PEC Challenge: Columbus Deli & Grille

Ventured outside Monmouth County this weekend for the first time in three months to neighboring Burlington County (basically another world) for a round of golf.  Since I don't often frequent the area, of course, I looked up a place for a pork roll before once again embarrassing myself on a golf course.  I was shocked to find the deli down the street from the course was closed (on a Sunday), so I had to find a new place in the land of zero cell phone coverage.  I found Columbus Deli in (you guessed it) Columbus, NJ in a quaint little Main Street that looked just about abandoned (not due to COVID).  It seems most of the people in the area flock to a substantially sized farmer's market down the road from the "downtown," as I saw hundreds of cars parked there.  Columbus Deli, however, was pretty quiet, inside what looked to be an old general store.  The shelves were pretty empty though and it seemed most people go in there for sandwiches.  

Bread Rating: 5.8/10 (The bread left a lot to be desired, but judging from the shelves in the "general store" portion it looked like supplies were pretty dwindled.)

Pork Roll Rating: 6.6/10 (Two slices with some good snap on them.  Taylor brand from the looks of it.  Thin sliced.)

Egg Rating: 5.6/10 (Pretty bland egg if we're being honest.  Pretty disappointing given the huge farmers market down the street.)

Cheese Rating: 7.1/10 (At least there was some fresh white American cheese on this sandwich, but it was barely visible.)

Sandwich Composition: 5.8/10 (No SPK, pretty bready sandwich, and bland.)

Overall: 6.1/10 (A below-average sandwich.)

Price: $4.50

Columbus Deli & Grille is located at 266 Atlantic Ave, Columbus, NJ 08022

Taliercio's Challenge: Blazing Buffalo

Why do people always have to ruin a good time? I'm not talking about the late afternoon emails I'm inevitably going to get every Friday (rude AF) while I'm trying to boost my vitamin D (good against Coronavirus).  No, I'm talking about the insistence of adding Bleu Cheese to anything Buffalo.  Buffalo chicken is arguably one of my favorite food groups but I have been haunted by this upcoming sandwich from the minute I started this challenge.  Bleu. Cheese.  Dressing.  I don't know about you but bleu cheese tastes like paint to me, and nothing will ruin a good time in my mouth faster than bleu cheese crumbles in a wrap or sandwich.  So where did this cheese come from and why is it so popular? I put on my investigative journalism hat (Wikipedia) to find out.  Bleu cheese is believed to have been discovered by accident (no shit) when cheeses were stored in natural temperatures and moisture-controlled caves favorable for many varieties of mold.  According to legend, a young boy eating bread and cheese abandoned his meal in a nearby cave after seeing a beautiful girl in the distance.  When he returned months later, the mold had transformed his cheese into what is now known as Roquefort proving yet again that a distracting girl could be the most dangerous entity on the planet.  We've been stuck with bleu cheese ever since (around 879 AD, by the way, a really long time ago).  Good thing I'm eating this on a Friday, because the smell of bleu cheese is known to linger so I will definitely be airing out my office over the weekend.  Glad you asked about the distinct smell because its due to both the mold (Penicillium) and the types of bacteria encouraged to grow on the cheese, for example, the bacterium Brevibacterium linens is responsible for smells such as foot odor and other body odors.  Basically, what I'm saying is if you go out and enjoy Bleu cheese, good for you.  But you're disgusting and probably smell weird.  

Blazing Buffalo: Buffalo Chicken, Jalapeno Jack Cheese, Bleu Cheese Dressing

Thankfully for all parties involved the bleu cheese was more subtle than I anticipated when I got this sandwich.  Likely in part because it was diluted in the buffalo dressing that makes this sandwich a "blazing buffalo."  The jalapeno jack cheese gave a really nice kick to the mild buffalo chicken and as always ask for the sandwich HOT.  The melted cheese only enhances the flavors here (and helps even out the disgusting bleu cheese.)  Not much else to this sandwich, just a ton of shaved buffalo chicken with melted cheese and just a hint of the bleu cheese taste.  Another win for Taliercio's getting me to say positive things about Bleu Cheese, seriously what can't this deli do? 

Overall: 6.6/10 

PEC Challenge: Krib's Bagel Bazaar

I walked into quite the scene when I arrived at Krib's Bagel Bazaar this morning.  As I got out of my car a man stomped out of the store in a fit of rage, with two guys sitting near the door getting up shortly thereafter saying they were "done with the place."  Not. A. Great. Sign.  Luckily, I'm not 100 years old and I used the DoorDash (Gold Member speaking here) app to order ahead so I didn't exactly have a similar experience these olds had when they called in their order on the phone.  Not sure what you expect from a bagel shop when it's the only place open in the morning and literally every single person in NJ is at home instead of commuting to the city, but I digress.  I will not make further comments on the attitudes of Hazlet, NJ's finest residents (made famous by Jersey Shore's Sammi Sweetheart).  

Bread Rating: 5.8/10 (The bagels were a little weird to me.  Soft and doughy, almost like the chain Einstein bagels.  I'm not sure they make their own bagels here despite the name being bagel bazaar.  Strange.)

Pork Roll Rating: 6.5/10 (Two thin slices beneath a behemoth pile of scrambled eggs.  The flavor was pretty good, though the meat ratio was a bit off, which leads me to.)

Egg Rating: 6.8/10 (Generally, scrambled eggs on a breakfast sandwich is a non-starter, but these were mixed in so well with the cheese that I couldn't deduct that many points off it.  The did take up most of the sandwich.)

Cheese Rating: 6.8/10 (Since the cheese and the eggs were so married in this sandwich they're going to get the same score.  Real cheese mixed in with the eggs is a win, and not normally done.)

Sandwich Composition: 6.2/10 (Though I appreciated the egg and cheese mix, this was a little egg-centric and without SPK.  It's not a bad sandwich but also not one I'd go out of my way to get.)

Overall: 6.4/10 

Price: $5

Krib's Bagel Bazaar is located in Airport Plaza, 1352 NJ-36, Hazlet, NJ 07730.

PEC Challenge: Sheepshead Baygel

This has been a long, long time coming on this blog.  After several inquiries (from one family, in particular, love you guys), I have finally made it to Sheepshead Baygels.  Here's a fun fact.  Did you know I've driven past Sheepshead Baygels THOUSANDS of times in my life and always wondered why they spelled "bagels" like "baygels."  Well, it took me decades to realize that the name is derived from the Brooklyn neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay.  (My family isn't from Brooklyn in my defense so I don't have much familiarity to the area except that the starting point of GTA IV is modeled after it.) Since I don't know anything about this neighborhood, I wikipedia'd it and it turns out Sheepshead Bay is named after the sheepshead fish that are common in the waters there. These same waters are used in making the best bagels in the country.  Yes, I just declared it.  Brooklyn bagels reign supreme, deal with it.  When Sheepshead Baygels opened its doors in 1998, it brought with them the quality and consistency of a bagel from Brooklyn at the peak of the suburban migration to the Jersey Shore.  

Bread Rating: 9.4/10 (These are some of the very best bagels you can find in Monmouth County.)

Pork Roll Rating: 8.8/10 (People say there's no difference between Taylor Ham and Pork Roll, I disagree.  This might not have been Taylor's brand, but the razor-thin slices of pork roll reminded me of the Taylor Ham sandwiches from my youth in North Jersey. There is a difference! In my opinion, thinner sliced pork roll doesn't overwhelm with salt and gives the pork roll a better flavor.  You might disagree but you are wrong.)

Egg Rating: 8.4/10 (A fried egg, but take a look at the pepper on there.  Seasoning is key!) 

Cheese Rating: 7.8/10 (Quality Land O Lakes cheese, and it was melted.)

Sandwich Composition: 8.6/10 (SPK ratio was spot on, the contents were secured between the awesome bagel.)

Overall: 8.6/10 (Live in Monmouth County but from Bergen or Hudson? This is the pork roll, egg, and cheese for you.  The best way I could describe this sandwich was nostalgia.  Excellent bagel, thinly sliced pork roll, and nothing but good memories.  Sheepshead consistently brings it.) 

Price: $6, cash only 

Sheepshead Baygels is located at 2095 NJ-35 Holmdel, NJ 07733 

Taliercio's Challenge: Doo-Wop

The pillar on which modern rock, R&B, and pop music were built on, Doo-Wop reached its peak success in the early 1960s.  Originating among African-American youths during the 1940s in cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, and D.C, Doo-Wop music features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation.  Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals of repeated nonsense, hence the name "doo-wop."  Teenagers in poor neighborhoods (usually African and Italian Americans) who couldn't afford instruments would practice on street corners and perform at school dances and other special occasions.  Record labels at the time deemed Doo-Wop music "dangerous to America's youth" due to the popularity of the music successfully mixing blacks and whites in a segregated1950s America.  By 1954, there was no stopping Doo-Wops momentum and in 1956, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers performed their hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" (the most 1950s song ever) to a national audience on the Frankie Laine Show.  Laine referred to it as "rock and roll" and the genre was here to stay.  Doo-wop's influence continued in soul, pop, and rock groups of the 1960s all the way to today, influencing artists like James Brown, the Beach Boys, Billy Joel, and Bruno Mars.  With a hand in influencing so many genres of music, doo-wop should always be remembered as a cornerstone of a collective American music scene, much like the blend of a loaf of bread with roast beef, mozzarella, and balsamic.  

Doo-Wop: Roast Beef, Mozzarella, Broccoli Rabe, Balsamic Glaze

I've wrote about the Taliercio's roast beef many times, and I'll do it again, it's incredible.  The broccoli rabe kind of takes some taste away from the mozzarella (which there could have been more of).  It doesn't take away anything, this is still a solid sandwich.  Thanks to Taliercio's I've had more broccoli rabe this year than my previous 30 years, and I don't hate it.  But the highlight of this sandwich to me was the juices of the roast beef mixing with the balsamic glaze soaking in the signature semolina bread.  A heavenly, summer combo that makes me think of backyard dinners at my parents' house.  If you aren't dunking your bread in sauce, what are you even doing? This sandwich did the dunking for me and gave me a roast beef meal in between.  

Overall: 7.6/10 

Special Food Report: Norah's Irie

It's hard to put into words what's going on in this country when every day we wake up to "sky is falling" news.  I've never been blindly hated based on my race and despite being in the most diverse state in the U.S, I grew up in a town that the vast majority (88.5%) identify as "White."  So why am I writing about this now, on a day where almost all of my peers are posting a black tile on their social media accounts? Well, I think it's important to use the platforms you have to express your thoughts, and the goal when I started this very small, hobby food blog was to bring people together through food.  While I appreciate and respect everyone for following the social media #trends, I'm going to spend my time today highlighting a Black-owned business in my area, Norah's Irie.   Norah grew up one of thirteen children on a farm in White Hall, Jamaica, where at a young age, she developed a passion for cooking.  She left Jamaica as a teenager, where she earned a degree in social work and became a school teacher. As years passed, Norah missed cooking and serving the food of her childhood so she opened up Norah's Irie in Long Branch, NJ.  I ordered food from Norah's and was greeted with a sign above the kitchen that read "All Are Welcome," and a friendly voice behind it asking how I was doing.  We chatted for a few minutes and I left the restaurant with more than just my bag of food.  I left with a hope that we can get through these fucked up times.  Hope that we can all come out of this more united.  And hope that the sky is not in fact falling (yet).   So this weekend, I'm giving you all a challenge.  Go out to a town or part of town that you don't normally go to, and try something new.  Instead of "unfriending" everyone who didn't follow a social media trend or talking down to a friend; embrace a new experience with them and guide them through it.  "Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it's a start."

I ordered the jerk chicken that came with rice and beans, cabbage, and fried plantains (I will be going back for the oxtail next week and that's a promise).  The chicken basically fell off the bone, and the jerk seasoning was magnificent.  If you've never had jerk chicken, I highly recommend it.  I remember the first time, I ever had it (a Jamaican food truck in Philly outside the Penn Relays) and being completely blown away by it.  Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica, in which meat is dry-rubbed with hot spice and cooked over a pit fire.  It was originally developed by Maroons, African slaves who escaped into the forests and mountains of Jamaica when the British captured the island from Spain in 1655.  Helped by the Tainos, who were native to the island, the two groups introduced each other to new styles of cooking (the Tainos used scotch bonnet chili peppers native to the island in their seasoning, while the Maroons introduced the cooking pits and slow cooking techniques), to create what we call today jerk style cooking.  Jerk chicken continues to be the most popular of all Jamaican cuisine worldwide and for good reason.  

PEC Challenge: Homemade Brand Showdown 2020

Have you ever walked by the eggs and breakfast section of your grocery store (shoutout Shoprite Shrewsbury) and noticed the many different brands of pork roll available? Oh, you had no idea you could buy pork roll at the grocery store? (I've even seen it available to buy at Harris Teeter in Virginia).  Well, this past weekend, my family (this was my mom's idea) and I taste-tested three of the brands at Shoprite; Taylor's, Case's, and Shoprite's own brand pork roll.  Each of these sandwiches was made as consistently as possible by my sister in our parents' kitchen using plain bagels from Hole Lotta Bagel, free-range eggs from Whole Foods (didn't realize my family was fancy AF now), and Land O Lakes Yellow American cheese.  So with all of those ingredients remaining the same, we were able to really judge how the different brands of pork roll affected the overall taste of the sandwich.  So here they are, ranked.  The results were a little surprising, to be honest.

PEC #1 featuring Shoprite Brand Pork Roll

I simply could not believe it, but the Shoprite brand pork roll was the best one. A huge blow to the "brand name" shoppers out there.  Why spend an extra $3-$4 when the store brand product is just as good, and to be honest likely just repackaged.  The cut was just right and allowed for the pork roll to be heated with just enough crisp to keep it's signature salty flavor.  

PEC #3 featuring Case's Pork Roll

Case's has been around since 1870, rivaling the original Taylor's pork roll, both based out of Trenton.  Rumor has it, Case supplies Shoprite with their pork roll, which makes sense because these were very similar.  However, I felt there was more flavor in the Shoprite brand than Case's.  It was a little bland, lacking some saltiness that Shoprite had.  It's very possible that the seasonings were tweaked just a bit.  It's still very good pork roll. 

PEC #2 featuring Taylor's Pork Roll

This was surprising since usually, this is the most popular choice of pork roll brand. Taylor's is the original brand, starting in 1856.  If you've been following along with me for the last year and a half, you know that the cut seen above is maybe my least favorite kind for pork roll.  The extra thickness makes it more challenging to heat through without burning the edges and gives the pork roll more of a meat patty consistency.  We theorized that the thicker cut also made the pork roll way saltier than it should have been.  So when buying Taylor's in a box, make sure you don't buy the thick-cut unless that's how you like your pork roll.  When cut from the tube, Taylor's might have had a better shot at placing in the top 2 here.  

So there you have it, if you're looking to DIY some PEC's, Shoprite or Case's are your best "in box" options.  I still believe Taylor's got a bad draw in a box, if you have a deli cutter at home, you can never go wrong with getting a tube of pork roll.  Just some tips for the kids for our next quarantine session.  

Tune in next week, when my mother and I taste test fresh mozzarella from all our local Italian delis.