Taliercio's Challenge: Philly Grilled Cheese Steak

Writing about tragedy isn't the most natural thing for me to do.  It's a pretty awkward process for my weird brain that can and will make a joke out of any situation. (There won't be many jokes until the bottom so please proceed now for those.) Growing up playing basketball, Kobe Bryant was by far my favorite athlete.  I started playing basketball during his rookie year (1996), played hours of Kobe Bryant's NBA Courtside on N64 (who gets their own video game after playing just one year?), and exclusively wore a purple #8 Lakers jersey for three straight summers.  Sure, it was cool when the New Jersey Nets made it to two straight NBA finals.  But you know what was cooler? Watching Kobe dismantle some of the league's best players.  He was the anointed successor to Jordan's throne.  There's nothing I can write about him or his career that you haven't already read this week following his, and eight others, tragic passing but what stuck with me are the things you don't usually hear about during an athlete's playing career.  Seeing so many people (literally everyone I know, whether they like basketball or not) share stories of his selflessness in charity, his legendary work ethic, and most of all his commitment to fatherhood.  It affected me in a way I didn't really expect.  I never met him but a part of me will always be influenced by Kobe.  Just a kid in the middle of the street, practicing fallaway jumpers. 

The Philly Grilled Cheese Steak: American, Mozarella, Roast Beef, Peppers and Onions

Out of the grilled cheese sandwiches I've had at Taliercio's, this is the one that has tasted most like a "traditional" grilled cheese that I'm used to.  No, I don't typically load my grilled cheese with roast beef or peppers and onions but maybe as a society, we should.  And while I usually would love nothing more than to antagonize Philly for being the inferior city of New Jersey (let's be honest New York and Philly belong to Jersey more than their own states, sorry, but it's true) I have to admit that this was nowhere near an authentic cheesesteak.  I love the roast beef here, I love the grilled cheese, but nothing can replicate the Philly roll, the guilty pleasure of cheese wiz, and beefsteak grilled on the spot. (I still need to check out Donkey's Place in Camden to see if NJ can actually take the cheesesteak crown.) If you're feeling cold and are craving a grilled cheese, this is the one to get.

Overall (Taliercio's): 8/10 

Overall (Cheesesteak): 6.5/10 

Taliercio's Challenge: Memphis BBQ

Oh, you thought there would only be ONE Tennessee city represented at this New Jersey deli? Well, you're wrong (there's more to Tennessee than just Nashville) because seemingly an employee here has also been to Memphis (Or is just a big Penny Hardaway fan).  The rivalry is bitter but from as far as I could tell, Memphis and Nashville have about all the same things (lively bars featuring live music, a fun downtown street where partying takes precedent, and top-notch local cuisine).  Nashville just has a better PR firm with multiple TV shows revolving around country music, while Memphis remains a mainstay on the show Cops.  I would never dream of judging between Beale Street and Broadway, Graceland and The Opry, Justin Timberlake and Miley Cyrus, Jerry "the King" Lawler and Honky Tonk Man, the Bass Pro Shop shaped like a lifesized replica of an Egyptian pyramid and that Batman shaped building.  I'd never pass judgment on the pride of rival cities. Couldn't be me.  Well, mostly this time because I've never been to Memphis so I can't really make a proper judgment.  But when a city makes the claim of having "The Nation's Best BBQ" you better believe I'm going to take notice.  What better way to be introduced to a region's prideful cuisine than to enjoy a take on it from a deli in New Jersey.  For what it's worth, I'm expecting this to be just as authentic as the Nashville Hot Chicken, so don't sweat it Memphis, someday I'll have some random reason to visit your city and try the BBQ. 

Memphis BBQ: Sliced BBQ Chicken, Cheddar, Pepper Jack, BBQ Sauce, Sliced Pickle

Now while I personally enjoyed this grilled cheese for its cheesy rendition (pepper jack!) of some BBQ hits.  Here's what my co-worker who is from Memphis had to say when I told her what was included in the "Memphis BBQ" grilled cheese.  

1. "BBQ chicken! That's a travesty.  Memphis BBQ is pork."

2. "Memphis BBQ sandwiches come with coleslaw ON the sandwich."

3. "The pickle is iffy-Corky's (generally the most internationally known Memphis BBQ) puts one on top of the sandwich. No one else does." 

It seems like a strikeout to me on authenticity but hey, good thing it was decided that we can still enjoy things that are good.  And this is a good grilled cheese sandwich. You get a mixture of two all-time kinds of cheese with some sliced chicken slathered in BBQ sauce.  What's not to like there? (Other than buffalo sauce being superior to BBQ sauce. Don't @ me).  I don't know about you, but Elvis isn't walking through Taliercio's door to give a proper assessment so I think we're safe for now. (I would love to know the number of people from Memphis that have ever been to Taliercio's).  Placing the o/u at 2.5 and hammering the under. 

Overall (Taliercio's sandwich rating): 7.4/10

Overall (Memphis BBQ rating): I've never been to Memphis so I have no idea. 

Since I've never been and don't have a picture of what the real deal looks like (with cute IG filtering named after the city), I'll leave you with one of the top ten most underrated karaoke songs of all-time. 

Have a good weekend!

Taliercio's Challenge: Nashville Hot Chicken

It's winter again, not sure if you noticed, and with it means grilled cheese season!  Here in Red Bank, the river had it's now annual 3-day freeze this week. (It's already melted, and yes I'm aware of the climate ramifications of a river that used to be frozen solid every winter now only lightly freezing for 3 days, please don't lecture me.)  Taliercio's touts nine different variations of grilled cheese, all with a different city flair added to them.  You may have noticed back when I covered The Golden State and The Dirty South, that they held pretty true to their namesakes. (I confirmed with multiple people from California that simply putting avocado on something makes it Californian.) Sadly, I am not traveling to Nashville this week, though, my basic ass has been inside Honky Tonk Central multiple times so this makes me now an expert.  Now you know that I'm more than qualified to pass judgment on the New Jersey iteration of Nashville Hot Chicken.  But before I bring the heat, allow me to douse you in some hot chicken history.  

Nashville hot chicken, a local specialty, is a type of fried chicken that's marinated in a secret blend of seasoning (cayenne pepper), floured and fried before being covered in a paste that has also been spiced with cayenne pepper.  Typically, the fried chicken is then served on top of slices of white bread with pickle chips.  This spicy fried chicken dish had been served in Nashville's' African-American communities for generations, but the current dish may have been introduced in the 1930s by the family of Andre Prince Jefferies, the owner of Prince's Hot Chicken Shack.  Legend has it that the original owner Thorton Prince was a womanizer and after coming home from a late-night out, his girlfriend at the time cooked him a fried chicken breakfast with extra pepper as revenge.  What started as revenge ended with one of the most popular late-night food staples in Nashville, and here we are decades later eating hot chicken for fun in New Jersey.  But is it the real deal? 

Nashville Hot Chicken: Buffalo Chicken, Pepper Jack, Cheddar Cheese, Pickles, Hot Sauce

Authenticity aside, I loved, loved, loved this sandwich (grilled cheese? panini?).  Anytime you can give me buffalo chicken, hot sauce and pickle without ruining it with bleu cheese, I have to declare you a winner. Really, this was maybe the perfect panini for me. But as you can see, this is not what you would "traditionally" think of as hot chicken.  This is a chicken cutlet breaded with some extra pepper and maybe cayenne with Frank's Red Hot and there's nothing wrong with that!  It's just not real Nashville Hot Chicken.  The real deal would look a little like this (please disregard my usage of the "Nashville" Instagram filter.)

This chicken is a little more deep-fried, has a darker, spicer flour, and does not have cheese. Here's the thing, folks.  You can like both! I loved this grilled cheese from Taliercio's just like I loved the authentic hot chicken in Nashville.  Yeah sure I might be rating these things akin to a 9th grader rating the girls in his class but really the important lesson here is the journey.  So let's rate this shit.

Overall (as a Taliercio's sandwich): 9.5/10 

Overall (as Nashville hot chicken): 5.5/10 

A real role reversal would be me going to Nashville and having someone make me a pork roll, egg, and cheese.

PEC Challenge: Township Bagel Cafe

Hand up, if it weren't for NJ.com's top 50 PEC list I would have never known this place existed.  This may surprise some of you who believe anything south of the Driscoll Bridge is South Jersey, but I'm not a South Jersey guy.  The only time I've spent any time in South Jersey was to visit Rowan University in 2006 (Atlantic City and Sea Isle don't really count because those are beach locations. I have spoken.)  This spot is right down the road from Rowan, and from what I remember about the area is that it looked a lot more like Kentucky than NJ (shoutout Cowtown in Pilesgrove).  With that image painting my brain, you can imagine how shocked I was when I rolled up to this bagel spot that looked exactly like any other bagel spot I've ever been to and also offered DoorDash services.  "Door Dash in this rural area?! Amazing!" Exclaimed the ignorant child of North Jersey voice in my head.  And then I remembered that NJ is the only state in the entire country with 0 rural counties.  So next time someone asks you to visit South Jersey, remember that they also have modern amenities like DoorDash too so their outlook on cuisine cannot be overlooked.  Or you can just do what I do and stop into these places exclusively when you have to drive past them to get to a work meeting in D.C. Either way, up to you.  I, however, am contractually obligated to try every place in this wildly diverse state so here we go with our very first South Jersey entry: Township Bagel Cafe.  

Bread Rating: 6.2 (The further from the city you get, the more the quality of bagel will diminish, those are just scientific facts.  By the way, the city I'm talking about is New York, you rubes.  The city close to this place is Philly, in case you don't understand what I was getting at.) 

Pork roll: 7.2 (A bit of a smokier almost mesquite flavored pork roll down here. I definitely didn’t hate it. They provide two pretty big slices)

Egg: 6.4 (Eggs were OK, placed in a heap on the sandwich which kind of took it over.)

Cheese: 7.5 (Way to be with the white American cheese. If you're going to be around farms it's inexcusable to not have fresh cheese and eggs.)

Sandwich composition: 6.8 (good composition. Maybe too much egg? Came with a side of home fries which might be enough to bribe other food writers in the state but not this guy. Mostly because the home fries weren’t that good.)

Overall: 6.8 (certainly not a place I would say you need to go out of your way for. But if you’re around Rowan University this might not be a bad stop.)

Price: $6

Township Bagel is located at 288 Egg Harbor Rd, Sewell, NJ 08080

PEC Challenge: Grandma's Bagels

Hello friends.  Did you miss me? I know it's been a while.  You're probably all wondering if I had reached Pork Roll nirvana and melted away into the inside of a hard roll at Summit Diner.  I know I thought about it.  So why did I just take a month-long hiatus?  Honestly, very unplanned but kind of planned.  I won't bore you with the details but I took a much-needed break from my computer following my company's holiday party in DC (I used the rest of my PTO to take the last two weeks of the year off because that shit does not carry over to a new year).  "But it's been 2020 for two weeks where have you been?" No, I haven't been having an existential crisis over the fact that we have just entered the decade where I will enter mid-life.  Why would I do that? The truth is, as per my "Winter prior to a Summer Olympics held in AsiaTM" tradition, I've been fighting off a cold that deemed my tastebuds unusable. (In hindsight, my lifestyle of snowboarding and going out while sick did me no favors.)  What use would I be as the arbiter of food without my clearly impeccable sense of taste?  So my two-week hiatus turned into four and here we are on January 15th making our 2020 debut on none other than #NationalBagelDay.  So sit back, relax, and enjoy Grandma's Bagel.  

(My Grandma did not make these bagels, however, before I lost my sense of taste, I ate an entire Tupperware of her Christmas cookies the day after Christmas, which were phenomenal as always, thank you, Grandma!) 

Bread Rating: 8.1/10 (The bagels are solid here, airy and crispy. Unfortunately not made by my Grandma.)

Pork Roll Rating: 8.3/10 (Thick slices of sweet, sweet pork roll.  I've missed the hell out of you.)

Egg Rating: 7.8/10 (Excellently seasoned, fried and slathered with cheesy goodness.)

Cheese Rating: 7.4/10 (Bad news first, it's cheap imitation cheese.  The good news is they are very liberal with the application of said cheese.  That's one way to bump up your cheese score for those keep track at home.)

Sandwich Composition: 7.8/10 (A solid breakfast sandwich.  Maybe a little heavy-handed with the ketchup but it didn't ruin the sandwich at all.)

Overall Rating: 7.9/10 (And we are back! Thankfully with a very solid PEC and an excellent bagel on #NationalBagelDay.) 

Price: $4 (!), card accepted with $5 minimum so grab yourself a yoo-hoo. 

Grandma's Bagels is located at 479 Prospect Ave. Little Silver, NJ 07739