Stockyard Sandwich Co.

1541 Spring Garden Street
Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 977-9273
Website

Stockyard has been on my list for a while, ever since my friend over at Better Home Chef told me about it. I finally got a chance to partake, and I was not disappointed. Don't mind the Long River photo bomb back there.

The first two sandwiches were the whole pig banh mi, and the white fish po' boy.

The po' boy had cornmeal crusted whitefish, cabbage, carrot, onion, and remoulade on a baguette. This was a delicious riff on the original NOLA po' boys with a nod to the venerable Philly fish cake.

The cornmeal crusted fish was fried perfectly, and the batter made for a nice textural contrast.

As much as I liked the po' boy, the suckling pig banh mi was even better. The pork was rich and sweet, with carrot, cabbage, cucumber, cilantro, onion, jalapeno and XO mayo served on another delicious baguette. 

Look at the juice, and the sprigs of cilantro to freshen it up. Cabbage brought the crunch.

At this point, I was feeling over stuffed, but I persevered. There was still a braised beef to try. A farm-to-table cheesesteak of sorts. Tender beef, house-made Whiz, onion, mushroom, and yet again, all packed nicely into the same crusty baguette. The beef was tender, flavor packed, and well rendered. 

The cheese made for a perfect suspension to keep all of the ingredients firmly in place.

This place reminded me of a farm style Paesano's. It is in an area that is underserved for a truly great sandwich, and I think it fits the bill quite nicely.

Tröegs Brewery

200 East Hershey Park Drive
Hershey, PA 17033
(717) 534-1297
Website

Brewery trips are rarely about the food. Except it sure does sweeten the deal. Tröegs makes some of my favorite beers in the area, and coming home from a recent camping trip in the Pennsylvania Wilds, I stopped in for lunch. This is a huge facility, and even on a scorching hot Sunday, it was packed.

They have what they call a "snack bar" with an abundant menu that goes well above and beyond what you would usually expect from a little league field's snack bar offerings. I went for a couple beers and a couple of sandwiches and it wasn't easy to make my decision. Everything on the menu had my mouthwatering and so at the last minute, I made a snap decision with the order and couldn't have been more pleased with the results.

The braised brisket is served on brioche, with mustard slaw, house steak sauce, and fries. I was also intrigued by the lamb falafel on sesame naan, green tomato and cucumber chutney, harissa, and tahini yogurt. Also shown, cheese sauce.

The brisket was fantastic. It was shredded beef style, very peppery, and extremely tender. I am usually not a huge brioche fan, but the buttery roll worked well on this substantial sandwich. The mustard slaw was perfectly creamy with a tang that cut through the aforementioned rich and succulent meat.

There was a solid ratio of ingredients to carbs, something often overlooked on brioche. This was one of my favorite brisket sandwiches I have had – possibly ever *gasp*.

The lamb falafel was a really interesting twist. I like lamb. I like falafel. Mixed together they were a great pair. It was essentially a falafel-y spiced chickpea and ground lamb meatball, no complaints here. Green tomato and cucumber chutney provided some acidity to the sandwich, and the harissa with tahini yogurt helped moisten what could have otherwise been a dry flatbread.

Harissa is such an underrated condiment. It blends the right heat with sweet and smoky balance.

The lamb-falafel mix was fried crispy, and had plenty of glorious herbs.

The hop fries with spicy ketchup (and let's not forget that side of beer-cheese sauce for dippin') were another favorite. They were larger than I generally prefer my fries, but they were perfectly fried and had a creamy interior to complement the crunchy exterior.

All in all, this was some of the best brewery food I have ever had. And the beer, oh god that beer. Totally worth the trip into Hershey.

Poe's Tavern

2210 Middle Street
Sullivan's Island, SC 29482
(843) 883-0083
Website


Among the many places I love in Charleston, Poe's on Sullivan's Island is high on the list. A beer, cocktail, and burger bar it sits near the beach, and is completely filled with Edgar Allen Poe ephemera. He was stationed on the island and wrote "The Gold Bug" while there. So it makes sense there is a tavern dedicated to him.

The fireplace is particularly haunting.

I had already eaten lunch, and had dinner arrangements, but had to try the "Black Cat" burger anyway. Grilled onions, Edgar’s Drunken Chili, applewood bacon & pimiento cheese burger with a healthy serving of fries and some marinated bacon blue cheese slaw. I decided to go light and also get a side of roasted garlic blue cheese spread. I am making myself blush just writing this.

The burger was probably well seasoned (it was perfectly cooked), I wouldn't know because there was so much flavor in the chili topped with pimento cheese. It was a fantastic "fancy burger". Certainly not diet friendly, so we were fast friends.

Look at this thing. Unreal.

The slaw was a bit of a letdown, as it was lacking in flavor, and had no discernible notes of blue cheese nor bacon. It was fine, but not the over the top explosion of flavor I was hoping for. It looked pretty great though. Poe's is certainly a great place to visit on your way to or from Fort Moultrie. Though you may not be hungry for a while.