Ye Old Coventry Pub

1440 S Hanover St.
Pottstown, PA 19465
(610) 323-5790
Website

There are a LOT of beef and beer type places in the Philly area, especially the burbs. I was on a weekend drive and happened to stop by a place I had heard was one of the good ones, and decided to grab a Sunday lunch and beer.

In a place like this, a cheap domestic just seems right.

The best part is always watching the meat master at work. This was no exception. He painstakingly sliced and dipped each piece of beef off of what can only be described as a quarter cow. It was one of the largest pieces of beef I have seen in this type of setting. I was worried that might lead to tough meat, but was happy to be wrong.

As usual, they were served on a kaiser roll.

The beef was perfectly medium, and meltingly tender. You can see the au jus on the bread just helping lube things up so they can slide down. Double slices of prov were a welcome sight.

If you look through the beef crevice, you will see the layers of uniformly hand sliced meat. Just enough salt and juice to keep it moist and flavorful.

They certainly don't skimp either.

The fries were blah, but I was not here to eat fries (though now that I think of it, I should have gone for gravy fries on the side).

While this place isn't something I would leave the city looking for (it's about an hour away), it certainly adds to the charm and allure of the western suburbs. Now if only there was a way around having to take the Schuylkill expressway and 422 to get there.

Grumpy's (Handcarved Sandwiches)

137 E High Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
(610) 323-1232
Website

Pottstown is an off-the-radar little town that, like many small towns, is struggling to revive its main shopping strip/district. Luckily they have some anchors like Grumpy's to bring people back downtown. Because if there is one way to people's hearts, it's through their mouths.

This place could be mistaken for a coffee shop by the interior. But one look at the menu will assure you that it is indeed a sandwich spot that goes the extra length to cook their proteins in-house.

Pictured below is the owner/operator Grumpy himself (aka Gene "Grumpy" Dugan). Quick with a joke, or a brief complaint, he is certainly part of the charm.

The Grumpy's Sandwich, a rare roast beef served with sharp prov, sauteed onions and peppers, long hots, and garlic mayo is served on a kaiser roll, with a side of au jus.

This thing is stacked HIGH with tender roast beef. The traditional toppings all come together for a great sandwich that will certainly fill you up. The roasted hots are left with seeds in tact, so there was some definite heat coming through.

The turkey special boasts fresh house-roasted turkey, that was deliciously moist, and as fresh as you can get

Slaw and Swiss cheese round out this classic combination, but the real star was the delicious hand carved bird. No lunch meat here.

Check out the thickness on these beautiful slabs.

The seafood bisque was hearty and warming, without being overly heavy.

The roasted beets made for a deliciously unexpected side, and I don't usually dig on beets.

This is the type of place to help anchor a community revitalization, and given the attention to detail and hand made nature of the food, I suspect Grumpy's will be around for a long time.

Sly Fox Brewery

331 Circle of Progress Dr.
Pottstown, PA 19464
(484) 524-8210
Website

The Pottstown Sly Fox brewery is tucked away in the unfortunately named "Circle of Progress" by the airport, which I am pretty sure has no other businesses operating in the numerous buildings crowded around the circle. When I got there around noon on a Saturday and there was only one car in the lot, I was a bit worried that they weren't open. Or I was going to be kidnapped.

As it turns out, most people don't drink beer just before noon, even in Pottstown, and it filled up quickly after about fifteen minutes.

The food menu is small, but perfect for bar eats. Plus, you are here for the beer anyway, aren't you?

Big shout-out to brewer Matt Goodall. He made one hell of a Saison.

They offer four very tasty, and very different BBQ sauces. My personal favorites were the mustard, and the St. Louis.

I started with the Andouille sausage fritters. These little Johnny Cakes were laced with corn, and just crispy enough on the outside to hold up to my hyper-aggressive dipping. The corn added some sweetness with a hint of smoke contributed by the sausage.

Speaking of aggressive dipping, this chipotle aioli was hard not to eat with a spoon.

The pizzas were calling my name, so I decided to tuck into a bacon and blue. This pizza boasted crispy bacon, rich blue cheese, caramelized onions, and creamy sauce. Do not try this one if you are on a diet, or you don't like stinky cheese. It will not work in either of those scenarios. Luckily, I am fat, and a passionate lover of cheeses. The best part of this pizza may have been how nicely the crust was browned. It was perfect.

As previously mentioned, I am fat. So I had to also try the Kielbasa pizza, a nod to my Polish roots. The kielbasa was thinly sliced (like pepperoni), which allowed it to crisp up around the edges, and render out some of its smoky grease. The three cheese blend was a nice change up from standard mozzarella, and the caramelized onions and BBQ sauce base balanced it out with some sweetness. This was the unanimous favorite.

Again, look at how nice that crust is.

I would definitely not miss this one if you happen to find yourself in Pottstown. Or in Phoenixville, at the main HQ. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. Also, the beers are delicious (as we already knew).

Shorty's Sunflower Cafe

1494 North Charlotte Street
Pottstown, PA 19464
(610) 970-5111
Website

Shorty's is a gem in the suburbs. It is one of the best breakfast places around. They make their food with love, and it shows. Fresh, creative items, for a reasonable price. There is often a line, but it is worth the wait. We were able to sit outside and skip the wait all together. Win-win. I went for the breakfast club. I have had it before, and I was in a comforting breakfast sandwich mood, thanks to the festivities of the bike race I was in yesterday (I actually did a required shot of beef blood, and it was as gross as it sounds). Stacked on the breakfast club (get it?) is bacon, egg, mayo, lettuce and tomato on toast. I love the simplicity of this sandwich, and the interplay of the fatty bacon and the fresh crispy lettuce and moist tomato bites.



This is the dirty eggroll. I hadn't eaten this one before, but I am sure glad I can say that I now have! It is a scramble of ground beef, eggs, Monterey Jack cheese, and breakfast potatoes, all tightly rolled in a large flour tortilla. The barbeque sauce on the top is fantastic. It was tangy and smoky, and you could smell it from the other end of the table. This was a great breakfast burrito.




Finally were the Texan eggs in a hole. This was always my go-to dish. It is two eggs cooked in Texas toast, with jack cheese, salsa, and sour cream, served on home fries. It is soo good. I actually copied their style and make my eggs in a hole like that all the time now. It's so good with the salsa to keep everything moist. This is yet another great dish. The yolk mixes with the home fries beautifully as they cook the eggs perfectly. The only hard part of eggs in a hole is not overcooking the eggs. As usual, Shorty's Sunflower Cafe did not disappoint.