Pappone's Pizzeria

1145 W. Baltimore Pike
Media, PA 19063
(484) 442-8782
Website

One thing about the Philadelphia suburbs is that the average pizzeria is significantly better than every corner pizza shop in the city. All around the city, many shops roll out "Greek style" pan pizza shit. This is the East Coast. We want our pizza thin, slightly crispy, and with foldability.

I was recommended Pappone's by a couple of people, so I figured it was worth a try. Not wood fired, no organic flour, no cheese from a cow with a lineage much more impressive than my own. Just cheap, thin crust, seasoned sauce, pizza.

The staff here is about as DelCo as it gets, and I love it. No nonsense, polite, but would not hesitate to drag you out by your ear.

I ordered two pies to get a feel for the place. The large cheese was perfect. Again, nothing fancy, just a thin pizza, well cooked, with a slightly sweet sauce, and perfect amount of cheese.

They use Grande brand mozzarella and it tastes like there's a little prov in the mix - there's a welcome sharpness that you don't find on a usual pie.

The cheesesteak pizza (one of my guilty pleasures) comes with steak, sauce, fried onions, and fried long hots! I am not sure if I have ever seen this before, and while I am usually not a huge fan of the whole roasted pieces (I prefer my peppers to be cut up so I am not pulling a whole pepper out with one bite or trying to gnaw through it awkwardly with a hoagie dripping down my hands) they worked pretty well in this application. It definitely gave the pie a smokey, sweet, and spicy zing. Big fan.

Pappone's is not the best pizza I have ever had. But it is EXACTLY what I am looking for on a night when you just want to order in and watch TV/sports and mow down some slices. I ate almost a whole pie in one sitting.

Henry James Saloon

577 Jamestown Street
Philadelphia (Roxborough), PA
(215) 483-8460
Website

I was referred to the Henry James (Hank Jim) Saloon by a reader, and so I made a plan to hit it on my way out of town last week. Nothing like a cheesesteak and a beer for a quality lunch to start vacation.

This place is located right by the famous Dalessandro's cheesesteak shop in Roxborough.

They have everything you could want in a dive bar with food – menus on the place mats and a variety of comfort foods ubiquitous to the Philadelphia suburbs (yea you heard me Manyunk/Roxborough).

I somehow inadvertently ordered cheese fries by "accident", which turned out to be beer battered (they call them Brew City Fries), salty, crispy, and served with white cheddar-jack sauce. Delicious.

The "Pud Steak" was, for all intents and purposes, a deluxe cheesesteak. This one boasted a half pound of rib eye, provolone, fried onions, house roasted long hots, hot sauce, and tomato sauce. The hot sauce was barely there, but the rest was spot on. The meat was tender and well seasoned, the long hots added a bit of kick, and the prov kept every bite cheesy.

I also had to give the namesake "Hank Jim" sandwich a try. This one is served on a toasted "football" shaped roll, complete with chicken fingers, pepperoni, sauteed spinach, sweet peppers, and smothered in provolone.

My one gripe is that all of the cheese was stuck on top, whereas I would greatly prefer it to be interspersed with the rest of the components. That aside, this sandwich was delicious. The chicken fingers acted as extra crispy cutlets on a smaller scale. With sweet peppers and pepperoni adding some spice and tang, the crispy bread held it all together. Everything was pretty damn good.

A couple of Guinness's rounded out this meal. There was nothing not to like about this place, and it makes me wish we had more places in Philadelphia proper to enjoy GOOD classic bar food (Nick's Roast Beef being the pinnacle) mixed with the neighborhood watering hole feel. One of my favorite parts of the suburbs is the ability to drink some cheap domestic beer, eat dinner while watching sports, and not leave owing fine dining amounts of money. Henry James fits the bill.

Jake's Sandwich Board

Although I have sung the praises of Jake's many a time (here, here, and here) I hadn't tried the Fire Steak, and so I felt I needed to share the experience. First, it's really, really hot. Deep fried long hots and fire sauce make sure of that. Second, it's really quite good, which is taken care of by the thin sliced rib-eye, fried mushrooms and onions and the provolone cheese. Last, it's got great texture, which is due to the aforementioned deep fried long hots on top of the crispy Carangi roll. Definitely worth a shot. Just be ready for some heat.

Also, if you are feeling like a fat kid, try a Mensch (brisket, horseradish sauce, fried onions and prov) haystack style, which is served over a bed of crispy fries. So good, yet so bad.