This past weekend, my company graciously hosted every employee and their family in Williamsburg, Virginia for a company outing to Busch Gardens. And even though there were a ton of (pretty amazing) diners in Williamsburg without pork roll on the menu, it was still an incredible time. Since the only "local" I met in Williamsburg was a Soundcloud freestyle rapper named Travis (who was drinking pitchers of definitely not drugged mimosas all night), I didn't get a whole lot of information about this confusing colonial village in the middle of Virginia. I'm not joking, this was the most confusing place I've ever been, the roads made absolutely no sense but I think that was the point. See, as you probably know from Disney's classic take on Pocahontas, the colony of Jamestown was the first successful English settlement on North America, established in 1607. Shortly after, the English discovered tobacco and established plantations encroaching on the native Powhatan Confederacy lands. Unfortunately, the song Colors of the Wind wasn't written yet, and instead of becoming loving neighbors, the English settlers and Native Powhatans warred for decades. In response to a Powhatan raid on Jamestown in 1622, the English established a defensive palisade in the middle of the peninsula and named it Middle Plantation. Fifty years later, in 1676, the colonists rebelled against their governor for not retaliating for Powhatan raids on them. During Bacon's Rebellion, Jamestown was burned down and the governor's temporary headquarters were established on the high ground at Middle Plantation. It is there, the brilliant English government realized that this location may be easier to defend and was a more pleasant environment than the humid and mosquito infested Jamestown settlement. The College of William & Mary was also established in this safer location and has since given us alumni such as three U.S. Presidents and my good friend, Herman. They decided to name their new capital Williamsburg in honor of King William III of England. As the capital of the largest Colonial State, Williamsburg became an important location for conventions leading up to the Revolutionary War. Once war broke out, the capital was again moved to a safer inland location, Richmond, where it has remained ever since. Today, Williamsburg's colonial village remains as a living history museum, where you can find all sorts of folk dressed in colonial garb reenacting 17th-century trades such as weaving and breadmaking. If history isn't your jam, you can visit Busch Gardens or Virginia's largest winery, The Williamsburg Winery. If you're looking for a change of pace, want to visit a beautiful theme park you've never been to, or want to sip mimosas with a SoundCloud rapper, Williamsburg is just a nice six-hour drive from New Jersey.
I know there are people out there that absolutely LOVE Gem's. They grew up on it, they worked there in high school, they are pumped when they open a franchise near them. Gem's has completely taken over the bagel game in Middletown area. As of today, there are six Gem's locations: Middletown, Port Monmouth, Keansburg, Belford and two locations in Hazlet. For clarification, this is the Middletown location in Union Square Mall (a few doors down from Taliercio's). Before Gem's took over, this location was occupied by a place called New York Bagels and is the 4th location to find a PEC within 2 miles from my house growing up (I wonder why I love these breakfast sandwiches so much). Here's how they stack up.
Bread Rating: 7.2/10 (Gem's Bagels are slightly above average and always a solid choice)
Pork Roll Rating: 6.9/10 (Two thick slices of pork roll.)
Egg Rating: 6.8/10 (Fried, average)
Cheese Rating: 7.4/10 (Plenty of real cheese, yellow American)
Sandwich Composition: 5.7/10 (It's really hard to nail a pork roll, egg, and cheese on a bagel and make it not messy. This one was pretty disjointed though, with meat hanging off one side leaving the other end with just cheese, ketchup and bagel.)
Overall: 6.8/10 (An average pork roll, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich.)
Price: $5, cards accepted without minimum but they do have a 4% fee on processing cards.
Gem's Middletown is located at 490 NJ-35, Middletown, NJ 07748 (Within Union Square Mall)
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