Sandwich Challenge: Danny Boy

Every year without fail, the week before Labor Day, the air starts to get cool and everyone starts sending you Venmo charges for Fantasy Football.  Here at the Shore, this weekend always signals the end of Benny Summer and the beginning of Local Summer.  But we all know what's coming in the next few weeks.  I always dreaded the end of the summer and the warm weather but now that the burdens of youth (school) have been lifted off of me (replaced by the burden of avoiding adulthood), I've grown to enjoy this time of year.  It's still the perfect time for outdoor activities such as drinking outdoors at a BBQ, watching football at a bar outdoors, enjoying a beer garden or brewery outdoors.  If you hate those activities you can finally get around to doing the yearly hike you've been talking about doing since the spring but haven't because "it's just too humid." What I'm trying to say is, soak it all in now because before you know it we're all going to be pasty as fuck huddled around inside "enjoying" turkey while daydreaming of the summer months when we actually left our houses.  Am I projecting? You tell me.  I just picked a sandwich named after an Irish funeral song to represent the end of the summer. 

Danny Boy: Grilled Chicken, Avocado, Bacon, Hot Cherry Peppers, Creamy Ranch Dressing

Have you ever tried to combine the creamy textures of avocado and ranch dressing? If you haven't then you should.  I like to think that the health benefits of the avocado balance out the detrimental elements of ranch dressing.  Just like the grilled chicken (not fried!) balance out the crispy bacon.  Add some cherry peppers and you have perhaps one of the best, most balanced paninis on the menu.  They also give you a choice of cheese so you can create your own adventure! If you're a sick fuck like me and need the heat cranked up a little more (because hot cherry peppers aren't enough) you'll go with the pepper jack cheese on this one.  RIP Summer 2019, I barely knew ye.  

Overall: 8.6/10 

PEC Challenge: Big Mike's Little Red Store

Last year, Chef Mike Metzner remodeled and reopened Navesink's Red Store after long-time owner Pat Verange retired.  The Red Store has been a mainstay on the corner of Navesink and Monmouth Avenue for as long as I could remember.  It was built in the 19th Century as a general store and is one of the more authentic country style delis you can find in the area.  As the Executive Chef of the nationally renowned fine-dining restaurant, Restaurant Nicholas (rated in the top-40 restaurants in the county), Mike has brought both fresh ingredients and a more elevated take on classic sandwiches while maintaining the sense of community that made the Red Store such a special place.  Alongside excellent breakfast sandwiches (5 different variations), Mike's menu includes several different lunch sandwiches (that I will be trying following the completion of my Taliercio's run) in addition to salads and grab and go meals (think Penne Vodka and Chicken Francaise) that you wouldn't really find in many other fast-casual spots in the area.  Any hesitations people might have in new ownership at the Red Store should immediately go out the window, this place is legit and has already made waves as one of the top new places to eat in the state. So whether you're on your way to Sandy Hook to soak in the final weeks of the summer or going on a hike at Hartshorne Woods, make sure you make a stop at the Red Store.   

Bread Rating: 8.8/10 (This was a magnificent hard roll. Also Mike makes his own Semolina bread fresh every day.) 

Pork Roll Rating: 9.4/10 (Several thin sliced cuts of pork roll stacked high on the sandwich.  Yes, you can totally tell the difference in taste on the thin sliced.)

Egg Rating: 8.4/10 (Fresh, fluffy egg that tasted like it came right from a farm down the street.) 

Cheese Rating: 9.1/10 (This was real cheese and you can tell.  Look at all that melted goodness in the picture above.  It really reminded me of a grilled cheese, which is what you want to compliment your pork roll with.)

Sandwich Composition: 9.4/10 (Perfect application of SPK, absolute class sandwich construction that you expect from someone with experience in fine dining.  I can't wait to go through this menu.) 

Overall Rating: 9.1/10 (Every single part of this sandwich was made with the freshest ingredients and you can tell. An excellent representation of a breakfast sandwich.)

Price: $5.95, cards accepted.

Big Mike's Little Red Store is located at 101 Navesink Ave, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716

Sandwich Challenge: The Alipio

I'm going to be really honest with you all here since I usually go into these with some kind of angle.  I have absolutely no clue what this sandwich could possibly be named after so please, bear with me, as I do what my crazy brain does best and speculate what in the world Alipio could be. After firing up the old Google machine, let's check with the oddsmakers 

Alipio-Brazillian soccer player (100/1) 

The very first result is 27-year-old Brazillian soccer player, Alipio.  Ever wonder why every Brazillian soccer player pulls a Cher and goes by one name? Same.  This guy is no Cher of the soccer world though.  After an underwhelming Real Madrid try-out (there's a 2011 article calling him the "NEW RONALDO" LMAO), he's jumped around Portugal a bit and is currently on Brasilerio Seire A team, Figueriense. This guy rarely scores goals even though his position is listed as attacking midfielder.  After checking in on FIFA 19 his rating is a 40.  40! Which is probably why no one's ever heard of him.  You might hit gold though when you find out this guy's someone's nephew or some shit.  Highly unlikely this sandwich is named after him.  

Saint Alypius Stylites-Catholic Saint (45/1)

Yes, this is a Greek variation of Alipio (I really had to reach here).  Turns out the name Alipio is also Greek.  Anyway, Alypius was from Adrianople (modern Edirne, Turkey) during the 4th-century which was right when Catholicism was becoming hot in the Roman Empire streets (thanks to Constantine I).  He was an early adoptor to Christianity in the East as a Deacon.  He gave away all his possessions to live as a monk, then in a cave as a hermit.  Finally, he qualified for Sainthood by living atop a pillar for long periods.  Maybe Saint Alypius is the patron saint of Taliercio's, otherwise unlikely it's named after this guy.

A family member named Alipio (5/1)

OK, this is probably it, right? Ol' Uncle Alipio, you know Jimmy's brother-in-law.  The name Alipio is of Greek origin meaning "he who is devoid of sadness" and folks I would say I was devoid of sadness eating this sandwich. 

The Alipio: Grilled Chicken, Bacon, Melted Swiss, BBQ Sauce

Why did I pick this random-ass sandwich for today?  Because I'm running out of sandwiches named after famous people and I had a mild anxiety attack the other day of the impending end of summer.  You know what cures that? Eating a sandwich with foods that remind you of summer.  Grilled chicken smothered in BBQ Sauce. If the BBQ sauce wasn't smokey enough for you, then you'll love the addition of the bacon. Perfectly crisp for a sandwich.  The good news is local summer is about to begin, meaning the beach will become 85% more enjoyable than it already is without the shoobies.  The bad news, I don't really love BBQ sauce.

Overall: 6.6/10 

Pork Roll Hero: Elsie's

Count Basie may be the most famous person from my hometown of  Red Bank, NJ (sorry, Kevin Smith, love your work), and today we celebrate his would be 115th birthday with a special one of a kind, old school sandwich which has been enjoyed by generations in town.  I'm talking about the pork roll and cheese sub.  Before gaining ultimate popularity amongst breakfast enthusiasts and the hungover masses, the pork roll and cheese sub was the working man's lunch, enjoyed by the thousands across the state including our very own Count Basie.   It's only fitting to enjoy a pork roll for lunch today in the ultimate Red Bank sub shop located just a few doors down from the Count Basie Theater.  "But who is Count Basie and why is he so important?" Glad you asked. 

Count Basie (born William James Basie), is one of if not the most recognized jazz musicians in the world.  Basie developed an interest in music by spending most of his free time as a kid at the Palace Theater in Red Bank, improvising music for the silent films being shown there.  (Palace Theater was built in 1912 and located directly across the street from The Globe Hotel, which is still operational as one of my all-time favorite dive-bars.  Unfortunately, the theater burned down in 1931 and is now Good Karma Cafe and a parking lot.)  As a teen, Basie would play local shows at the Jersey Shore with Sonny Greer (who later became Duke Ellington's drummer) until moving to Harlem (the capital of Jazz) in 1922.  After touring with several acts throughout the 1920s, Basie got his big break by joining one of the first "big bands," Walter Page and his Famous Blue Devils.  While with the band in 1932, Basie co-arranged the "Moten Swing" which was widely acclaimed. It was then that Basie was given the name "Count" and joined "Jazz Royalty." In 1935, he formed his own jazz orchestra, The Count Basie Orchestra which he led for nearly 50 years until his death in 1984.  In his decades-long career, he created several musical innovations and is a nine-time Grammy Award-winner with his first Grammy coming in 1958 and his final in 1984 for Best Jazz Performance, Group.  He has four recordings inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame: Lester Leaps In, Everyday (I Have the Blues), April in Paris, and One O'Clock Jump.  Now go open your Spotify and get an education while you eat lunch.  

Elsie's in Red Bank opened in 1959 and is one of the few remaining old school sandwich shops around.  As you may know, it's directly next door to another cash-only RB mainstay, Bagel Oven, which I reviewed back in January.  I was not disappointed by Elsie's though.  The bread, of course, was fantastic, and yes, this was an incredibly simple sandwich of pork roll and American cheese (with SPK), but it was simply fantastic.  I'm really looking forward to trying everything there.  I just had the sense the sandwich I ate today was the same exact thing someone ate in 1959 and you really can't beat that kind of nostalgia or legacy.  

Speaking of legacy, if you still don't know who Count Basie is, I'm sure you have heard his collaboration with Frank Sinatra so enjoy. 

Sandwich Challenge: Fredo

If you haven't seen The Godfather Parts I & II (first of all what the fuck are you waiting for?) you may have encountered the name Fredo for the first time in your life this week.  If you've decided to steer away from CNN and the blue-checkmark Twitter brigade, here's a recap.  Some sloppy looking gamer bro called Chris Cuomo "Fredo," an insult for which he compared to calling someone the N-word. I'm sure plenty of people will be responding with a "What a disgusting display of racism shown by Taliercio's for keeping this sandwich in their menu."  But allow me to chime in for a second.  Do you have a feeble, dumb demeanor? Were you passed up as boss of your crime family because, literally, everyone in your family favors your younger brother?  Do you display early-onset male pattern baldness?  And, finally, did you sell out your brother and family several times (once in Vegas and once in Cuba) in an effort to raise your self-importance due to an on-going struggle to make your family proud of you?  Those are the connotations towards calling someone "Fredo."  Not sure I see the racism there other than the dude is a fictional character in a wildly popular Italian-American saga but whatever.    

Let's turn this around to talk about the man who brought Fredo to life, John Cazale.  John Cazale was in a total of five movies before his career was cut short by his untimely death at 42 to lung cancer.  Incredibly, four of the five films he was in won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with the fifth movie being nominated. (That movie lost Best Picture to another film he was in.) Take a look at these classics: The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and The Deer Hunter (1978).  That's an all-decade squad of films.  So cheers to John Cazale this weekend, a truly accomplished Italian-American actor we can all celebrate.  

The Fredo: Chicken Cutlet, Ham, Swiss, Honey Mustard

I see what's going on here.  We have a Taliercio's take on the classic Cuban Sandwich and they added a chicken cutlet to commemorate Fredo's complete failure in Cuba.  Again if you haven't seen The Godfather you won't understand this.  I may be biased here but I think the combination of Cuban and Italian is absolute fire and so was this panini.  Mix in a little swiss and honey mustard and friends, we have heaven.  Everyone should go out and try this sandwich except maybe Chris Cuomo.  Sorry, bro. 

Overall: 8.6/10  

Sandwich Challenge: The Calabresi

If you grew up in the Tri-State area (the real tri-state NJ-NY-CT don't let anyone tell you otherwise), you probably know or knew a few people with the last name of Calabresi or Calabrese.  Almost all of these people's families had come through Ellis Island from the area of Italy known as Calabria.  Of course, many of them came as children or had names too hard for the mostly Anglo-American workers of Ellis Island to pronounce so they're given surnames were changed to where they came from.  Like most of Southern Italy, Calabria is a mostly rural region found at the "toe of the boot" and is the second-highest region for olive oil production and the largest producer of Porcini Mushrooms.  Unfortunately, they also have one of the highest Unemployment Rates in all of Europe which spurred their migration to the United States, where all of their names got changed.  The region has seen a ton of history and despite what the Romans might want you to believe they did not originate from Romulus and Remus.  Calabria has one of the oldest records of human presence in Italy dating back to around 700,000 BC (holy shit) when Homo erectus left behind traces around coastal areas.  The first tribe to settle the area were the Oenotri who were Greek wine-makers and began a several century period of Greek colonists flocking to the area which became known as "Magna Grecia." It wasn't until the reign of Augustus (27 BC-14 AD) that the Greek colonists were completely driven out of the region in favor of Romans.  Anyway, that's ancient history, let's see what's going on with this sandwich.  

The Calabresi: Ham, Bruschetta, Mozzarella, Basil Pesto, Balsamic Vinegar

The first thing that came to mind when eating this sandwich was "fresh." As you all know, I LOVE mozzarella, but with basil pesto on top and bruschetta below, I'm going to lose my mind.  I wouldn't say I'm the biggest fan of ham but it totally worked on this sandwich.  Makes sense that ham would be on it as pork is one of the main proteins of Calabria.  But let's get back to the bruschetta,  it really made the sandwich.  I'm sure most people have had a ham and mozzarella sandwich with balsamic but once they put on the bruschetta I knew I was dealing with something different.  I really loved this sandwich.  

Overall: 8.4/10

PEC Challenge: Jimmy's Place

I went to my first Jimmy Buffett show last night.  I know, as someone who used to vacation at a beach house in Florida named "Margaritaville" every August, I can't believe it's taken me this long. (New Smyrna Beach is a great place to spend a summer.)  There was such an incredible vibe from the entire Buffett experience.  Of course, you expect the Parrotheads to all be chill, friendly people but I have never seen such a large crowd at any PNC show ever with zero hints of conflict over real estate.  A very rare occurrence not only at PNC but in the entire state of New Jersey.  I woke up this morning (to a huge thunderstorm) like any other New Jerseyan after being serenaded for three hours by Jimmy Buffett, with a pork roll.  Today's had to be special though, it needed to be on the beach as a tribute to Jimmy and the island lifestyle he injected into our veins the night before. (The man played the entire show barefoot which are life goals 101.) Incredibly, there's a beachside greasy spoon in Belmar named Jimmy's Place that fit the bill perfectly. (Legally I think I have to say this Jimmy's Place has no relation with Jimmy Buffett or any Margaritaville Restaurant.) Jimmy's is a pretty small hole in the wall griddle, which also serves pizza, and is open 24 hours between Thursday-Saturday which I'm sure brings in a cast of late-night characters.  Some reviews say that service is slow, which is kind of true, but sit back and soak in the Atlantic air.  There could be much worse places to have to wait for a breakfast sandwich.  Speaking of the sandwich, let's check this one out.

Bread Rating: 7.8/10 (Very solid hard roll.  Sure having poppy seed rolls only might be cheating a bit but I respect the move.)

Pork Roll: 8.2/10 (Three large slices of pork roll on an expert griddle right before your eyes.  I can imagine this experience being nearly tear-inducing (out of happiness) after 2am.)

Egg Rating: 6.8/10 (Scrambled eggs were a tough look for a breakfast sandwich but they were also pretty good so I was torn here.)

Cheese Rating: 8.4/10 (A generous amount of white American cheese and it was glorious. I think there might have been another type of white cheese mixed in there as well but can't confirm. )

Sandwich Composition: 6.5/10 (No ketchup and the scrambled eggs slid off as easily as expected. I thought the sandwich worked fine without the ketchup though and was still a very good PEC.)

Overall: 7.5/10 (A good PEC from a hole in the wall griddle right on the beach.  I won't say the combination of the beach and Bob Dylan's "Lay, Lady, Lay" blasting on the speakers made this a cathartic experience but it certainly didn't hurt the score.) 

Price: $7, cards accepted

Jimmy's Place is located at 804 Ocean Ave, Belmar, NJ 07719

PEC Day Game Dog of the Month at Red Rock

Is it a pork roll, egg, and cheese? Is it a #daygamedog? Can both exist? I was so fired up about the Mets 13-2 win yesterday (and inevitable late-season heartbreak that will undoubtedly follow) that I decided to order the below "hot dog of the month" from beloved Red Bank outdoor bar Red Rock.  You may fondly remember Red Rock as Brannigans (RIP, 25 cent wings and $1 beers), but what was built in it's place is a three-level outdoor bar with some very solid food options and a robust beer selection of local favorites. 

As you can see, this isn't just your ordinary hot dog.  It's a deep-fried assortment of processed meats that will have your heart racing as you are simply enjoying some time drinking outdoors with some friends.  As soon as I saw the hot dog of the month included pork roll, I was sold.  Little did I know that I was about to receive an egg roll/corn dog/PEC combo that someone should only consume once in their lifetime.  Of course, like most unhealthy things, this was delicious.  Sure, you may have come for the hot dog/pork roll crossover but you probably didn't know fried egg and cheese could taste so good.  And of course, the usage of egg roll paper just put it over the top.  Wait, I think this just might be an egg roll? Oh well, it's only around for the month of August so if you want to test out your body's circulatory system head over to Red Rock now.  

Sandwich Challenge: The Mo

I try not to get too sappy here but today is my lovely girlfriend's 30th birthday. As per birthday tradition, today's sandwich was aptly chosen for her nickname, Mo.  She may be five months younger than me but she has twice the kindness, wisdom, and humility.  No seriously, she might be the nicest human in the entire world. Hopefully, I can catch up in thirty years but it's not looking good.  Anyway here are some fun Mo facts.  She might be one of the few 5% of people from Massachusetts that does not have some variation of a Boston accent (which is likely why they allowed her to obtain an NJ drivers license). Mo is in the top 1% of Hoop Fever (pop a shot, arcade basketball) players in the world.  Yes, I'm willing to say the world.  She once hustled the entirety (our friends were the only ones there) of an Atlantic City bar in Hoop Fever. In 3rd grade, she went through a phase of wearing camouflage clothing. OK, I'll stop before I give you all the link to her Jonas Brothers music video covers on YouTube. Happy Birthday, Maureen!  Let's get to the sandwich.  

Grilled Chicken, Broccoli Rabe, Mozzarella, Roasted Pepper, Balsamic Vinegar

Incredibly both of our (loosely) namesake sandwiches feature broccoli rabe, which is something neither of us has ever shared together.  I have to say after eating this sandwich, I might be a broccoli rabe guy.  I literally gasped when I started this project eight months ago (holy shit, I've almost carried this baby to full term) and I saw that there were SIX sandwiches with broccoli rabe.  That's 8% of their listed sandwiches! Since I avoid most things green (money included, lol, please sponsor my blog), I had never dabbled in broccoli rabe before, other than it being a basis of Stephen Colbert's character name in The Office. But I have been mistaken, broccoli rabe is a lovely leafy green to add to any sandwich...that I've eaten so far.  The main event of this sandwich though is the mozzarella, roasted pepper, balsamic vinegar combo and when you mix in the grilled chicken you have a pure summer.  The perfect sandwich for someone born on August 1st. 

Overall: 8.1/10