Getting lucky at Lucky's

Remember the old Ranch House on Concord Pike?
Hadn't been in years. I recall the food always tasted better late at night, after tastebuds have been obliterated by too much beer.
Well, the Ranch Hous is gone and it's been reincarnated as Lucky's Coffee Shop & Restaurant. The interior got a facelift - it needed one! - with cool red leather chairs and soft green booths, but it's not completely unrecognizable. Stopped by the other day and had a great chicken salad sandwich ($6.95) - all chunky white meat- and a surprisingly good crab cake sandwich $9.95 . (Lumps of crab meat, little filling.)
One of the owners is Mickey Donatello who also owns the nearby Corner Bistro.
I grabbed a booth for a recent lunch, but next time, I want a seat at the retro counter.
Still diner-esque menu - breakfast served all the time - but Lucky's also has a complete vegetarian menu with interesting offers like Asian dumpling soup and chilled japanese soba noodles with peanut sauce and eggplant rolantini. Small dishes and starters include pierogies and chicken satay.
Wow, at the Ranch House...uh, I mean, Lucky's.

Italian gravy and Italian prison food

No reader mail on Friday. Sorry, gang. I had the day off because I worked Sunday and helped judge the Italian gravy contest at the Vendemmia Wine Festival on the Wilmington Riverfront. Look for my story this Wednesday.
Good time, really nice people. But tasting 23 sauces on Sunday afternoon - with high humidity, beating sun and temperatures soaring into the 80s - got to be a little grueling. If it was 15 to 20 degrees cooler, if would have been perfect. I didn't even sip any wine - at a wine festival for Pete's sake! Just couldn't do it. Water, not wine, was my vice that day.
I'm gearing up for my annual trip next week to Italy (woo-hoo! I love autumn in Tuscany!) and one of my co-workers just shared a story about a restaurant in an Italian PRISON that's attracting a lot of customers. (Thanks Mary!) This sounds like a joke story from The Onion, but CBS, The Independent in the U.K. and other legitimate sources have all done stories on the prison eatery. Here's one link.
My food calender is filling up. I'm already planning on visiting Il Cibreo restaurant in Florence and Al Covo, a great place in Venice recommended by New York Times food writer Mark Bittman, and, hopefully, the Isole e Olena winery in Chianti.
I don't think I can talk my crowd into dining in a pokey near Pisa.

See Tom cook

My favorite baldie was cooking with Mistress Martha in her New York studio on Oct. 2 and prepared Stuffed Cornish Game Hens with Leek Stew.

Think she'll make him pack up his knives and go?

Tune in to "The Martha Stewart Show" on Oct. 9

Top Chef recap

Hung won. Are you surprised?

I think the guy rightly deserved the 100 Gs. Yeah, he was pretty arrogant all season, but that is often, from my experience, a top chef trait, like it or not. From the very beginning, Hung was in it to win and that earned my grudging admiration. I don't mind someone tooting their own horn, as long as they have the food to back it up. His sous vide duck sounded outstanding.

Great twist having celebrity chefs Todd English, Michelle Bernstein and Rocco DiSpirito serve as sous chefs for the contestants.

I found this pretty interesting in light of Frank Bruni's article yesterday in The New York Times about celebrity chefs getting further and further away from the kitchen.

Thought it was funny - and telling - that all the celeb chefs thought the competitors were using too many ingredients and too many components in their dishes.

That said, wouldn't you think some of those thoughts - and concerns - would cloud their judgment when it came to tasting? If you've already seen and participated in what goes on "backstage," isn't it a little more difficult to surrender yourself to the magic of a meal? Just saying....

You knew the contestants were going to be thrown a slider - so no shocker when they were asked to make a fourth dish in the final hour of cooking. (Hung, machine that he is, already had a recipe in his back pocket. Too bad it was a molten chocolate cake. Man, that early 1990s dessert is as tired as creme brulee. I saw those cakes and immediately thought he was going to get nailed for it. Hung can defend this dessert all he wants, but I gotta go with Todd English and say it certainly isn't a dessert that will blow away a table of discerning and jaded palates.)

Was Casey suffering from altitude sickness? (Ugh, something I've had before and it's no fun at all.) She certainly didn't look on her game.

Dale aka "Mr. Soundbite" had all the great lines this week:

Cracked up when he said wanted to "punch" chef Tom in the face after being told about the fourth dish.

And calling chef English his "prep bitch"? Hoo-ha! Priceless. (Though notice he didn't say it to his face? I'm pretty sure he would have gotten a Boston beatdown from the Beantown restaurateur. Though, Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes guy on the Food Network, told me he once worked for English and said he was cool guy.)

Now, it's over and Wednesday nights just aren't going to be the same. I tried to watch Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares but can't muster any enthusiasm. It doesn't hold a candle to "Top Chef."

Looking forward to next season.

Claymont Steak Shop

Got my cheesesteak fix today with sandwiches from the Claymont Steak Shop, 3526 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont, 798-5319.
It's a bustling place. I stood in line - you order at the counter and wait for them to call your name - and asked the guy ahead of me it was always so crowded.
He nodded.
Was the wait worth it?
He smiled and said, "Yes, it is."
The sandwich shop has been around since 1969, but this was my first visit. It looked very clean and neat and had a mix of tie-wearing businessmen and casually dressed customers. A flat screen TV was tuned to a sports channel. You can eat in or take out.
Everyone stands around the counter waiting for their sandwiches with a look of eager anticipation. It reminded me of a group of kids waiting to get picked for a kickball team.
I got a small cheesesteak ($6.50) with onions and ketchup. (Cheese was American, not Whiz.) My dining buddy Chris, who lives near Philly's Italian Market, opted for a large cheesesteak ($7.75) with provolone and ketchup.
The drive back to The News Journal was killing me. The steaks smelled so good I almost pulled over on 495 to take a bite.
Here are my thoughts:
Claymont packs its cheesesteaks full of meat and the onions have a nice caramelization. This is one fat sandwich and you get your money's worth. I think a small would satisfy most appetites. It isn't run-down-your-arm greasy. (Is it wrong to say, I kind of missed the grease? Sorry, doc, I know I will regret writing that after my next cholesterol test.) Nor was it oozing with cheese. It had just enough cheese to bind the meat and fried onions, which I liked, because I wanted to taste the beef.
(Side note: My mom, who grew up in South Philly, claims when she was kid, cheesesteaks were never made with Whiz, but rather provolone. I don't think her memory is faulty. Cheese Whiz wasn't introduced until 1953.)
My only quibble was with Claymont's roll. It's a pretty good roll, but I was hoping for something a little more crusty. Chris agreed.
All in all, we both thought these are cheesesteaks worth driving for in Delaware - if you don't want to head to Philly.
And, I gotta tell you, the grinders coming out of the kitchen looked pretty darn good.
But that's another sandwich for another day.

Doughnuts, paninis and cheesesteaks

Mmmmmmm, doughnuts.

If you get a chance, read my story on the apple cider doughnuts at Milburn Orchards, near Elkton, Md. Now, I know, other orchards make doughnuts. (Someone here in the newsroom just waxed poetic about Linvilla Orchards apple cider doughnuts.)

But, let me tell you, Milburn's makes a Homer Simpson drool-worthy doughnut. I don't even want to think about the calorie count, and I don't, whenever I eat one.

Speaking of good food, I recently had a grilled Italian panini at Presto! Coffee Bar, 1204 Washington St., Wilmington, 777-3780. Melty provolone cheese, salty deli meats and toasty bread. Oh yeah. The spicy, pickled pepperoncinis served on the side was a perfect accompaniment. Bite of sandwich + bite of pepper = one good lunch.

But today is about cheesesteaks and I'm ordering one for lunch - Go PHILS!

I'll let you know later this afternoon where I went and what I tried.

Did they order what I ordered?

Are "Today" viewers tasteless?
Philadelphia Inquirer restaurant reviewer Craig LaBan tasted the $11 Vesuvio BLT cheesesteak that was voted by viewers of the NBC morning show as the country's best sandwich.
Yeah, well, according to LaBan, it ain't. In fact, he said it wasn't even the best in Philly. After reading LaBan's account, said sandwich sounded pretty bleak. Or is that bleech?

Off the market

Andrew Firestone, the man meat on ABC's dating show "The Bachelor" in 2003, is engaged to model-actress Ivana Bozilovic.

They plan to marry in the spring.

Firestone came to Wilmington in April 2006 and hosted a wine tasting at the now-closed Columbus Inn. It was pretty hilarious. There was more cleavage showing that night than at a Hooter's sports bar.

It was a day of wine, but no longer roses, for Freestone. He was living, quite happily, with Bozilovic, but that didn't stop more than 120 women from showing up to see him.

"I could care less about his wine. He's just hot," Michelle Schweizer said.

That was pretty much the sentiment that night and it made me wonder: Do all these women have Cinderella fantasies about some reality TV guy sweeping them off their feet and taking them to his California winery for a happily ever after ending?

While Firestone hails from the famous tire family, "The Bachelor" helped draw attention to the family's 35-year-old, relatively small estate winery, which produces about 150,000 cases each year.

We chatted for an hour before the event, and while I thought Firestone sometimes came across as smug on TV, in person, he was a nice and very interesting guy. We had a laugh about one of the contestants on the show saying Olive Garden was the best Italian restaurant ever. Then, I asked him if he still watched "The Bachelor." Firestone said that would be a big, fat no.

"It's like watching a child run with scissors. You know it's going to end badly," he said, laughing.

Bourdain blasts

Anthony Bourdain's take-no-prisoners approach to food writing is always right on target. Never one to tout the emperor's new clothes, he will gleefully scream to the world that "The guy is NAKED for God's sake."

Bourdain never nips at food posers. Nope, he chows down. And now, taking on overly eager restaurant chefs, he's skewering pretentious restaurant menus.

Read and enjoy. (I've definitely seen a few of these eye rolling terms on menus.)

Phillies phever and phood

What a fabulous weekend of baseball.

Went to the Phils game Friday night and it was electrifying. Plenty of Del. fans. I ran into Xavier Teixido, owner of Harry's Savoy and Harry's Seafood grills.

The weather was perfect and fans hung onto every pitch, clutching their rally towels and chanting "MVP" every time J Rol came to bat.

We were rewarded for our belief - who's dismissing Rollins' soothsaying abilities now, baby? - and those endless nights of sitting through games that stretched well past 9 innings.

What a game on Sunday! (OK, we just forget Saturday's blip. Sunday made everything all better anyway.)

It feels like '93 all over again. I know because I went to many games that year. I have a photo on my desk when the Phils became the 1993 National League Champions and the ticket stub to prove it.

Got to Citizens Bank Park early on Friday and got in line for a Tony Luke's $7.25 roast pork sandwich. Only had to wait about 15 mins., which wasn't too bad. Couldn't get my partner in crime to try one. The broccoli rabe scared him. He went for a cheesesteak with onions and provolone. (Though, he did have a bite or two of my sandwich and thought it was really good even with the greens. See? Told you so.)

Tony Luke's makes a very garlicky and juicy sandwich. It's not the easiest thing to eat when you're sitting in the stands. (I could only eat a 1/4 of it.) I was tempted to use my rally towel as a napkin, but that seemed sacrilegious.

Keeping in the Philly spirit, I'm going to order cheesesteaks on Wednesday.

What's your favorite place for cheesesteaks? Normally, I go to Jim's on South Street in Philly, but I want something closer to home.

Casapulla's? Capriotti's? Some place else?

Let's hear it.