Author Archives: didjaeat
Rita Anne’s Ham
Yes! We are alive in 2011! The holidays are over (buuuurp!…ahem..) and we are back here at Didjaeat! Look for more pics, more stories and more….food stuff! We love it and we love you love it. And by “we” I mean me. Anyway…
My mom makes a mean ham. So, here it is! I had to take it from this angle because we had started slicing small pieces from the other end! Ha!
Mom's Christmas Ham
I am happy to say I ate my weight in ham sandwiches. On rye, of course, what else!
Meet Mrs. Pig
50 years ago, my Babci bought a cookie jar from some place on Richmond Street. My uncle, then 5, named her Mrs. Pig and she had lived on the counter ever since.
These days she has Chips Ahoy in her. I am awaiting the Oreos 🙂
PYT Cheesesteak Pretzel Roll Burger
Being from Philly, I love many local foods but 2 of them are Cheesesteaks and Pretzels. When you combine the two of them, the result is….fantasticness!
I give you…the Cheesesteak Pretzel Roll Burger at PYT! A burger, with cheesesteak, cheese, onions on a specially made by Philly Pretzel Factory Pretzel bun.
Holy mother of god, this thing is delicious. I had dropped by PYT to drop off some pierogies (disclaimer: I make an exclusive pierogie for them: the Bacon Cheeseburger. They also sell my Pumpkin Cheesecake pierogie!) with my friend Mary Kate from Ida Mae’s Bruncherie, a breakfast and lunch place in Fishtown.
Cheesesteak Pretzel Roll Burger
Here is the top of the roll:
Cheesesteak Pretzel Roll
So. Good. You go now.
Mary Kate also got an order of these teeny, perfectly cooked little sliders with cheese fries!
PYT Sliders
And! we split an order of thier batter dipped onion rings. Ooo yeah!
PYT Onion Rings
They used black pepper either in the batter or right when they come out. I don’t know which, but we were stabbing each other to get the last one. I hate Onion rings that, when you bite them, the onion comes right out. These do not! Deeeeeee-licious!! The only thing I can think of to change is to maybe have some kinda dipping sauce.
As you can probably tell, I am working my way thru their menu. It is a bit of work, but delicious work nonetheless!
Ida Mae’s Chocolate Babka French Toast
Ok, so here is a slight bit of self promotion. My little company Polish Goodness makes a Chocolate Babka. Actually, my Mom makes the Chocolate Babka. And my friend over at Ida Mae’s Bruncherie makes a wicked Chocolate Babka French Toast! Check it out!!
Ida Mae's Chocolate Babka French Toast
You gotta try it. Unreal.
PYT’S Big Mic
I had to pop on by the Piazza today and stopped in at my favorite burger joint, PYT. I’ve not had anything on their menu except the Reuben Burger, so I decided to try a standard. Well, a standard on steroids. I had the Big Mic: 3 patties, cheddar, bacon, tomato, lettuce, and thier special sauce on a Martin’s Potato roll.
I ordered it to go because I am housesitting and had to go check on the cats. To Go containers make me angry because, for the most part, your food gets soggy by the time you get it home. So, I figured I would take a pic in the car, since it was about a half hour drive back to the house.
PYT'S Big Mic
I got onion rings instead of the chips, and I should have specified a full order of rings because I only got 4. They are batter dipped, as opposed to breaded and have cracked pepper on them, which I thought was awesome. Yes, I did eat one in the car.
The burger is so tall, they put the top off to the side, which let me check out the thick cut bacon they use, not that cheap crap. As someone who works with food for a living, lemme tell ya, bacon is expensive. It’s nice to see someone using good bacon. The special sauce is a mayo mix, which always works nicely with burger grease.
Big Mic Assembled
While the patties aren’t wide, they are thick, not overly seasoned or overly dry, and with the special sauce, it was A-ok! Nitpicking? I liked the thinly sliced onion and tomato and I also liked what I think was butter lettuce. It kept the sauce right in place, for the most part.
They also offer this burger in normal single and double patty sizes, so go on over and check it out!
The Belly Buster At Meatheads
I normally try to avoid driving around here in Northeast Philly. As the city expanded, they got away fro the simple grid pattern of streets and I tend to get a little turned around. However, when my cousin Chrissy needs a housesitter, I am the man with the plan (or girl, as the case may be). My uncle was going on and on about this place he has been getting hoagies at, and he lives not too far from Chrissy, so I took a chance and went over there for a sandwich to bring home to eat during Game 1 of the NLCS.
The place is called Meatheads. Inside, the place is kind of sparse. They have a small lunchmeat counter, a three wide soda cooler and a display with chips and tastykakes. Scattered along the walls are pictures of the last games at The Vet and some framed cutouts of the ’80 World Series. They also sell t-shirts, rolls (from Liscio’s, which they also use for thier sandwiches) and assorted salads in the cooler. Besides that, the place looks a little sparse. Oh! They have 2 chairs from the Vet too.
Behind the lunch counter, however, lies the menu for some really cool sandwiches. Of course, if you know anything about me, I always get the worse one for me. So, this is why I ordered “The Belly Buster”. Ham, Turkey, Bologna, Roast Beef and Cheese. I was given the choice between seeded and unseeded roll, which I thought was cool, as I’m, not too hot on seeded rolls. I asked for everything plus sweet peppers, and this is what I brought home:
Size of Belly Buster Wrapped
Keep in mind, this is a half. Now, I asked for sweet peppers, and for some reason it was only on one side. Also, the salad part of the hoagie (lettuce, tomato and onion) were barely visible. Not that I am complaining too much but I like the veggie stuff. Also, they were a little light on the mayo, but peraps that was my fault for not asking?
My biggest complaint was that there was supposed to be Roast Beef on this thing and there was none. A boner mistake, absolutely. It would have given the sandwich a bit more bite then an American Hoagie on steroids.
Belly Buster
Now eating this thing, it is a solid block of meat. They use Dietz and Watson lunchmeat, which is always good and not salty, so I was happy about that.
Side Shot Of Belly Buster
Even without the veggies on top, the great roll (holds up to the sheer weight of this thing), and the tasty meat (I didn’t feel like I needed to drink a gallon of water after I ate half of this) made this a pretty awesome sandwich.
Would I get it again? Actually, probably not, but not because of itself, but because they offer a ton of hoagies with all sorts of great combos such as: The Smokehouse (Chicken Breast, Swiss and Bacon covered in BBQ Sauce), The Firefighter (Pepper Ham, Hot Pepper Cheese & Long Hots) and more. I love Liscio’s rolls, they even stand up the next day, after you have wrapped that sandwich and popped it in the fridge (which I did)! It didn’t get soggy or too hard, it was perfect! Amoroso better watch it’s back!
Check out Meathead’s, they are in the Grant and Academy Shopping Center, open from 8-6 Monday thru Saturday and are unfortunately closed on Sundays. 215-677-3560 Also, look for Liscio’s Bread at your favorite hoagie place, you won’t be disappointed!
*edited to add: People have asked me how I could give a good review to a place that squarely fucked up my hoagie. Honestly, it was still a good sandwich, but next time I’ll let them know about it. This was my first time there and I’ll cut them a little slack. My uncle orders from there all the time and has never had a problem.
Reuben Burger at PYT
Before I was to attend what would turn out to be only the second No Hitter in the history of playoff baseball, I had a meeting at PYT in the Piazza. The Piazza is a big apartment complex where the bottom floor is a collection of shops, bars, restaurants and whatnot with a big courtyard (or, a Piazza!…ah-ha!) for bands to play, games to project and markets to peruse.
PYT is a burger bar in there. I had not been there, and had only been to the Piazza once to visit my friend Doctor Satan, who was one of the first people to sign a lease there. So, I checked out the website and drove on over. It is a cute place, bright and happy, has a super clean (a pet peeve of mine) bar and friendly staff. They do burgers of the week, and while I had some time to kill, I decided to order it….The Reuben Burger!
I had read about this thing on facebook, and frankly, I was a little giddy to try it. No disappointment here. (please click pics to embiggen)
Reuben Burger @ PYT
They start with bread from one of my favorite bakeries, Kaplan’s, at 3rd and Brown. My grandpop used to get bread from there for the holidays and I love their challah and rye. The rye makes an appearance here, all buttery toasty and delicious. What I loved about it is this: the bread is toasty and buttery but not toasted to the point where it rips your mouth apart like a bowl of Captain Crunch. Underneath the thick burger patty is a nice pile of corned beef, and on top is kraut (made with one of my favorite beers, Kenzinger!)and I think some cole slaw. It’s the kind of burger that makes you not want to engage in conversation. Quiet deliciousness.
Peeking inside the Reuben Burger
I dig the fries too. Thin fries are easily overfried, overdone to the point where they turn into potato straws, which I hate with the exploding burn of a thousand exploding suns. Coming with the fries is a zippy dipping sauce that I kept dipping my burger in after I hoovered up the fries. It’s a nice spin on the russian dressing you’d get on a reuben in a deli.
Inside the Reuben Burger
I am not sure how long this Reuben burger will be on the menu at PYT, so get your collective butts over there and buy one! They have a nice beer selection, and since it’s the Halloween season, why not get a Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale, one of my faves! You will not be disappointed with this burger or this place. Nine thumbs up!
Dinner At Hinge
I’m of the belief that you can never have enough local places to eat. Wether it’s a little luncheonette, a hoagie shop, a cafeteria style place or a straight up cafe style restaurant, it’s all good.
A few weeks ago I went to Hinge Cafe with my friend Mary Kate, her baby Lucy and her friend Carol. Hinge is a great place in Port Richmond on Somerset Street, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and they have some really kick ass desserts (well, they look kick ass, I’ve always been too stuffed to order). As of then, I have only been there for lunch and I didn’t have time to hit up the menu on the website so I was hoping for an awesome surprise.
And I was rewarded.
When we got there, the place was empty, and considering we had a baby with us, that was awesome! Our waiter was super nice and attentive, the music wasn’t annoying and we got down to brass tacks. Let’s eat!
We ordered a bunch of apps first. I forgot to take a picture of the Crispy Beef Dumplings. They come with a sweet duck sauce like dipping sauce. They were so delicious, I could have eaten an entire table full of them, and we quickly decided to order more but then remembered we ordered a ton more stuff.
Next was the Prosciutto and Cheese.
Prosciutto and Cheese
Mouthwateringly good. They used buffalo mozzarella and the freshest bread toasted up with buttery olive oil.
Mary Kate also got the Hinge Dinner Salad. When you think of dinner salad, you think of a regular salad on steroids, or a salad in a smaller plate piled a little higher. This salad was ridiculous with spring mix, canneloni beans, roasted red peppers and a raspberry vinagrette dressing.
Hinge Dinner Salad
I ordered the Thai Chili Filet Mignon. Since I am a Libra, I always have trouble ordering but I saw “thai” and “filet mignon” and WASABI MASHED POTATOES and I was sold. Sold, I tell ya!
Thai Chili Filet Mignon
It also came with Bok Choy, and I wasn’t sure how I’d like that, but it was suateed with garlic and delicious! The wasabi mashed potatoes were hot and creamy. I want to make them all the time!
I cannot oversell the filet. It cut like butter, cooked perfectly. It was just spicy enough, so that it didn’t overpower the meat and yet left an impression on the tastebuds. I could have eaten ten of them.
Carol got the Chicken Grand Marnier.
Chicken Grand Marnier
It is breast of chicken with jumbo lump crabmeat, mandarin oranges and dried cranberries finished with a Grand Marnier and sweet basil cream sauce served over white rice. The description is a mouthful and so was the dish. The sauce was sweet and creamy and deliciously melty. The chicken was buttery goodness as well.
Needless to say, there was little chatting during the main courses.
I love this place and you really should too. If you are in the area, stop on in and try the fantastic stuff on the menu. By the time we finished eating, Lucy let us know it was time to go:
Lucy is ready for bed
So, full and happy, we took Lucy home so she could work on getting bigger. Soon she can eat at there as well!
Smoked Prime Rib
Every year in July we have a bbq for my grandparent’s anniversary. My uncle lives in Parkwood and has the biggest yard so we all troop up there, get bitten by mosquitos and eat whatever he decides to BBQ.
This year we had to wait to have the BBQ because my babci spent most of her summer bouncing back and forth from Pennsylvania Hospital and the rehab (and no, not for her raging coke problem). She is a whole lot better now (babci….now with bionic knees!) so we made the pilgrimage.
Ron likes to BBQ like Oprah likes to give stuff away. I was expecting the usual chicken, burgers and Polish Ribs (kielbasie butterflied on the grill), but he did something really different: he smoked, on his grill, a Prime Rib.
I didn’t even know you could do that, but he did. It was a tad too smokey tasting for me, but besides that, the meat was awesome.
Here is is sitting in the pan right after he cut it.
Ron's Prime Rib
Here is it on my plate with a side o’ potato salad (diet, what diet?)
Ron's Prime Rib on a plate
Some people like prime rib super red, but I thought this was perfect. It was really super juicy and tender. The charred bits were delicious too.
Btw, how many years have they been married? 62. I do believe that 62 years of the Smoked Prime Rib anniversary. True Story.
My Weekend In Food
After a real grind of a week, I was really, really hungry. Seriously. Luckily, I had a few things going on where the food was awesome. So let’s get started. As usual, click on the pics to embiggen.
Saturday nite my cousin Julie turned 30, so we had a surprise party for her! She will continue to turn 30 for the near future, just like the rest of us!
Happy Birthday Julie!
Michele bought a delicious fruit tart thing from Wegmans. The crust was like creamy, vanilla butter. So good! I had to walk away from it because I wanted to eat the whole thing.
Fruit Tart
Sunday, I met up with my friend Cecilia and we went to my friend Mary Kate’s place Ida Mae’s, a breakfast/lunch place in Fishtown. I eat there alot and the food is really great. I always get the Open Faced Chicken Salad Melt:
Open Faced Chicken Salad Melt
It usually comes with thier homemade potato chips but I get extra pickles instead. Sooooo good! Cecilia got the Huevos Rancheros but with scrambled eggs. She was oddly quiet when eating, so I know she liked it!
Huevos Rancheros w/ Scrambled Eggs
After the brunch, we went to see her boyfriend Nathan’s play “A Crock Of Schnitzel” at the German American Society on Spring Garden St. It was a sweet old building, and the people there were super nice, but I have to say, the building is kinda creepy and I was wondering how much cash they funneled thru there during the war.
Anywho, afterwards we watched the Eagles game with her sister Julie and ordered from La Lupe, a Mexican place right around Pat’s and Geno’s (overhyped cheesesteak places in South Philly). In my neighborhood we have alot to eat but not much good Mexican, so I was kinda excited!
Julie got a Cubano. Check this thing out!
Julie's Cubano
Inside Julie's Cubano
Julie told me that it is so big that she eats half of it for dinner and the other half for lunch the next day. If she looked away for more then  minute, I might have taken a bite!
Cecilia got a trio of Tacos: a chicken, a chorizo and a pork. I have to say when she said that’s what she was getting, it didn’t sound like alot of food. Oh, I was wrong:
Chicken, Chorizo & Roast Pork taco (called the Al Pastor)
Cecilia's taco
Finally, I ordered a grilled beef burrito. It was the size of a Buick. When eating something of this size, you have to use a claw hand, because if you put it down, it’ll fall apart. Fun fact: another use for the claw hand is a Wendy’s triple!
Grilled Beef Burrito!
Inside my burrito
Inside was some great rice, tender but flavorful grilled beef and queso fresco. On top was homemade guac and some sour cream. It was the best burrito I have had since the burrito place closed on South St., many moons ago. I loved every sloppy bite of it, my only complaint is that I forgot to order hot sauce. But honestly, the homemade guacamole (delivered in a coffee cup) was so fresh and delicious (along with the homemade chips) it was not even an issue!
Homemade Guacamole
I have been working so much, I don’t really get to eat actual meals (12 hour days do that to ya) so it was great to sit down with the Watson girls and stuff my face with awesome Mexican food! I recommend this place, and I wish it was Saturday all over again!
DidjaEat? 