a little looking up, it sounds like they were built in the 1940s as outlets for a local dairy to sell milk and ice cream. There are two others in the area. One of them is on Charlotte Street in the North End of Pottstown and it is operating currently as Mannino's. I ordered a small Vegetarian Stromboli over the phone. The guy that took my order asked me to hold a couple times. I understand he was new. Nothing bad, but it was a little confusing. I ordered sauce on the side. He assured me that all strombolis come with a side of sauce.

The inside of the restaurant had some sit downs tables and a counter up front where I went to pick up my order. It was clean and the man who brought my order was nice. They had a wall of fridges filled with takeout beer. Nothing very exciting, but a couple selections that could be considered craft beer. They were all labeled on the wall above the fridges with prices.

My stromboli was affordable and I was considering measuring it, but I was really hungry. I'm going to call it 10 - 12 inches. The side of sauce was a nice size. Usually you get those tiny cups. This was more substantial. I like lots of extra sauce.



Upon internal inspection there were lots of veggies including broccoli, tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms & peppers. The flavor was really excellent. There was a lot of mozzarella cheese but that didn't mask the fresh flavors of the veg, especially the bitter flavor of the dark green broccoli and spinach. The broccoli was still firm too which added texture.

Maybe a half-eaten piece of stromboli isn't the most appetizing image so I apologize, but I thought this picture showed the veggies the best. I really enjoyed this stromboli and I'm ashamed to admit how much of it I ate. I will tell you that both ends were mostly bread, but I'm not sure if there is a way to make a stromboli without that happening. Looking at the menu and thinking of the upcoming colder season, I think I will be making use of their delivery services soon. Yum...

Tornetta's Pizzeria

(menu)

#10: Double digits, more takeout.  I stopped by Tornetta's on my way home one afternoon.  I have been to Tornetta's plenty of times and they were also my go to delivery place when I lived in Gilbertsville.  Maybe it's cheating to get takeout from a place I'm so familiar with, but I did say every place in Pottstown.

I suppose it's a little gluttonous to order a pizza all by yourself, even if they don't know you're going to eat it in one sitting.  You do get more pizza per dollar with the larger sizes, but I went with a small pepperoni pizza for my conscience.  I even threw in a house salad to convince myself further.  I ordered over the phone and they said it would be 20 minutes.  It was a little more than 20, but close.

The salads at Tornetta's are pretty excellent.  Better than you would expect from a pizza place.  Their House Misto salad is a mix of romaine and iceberg lettuces and comes topped with cucumber, tomato, red pepper, red onion and sweet peppers.  I'm not a big fan of sweet pepper, but I appreciate that this is not your typical container of iceberg with a couple shaved carrots on top.  The ingredients are fresh and the dressing was good - ranch in this case.  The description of the salad says it contains olives but I honestly don't remember there being any in there.  

I have seen Tornetta's do a better job on the pizza.  It was cooked well, but it looked like someone picked up the box sideways and let the ingredients slide off a little.  The pepperoni was bunched up together leaving sections without any.  I rearranged the pepperoni and ate the pizza.  I like the sauce on their pizza, it isn't too sweet.  The pepperoni was decent, but nothing special.

Overall this was not Tornetta's best performance, but based on past experience I will definitely be back.  I think they make the best buffalo chicken around which you can get on a sandwich, on a pizza or in a stromboli.  I'm getting hungry thinking about it.  Their takeout beer selection is excellent with standard brands and a selection of craft beers that is impressive for the size of the place.  For Eat In you can order single beers, but most craft beers have to be purchased by the six-pack or in the large bomber bottles.  Their history of delivery service has been consistently good.  Not the most glowing review for today, but they are definitely on my recommended list.

iCreate Cafe

(menu)

Number 9 on the Pottstown tour was some takeout for a change.  I had noticed this place a couple times driving on King Street, I saw their Facebook page and finally two people mentioned it to me directly so I stopped in.  Just the decor at iCreate is enough of a reason to swing by.  They have a couch and a couple cafe tables with different types of seating in the front, a small bar/counter and loads of other tables with traditional seating as well as upholstered chairs and couches in the back.  It is very eclectic and comfortable like someone's home with a little extra cafe seating.

I was a little awkward on my first visit.  There were a couple other people in there that were apparent regulars so they were chatting and ordering from the owner, Ash, at the front counter from memory.  After a minute of probably looking confused Ash offered me a menu.  They were sitting right there, I just didn't see them.  I ordered a combination meal, #4.  "Healthy Box" whole veggie panini, syrian salad, 4oz hummus and pita.  I also ordered a 8oz container of hummus because why not?  I took a seat on the couch in the front room and waited for my order.

The wait was a little long.  Ash prepares all the food right in the front of the cafe and he was working the whole time.  I usually don't mind a wait so much if you can tell they're working on it.  He asked me how I heard of his place and engaged me in some conversation.  He did apologize for the wait and also offered me some pita bread for my 8 oz hummus which I accepted.  My car smelled excellent on my drive home.

The panini was not quite what I expected.  It was almost more like a pressed wrap because the pita was thin.  The veggies were rolled up and pressed in a George Foreman grill according to the menu and the nice, crispy outside of this panini makes me wonder why I got rid of my own GF grill.  The texture of the pita was pretty much the perfect contrast to the veggies inside.  Eggplant can get mushy so that's important.  The mushrooms in the sandwich were also a great, meaty texture.  The flavor of the panini reminded me of this fire roasted baba ghanoush I've had.  There was this roasty, smokey flavor that was really excellent.  Whatever that 'special garlic sauce' is, I want more.  It was tangy and no vampire was going to bother me at least for the rest of the week.

I think Ash makes all the hummus to order.  I saw him back there with a blender, mixing it up.  I will have to ask him next time.  It was good hummus, topped with olive oil.  With all the wacky, flavored hummuses (what is more than one hummus?) out there this one came across as a little ho hum, but a good, basic hummus.  I was also eating all these other amazing flavors so my palate could have been overwhelmed too.  Mostly I wish the pita was toasted.  I'm sure I could request that next time.

The Syrian Salad had the most amazing smell and flavor.  I wish I knew what herbs he used in it...I wonder if his recipes are secret.   In addition to the romaine lettuce there was a lot of parsley in the mix.  I thought that balanced the acidic and herbal dressing perfectly.  There were big chunks of cucumber and tomato as well.  If you're looking to experience some new, fresh flavor combinations I would recommend this salad for sure

And here's my takeout hummus, for another day.

Go to iCreate and check it out.  He does have glasses if you want to bring beer or wine.  The food is really excellent and it's all vegetarian.  They are currently applying for a zoning variance in Pottstown so they can remain where they are.  Please support them in this and if they move, visit them at their new location.