Franzone's Pizzeria

501 DeKalb St
Bridgeport, PA 19405
(610) 275-0114

If you don't like sweet sauce on your pizza, stop reading. If you like amazing thin crust, and the "swirl", then get your ass to Franzone's.

Well-known among the Norristown area and beyond, Franzone's is about as unassuming as they come.

A Caesar salad came with surprisingly crispy lettuce, and a nice peppery cream based dressing.

But I was not here to eat salad. I was here for pizza. I went with a half pepperoni, half plain in order to sample both staples. I should have just ordered a whole of each. The crust is thin, crunchy, and has a fantastic slightly nutty flavor. The cheese is quality, and spread generously, allowing it to meld with the dough. But the sauce, oh that sauce, is the star of the show. The old rumor around town is that the sauce is made out of Ragu + sugar, but I believe it is actually made of tomato paste (for richness, sweetness, and umami) and pure love.

And a ton of sugar, yes. Either way, this sweet sauce is to die for, and has me craving some pizza from them RIGHT NOW.

Fancy, this place is not. Delicious, cheap, and crave worthy, it absolutely fits the bill. Some of my favorite pizza around.

Lou's Sandwich Shop

414 E Main St.
Norristown, PA 19401
(610) 279-5415

The much beloved Montgomery County staple, the "Zep," has two Norristown heroes: Ev's and Lou's. Ev's was good, but it was time to write about my personal favorite, Lou's.

Lou's is old school. You can grab a seat at the counter and watch the action, joined by individuals of every walk of life. Seriously, this is downtown Norristown. It's got them all.

Fans of the Zep know that it is an Italian on a soft roll, no lettuce. Lots of onions. Also, they are usually served with a side of hoagie spread. One of my favorite parts. If the the onions are too much, feel free to pull some off, but if you don't have a hot date, just embrace the allium overload.

The Zep comes piled high with thick-ish meat, and a heavy layer of cheese on the bottom.

Everything just kind of comes together with the oil, herbs, spices, and soft bread to mop it up. The salty meat, sliced fresh to order, adds to the attractiveness. This is a hoagie at its most basic. And I LOVE it.

So the next time you get arrested in Montgomery County, or you have to go to a training class in Norristown, do yourself a favor and grab a Zep. It's a throwback that never moved forward, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

Minado

2917 Swede Road
Norristown, PA 19401-1335
(610) 277-7375
Website

Apparently, Minado stands for "heaven" in Japanese, because that's about how it felt when I arrived there. Now I have been to MANY all you can eat sushi places, but this one topped them all, in both variety of sushi, and the cornucopia of other food available. Like an Asian Fogo de Chao, with specialty sushi rolls thrown in for good measure.



It's in a shopping mall, and next to a liquor store (they serve alcohol but apparently you can bring your own if you want, but they also serve alcohol?) and looks like a supermarket from the outside. Once you walk inside, you will realize it is much more of a casino feel, than a supermarket.


Its seriously crazy how many items are on the menu. Everything from specialty sushi rolls, to a long bar of different cold sides, sweet snow crab, raw oysters, and on to the hot bar. After that you can make your way over to the made to order hibachi and crepe area. To finish it off, a large bar of desserts, cut into small squares because they know that you have eaten well over your threshold of calories for the week (at least if you are me). You will then begin to gorge on these delicacies, and eat so, so, so much food. When I was finished, I ate another round of sushi before waddling over to the dessert bar for some green tea cheesecake. Below you will get an idea of a small portion of the Japanese delights available. Sashimi, steamed pork buns, fried oysters, teriayki beef, calamri skewers, raw oysters, shumai dumplings and coconut shrimp. Seriously. This was one of about eight plates I ate (literally).


I caught the crepe guy by surprise.


Get in line and have your every culinary desire (as long as it's Asian) granted.

The specialty rolls are made as fast as the sushi guys can crank them out, but they still took great care to make them well. The turnover is so fast due to the shear size of this place that everything was fresh. I recommend going on a weekend night, as it's easy to get a table as the place is huge, and they will be keeping all of the offerings fresh with the volume turnover. It runs $30 for dinner per person, but they were having a special where it was $25 for each of us. It's also quite fun to go with a group, as it's easy to split the checks up and you can compete for the strongest person (aka biggest pig) at the table. I handily strolled over the finish line before I even got my final plate of sushi.



The place is seriously so big inside that you burn some of the calories you take in by walking back to the buffet, or so I like to think.


As another dessert, I asked them for a handroll, after seeing the sign above the sushi area. They make them to order, and really hooked up the fish.



The hibachi and crepes like the hand rolls are made to order, with a variety of options. This place is so awesome, too bad it's in Norristown. We were all expecting them to come and say that it was a joke and we actually all owed $100 a piece. No such thing happened. Bottom line, I am not saying it's the best sushi I have ever had, but it's just as good as most of the sushi in the city, and you have SO MANY other options that it's just about perfect. I can't wait to go back.

Eve's

310 E Johnson Hwy
Norristown, PA 19401
(610) 277-6600

I heard tales from my Dad about the "Zep" that he used to love to eat way back when in Norristown, so I decided to pick a couple of them up to give him a jog down memory lane (which coincidentally you will need after eating a zep).



From the outside, Eve's is a rather unassuming place in a strip mall, and upon entering, it is not much different. I liked it immediately.


The medium Zep is about $5.50, and well worth it.



So what is a Zep? Well, it is basically an Italian hoagie with no lettuce. And by basically, I mean that's exactly what it is. At Eve's they slice the tomato fresh, and certainly are not stingy with the onions. They were, however, a bit stingy with the hot pepper spread. Luckily, I was able to add some when I got home. The salami is great, riddled with whole peppercorns, and the cheese is standard provolone, but generously applied. The bread is fresh from Conshohocken Bakery, and is light and airy, a perfect vessel to deliver this package of meat and cheese. The Zep is a good sandwich, and I really enjoyed it, but mostly to reminisce with my Dad. It was hardly ground breaking, but to get a taste of how things used to be, Eve's delivers.