Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich brought the Tarry Lodge to town in 2008 and helped pave the way to make PC a great food destination. Coals and Zeppoleme are two more establishments helping to revitalize this community.
From the outside, Coals looks like a bar in a working class town. People drinking beers at the bar, watching football, eating pizza and burgers. But if you take a closer look, that beer is a fine local microbrew, the pizza is doused with truffle oil and the burger is grass-fed with duck bacon.
Our bare table was unassuming as we ordered our drinks (just beer and wine to my father's disappointment). And my mom insisted on the fried brussel sprouts to share.
I am always a Brussels fan, these were well executed with walnuts and raisins, but the vinegar-mustard dressing was heavy and not to my liking.
JB, my mom and I each ordered one wood grilled pizza - a Margherita, a Pure Bliss and a Rustico - but I, of course, insisted on tasting them all. The pizzas were bigger than the promised personal size (no complaining here). JB's Margherita was simple with just fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil and JB's call to have no pecorino was a good one. The Pure Bliss, my choice, was similar to a Margherita except that it also had ricotta and basil pesto. Frankly the ricotta weighed it down, making each slice a mandatory two-hander. And the Rustic, which my mom had raved about and subsequently ordered, was the most unique with mushroom, truffle oil, fontinella and mozzarella cheese, plus garlic and grana padana.
It's tough to say which was the best. They were all good. The Rustic certainly had the most flavor, but truffle oil is not something I can eat too much of -- it is almost too sweet. Conversely, I could have eaten the Margherita all day long. And the Pure Bliss had the most winning combination of ingredients but I tired it of it quickly. I guess then I would declare the Margherita the winner.
And then there were those burgers, which were grass-fed and devoured by my Dad, Big Z and Little D.
It's tough to say which was the best. They were all good. The Rustic certainly had the most flavor, but truffle oil is not something I can eat too much of -- it is almost too sweet. Conversely, I could have eaten the Margherita all day long. And the Pure Bliss had the most winning combination of ingredients but I tired it of it quickly. I guess then I would declare the Margherita the winner.
And then there were those burgers, which were grass-fed and devoured by my Dad, Big Z and Little D.
It is tough to go wrong with pizza and burgers....but then there was more.
As we headed back over the line to Connecticut, we passed a place called ZeppoleMe - a zeppole store(!) - and we had to pull over to check it out. Don't forget we did skip dessert at Coals.
The concept of ZeppoleMe is that it's your local Italian Coffee Shop with delicious coffee and desserts. And zeppoles are the star. I placed my order and waited and waited. Apparently these take more time than the vendors' at the San Gennaro festival.
After close to 15 minutes, we had 1 dozen fresh, hot, fluffy zeppoles. They were worth the wait.
We got 2 kinds - the classic and the modern. The classic is the aforementioned street food style and the modern is lighter and fluffier. We all preferred the modern to the classic, I guess progress is a good thing.
With our dozen we chose 3 dipping sauces - vanilla, buttercream and hazelnut. Let's just say there were no dipping sauces or zeppoles left.
For those of you close by, go. For those of you traveling on I95 between New York and Connecticut, I recommend these two places for a worthy pit stop. Bring me back some zeppoles!
Until our next Berger,
KLB
Coals Pizza
35 North Main Street
Port Chester, NY
914.305.3220
www.coalspizza.com
ZeppoleMe
321 North Main Street
Port Chester, NY
914.481.5900
www.zeppoleme.com
On the Side: Coincidentally, the New York Times is publishing a review of ZeppoleMe in tomorrow's paper, should you want a more professional opinion.
As we headed back over the line to Connecticut, we passed a place called ZeppoleMe - a zeppole store(!) - and we had to pull over to check it out. Don't forget we did skip dessert at Coals.
The concept of ZeppoleMe is that it's your local Italian Coffee Shop with delicious coffee and desserts. And zeppoles are the star. I placed my order and waited and waited. Apparently these take more time than the vendors' at the San Gennaro festival.
After close to 15 minutes, we had 1 dozen fresh, hot, fluffy zeppoles. They were worth the wait.
We got 2 kinds - the classic and the modern. The classic is the aforementioned street food style and the modern is lighter and fluffier. We all preferred the modern to the classic, I guess progress is a good thing.
With our dozen we chose 3 dipping sauces - vanilla, buttercream and hazelnut. Let's just say there were no dipping sauces or zeppoles left.
For those of you close by, go. For those of you traveling on I95 between New York and Connecticut, I recommend these two places for a worthy pit stop. Bring me back some zeppoles!
Until our next Berger,
KLB
Coals Pizza
35 North Main Street
Port Chester, NY
914.305.3220
www.coalspizza.com
ZeppoleMe
321 North Main Street
Port Chester, NY
914.481.5900
www.zeppoleme.com
On the Side: Coincidentally, the New York Times is publishing a review of ZeppoleMe in tomorrow's paper, should you want a more professional opinion.
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