Mattucci's- Mt. Carmel, PA

As a native of Frackville, I went to North Schuylkill High School, which meant that our big rival for football was always Mt. Carmel Area. Of course, if you talk to someone who went to MCA, they would tell you that their big rival was someone else- but regardless, those North Schuylkill/Mt. Carmel games always drew a big crowd from both districts, with heated conflict both on and off the field.

As a result, I always had this slight disdain for Mt. Carmel as a town. In my old-fashioned North Schuylkill rearing, I was taught that the town was fool of Catholic snobs who felt that they were better than us. I don't think that was quite the truth, but nevertheless it kept me out of Mt. Carmel for much of my younger years. Except for one place.

My family used to take me to this little Italian restaurant called Mattucci's. I remember as a kid enjoying their Italian meals, but specifically that they were the only restaurant in the area where you could order a plate of Frog Legs. Yep, Frog Legs. I enjoy watching the Travel Channel show "Bizarre Foods", and even at a young age, I always enjoyed the cuisine that's a little "off the beaten path." If you can get past the fact that these things come right off the body of a frog, you'll find yourself eating a leaner, more tasty version of a chicken wing.

The other day my wife and I were thinking about where to go for lunch, and I suggested Mattucci's. We headed over, Mt. Carmel not being too far from Shamokin, and quickly found the little corner restaurant. It's a shame Mattucci's doesn't have a more prevalent location- it is not on any of the large streets in Mt. Carmel, being tucked away in a residential area somewhat near the local Boyer's Supermarket. The other part of their location is that there's a certain charm here- this restaurant obviously was once a house, retrofitted into a bar in the front and a medium-sized dining area in the rear.

Let's get this out of the way- if you are looking for "fancy dining", Mattucci's is probably notjfor you. They have the same wood grain paneling from the days of my youth, and I think the same tables and chairs, which are fairly cramped in the dining area. My grandmother and I have eaten a few times in the front room by the bar, which is fine if you don't mind eating in a fairly conventional bar setting.

As for the food, you would never expect to find dishes this good in a restaurant that looks so plain. Let's face it- nobody comes here for the decor. They come here for the excellent sauce, reasonably priced dinners, and a taste of home. Like the coal region itself, this place has something genuine to offer underneath a somewhat rocky exterior. That's part of the charm of the region for me- you are not going to find high society, but if you look deep enough, you will find plenty of diamonds in the rough. Mattucci's is one of those diamonds.

For lunch, Michelle and I split a large meat lover's pizza, but we started out with an order of mozzarella sticks. The Mozz' sticks were pretty much the same sticks you've had at other Italian restaurants, but here you get a side of Mattucci's homemade slightly-sweet sauce. That alone is worth it, as like most things here, you can taste the care and hard work that came in the creation of this sauce. It's come to my attention that you can by jars of their homemade sauce at the restaurant, and next time I eat there, I'm surely going to get some to take home.

As for the pizza, Matttucci's makes their own homemade dough, and the result is a tasty, crisp pizza that you can't get anywhere else. The crust is substantial, yet light, and five days later I am sitting here still craving it. The sauce is a derivative of their spaghetti sauce, which makes it excellent, and the various meats (meatball, sausage, pepperoni) were evenly spread out. There was no such thing as a lightly-topped slice. The mixture of meat, sauce, and cheese was a great taste, and quite frankly, I could have eaten another pizza after that one was finished. Win!

Our waitress was a very pleasant woman with a "coal region" attitude. She called my wife and I "kids", was fairly attentive, but also cursed when some patrons in the bar left before she could take their order. I should say as a native of the coal region that this kind of thing comes with the territory. I thought she was great, and she obviously knew some of the regulars, as you could hear her catching up with them (and you really couldn't help to hear the conversation because she had a somewhat loud speaking voice).

Anyway, I highly recommend this place. Go eat there now!

Mattucci's

451 West 4th Street

Mount Carmel, PA 17851
(570) 339-2310

Brewser's Sports Grille- Shamokin, PA

Shamokin is an interesting town. I've only lived here for two months, but I've known about it virtually all my live, having grown up roughly 25 minutes away in Frackville. Let me say this- Shamokin has a character all its own in the coal region. It's not quite as "rough" as Shenandoah, but there's definitely a "we've survived some stuff" mentality amongst the people.

Like many other towns in the area, Shamokin is built on the backs of immigrants who came here in the earlier half of the 20th century, looking for opportunity in the coal mines of the area. You can see many links to that area in town, from some mines that are still active to the food served at local church block parties and community festivals. There are some good eats here, from halushki to soupies to some of the biggest and tastiest pierogies around.

The catch? It tastes good, but it's hardly good FOR you.

While the local food available at festivals is pretty good, Shamokin has always remained fairly limited in regards to fully operating sit down restaurants. There are only a handful of restaurants in town, and some haven't always had the best reputation.

There used to be a Bonanza in the outer edge of town, on the border between Shamokin and Coal Township (and locals will tell you that there IS a difference between the two). Being a poor college student, I used to stop there on the way to school for a cheap lunch that usually tasted terrible. Dirty dining area, cold food, unfriendly staff- you name it, it wasn't good.

Imagine my surprise, then, to find out that when I moved here, the old Bonanza had given way to a trendy new sports bar, named Brewser's Sports Grille. In the lobby you will find a local newspaper article that tells the story of two college roommates who decided that they would someday open up a Sports Bar together. Brewser's is the fruit of their labor.

I have eaten there twice in the last month, each experience fairly different.

When you enter Brewser's, you will see that it is, like many Coal Region establishments, a place that sells beer and therefore uses the Coor's Light advertisements to promote local events. If you ever knew what this place looked like when it was Bonanza, the experience is night and day- fairly clean restaurant, nicely decorated, and friendly staff (who are all dressed like they should either be teaching gym or working at Schuylkill Valley Sports).

One thing about the decor- you will see pictures of every legendary NFL Quarterback of the past twenty five years. There's a picture of Saint Joseph Paterno, who despite being 1,239,200 years old, is still the beloved coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Something's missing for me here, though. Some baseball team that's having the best period of their existence.... could it be the Phillies? Aside from an advertisement saying that beer is $2.50 during all Phillies and Yankees games, you would think this was an area that had no popular somewhat local baseball team. As a Phillies fan myself, I'm a little annoyed. I understand the devotion to the local high schools in the form of uniforms and pennants, but I'd like to see some Phillies love here.

Anyway, enough about the decor- you want to know about the food, right? Well, there's good news and bad news. This place serves excellent hamburgers- big, juicy, and cooked to your wishes. I ordered a medium well cheeseburger that came with bacon and an onion ring- a "grown up" version of the Rodeo Cheeseburger, if you will. Normally when I order a medium well burger, I get a well done burger. Not the case here- there was some genuine pink in the middle. As for the fries that came with the burger, they were nothing special- you've had these fries before. I'd like to see some fresh-cut fries, or something that didn't obviously come shipped frozen from an outfit that sells every other restaurant the same dang fries. They do also have sweet potato fries, though I didn't try them, but I will make a note to do so in the future.

Brewser's also has some decent homemade Barbeque Sauce. Unfortunately, I ordered an appetizer platter that was supposed to showcase this sauce. Why is that unfortunate? Well, I feel like I didn't get enough sauce on either the ribs or the shrimp. You are also supposed to get chicken on this platter, but the night I was there, they were out. They gave me what they said was "extra" shrimp, but I came away feeling like I didn't get my money's worth. I still think they probably gave me some ribs and the normal amount of shrimp they would give anyway, and just called it done.

The same night as Unfortunate BBQ Night, I also attempted to order a "Berry Berry Lemonade". This was also unavailable. I get it, sometimes restaurants are out of stuff. But really, twice in the same night? Perhaps I should cut them some slack, because the restaurant was packed that night and it was right after Hurricane Irene brought some rain and wind to the area. It could have been that they had been mobbed all day with people who were happy to get out of the house after a weekend of being inside. Still, I didn't feel satisfied with this meal.

The Ribs were slightly tough, the shrimp was your run-of-the-mill fried shrimp you can get at many "family" restaurants, and it wasn't coated in enough of that homemade Barbecue Sauce.

My recommendation for this place? You can't go wrong with their burgers, which are excellent and a great value. I don't have a great experience with their entree platters, but I will try something else in the future here. And as for the service, I can say that both times I was served by someone who was attentive and very good at keeping up with my frequent drink refills (I drink like a fish, what can I say).

On Brewser's Web Site, they say that they are better than the average sports bar. Honestly, while they do a good job here, this is the same sports bar you've been in in other towns. Being in Shamokin, filled with corner bars and places that can only be called "dives", it looks like a palace. In any other town, this is simply an average sports bar.

Still, definitely an improvement over the old, crusty Bonanza that once occupied that building. The restaurant is being filled fairly well with local residents as well, proof that they are doing something right here.

Brewsers Sports Grille

839 W. Water St.

Shamokin, PA 17872

(570)648-7122

www.brewsers.com

Why another food blog?

Greetings!

My name is Brian. I live in the "coal town" of Shamokin, PA, the self-proclaimed "Gateway" to the Anthracite Coal Region. I grew up not too far from here, in the "coal town" of Frackville, PA, known to many as a stop off of Interstate 81. See a pattern? Of course, I have also lived in Lancaster, PA, Gettysburg, PA, and Northumberland, PA, and none of those are "coal towns".

Growing up and living in the coal region, I can tell you many stories of the people and places, but one thing that I can tell you is that, be it because of low population or just the fact that it's viewed as being "in the middle of nowhere", you don't hear much about this area of the world.

Having just recently moved to Shamokin with my wife Michelle, I wanted to know what kind of restaurants were around the area. At first, I did what I usually do when I want to check out an area- see what the good ol' interwebs have to say.

And frankly, the interwebs didn't have a whole lot of information. Reviews on Yahoo Local were fairly sparse. Urbanspoon? Forget it. Besides, this is hardly an "urban" area. Nothing on TripAdvisor, either. So I thought to myself, "you know, maybe if I start blogging my dining experiences in the area, I can give people information about a restaurant." Plus, now I can call myself a "blogger". I've seen "bloggers" show up on genuine news programs and all kinds of places, so who knows, maybe The Food Network or CNN will come calling (yeah, right).

So, if you happen to find this little page because you want to know what there is to eat in this little corner of the state of Pennsylvania, I hope you find opinions (mine) that might be useful. Of course, no two people agree on anything, so you might not always agree with what I have to say. I hope to be as honest as I can- and let me state that for the record, I am NOT a professional chef or restauranteur. I'm just a guy who likes to eat.

Eat well!

-Brian