Foresta's Market

1098 West Bridge Street
Phoenixville, PA 19460-2370
(610) 935-1777
Website

Any place that can stay open since the 1930's (serving Phoenixville since 1934) must be doing something right. Even if some of them are entirely overrated. Foresta's is the kind of family-owned market that that makes you wish you lived next door. Quaint, reasonably priced, and with fantastic customer service (aka attitude), this is a throwback to times when things were just plain better.

Now I hadn't been here in decades, but my fond memories of summers spent working at the local skatepark and spending an hour's pay for a lunch that left me rolling on the ground in pleasure/agony were quite strong. They were not wrong. Taking the stroll down memory lane out of the equation, this was still one of the best hoagies I have had in 2015. That made me happy.

The deli is nothing to write home about visually, but it is packed with homemade goods that are a combo of Italian and Pennsylvania Dutch, each with their own comfort food specialties and followings.

The bread was from Amoroso's, which initially caused me to scoff. They have long been the gold standard for Philadelphia area sandwiches, though in recent years have yielded the throne to competition like Aversa's and Liscio's which have that crusty outside that makes a sandwich stand up to the wet ingredients. Lo and behold, you pick your own roll at Foresta's, and I was directed by the wonderful girl working the counter to the bottom row, second from the left. Amoroso's makes a crusty roll I never knew about. Fantastic.

My take from this haul. An Italian hoagie with sharp prov on a CRUSTY Amoroso roll. Pepperoni bread, and Italian mother lickin' hoagie dip. The hoagie dip alone would warrant a five cheesesteak rating. With the other pieces, this was bound for glory.

The Italian was perfectly balanced. They shave the onions, freshly slice the meats, and did not skimp on the sharp provolone. I am not joking nor embellishing when I tell you this is the perfect Italian hoagie. They even used hoagie spread instead of beat old banana peppers or cherry peppers with stems.

The roll held up perfectly, and dare I say, was every bit as good as my current favorites, if not better.

I also got mayo without so much as a wince. Because mayo and salty meat go hand in hand. Look at the construction of this thing. You will not find a better hoagie. Parallel, possibly, but you can't improve on perfection. It's the thing fat kid dreams are made of.

If the Italian wasn't enough for you, the Italian hoagie dip had all of the components, just minced together. The addition of the hot pepper relish gave this some acidity and spice, and the result was a flavor orgy on your tongue. I ate this whole container within a couple hours' of eating the hoagie, but that can be our little secret.

Finally, for dessert, I had a healthy serving of pepperoni bread. Look at the cheese vein running through this roll. Pepperoni worked its way through every fold, and the cheese spanned the width. Airy, well baked, and full of ingredients, you could do much worse for $5.59.

Foresta's reminds you just how much you lose in today's age of extra large super markets and automated everything. They have an incredible butcher, a great little grocery store, and a deli to make you forget all about that "diet" you were pretending to hang on to.

Carlino's Market

128 W Market Street
West Chester, PA 19382
(610) 696-3788
Website

Carlino's started as a DiBruno's-style shop in Ardmore, but has since branched out to West Chester. The West Chester iteration is much larger, though just as claustrophobic as the original. They offer a wide variety of pre-made Italian food, as well as cheeses, meats, coffee drinks, and two sandwich counters.

When you look at the layout below, it seems like there is plenty of space. But when you are actually there, the mere presence of five people in the below area causes chaos. In my half hour of shopping and eating, I was in the way, or annoyed at someone in the way at least a dozen times. One of the issues is the islands displaying additional goods for sale scattered around the store. It broke up the flow of traffic, and led to bottlenecks at every turn.

There is no question they offer quality goods, the cured meats alone could occupy me for hours. Plus they offer illustrations by Hawk Krall himself, one of my favorite local artists/food experts. See illustrations below.

One of the best things they offer is the tomato pie. It is thick, chewy, has great acidity from the tomatoes, and is just simple perfection. I am a big fan. It was the best thing I ate on this trip by far.

The "Ultimate Italian" was not so ultimate. It came on a decent roll, though it was no Liscio's, and held prosciutto, mortadella, Calabrese hot salami, hot capicola, rosemary ham,and aged sharp provolone. While the meat was definitely all high quality, the cheese was lost, and it was pretty dry overall. In a different geographic location, this would be a fantastic hoagie. Around here, it was good, not great.

The bread left a LOT to be desired...

The mortadella had beautiful pistachios studding it, and the hot salami was a nice touch. The cohesive package was just nothing special.

The beef meatballs "Sicilian Style" held fried eggplant, ricotta, and grated locatelli. This was the most disappointing of the bunch. The meatballs were under-seasoned, the locatelli was sparse, the eggplant soggy, and the bread fell apart in the three minutes from receiving to eating. Would not recommend this one.

I felt there should have been more salt and a bit of spice to really make this sandwich worthwhile. In addition, the bread was not hearty enough to contain the ingredients without ripping.

It was like they got their rolls backwards here: the Italian was dense and stiff, almost stale and the meatballs were in a spongy, seeded roll. So maybe if they were swapped, I'd be writing with a different opinion. But alas, my one experience at Carlino's will likely remain my only.

DeMarco's Italian Specialties

1338 Jackson Street
Philadelphia, PA 19148
(215) 463-9666 or
(866) ITAL-YUM
Website

This is a place I had driven by a number of times, but had yet to stop in. Although, upon my visit this weekend, I did have a feeling I had been there before. Anyway, it's perfect for a stop on your way to the stadiums, as it's right next to Broad street.

Tiny place with a pretty substantial menu. I was on my way to see the Fly-boys so I went with a couple of hoagies.

They slice their meats fresh, always a sign of a good deli, and they had a variety of drinks to chose from.

I threw the tubes of delight into my car and headed for some tailgating.

The blazin Brian was an Italian hoagie on spicy PED's. It came with both sharp prov and hot pepper cheese, hot coppa, hot soppressata, fried long hots, roasted garlic, and hot pepper pesto.

As you can see, this sandwich was no joke.

Notice the long hot, the pepper pesto, and the chunked sharp prov all hanging out?

See the whole clove of roasted garlic hiding at the bottom?

They really went above and beyond with the ingenuity, which is what gave them their four cheesesteak rating.

The next one was a bit of a curve ball. As an ode to the famous Turkey Schwartzie at Primo's, I asked for a Silver Streak with turkey instead of corned beef. This one was good, with the turkey adding some spicy pepper kick, but the meat was sliced too thick for my liking. The coleslaw, Swiss, and Russian dressing were also nice, but I could have used a bit more slaw. I can't really fault them because I ordered a sandwich with a substitution, something I usually frown upon, but the thick turkey needed to be shaved more thinly for me to have been wowed. Not a big deal at all, just splitting hairs.

I guess I wasn't too concerned about the turkey sub(stitution) because the Silver Streak is stated to come with "thinly sliced corn beef," so I assumed the turkey would also be sliced thin. You know what they say about people who assume though... lesson learned, DeMarco, lesson learned.

The bread they used was good, and it really stood up to the plentiful ingredients. This is a solid sandwich to take tailgating, and they have hot food too. Can't imagine this will be the last time I snatch up some fuel at DeMarco's before hitting the lot.

Pagano's Market

2001 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 523-6200
Website

Pagano's is a DiBruno Brother's type place that caters to white collar workers in Center City. I wrote about the outpost of it here last year, but felt a trip was deserved to the main location.

They get awfully busy during lunch, and the office workers swarm the "gourmet" foods offered.

There is a large salad bar, one at which (unfortunately) I will never be able to eat. Every time I have ever tried to take the healthy route, my food eyes have ended up costing me AT LEAST $15. For a damn salad. I guess I like heavy vegetables.

They also have a pizza station, that includes stromboli's. It looked good, but I was here for sandwiches.

You get into the appropriate line, and try to decipher what you want on this particular occasion. It didn't take me too long. Although I changed my choices a couple of times on the way to the front.

Most of the sandwiches are pre-made, but they will dress them to order.

Always a sucker for chicken cutlets, I had to try the sharp prov and spinach with a side of sauce.

This one did, however, look like a salad even I could get behind.

They dress hot sandwiches according to your requests.

Also, don't forget to grab a side of pickles. They are delicious.

I started with the Italian classico. It had the traditional assortment of cured Italian meats on it, but they were definitely of higher quality than usual.

The crusty roll was really, well, crusty. It was good though. Different than I am used to. The proscuitto was also quite good. Deep crimson in color, it was tender and packed with rich pork flavor.

The other meats and sharp provolone were also quite tasty. I think the roll might have been a bit overkill, but luckily I had oil, vinegar, AND mayo to lube it up. A solid Italian, though it was a bit steep at $10.

The chicken cutlet/parm, didn't fare quite as hot. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't the best I have had. The sauce was incredibly bland, and nothing about this sandwich "popped". It was very one note.

The cutlet itself was pretty good, but again, without any spice or enough salt, no contrasting flavors, it just didn't "cut" it. It could have also taken a bit of a pounding - more surface area and less (dry) breast to cut through with every bite.

I would go back to Pagano's, but probably only if the Kennedy Food Garden was closed. I think the couple of dollars less per item make the difference, but that's just me. Pagano's is certainly good enough, and if I worked in one of these buildings I would probably be here quite often. Has anyone had the pizza?