By George! Pizza, Pasta, and Cheesesteaks

By George!
Inside the Reading Terminal Market
12th & Arch Streets
Website

Reading (pronounced "Redding")Terminal Market is an indoor marketplace with a bunch of different stores selling things like pizza, fresh smoothies, sushi, bakery treats, etc. Mia, Melissa, and I tried this cheesesteak in hopes of finally finding a really good one.

Cheese = Mix of cheddar and gouda (yum!)

I liked the cheese, but I could easily see people disliking its grainy-ness/chunkiness. This sandwich wasn't amazingly fantastic, but it was delicious, fresh, and hot, and way better than the cheesesteaks at Pat's and Geno's. I do have to say that I wish the bread had been less dry and tough. I like bread that's a bit crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. I do love sesame seeds though. Someone on Yelp said the bread was "tough" too, so it wasn't just me. I keep hearing and reading about how great Tony Luke's is, but we never went there due to our limited time. After all, we were there for a conference--not to just goof off, although we did goof off outside of Philly and a teeny bit in Philly.

Loong!

Pat's vs. Geno's - Philadelphia, PA

Pat's King of Steaks (since 1930)
1237 E. Passyunk Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Website

Geno's Steaks (since 1966)
1219 South 9th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19147
Website
Celebrities who have eaten there

Here is Pat's. Nothing fancy. Seems like a cool, relaxing hang-out.

 

Here's the Pat's "pepper cheesesteak" with a side of onions, which looked and tasted not so great.

Notice anything about the cheese? It's a little bit cold and not melty AT ALL. So sad. The meat was good but not amazing. I didn't like the sour peppers, but some of my friends did. The bread was good.

Bleh. Did not even eat this after I tried it.

Provolone is still not melted.

 Now...on to Geno's:

Very different than Pat's on the outside. Very Vegas-like and fancy.

The bread was good

Cheese was slightly melted, but there wasn't a lot of it, and the meat was soooo dry and flavorless!

Slightly better onions than those soggy ones from Pat's, but Pat's had a better overall sandwich.

Overall notes:
* Neither Pat's nor Geno's has terrific cheesesteak sandwiches. I would not go back to either. I've heard from other people who have tried both places and people who are now living in Philly that neither is that good and that other less popular places are good like Bui's on Spruce & 38th, Tony Luke's at 39 E. Oregon Avenue. I did not try those places, but I am blogging about others soon.
* Pat's had a better cheesesteak overall. I had hear other people say this as well.
* Geno's had terribly dry and flavorless meat
* The cheese options at both places and in other places in Philly are whiz, provolone, and American
* The service was fast at both places, which might explain why the quality and flavor are not so great.
* Both places are open 24 hrs a day!
* Both had good bread - Soft, easy to eat, not soggy or hard
* I tried these places with three other girls who had very similar opinions
* It was fun comparing the places since they are right across the street from each other, but the so-called rivalry between the two is way over-hyped.

Blackberry Cider @ The Getaway Cafe - Riverside, CA

The Getaway Cafe
3615 Canyon Crest Drive
Riverside, CA92507

I've tried a few things here, and everything seems to be good or pretty good but not fantastic...except for this drink. It's a blackberry cider, and it's not too sweet or alcohol-y. A few other girls in my grad program have tried it and said that it was really good. I'd definitely get it again. I've also reviewed their fish tacos here.

Caramel Pop Krunch

Karen-Ginger Gifts

Website

My parents always bring home interesting food. I came home and tried these a few minutes ago and LOVED them (my dad and even my brother like this...and my brother is a pooper and rarely likes sweets). I tried this thinking it would be one of those expensive mediocre-tasting popcorn products, but THESE ARE DELICIOUS!! Picture cheese puffs without the cheese flavor ... and then cover them with a coating of dark caramel. I say "dark" to emphasize the almost-burnt flavor. SO good. Here's the website's description:

"A Karen-Ginger Favorite, Sweet Caramel corn puffs with the perfect 'Pop and Krunch' for any occasion."

I've also had their Chocolate Mochi Krunch (see website), which are brown rice crackers covered in chocolate.

HackCollege's We Love Ramen Infographic

I had never heard of HackCollege until they sent me this cool infographic. I love ramen, education, random facts, and sites that help people, so I thought I'd share this on the blog. While I'm struggling through this last paper of the quarter, here's their basic info and some random facts about ramen:

"Lectures are boring and inefficient. Long hours spent studying hand-written notes is very 1994. Anyone graduating today needs to know not how to operate a computer, but when. The fault is both with the students and the teachers. HackCollege is changing education. HackCollege is educating the students of the world about effective, open source software, putting techno-political arguments in everyday language, and creating a cult of “Students 2.0.” If we can change the way 1 percent of college students and faculty in the world view education and technology, we’ve done our job."

Learn more about HackCollege here!

Created by: HackCollege.com

Fuel - Philadelphia, PA

Fuel - Center City location
1225 Walnut St.
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Website

Went to Fuel with Kurtis in the middle of the conference I attended because he knows the area now that he lives there for grad school. I had just eaten lunch, so I only got a "Green Tea Matcha" drink (Men description: "Japanese Green Tea Matcha and Skim Milk"). I was worried because the "skim milk" description was a warning sign that it might taste too healthy, but I enjoyed it a lot and would get it again! I absolutely love matcha drinks. Anyway, my classmates/friends went here at a separate time and said the food was delicious.

Fuel has funny drink names like "Hangover Helper," "The Hulk," and "Give Me a Tan," as well as others like "Fruit Fuzzion," "Mango Madness," and "Pineapple Power Lunch." See more drinks here.

They also have awesome-sounding appetizers, salads, and paninis.

Kurtis's sandwich

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop - New York, NY

Their famous Salty Pimp = "vanilla, dulce de leche, sea salt, choco dip"

Big Gay Ice Cream Shop
125 East 7th Street
(1st Avenue & Avenue A)
New York, NY 10009
(212) 533-9333
Website
Visited Saturday, 2/25/12 after our conference in Philly.

DELICIOUS...and the employees were friendly! It was just as awesome as I had expected it would be after seeing them on The Food Network! It would have been cool to visit their ice cream truck, but their truck is "in the garage until Spring 2012," as their website says, and this place was cool too. They have interesting treats like the Mexican Affo'gay'to cool toppings like these:

» Olive Oil & Sea Salt
» Toasted Curried Coconut
» Trix Cereal
» Cayenne Pepper
» Wasabi Pea Dust
» Crushed Nilla Wafers
» Fresh Berries & Saba
» Pumpkin Butter
» Dulce de Leche
» Nutella
» Ginger Syrup
» Cardamom
» Peppermint Syrup & Cocao Nibs
» Elderflower Syrup

I wanna try everything on this menu!

Salting up the Salty Pimp!

I loved my American Globs (see below) with the pretzels, chocolate, and sea salt, but I think the Salty Pimp was amazing too. I'm going to recreate both someday.

American Globs = "vanilla, pretzels, sea salt, choco dip"

Yumm

Inside the pretzel

Pretzels at the bottom (I think this should have been chocolate or caramel or something 'cause this was a dry ending)

The Dutch Eating Place - Philadelphia, PA

Dutch Eating Place

(in the Reading Terminal Market)
1200 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 922-0425


Liz: "I just went to the Dutch Eating Place."
Corrie: "Ohh. What's it called?"
Liz: "The Dutch Eating Place."

Oh. haha!

Went there during a break from our conference with Melissa, Mia, and Christy. Christy and I really enjoyed the "Apple Cinnamon French Toast." I could have eaten more. For some reason this picture below does not do the dish justice though. The egg layer is a bit thick and looks like cheese, but trust me...it was delicious (not too heavy or sweet or dry or wet...and it had lots of cinnamon and chunks of apples, which I love!).

 

They make their own lemonade. It was lightly sweet.

Creamed beef on homefries. Basically a thick gravy with slices of beef over soft homefries/country fried potatoes. Good but not my absolute favorite. It's pretty rich, so don't order it if you want something light. I liked that it wasn't like other places' hash browns, corned beef, etc.

 

McGillan's Old Ale House: The Oldest Irish Pub in Philly

McGillan's Old Ale House
1310 Drury Street (not Drury Lane! ha)
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Website here

Went to Philly last week for a conference with my buddies/classmates and Michael, an old friend from my hometown church and undergrad. We met here for a social with other grad students. The place was very busy and had delicious hush puppies with a fairly spicy salsa thing that was surprisingly sweet but also spicy--a tad bit too spicy for me (but I still recommend it!)

I still do not feel comfortable doing beer reviews. I do not have the knowledge or experience necessary to truly evaluate or even describe them. I'm surprised I even remember this was a lager. I enjoyed it and the fact that McGillan's made it.

My lager

My hush puppies with a sweet-and-spicy salsa (cannot find a menu description online)