#basement cafe

The italian meatball from The Basement Cafe. It had meatballs, "italian sauce," olive oil, basil and provolone cheese and was served on a grilled italian roll. If you've ever bought a bag of frozen meatballs from Costco then you know how these meatballs taste. If you've never had frozen meatballs just remember, fresh is always better. The meatballs were barely lukewarm, I don't think they reheated them long enough. The "italian sauce" was just a generic marinara. I don't understand why they don't just call it marinara but this is the same place that calls a cheesesteak a "philly chessesteak." The basil didn't taste very fresh but at least the cheese was good, a little sharp and it went well with the "italian sauce." I added Tapatio to the second half of the sandwich and it did wonders for the flavor. I was really hoping to write that this meatball sandwich was better than a Subway meatball sandwich, but that would be a lie. So far, the only thing I would get again from The Basement Cafe is their "philly cheesesteak."

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I got the philly cheesesteak from Basement Cafe. If I were them, I would change the name of the cheesesteak, it's more panini than "philly." Just look at the picture, does that look like a philly cheesesteak to you?

Their biggest mistake, they put swiss cheese on their cheesesteak. Which you do not do in Philadelphia. John Kerry tried it back in 2004 when he was running for president and he was ridiculed for it. Of course, he also just called Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas "Tim O'Brien." I guess he just really hates Philly and the city he lives in, Boston. But enough politics. 

The cheese was actually really good on the sandwich. It melted nicely and was gooey and went well with the steak. Have you ever had Steak-Umms? Well, that's what their steak tastes like. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing. When I was a kid, my friend's mom would make us cheesesteaks with Steak-Umms and they were greasy goodness. And while I don't expect that flavor in a cheesesteak I buy at a "cafe," it's not all that disappointing. The onions and peppers were sautéed, they were nice and buttery and still maintained their freshness. As you can tell by the lines on the bread in the picture, it was put into a panini press. I don't know that the press did anything but mark it. The bread was soft and did a good job soaking up the grease from the steak. If I didn't have time to go out and get something during my work day, I would probably get this cheesesteak again.

The real star of the meal, the fries. While they were a bit generic, they seasoned them with an Old Bay-like seasoning. And that seasoning made them really good. It wasn't quite Old Bay, but whatever that seasoning was, I had to devour those fries.

You might notice the map below. I've decided to start adding maps to the end of my posts starting today.

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On monday, I had Kozy Korner's pad thai. They get a pretty good rating on Yelp and despite the name, the place seemed pretty authentic on the inside. There were old Thai ladies serving and cooking and they were very nice and helpful. And despite that, the pad thai was just okay. The noodles were cooked right, the chicken was fine, but the flavor of the sauce was a bit bland. It was fine if you were in a pinch and craving pad thai, but otherwise I would skip it. The lunch portion comes with fried rice or steamed, I went with fried. Have you ever been to a Chinese buffet and had the fried rice that has been sitting there all day? That's kind of what their fried rice was like. The fried wontons were fried wontons, you really can't screw those up. I will be giving this place another try, it is the highest rated on Yelp near my office. I just hope the next time it's better than... eh.