BZ Maestro’s Blog

BZMaestro Eats: My Dining Adventures in the Philly region and on the road

Succulent Ribeye at a South Philly Steak Shop

I’ve mentioned in a couple recent posts that in addition to hitting as many new steak shops as possible, I’ve begun the process of revisiting the ones that are in my top 20 with an eye toward eventually putting out a new list. My most recent cheesesteak outing took me to South Philadelphia’s Nipotina, which…

A Taste of the Midwest in South Philly

While the emphasis of this blog is on cheesesteaks, I’ve also made my fondness for the sort of smashed burgers that used to primarily be prevalent in the Midwest known here on several occasions. Thankfully, they are now easier to find all over the country and an increasing number of spots in the Philly region…

Trying a Pair at a Bucks County Steak Shop

In my last cheesesteak post I referred to the list I keep of restaurants I’d like to get to at some point. Another sandwich shop that had been on it for a fairly long time is Philly Pete’s Eats in Warrington, Pennsylvania.  My reason for procrastinating in this case was the long rebranding process they’ve…

Just Like Old Times

Although it’s long since gone out of fashion in favor of authentic regional cuisine, I’ve expressed my love for old-school Americanized Chinese food here many times with no sense of shame. I came of age eating it frequently during the 70s and 80s and still am always excited to find places that look like the…

New Pizza and Steak Shop Earns High Marks

As I’ve alluded to periodically, I keep a list of steak shops, pizzerias and other restaurants that I plan on visiting and posting about at some future point. One of the places that’s been on that list for a fairly long time is Gentili’s Pizza and Steaks of Exton, Pennsylvania. Exton is a bit of…

A Delightful Italian Lunch in Delco

My friend and former colleague, Brenda, and I recently got together for one of our periodic lunches. While I usually pick the restaurant, she asked if I’d be interested in checking out a Delaware County Italian restaurant that is a relatively short drive from both of us and I agreed after checking out their menu…

Reevaluating a Legendary Steak Shop

As I mentioned at the bottom of last week’s post, the people at Michelin recently put out new lists of restaurants in Philadelphia that have been awarded coveted stars and given special Bib Gourmand citations. I inadvertently overlooked Del Rossi’s, which was on the latter list in addition to Angelo’s Pizzeria and D’Alessandro’s.  Both Angelo’s…

Cheesesteak and Pizza Outing Cut in Half

Back in the spring of last year, I posted on what was then the hottest purveyor of cheesesteaks in the Philly region – Johnny’s Pizza of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. The steak I had there was good enough for me to rank it in the upper half of my top twenty list. Yet in light of…

The Pizza Crew Ventures to South Philly

My pizza crew – friends and former colleagues, Nancy, Craig and Francisco – joined me again last week as we resumed our tour of Philly’s elite pizzerias. This time around, our destination was Pizzata Pizzeria and Birreria.  I initially came across drool-worthy photos of the pizza at PIzzata’s Center City location a while back, but…

A Taste of New Haven in Philly

I’m sure I’ve made clear in at least one old post that I consider Connecticut – especially the New Haven area – to be the pizza capital of the United States – and probably the world. They serve well-done pies with thin crust that is crispy to the point of brittleness while also providing a…

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