Reader mail

Last Friday's Dish column about sandwiches from the Claymont Steak Shop and Gaudiello's in Trolley Square resulted in much web traffic and reader emails.

Sub shop loyalty in Delaware runs very deep, according to your phone calls and emails.

Keep the letters coming. You ask. We answer. Every Friday.

Also, check out Eric Ruth's two-star (good) review of Yi Palace Eurasian Bar & Grill

Here's what's in the mailbag:

CLAYMONT STEAK STEAK STILL GETS LOVE

Hi Patricia,

This picture (above) was taken at the Claymont Steak Shop in Oct of 2007. Pictured are myself (black polo shirt) and four of my BHS Class of ’67 classmates who were in Wilmington celebrating our 40th HS Reunion at the Blue Ball Dairy Barn.

(They are; Left to right: Bruce Kingshill, Mike Houser, Kevin Donohue, Marilyn Monson Nimtz, Linda
Potter.

The Cheese Steak soiree was the highlight of the trip; as you can see, we were amply fed and I was the only one able to finish mine!

Thanks for the review!

Best Wishes!
Kevin Donohue

ARDEN AIN'T BAD EITHER

If you are looking for a great hoagie or cheese steak, then you should try the "Arden Steak Shop" located on Marsh Road. You want to taste a gastronomical delight, this is the place.

Not very big, a couple of tables, but it has atmosphere of what the "old time" hoagie shops were like in the 60's… Give it a try, I am sure that you will enjoy a great sandwich there..

Vic Zubrzycki

Wilmington Trust Security

DON'T COUNT OUT VINNIE'S

Patricia,

I don't know if you've had occasion to try it yet but Vinnie's/Little Vinnie's in the Chestnut Run Shopping Center should definitely be on your list for great Italian dishes, along with sandwiches of all sorts.

This small restaurant and take-out shop boast some of the best food you'll ever eat and the folks there are as nice as the cuisine is tasty.A specialty of the house is the Penne alla Vodka, made with Prosciutto.

And the house salad dressing is incredible.

Say "Hi" to Bev and her family when you visit.

P.S. - I'm just a loyal, very satisfied customer.

Tom Mitten

GIVE GUS A GANDER

(Full disclosure: Chuck McGowen is a retired News Journal photographer. He's also one of the nicest guys you'll ever want to meet. Miss you Chuck! )

Hi Patricia:

I enjoyed your column on cheese steaks today, especially the section about the Claymont Steak Shop. I think that's the same one we used to frequent in the late sixties on the way to visit my wife's family in Philly. We thought the steaks were quite good then.

I have searched for the perfect cheese steak ever since my girl friend (now my wife, Judy) introduced me to the Philly variety back in 1953. I was a sailor from Alabama who finally found something more tasty than bacon and grits! Up to that point the tastiest sandwich I had found was the oven variety we (Navy guys traveling from Maine to Philly) found somewhere in New England of all places. But I digress.

After all those years of seaching and tasting, the best cheese steak came from a place in Wilmington!

I hesitate to mention the name for fear that he has gone out of business since my last visit many months ago. It is the incomparable Gus' on King Street!I followed Gus from his old location across from the "old" News Journal on Orange Street (probably before your time) to his new digs on King Street.

The quality remained and the banter between Gus and his wife was as entertaining as ever.

Meanwhile: Please try to find some decent bar-be-que in the area. I long for the taste of the kind I get during my infrequent visits to Birmingham.

Best Regards,

Chuck McGowen

P.S. I am convinced I would be a millionaire today if I had taken Mary's pizza recipe ( from a place in Philly which was the first and still the best I've ever tasted) and the "oven grinder" and introduced them in the 1960s to Newark. It would have "Chuckie's instead of Papa John's!