Pic-A-Lilli Inn

866 US-206
Shamong, NJ 08088
(609) 268-2066
Website

South Jersey has some of the best food around. They make great cheesesteaks and hoagies, and their wings are only rivaled by the Philly 'burbs. The Pic-A-Lilli Inn is sister restaurant to the Pic-A-Lilli Pub in Atlantic City. Cheap beer and great wings can be had at both. The Inn is located smack dab in the middle of the Pine Barrens. So you can go ride bikes/motorcycles or kayaks, and then grab some cold ones and some wings after.

The cheesesteak at the Pic-A-Lilli is no slouch either. Served on a Liscio's roll, the meat is finely chopped, well seasoned, and came with a hearty ratio of American. The onions were fried well, sweet and caramelized without becoming mush.

Curly fries with a side of wiz rounded out this low calorie, low carb lunch. It was basically diet food.

The wings are actually counted in half wing. So an order of ten works out to be about fifteen to twenty wings. An order of six is shown below. The sauce can get hot quick, so if you skip "spicy" and go to "hot" be warned, they have the burn.

The meat is tender, and the skin well rendered. These are not the crispiest wings you will eat, but they just work. A combination of the deep flavor of the sauce, and the little morsels of deliciousness is enough to satisfy anyone from a biker (you will see lots here) to a chubby food writer (likely to find me here as well).

Luigi and Giovanni's

Catering & Specialty Foods
3601 Chapel Road
Newtown Square, PA 19073
(610) 353-2080
Website

Newtown Square has Cut Above as their hoagie mecca. I love that place. But I was recently tipped off to a little joint I never even knew existed, a couple hundred yards from Cut Above Deli. It's part DiBruno, part Whole Foods, and part Cut Above.

They offer packaged meats (for cooking or eating) as well as three meat counters- one for the fancy stuff, one for the raw stuff (butcher), and one for hoagies and lunch meat. Amazing.

They have a wide selection of awesome rolls.

And here is the deli counter. Notice the fresh strombolis sitting on top? I certainly did.

I decided to start with the Italian, as that is a great barometer of how good a deli is.

If you look at the insides of this seeded roll, you will see a variation on the DelCo meat wrap, ham and salami wrapped with sharp provolone, tucked on top of hot and sweet peppers, onions, tomato, and lettuce. This is a damn good hoagie. Everything is in balance, just enough meat, multiple threads of cheese woven throughout, and plenty of veggies so you can pretend it's somewhat healthy (it's not). The roll was crispy and chewy, and the meat was freshly sliced. It was also about $6.50. So that's tough to beat.

The stromboli was impossible to resist, so I ordered one as well.

The paper thin bread was tightly wound around the spicy pepperoni and provolone. This was ridiculously good. I am always a sucker for a boli though, as it's the easy take and eat in the car option when you can't wait to get home. Basically a high-end hot pocket. And I am totally okay with that. If you are in the area, it's worth checking out Luigi and Giovanni's for certain. Not to mention the various square pies, pre-made Italian foods, and the incredible meat and cheese selection.

If you're having a get together and don't feel like cooking a damn thing, hit them up and you won't be disappointed.

Bruno's Old Style Hoagies

555 Greenfield Rd.
Lancaster, PA 17601
(717) 393-7827
Website

A recent camping trip put me in Lancaster for a pit stop, and in preparation of all of the grilled items to follow, I felt I should fortify myself with a hoagie (or 2). Bruno's Old Style Hoagies sounded right up my alley.

First good sign, Liscio's boxes. My favorite.

I decided to try one turkey and one Italian for good measure. And because I am oh so very glutenous. "The Bruiser" is a spicy turkey with peppered turkey, Cooper sharp, peppershooters, and topped with bruschetta. Curiously, they employed the time honored DelCo meat wrap ordinance, though we were indeed in Lancaster County. The peppered turkey was delicious, the entire hoagie, though hard to eat, was packed full of fresh ingredients. The only part I wasn't thrilled about was the bruschetta. It didn't add much, and pretty much fell out when squeezed. It wasn't bad at all, just me being overly picky. I am, after all, a seasoned hoagie expert.

The hot Italian, however, more than held its own. And let's face it, an Italian is to hoagies as sharp prov is to the provolone family. Everything else is good, but there can be only one king.

This featured a thin layer of fatty, spicy sopressata on the top, and a more traditional cotechino and hot capicola inside. This Italian was about perfect. Thinly sliced meats, made with love, and crunchy veggies down below. Sharp provolone rounded it out. It's good to be king.

This was a hell of a portion on both accounts, and I ate like a ravenous wolf that just stumbled upon a flock of sheep. Lancaster, you have a good hoagie joint.

And no gruff for my famous oil AND mayo request either. Don't hate on deliciousness, South Philly.

Anna's Sandwich Shop

303 Sutton Avenue
Folsom, PA 19033
(610) 534-9289

The DelCo hoagie hunt continues, with the venerable old timer known as Anna's (est. 1935) on deck this time.

It's a great little corner spot on MacDade just down the road from a couple of well known local burger joints that I visited back in '09 and '10. Which reminds me, I need to get back to Charlie's very soon... The other one, not so much.

I went on a Saturday for a late breakfast/early lunch, it's definitely not brunch here. And although they're known for their cheesesteaks that come with forks, I was in the mood for the old Delco meat drape.

There was a steady flow of eggs and bacon coming off the grill and the phone was ringing off the hook with take out orders. Popular spot and it's obvious that part of the allure is in their bottom dollar prices.

I couldn't wait to get down on some 10am Italian hoagie.

The breakfast special AKA "morning delight" includes a 6" roll with eggs, cheese and choice of breakfast meat for $4. I chose bacon, knowing that my main-course sandwich was going to be full of other deli hams.

This is the perfect size sandwich to start your day. Well, my day requires more, but you get my point. Right off the bat, Anna's has my heart – they use only the very best rolls around and I am a sucker for falling in love every time I see or hear the name "Liscio's." The perfect roll for all things hoagie, their bread has never failed. My mouth is watering just thinking about the chew on that dough.

The eggs, cheese and bacon were cooked just right and the sandwich was delicious. There wasn't much inside but there's nothing fancy here and I'm glad I asked for a bit of mayo, ketchup and hot sauce to round it out. Without said condiments, it would have been too dry. For $4 though, it's unbeatable.

Now for the main event. The Italian hoagie here is served like all other DelCo hoagies - with veggies on the bottom and the meat on top. My, what a beautiful ham curtain you have.

These Italian hoagies can't be compared to some others of the same name, they're not served on crusty seeded rolls or made with high quality cured meats and crumbled chunks of spicy-sharp prov. They're the working man's version and they're delicious.

Look at this plank of meat and cheese. It had a straighter edge than any ruler I've ever seen. You have to get all up in it - press, fold in and enjoy. This version was tangy, the vinegary hot peppers bursting with flavor in every bite. The meats and cheese played second fiddle to the crunchy veggies, but they held their own in the background.

All in all, Anna's puts love into everything they make and I'll certainly be back to roll up my sleeves and dig in to their cheesesteaks.

Joe's Steaks

6030 Torresdale Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19135
(215) 535-9405
Website

The previously named (and written about) Chink's Steaks, recently yielded to pressure to change its longstanding and controversial name. I must admit, when I heard, I was torn. I hate to see the changing of the guard of old Philadelphia roots, but I can certainly understand the outrage over a slur as a business name, even if it was not malicious in intent. So I was extremely happy when I got an invite to check out the newly branded Joe's Steaks, particularly because of the long-standing crown of excellence in the Philly cheesesteak world.

The storefront is still exactly the same, but with a couple pieces of new signage indicating it is now Joe's.

Inside, nothing has changed, and that is one of the reasons that Joe's is the best cheesesteak in the city. That's right. THE BEST.

Joe and his son Patrick are always manning the grill, and the limited menu lets them put the utmost care into each carefully crafted sandwich.

If it seems like Joe is right at home here, it's because he is. And has been, since he was sixteen and got his start washing dishes at Chink's. He has worked here ever since, and in the late 1990's he bought the shop to continue the tradition of outstanding cheesesteaks (and don't forget the egg creams and milkshakes).

Liscio's rolls, the gold standard for cheesesteaks, are lightly warmed on the grill, while the meat is perfectly seasoned and cooked. The onions come diced, browned, and sweet, just like they should.

Joe's commitment to keeping tradition runs so deep that he was reluctant to even introduce provolone or whiz until a couple of years ago. He himself is an American cheese on steaks guy. The sodas are made to order, with a hand pump of syrup added to soda water – the manual, old fashioned way.

Pickles, cherry peppers, and banana peppers are complimentary (when asked for) and are a perfect way to start grazing before your main event arrives.

But when it does, look out, because there are very few things I will let get between me and one of these masterpieces.

I personally LOVE the version with whiz. Something about the melted, salty accompaniment to tender steak and sweet onions makes me salivate with just the thought.

I will say it again, there is no better steak in Philadelphia. There may be some that are almost as good, or MAYBE as good, but none-better. I bring my food loving guests from out of town here, and they always leave happy (and usually buy me a steak too).

There is no lack of fillings here and it makes you appreciate a place that still has some attitude, but isn't run by pompous dicks with an inferiority complex (see: Pat's, Geno's).

The American cheese version is another winner, and the clear choice for the whiz averse. No need to order extra cheese, there will be ample melty creamy American dispersed throughout.

Although the name has changed, the product has not (and will not). If you have never been, you are doing yourself a disservice by holding out, and if the issue was political correctness, now is the time. Myself, I would continue going here even if they changed the name to "Philly Phoodie is a fatso and a hack of a writer." And I would go with joy in my heart and steak in my gut.

Editor's note: the cheesesteaks here do not come cut in half. There is a small and a large, both of which come out as full-length torpedoes, but for the sake of photographing the details, we requested that Joe slice these down the middle.