#50 Domino's Pizza - Sandy's synopsis

50 restaurants that started with Callahan's Grille, which has since shut down and ended on Domino's Pizza. Okay, that was not the most flattering synopsis on the big 50, but everything in between has been an awesomely fun journey. I know I sound like the blog is ending - it is not. It looks like there are at least 50 restaurants from 7th till front street on south. Not even kidding, things get dense from here on out people.

So, we used the 50th restaurant as a ploy to get some friends over to drink some beers, celebrate the blog getting old and eat some Domino's. We used Domino'ses (double possessive?) online ordering system, which turned out to be surprisingly fun because they have a ridiculously cheesy (haha, see what I did there) page where you can follow your pizza being made with different themes guiding you through the process. Themes ranging from talking parrots being harassed by flying beach balls, to a person out of a middle eastern esque rom com telling you he is making your pizza with the passion of his loins or something. It's ridiculous.

Sorry, back to the food - Domino's has a $5.99 each, for two or more medium 2 topping pizzas or cheesy bread - so we ordered 4 pizzas and two cheesy breads.

They were:

Pineapple and Bacon

Mushroom and Sausage

Spinach and Feta:

Bacon and Bacon

We also ordered the plain cheesy bread and the jalapeno cheesy bread

Clearly, it was awesome. I mean, it's bread and cheese and bacon with the occasional fruit and vegetable. On top of that we had some awesome company, a small portion of all the people who have come out and experienced this part of Philly with us. With the beer flowing and the cats snuggling, Sam and I really felt a sense of warmth and happiness from having such an awesome project to keep us sane through grad school. We felt particularly lucky to have such amazing people to share all this food with.

So thank you to everyone who saw us to 50 restaurants (aka you the readers). Thank you to good 'ol Sammy for being my partner in gluttony. And thank you to South street, for being a seemingly never-ending. source of food. Onward to the next 50! Excelsior! 

#50 Domino's Pizza and some reflections - Sam's synopsis

pizza + friends = yay

Isn't 50 supposed to feel differently? Am I supposed to be having some sort of crisis right now? How will I ever make it to the end, and how did I make it so far convincing everyone I know how to write effective commentary on food (okay, maybe I haven't convinced anyone of that yet)?

It's been an interesting journey so far. We can track our lives in so many different ways - since this blog started ~1.5 years ago, I've become a member of the Headless Camel Club by drinking 90 beers in under 90 days, I've gone through a terrible break-up that's resulted in me being close to completing my goal of folding 1000 paper cranes in one year (yes, I realize I have a lot of strange hobbies), I've submitted a paper for publication, I've gone to countless weddings and traveled to lots of different places both in and out of the country, and now I can add that I've eaten at 50 restaurants on South Street to that list. 50 restaurants on any street, in any city, is a lot. And it turns out there is a common theme among all of these life events, which is not surprisingly the sappy theme of friendship (I LIKE TO TALK ABOUT MY FEELINGS SOMETIMES, OKAY???). These things are only possible because I am surrounded by amazing people who somehow tune into a similar wavelength as me. If you've ever met me, you'd probably say I fall on the extrovert side of the scale, so I like to surround myself with people who make life worth living, even when I hit walls in other aspects of my life. So I want to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey so far, whether you've read a blog post, asked how the saunter was going, joined us for a meal (or three), provided a guest entry, or just let me know that you read our blog and enjoyed it. This has been such a fun experience, and I'm excited to find out what wonders await us at the end of South Street. 

toasting to 50 stops

I'd be remiss if I didn't single out Sandya in my personal musing above. We were just discussing this past weekend while participating in some hi-jinks in Chicago that it would be hard to do this blog with anyone else, because the two of us aren't crazy perfectionists that must have everything done a certain way by a certain time. And I'm glad that our initial idea of just wandering down South Street and picking a new restaurant every few blocks evolved into this blog - it's been a really great experience and a challenge in its own right, even if only a handful of people read this. Cause it's all about the experience, AMIRITE?

Well, this turned into another long-winded, slightly off-topic rant by yours truly. But I mean, what can I really say about Domino's Pizza? Here's a list:

the only thing I love more than you is
Domino's pizza, my darling

1) You should absolutely order your pizza online so you can track its progress - I promise you, hilarity will ensue with the different options of tracking you can use. My personal favorite is the soap opera love tracker, which had quotes like, "the embers of my heart are currently cooking your pizza," or something equally as entertaining. 

2) I used to go to Domino's all the time after high school got out with my friend Ashleigh, and we would go hang out in the woods and listen to the Doors. Surprisingly, no marijuana or alcohol was in attendance, it was just us being goofy. And the pizza and cheesy bread pretty much still taste the same as it did back then. Domino's is a decent chain pizza place, and I only /felt/ a little sick after consuming all that pizza and cheesy bread. I didn't actual get sick (bonus!) 

3) Pizza parties are best enjoyed with good company and delicious beer. 

4) Some people actually like pineapple and bacon pizza. I didn't try it, but I did enjoy the bacon + cheese pizza and the spinach + feta pizza.

Well, this was a divergence from my usual entry. Sometimes I just want to rant about life, and I figured this was my best excuse to do so in a blog post about food, because it's tied in with a milestone in our saunter. Thanks again to everyone who has been a part of this journey so far, and I look forward to what lies ahead. Actually, the next block has 10 restaurants, so maybe I don't actually look forward to it after all...

Domino's Pizza

716 South Street

(215) 592-8534 but you really should order online

Philadelphia, PA

#49 Brauhuas Schmitz - Charles's synopsis

Another week another review - this time we were at the german beer garden Brauhaus Schmitz. I changed the format a little bit for this one - our good friends Charles and Eileen joined us for this stop and I asked a Charles a few questions about his experience. Here is what he had to say:

What did you think of the ambiance?

Good, but a bit loud. I would have liked if they had offered us the rear tables where it was quieter, instead of keeping us out front.

What did you think of the beverage list? Did you enjoy the beer you had?

The list was good and pretty comprehensive. I especially liked that they had "Schwartzbier" (black beer).

Did they have enough  variety on their food menu?

The variety was decent. I think the menu could be better organized to lay out the options in a more logical manner. That is, they could explain all of the available sausages in one place.

Did you enjoy what you ordered? Which sausage rules them all?

Hard to say since I only had two of their sausages. They were good, but neither really floored me, either.

All the sausages

Pickled sausage

How does this compare to similar food you've had before?

Very similar to Frankford Hall, with similar food quality. The spaetzle, however, wasn't as good as at Frankford Hall (who pan-fries spaetzle?). 

Pan-fried spaetzle

Would you return?

Maybe. I liked it, but I didn't feel as impressed with it as I had hoped to be. 

Overall, did you enjoy your experience there? What did they get right and wrong?

The experience was good, but not exceptional. The noise problem didn't help. The thing I think they got most wrong was the charcuterie platter (schinken). It was a good selection of dried meats, but we weren't given a guide to identify the actual meats, which was surprising. I also think the platter's cost was too high given the amount of meat that came with it.

Schinken

Thank you Charles.

For my two cents, I agree with everything Charles said. Stephanie and I ordered the full sausage platter where you get one of each kind, and we really only enjoyed two of the 6 sausages. Needless to say we liked the one's with a little bit of kick to them, so the Ungarischewurst (smoked pork, spicy paprika, garlic, red wine) really sticks in my memory as the one I enjoyed. We also got the pickled sausage just to try it, it tasted like sausage in pickle juice - it was okay.  I have had their schnitzel before and I remember it being delicious. 

I have always loved german Dunkelweisses, so I am always happy with the beer selection when I go here. 

So all in all, I've had better experiences here - it was extremely loud and I didn't enjoy everything I ate. However, I definitely know what I do enjoy from here (beer and schnitzel) and if I stick to that, I am a very happy person. 

Brauhaus Schmitz

718 South Street

Philadelphia PA 19147

#49 Brauhaus Schmitz - Sam's synopsis

I had been to Brauhaus Schmitz once before - it was for German-themed quizzo and I went with a group of Germans, so obviously I contributed nothing but we still won by a landslide. I have also been to Germany, although only for ~48 hours and most of it was spent at a lovely wedding. I did get some currywurst and drank German beer though, so I suppose I have something to base my opinion on.

meow!

I hate that Philadelphia does not have great public transportation, so instead of waiting for a bus that was supposed to come 15 minutes earlier, we took the trolley to the Market-Frankford line and walked from Market to South. This did, however, lead to two cat spottings, so we'll consider it a win.

The layout of Brauhaus is very narrow and very long - I was surprised that there was an additional, large room in the back by the bathrooms. Despite that, we were sat near the front of the restaurant near a table of 20ish people who proceeded to get progressively more and more drunk as the night went on. Not that I disagree with those actions, but 20 drunk people can be pretty loud. This made it pretty hard to hear the waiter and each other, so there were a couple of misheard orders. But the waitstaff accommodated these pretty well, so no complaints there. The inside has a lot of neat old-fashioned posters, and other Germany-esque decorations. I imagine a lot of people go there to watch football. 

For a beer, I ordered the Trunator Vollmon-Bock from Hofbräuhaus Traunstein (THANK YOU UNTAPPD. Guys, if you like beer, seriously use this app [and friend me - lobsterthecat] because it's a great way to keep track of everything you've tried and what you like). I gave it 4 stars, so I definitely enjoyed it - nice doppelbock with lots of flavor. Very different from the beer I had in Germany, which was a hefeweizen, so can't compare too much there.

obatzda

We started with a few appetizers - a meat board, a cheese spread (obatzda) pickled sausages, and Erin ordered a delicious pretzel. The meat board consisted of very thinly cut slices of mostly ham, although there was one beef one. I have to say, I am not a big fan of beef (re: I never eat it), but I did inadvertently have a piece and thought it was good. My favorite was the slice of ham that had pistachios in it, although they were all pretty tasty. If you're a meat connoisseur (that sounds like a fancy name for something dirty... hehehe...), I'd recommend it, but I don't usually go for thinly sliced meat as an appetizer (AMIRITE?!) so I probably wouldn't order it again unless someone else wanted to sample it. The cheese spread had delicious brie and paprika in it, and I would definitely order it again. I did not try the pickled sausages but I think people had mixed feelings about them. The pretzel was of course delicious, and you kind of have to order one at a place called Brauhaus Schmitz. Also, the bread for the table was amazing. I love it when places give you bread for "free."

I believe everyone at the table ordered sausage, so it was a sausage party. Yeah, there are a lot of terrible jokes that can go with this one. You kind of have to roll with it at this point. I ordered the speckwurst (bacon and black pepper) and the nürnberger bratwurst (pork, marjoram, mace, caraway, ginger). I was disappointed to not see currywurst on the menu, but apparently it's on their bar menu and/or I missed it. So I will definitely have to go back and try it in the future. The two sausages I got were both delicious - speck was on the saltier side, and the nürnberger one you could really taste the different spices, leading to a nice subtle sweet flavor. As my sides I got spätzle (egg dumplings) and a potato pancake. The potato pancake was heavenly - crispy and flavor perfection. I am actually salivating a little bit right now just thinking about it. The spätzle was fine, I enjoyed the chive seasoning, but I'd get something different the next time to try out the other sides.

Finally, despite being totally full, we of course ordered dessert. I got black forest cake, and it was beautiful - I haven't seen a cake that perfectly layered in a long time. It was also very tasty, although I don't tend to like big chunks of fruit in desserts so I sort of picked around some of the cherries in there. But it wasn't overly sweet and the chocolate was definitely high quality. YUM.

All in all, it was a great evening spent with friends - we ended up staying for a solid 2.5-3 hours there chatting and enjoying ourselves. The food and drinks were great, and despite the loudness and too-high A.C., I definitely want to make a return trip to Brauhaus Schmitz.

Brauhaus Schmitz
718 South Street
Philadelphia, PA
(267) 909-8814