Maurer's Dairy and Ice Cream Shoppe- Shamokin, PA

Ice Cream is a rite of passage here in the Coal Region.  I remember as a child on a warm summer's night loading up the family in the car and taking a ride to the Tastee Freeze in Shenandoah Heights or Rickard's Dairy in Gordon.

In the city of Shamokin, Maurer's Dairy has been in business for years.  I'm not sure how long, but it is considered by many to be a hallmark of the city, one of the highlights of its culinary culture.  I first discovered Maurer's Dairy back in the late 1990's, as it became a stop for me between my home in Frackville and my school, Susquehanna University.  

Maurer's advertises itself as the home of Bittersweet Ice Cream.  This is simply (as far as I can tell) some Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Bittersweet Chocolate Chips mixed throughout.  As with all of their varieties, the Bittersweet Ice Cream is homemade.  You can really taste the care that goes into this ice cream, especially, in my opinion, the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.  To me, this should be the real highlight of their ice cream menu- not only do you get the bittersweet ice cream, but you get it with the added emphasis of buttery, soft chunks of cookie dough.  Delicious!

Although many come here for the ice cream, Maurer's also serves actual food.  The inside of the restaurant looks like a prototypical ice cream parlor, and I suspect that this layout has been in place for a very long time.  The good news is that, despite its apparent age, they keep the place pretty clean.

So how is the food?  Well, it depends what food you are talking about.  I have had Maurer's food for lunch multiple times as take out, and each time it has been pretty good.  They do a decent job with club sandwiches, but my favorite thing on their menu is the Chicken Bacon Ranch Sub.  It's not a huge sub, which is probably a good thing given all the salt and fat.  It tastes delicious, though- Chicken, bacon, and ranch dressing is an excellent combination.

I've also had Maurer's for breakfast.  Their omelets are very good- I have had the ham and cheese and bacon and cheese varieties, and the egg is good, the cheese is  distributed throughout, and there is plenty of meat inside.  Just for your information, Maurer's serves the "pocket of meat and cheese folded up in an egg" variety, which in my opinion, is better than the "random mix of meat, cheese, and egg" variety you can get at other places.

I had homefries with my omelets, and to be honest, they weren't anything special.  To be more honest, they weren't cooked through all the way.  Their homefries are clumps of potatoes- not quite the disks you get at some places, not quite the little cubes of potato you get at others.  Its's somewhere in between, and I wish they would change it because it is not working.  

I should also note that I had about a quart of butter on my toast.  Tastes delicious, but I was checking my heart rate all day.  My wife says I'm paranoid about it.  Still, the toast might have taken about five months off of the end of my life, despite its deliciousness.

I was severely disappointed in their old style fountain sodas.  First off, Maurer's serves Pepsi, which is a strike against them for me, since I much rather have Coke.  Secondly, they offer syrup additions, with a variety of flavors.  I tried their Pepsi with cherry syrup.  I don't know for sure, but I think I had the recommended daily allowance of sugar for ten days in my first sip.  It was sickeningly, cloyingly sweet.  Maurer's also happens to have bottles of local company Big Ben's in the refrigerator at the entrance.  Next time I'll get that instead.  

So I would really recommend Maurer's for the ice cream.  For the food, it seems touch and go, though they have some interesting sandwich options.

Maurer's Dairy and Ice Cream Shoppe

34 South Market Street

Shamokin, PA 17872

(570)644-1316

The Tony's Fluffburger

Lately, local eatery Tony's Lunch was the focus of a story on local news channel WNEP-16.  Apparently the local ABC affiliate has been doing a series of "strange food" pieces, which included the Tony's Lunch menu item the "Fluffburger".

Click here to watch and read the story.


I've had the Fluffburger more than once.  Judging on my previous review of Tony's, you all know that I absolutely love the place and adore the food.  Tony's really is a culture all its own, and to be honest, I prefer the "classic" Girardville location to the new Bloomsburg one (though both are good).  That has to do more with me being a traditionalist than anything else.  The Bloomsburg location serves fine food, but there's just something about the G-Ville location that gives, in my opinion, a more authentic experience.  Also, if you want to meet some authentic Coal Crackers, G-Ville is your best bet.

Still, the Bloomsburg location is open for more "regular" hours, so your mileage may vary.  At either place you are going to get a good, homestyle hamburger patty that's miles ahead of anything else in the area.

Anyway, I've had the Fluffburger at both.  And to be honest, I never got it.  It has a decent mix of sweet and spicy, I'll give it that.  If you are less of a spice-a-holic, the Fluffburger might actually be more your speed.

To me, the classic taste of sauce, cheese, and butter is where it's at.  That's what defines Tony's for me.  I do have the Fluffburger  very occasionally when I am in the mood for something different, but I also always order a screamer right alongside.

It's worth noting that the M.C. Coney in Mt. Carmel also has a Fluffburger.  It's a pale imitation, if you ask me.  Their sauce is more run of the mill spicy sauce.  I eat there from time to time, and the food is good, but it's not Tony's.

On the whole, good to see Tony's getting some coverage.  I know the Bloomsburg location had to deal with the struggle of the massive flood that hit the area back in September of last year, but it seems like they are doing well.  It should be a great fit in a college town.  If it were *me* doing the story, however, I'd point out the classic taste of the screamer and not focus so much on the Fluffburger.  I guess the regular screamer isn't enough of a "bizarre" thing for them, though.

Ranking the McDonalds of the Coal Region- from "Eh" to Worst

This next entry is really a "best of the worst" column.  Let's face it, you don't go to McDonald's looking for a good meal.  You go there looking or a quick meal!

Full of salt, processed, and heavily (pun intended) contributing to the nation's obesity epidemic, McDonald's isn't a place I go to because I want to. 

Except for the fries.  I crave the fries.  The fries are my cigarettes, but the good news is I tend to stay away from them for weeks at a time.  Regardless, I do believe, but cannot prove, that McDonald's has done something to their food to make it addictive.

So here's the list.  We're not ranking them by which McDonald's is the best.  No, no, that would be boring.  We are going to rank them by the worst, with #10 being so-so and #1 being horrifying.

So here's the list:

10.) Hometown- I can't really fault this McDonald's for much other than the default McDonald's problems.  So it's here to simply place itself on the list.

9.) Frackville- There used to be two McDonald's in Frackville- one inside the Schuylkill Mall and one outside.  The inside one used to be popular for birthday parties (does McDonald's even do that anymore?) but the outside one has always been more convenient.  Anyways, the outside one is the only one left, and remains a popular stop off of Interstate 81.  It's not horrible, I'll give it that.  At the same time, it's not good- the service I've gotten there has been lacking, and their recent "upgrade" features the Most Uncomfortable Seats Known to Man.  The bathrooms are also usually very, very dirty.

8.) Pine Grove- Also easily accessible from Interstate 81, it has the exact opposite problem of the Frackville McDonald's- it could use an upgrade.  Also, I once got a Shamrock Shake from this location that was all white stuff on the bottom and green stuff on the top.  It was quickly thrown away.  Otherwise, this is a fairly inoffensive location aside from the obvious "You'll die if you eat here too much" factor.

7.) Danville- SLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.  Their Drive-Thru location is easily reached from I-80.  Technically this isn't the Coal Region, but come on, I've fallen asleep here before my food was ready.  Okay, not really, but I HAVE listened to 1/3 of a baseball game from the time I ordered to the time I got my food.

6.) Schuylkill Haven- There's not enough seating here.  It's also at an intersection, and in an area that doesn't have enough lanes for the very busy traffic.  The drive thru, therefore, isn't really very "convenient".  Also, WHEN I SAY NO CHEESE ON A QUARTER POUNDER I MEAN NO CHEESE THANK YOU.

5.) Elysburg- about a year ago, I went to the Elysburg location and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich.  I received my order, and before driving off, I saw they gave me a fried chicken sandwich.  I went inside and pointed out the error.  They took my sandwich, and then I waited 10 MINUTES before they gave me back a FRIED CHICKEN SANDWICH, THIS TIME A DIFFERENT PATTY.  I didn't want to wait any longer so I sucked it up and had my arteries clogged.  I haven't been back since.

4.) Hazleton (the location outside of the Laurel mall)- once I ordered a ten piece chicken nuggets here, and instead I got a ten piece box with five nuggets in it.  Thanks for looking out for my carb intake, Hazleton McDonald's, but no thanks for charging me full price anyway.  Also, this location routinely has people with loud and fast cars who go out of the way to show you how loud and fast their cars are.  Be careful walking inside from your car, some restored hot rod might mow you down in the process.

3.) Wilkes-Barre (the "old style" one next to Toys R Us)- not enough seating, and absolutely the most disinerested employees I have ever encountered, except for McDonald's #1.  They act like your request for a meal is more like a request for them to do heavy manual labor.

2.) Pottsville (across from the Fairlane Village Mall)- "I wanna go to the Playplace!"  Those words, shouted by a young child, have resulted in many Coal Region families taking their kids to this Mcdonald's location.  While this makes it a popular place for families, if you are just trying to eat, it's annoying to hear the yells of little Stevie trying to get his mom's attention 5,000 times because he's at the place on the top with the clear bubble that he can see through.  What makes it worse is when real little kids get stuck and/or lost in the Playplace and the whole focus of everyone in the store is on the staff and parents of little Tommy trying to get his screaming mouth out.  This is also the part of the entry where people will think I don't like kids.  That's not true, I love kids and want some of my own some day.  I just don't like boneheaded parenting that DOESN'T READ THE RULES POSTED AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE PLAYPLACE, AND THEN WANTS EVERYONE TO HAVE SYMPATHY FOR THEM BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO READ SIGNS.  Plus, that thing has to have at least 5,000 diseases running through its plastic structure because I can bet the staff doesn't clean it as thoroughly or often as they should.  Just a hunch.

And the absolute worst McDonald's in the Coal Region:

1.) Shamokin- WOW.  I could write a book on my experiences with this location alone.  And don't argue with them, because their attitudes are horrible.  Not too long ago I ordered two double cheeseburgers plain, and I got them back with ketchup.  No biggie, but I went up to the counter and asked them to fix the mistake.  The counter guy mumbled, "that is plain", so I just went and dealt with the extremely super-sweet McDonald's ketchup on the sandwich.  They have constant turnover here.  If you have special requests, you have about a 10% chance of that request being granted.  My wife doesn't like cheese.  Late one night, we hadn't eaten so I swung by because it was pretty much the only option in Shamokin.  Upon getting home, my  "Quarter Pounder No Cheese" was a Quarter Pounder with FIVE SLICES of cheese on it.  I'm fairly certain some cranky worker wanted to punish me for making a special request.  

This place, again, has major attitude.  I have had food just about thrown at me from the drive-thru window, and they really seem to get the most clueless people ever to work at this place.  

And if you eat inside, be prepared to wait about 15 minutes to get your food EVEN THOUGH YOUR FRIES ARE SITTING RIGHT THERE BUT THE PERSON JUST STANDING AROUND DOESN'T HAVE THE ENERGY TO WALK OVER AND GET THEM.  

Ugh.  The only reason this place is in business is because sometimes it's one of very few options for quick food.  But regardless, I've heard more than one person in Shamokin refer to this place as "Asshole McDonald's".  I have to agree.

Sweet Pizzz Pizza- Frackville, PA

A long time ago, there was this place called Rocky's Pizza. They had two locations, one in Frackville and one in Mahanoy City. While I was never too crazy about their pizza (it was okay, but Pizza Place in Frackville had my heart at that point), I always found myself craving their wings. I can remember having friends over for Monday Night to watch the wrestling shows that were on at the time, and we would always get a party platter of Rocky's wings and go to town. Rocky's went out of business some time in middle of the last decade, and their building in Frackville was torn down in order to make more parking lot space for the Dutch Kitchen.

 Based on my last review, you all know how I feel about the Dutch Kitchen, but still, the business must not have been enough to keep Rocky's going. In addition to the wings, they were also known for some fairly unique-for-the-time menu items such as their Chicken BBQ Pizza, which was a rarity for me because most others preferred "traditional" Pizza. Years have come and gone, and while most people Rave about Black Diamond Wings (and I love them too), I actually preferred Rocky's. Well, recently Rocky's Wings have come back to Frackville- not as Rocky's, but as a menu item Sweet Pizzz Pizza. I don't get the third "z" in Pizzz. It reads to me like urination, but whatever.

 Sweet Pizzz has been around for a few years now- and I know they have other locations other than the one in Frackville, so they are, like Rocky's before it, becoming a "mini-chain" of sorts. I don't know for sure, but I am guessing that this is the people behind the old Rocky's Pizza with a new name. As an aside, Rocky's used to have these "so bad it's good" commercials on local television, narrated by a anthropomorphic Pizza Slice that spoke with the voice of a horrible Sylvester Stallone impersonator. I ordered wings a few months ago, and they were exactly as I had remembered. Just eh right amount of spice, with a hint of sweetness. Rocky's wing sauce (and I get what is now on the menu as "Rocky's mild") is also a great dipping sauce for french fries and other kinds of fried foods which your cardiologist doesn't want you to eat.

 Their wings, both now and then, are on the larger side, with a fairly generous amount of meat on the bone. Some wings in the area are possibly eaten in a bite or two- not the wings at Sweet Pizzz. I still don't like the superfluous third Z. I had their pizza last night. As the name suggests, it is "sweet sauce", a Schuylkill County thing that also can be had at both Pizza Place in Frackville and Centiole's Pizza. Both of these places will get reviews in the future, but regardless, they all have some variation of "sweet sauce". I found the sauce at Sweet Pizzz to be sweet but not overly so. I would put it somewhere in the middle between the cloyingly sweet Centiole's and the not-too-sweet-but-still-sweet Pizza Place. There's a good flavor to their sauce. 

What interests me about this pizza, though, is the combination of sauce and cheese. Sweet Pizzz has a fairly substantial amount of cheese on their pizza, and whatever the mixture is, it is an excellent combination with the sauce. They also package in some "Hot Sauce", which is more like a spicier version of their regular pizza sauce, with some visible pepper and onion in it. It adds a little more bite to the pizza, but isn't essential in my opinion. Sweet Pizzz is a relatively new edition to the Pizza landscape in Frackville, a town with already 400 Pizza restaurants in it, which was probably a reason the old Rocky's Pizza wasn't sustainable. I would love to see some new things tried in my hometown, but I'm fairly certain some of what I wish for wouldn't really succeed in this town. This is a town that loves its pizza, so more pizza places it gets. In comparison with some other pizza restaurants, Sweet Pizzz is on the more expensive side. You could get some excellent Sweet Sauce Pizza for a lot cheaper at Pizza Place just up the street. Still, you could do a lot worse than Sweet Pizzz. The pizza is pretty good, and the wings are excellent. Just please, someone get them to get rid of the third "Z".

Sweet Pizzz Pizza
 301 South Lehigh Ave
Frackville, PA
(570)874-1112

Dutch Kitchen- Frackville, PA

Ah, my beloved hometown of Frackville. Actually, Frackville doesn't look like much anymore. I don't know if it ever did. It was the town of my youth, the place where I learned about life, where I was a bright eyed, positive kid looking to take on the world. It's the town where, on my Aunt Faye's porch, I told her I felt I was called to be a pastor- the first time I would ever utter that to anyone.

My hometown is like a girlfriend (or boyfriend) that you meet after years of seeing her and you see that she's just not the same anymore.  The current economy has not been kind, so the town is broken down, like the same girl (boy) you once knew who now is scraping to make ends meet with three children whose father (mother) never comes around.  Quite frankly, you see a lot of those situations in Frackville, too.  I could go on and on with the social commentary of a place I would love to see restored, but this blog is about the food.  Onward we go!

 The Dutch Kitchen boasts itself as the premier restaurant in the borough of Frackville. There are billboards up and down Interstate 81 advertising its "Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking", with the PA Dutch Hex signs. To many people, Frackville is known primarily because of the Dutch Kitchen. For many travelers using the aforementioned Interstate 81, the Dutch Kitchen is the premier place to stop and have a bite to eat before resuming one's journey. But, like the borough of Frackville itself, the Dutch Kitchen has seen better days.

Maybe it's that they unfairly fired a friend of mine, and I'm still bitter over that episode. However, that was years ago, and I would like to think I'm far, far past that. I prefer to think it's from the wilted lettuce I last saw on the touted salad bar that really wasn't all that impressive. Or perhaps the way-too-expensive-for-the-area pricing, including a $7 Pancake platter that you can get at other area restaurants for two dollars less. But what ever it is, I cannot see why some people absolutely rave about this place. It's even been included in most editions of the Roadfood guide to eating.

The Dutch Kitchen has seen better days. It is still possible to get a good meal there, though you can eat at other places in the area, get good food, and pay less. The last time I ate there was in early March 2012, when my uncle's father passed away, and we went there to eat after the funeral. I ordered a broiled seafood platter that included a crab cake, shrimp, scallops, and a fish filet. The crab cake didn't have much crab in it at all, being essentially a stuffing ball. The scallops were extraordinarily tough. The shrimp and the fish were good. I just don't see the same care put into this place that used to be there. This used to be a restaurant where you would go for special occasions. I ate there before my senior winter formal. I ate there when my Aunt Lucille died. This is a place of memory. This place's success is important to the borough as a whole, as it is one of the first landmarks that one sees upon entering Frackville.

 My honest opinion is that the reputation this place has had in the past is what the management is currently living on. Also, that particular exit has only two real dining options advertised on the exit signs- this restaurant and a Cracker Barrel. They don't have to try hard, so they don't. And still, people rave on about the food here. They must be seeing something that I am missing. As for the prices, they probably can get away with this because what is expensive for Frackville is still fairly cheap in most other areas, so travelers don't notice.

For nostalgia's sake, I want to give this place a good review, but if I am going to be honest, I will say that the Dutch Kitchen is a once-great restaurant that currently serves passable food.  They can call themselves "famous" all they want, and glorify themselves in their advertising, but the locals know, it's not what it once was.  They need to stop cutting corners and serve the kind of food we know they're capable of.  But as it stands, the Dutch Kitchen is the cute high school cheerleader who is still trying to live off of the looks she had twenty or thirty years ago.

 Man, this entry depressed me!

The Dutch Kitchen
433 South Lehigh Avenue
Frackville, PA 17931
(570)874-3265

Rob's Good Time Grill- Shamokin, PA

When I first moved to Shamokin, near my new home was this place called Rob's Six Pack Shack.  It was a corner beer store- not an uncommon sight in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.  Mostly it sold beer via both six packs and quarts, and some half cases, but it also sold some food.

Rob's Six Pack Shack was a diamond in the rough- some unique characters frequented the place, it had a dingy atmosphere with some pictures of sports stars, including local athlete Steve Kline who was a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals a few years ago.  Regardless of the fact that it was mainly known as a beer store, or the fact that it looked like it needed a good scrubbing, or the fact that some of its clientele would curse at you rather than smile at you, Rob's Six Pack Shack had some very, very good food.

The owner himself, Rob, is a standup guy and like me, a Philadelphia Phillies fan.  He's a personable fellow who would talk to anybody.  He loved to cook and you could taste it in his food.  He made a great breakfast, and the cheesesteaks at Rob's Six Pack Shack were some of the best in the area.  I especially loved the Smokehouse Cheesesteak, which was essentially a "Rodeo Cheeseburger" take on the much-loved combo of meat and cheese on a fresh roll.  He also made his own Barbecue sauce, which was so good that I ordered a side of it with everything- they were especially great to use as a dip for the fresh-cut fries.

Flash forward to 2012, and Rob's Six Pack Shack is gone.  Rob and his wife replaced it with Rob's Good Time Grill, down the street a few blocks and on the other side of Market Street in Shamokin.  It is miles away a different place than the Six Pack Shack; the first view you see when entering is a fancy looking bar with three large flat screen televisions playing whatever games are on.

It has ample seating in the rear, and now boasts many community nights- there's a wing night, a karaoke night, and I understand that they had one impressive New Year's Eve Party.

Call me a stick in the mud, but I still miss the old Rob's.  Despite the cosmetic upgrades and the now bigger menu, I still miss the old Rob's.

First off, I don't see Rob around very much anymore.  Perhaps that is by design, but many of the newer people they hired just don't seem as friendly or personable.  I've eaten there a handful of times now, and each time my encounter with the waitress has seemed awkward. Maybe it's me, I don't know- but it's just an uncomfortable experience.

The food is still delicious.  I still order take out, though I will say that since the move, there have been times that my food has not been made as I ordered it.  In the past three months, I've ordered the Smokehouse Cheesesteak three or four times, and I've had versions with marinara sauce on it, versions with peppers, versions with barbecue sauce, and now, I don't order from there as much.  Maybe the consistency issue is something that came with the move, but it's something that makes me wonder if I really want to order from Rob's on a particular night and risk getting something I don't want.  The economy hasn't picked up around here, money is tight, and it's not worth paying good money for something you didn't order (which is what you end up doing when you pick up your food close to closing time).

I also went to wing night, which Rob's has every Thursday night (and, for some reason, you have to be 21 to attend).  The wings are delicious, from the homemade barbecue sauce to the Thai wings that had me coming back for thirds and fourths.  They also serve their delicious homemade fresh cut fries with the wing bar.  Still, some of the wings were cold, and they didn't refresh the bar as often as I would have liked.

Another issue has been when exactly Rob's Good Time Grill closes.  I tend to eat late because of my employment, and sometimes I've driven into town and seen the "Open" sign lit.  I've gone inside, only to be told that the kitchen is closed.  That's a little frustrating.

Listen, I don't want to tear the new place apart.  Clearly they are trying something new, and I really hopes it works out for them because Shamokin needs good places to eat, and I know that this group can make some excellent food.  Each little issue I've brought up has been fairly minor, but when you add up the minor things, it seems like the issues have substance.

When all is said and done, Rob's Good Time Grill is a decent option if you happen to be in Shamokin.  On a Thursday night, the wings are peerless, and it's a good place to catch a game.  If they address the issues I've mentioned, they will definitely have a winner.

Rob's Good Time Grill
100 South Market Street
Shamokin, PA 17872
(570) 648-1191