Duffy's Tavern Boalsburg, PA

 Duffy's tavern in Boalsburg is an historic restaurant dating back to the 1800s.  The building is decorated with period artifacts and paintings that represent the history of the town.  Next to our table there was a painting of women visiting a gravesite, an homage to the towns claim as being the home of memorial day.

I was there for a friends birthday and didn't take any food pictures as I felt it was inappropriate of the occasion.

I ordered the Reuben with sweet potato fries and my wife had the "soup of the moment".

The "soup of the moment" was a broccoli cheese soup that had large pieces of broccoli and had a pleasantly surprising Parmesan flavor.  The soup was good but a bit too salty.

The Reuben came out with a nicely crisped texture to the marble rye.  The sandwich was hot throughout and all of the ingredients were well represented.

The pastrami seemed to be deli cut and of an acceptable quality.  Likewise with the Swiss cheese, neither one was remarkable in any way.  The sauerkraut was a delight though.  It had a sweet almost caramelized taste and I would have happily sat down with a bowl of it.

4.5/5

DeFazio’s Pizzeria Troy, NY

A Reuben pizza?  Wait? What?!?  This is enough to bring me out of semi retirement and to upstate New York, or upstate adjacent at least. DeFazio’s  is a spectacular family run pizzeria with a long tradition. 

This is as close as you will get to a Reuben in a pizza. The results are utterly spectacular. I’ve had a few pseudo-reubens of late and this reminds me how much good, no make that great, rye bread makes the sandwich. 

This has a rye crust with a thin layer of sauerkraut and pieces of corned beef. There are splashes of thousand island dressing across the top.  It’s baked in a wood fired oven which makes the crust crispy.  The only places this falls short as a reuben is where it excels as a pizza.

Eveready Diner -- Brewster Hill, NY

Ida and I were trekking up to Boston to visit my brother and needed a bit of sustenance. I pulled off the highway when I saw a sign for the Eveready Diner. I was in the mood for a patty melt but fate handed me an excellent Reuben.

This  is a cute little diner playing 80's music. The menu said legendary coffee. The coffee was ok, better than what I get at work, not as good as Sheetz.

We were seated next to several tables of Verizon retirees who were having a regular lunch get together. They had loud discussions and one person was talking about eliminating a council seat to save $80,000.  I was rather amused by that since I sit on my  boro council gratis.

The Reuben had options of corned beef or pastrami. I chose the pastrami and it was wonderful. The sauerkraut was good. The dressing was on the side which is a nice touch. The bread could have stood to be grilled a bit more.

All in all well balanced, and put together with excellent ingredients and very good french fries. 4.5 out of 5. 

World of Beer - Reston, VA

I am down in Reston for training with Perfect Sense Digital makers and integrators of the Brightspot CMS. After a day of training, which was tantamount to drinking from the firehose, I decided to have dinner at a nearby restaurant World of Beer.  It has a nice group of outside tables and it was an incredibly lovely evening.

The menu had a Reuben and previous experience with pub food Ruebens has been almost universally positive.

I ordered the Reuben and a beer of the suggested style.  The recommended style was an imperial IPA.  IPA's tend to be big beers and extremely hoppy.  Imperial beers are typically big and hoppy.  Imperial IPA's are typically monster things that are insanely, almost unbearably bitter, and while not my favorite style I can see how it would pair well with the outsized flavors of my favorite sandwich.  The beer was a "Tin Cannon Twin Cannon" which was hoppy as promised but not overbearing.



When the sandwich came I was somewhat disappointed but the size and character.  My sense of food perhaps has become lowbrow of late.  I just want a chicken bucket or perhaps a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomatoes, Heinz 57 and a deep friend potatoes.

As they say though when in Reston, do as the Restonians do.  Looking at the sandwich from the side I didn't feel compelled to pull it apart and expose the innards for the world to see.  The top and bottom layers were pieces of fairly good pastrami pulled from an even stack and then griddled.  There was one piece of cheese and a little sauerkraut with a good bit of Russian dressing in there.

The pastrami was good quality but the rest of the sandwich was sadly lacking.  The other elements were in short supply and the pastrami was placed like a mother would send to school with a small child in a sandwich with the crusts cut off.  No layering or piling, just neatly stacked.  The ratios were similar to what I've seen in New York except there it is a matter of "behold this mountain of Pastrami", while here it is, "well we need to garnish the meat because that is how it's done, I think".

The bread, meh, marble rye.  It was grilled a little bit.  It could have gone a little more, with of course more butter.  At least it wasn't soggy.

The fries were another disappointment.  Somewhat low quality.  There were more bad spots than expected and while they came out hot there weren't fully cooked.  They weren't inedible by any stretch of the imagination but they failed the McDonald's test.  (i.e. If McDonalds does X better than you, then don't do it!)

The beer was good.  The service was incredibly friendly.  It looked like they were gearing up for a real party atmosphere and perhaps a live band later in the night.  Go for the drinks and the party.  Maybe grab Chick-Fil-A on the way home.

The sandwich gets 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Bellefonte Country Club -- Bellefonte KY

My cousin's passing brought me back to the center of the known universe Ashland, KY.  There are so many weird vortices that circle place.  After the funeral we all adjourned to the Bellefonte Country Club for lunch.  Siblings, first cousins, second cousins and even third cousins sat around and chatted and drew in coloring books and watched football.  The weirdness of the place extended to Penn State fans cheering on Ohio State and Kentucky (my cousin's team) upsetting Louisville.

In my experience upscale restaurants don't do great reubens.  It a basic primal thing that can fail from overthinking.  It benefits from a really great well seasoned grill.  They being said this we pretty good.  It was a little light on the dressing and the bread wasn't as grilled as I like it but the ingredients were high quality and well balanced.  The bread was great, a nice thickness, not at all soggy.  It wasn't as crispy as I like and the pastrami was a bit on the weak side.

The swiss was good, and I was quite happy with the bit that dripped onto my fries.  Likewise the sauerkraut was excellent.

All in all a good sandwich.  3.5 out of 5.

Subway - State College PA

I have read that there are four times as many Subway restaurants than McDonald's that means that when Subway announced the reuben sub that I had four times as many places to try it as I had to get a Big Mac.  That left me trying to figure out which of the ones nearby I should try.  I decided on the one in the Walmart.  Then I had to decide which Walmart...

The "Sandwich Artist" at the shop was kinda cool.  He asked me if I had had one before and I said not there but I regularly ate them elsewhere.  He said that until this came out had had never had rye bread or sauerkraut and now he was eating three or four times a day.

Part of the Subway mystique is being able to adjust the sandwich my liking but I decided to let it ride.  Take it as presented.  I will admit to having the person add a bit more sauerkraut, but that was only because I was asked.  I might consider adding hot peppers and bacon in the future.

Now the sandwich suffered a bit in the 15 minute ride to work while sitting in a plastic bag.  This might have led to some of sogginess and chewiness in the bread so that is being forgiven.

I knew going into this that the sandwich wouldn't be grilled but they did put it in their toaster which crisped and warming things a bit.  This wasn't really a hot sandwich, more lukewarm (even at it's hottest)

Now for the ingredients.  The bread was okay, not spectacular.  I guess part of that was the transportation and part of it was attempting a mass market appeal.  The corned beef was bland.  The sauerkraut was a bit on the sweet side and the dressing was dressing.  Honestly I don't think I have even had bad Russian dressing and perhaps only once had good.  One sandwich artist stopped the one who was applying the dressing from applying more and that was a good thing since it was a little over the top.

Overall the sandwich wasn't bad.  I'll assume a lot of the deficiencies were from transport and boost the score up to 3 out 5

The Hunt Club -- Hillsdale, MI

A proper Reuben with a proper score. This is from the hunt club considered one of the better restaurants in Hillsdale. We ate around 6 after some hiking around the campus. The sandwich came and I was intrigued to see a triple decker. Far to thick for a dainty mouth but fine for me. 

Notice the side of veggies. I was trying to be somewhat healthy. Each of the three layers seemed to be the same and I was pleasantly surprised to see chunks instead of slices and sauerkraut that appeared to be of higher quality. There was some crispness to it and a courser cut than in most commercial sauerkraut. The bread was a seeded marble rye and seemed to be well prepared. At first it looked like it might be burned but it tasted ok. 

As I have started previously the chunk corned beef has great potential in a sandwich but it makes getting the distribution tricky. This was the case here. The three layers did help to somewhat even out every bit but it just didn't quite muster up. Additionally while intriguing the ingredients themselves we're bland. For once in my life while eating a Reuben I wanted to reach for the salt shaker. 

2.5/5

Cavoni's Pizza and Grinders -- Hillsdale MI

Visiting a friend he suggested we eat here specifically so I could try the Reuben Grinders. Not a true Reuben so no rating but here it goes. 

Zachary asked what I look for in a Reuben, how I rate it. I said the first thing is the bread and how it is grilled nice and crispy. I also said that soggy is the cardinal sin. Like many pizza and sub shops the bread here was baked from their pizza dough which is traditionally aged in a cooler at least overnight. It's a little known (outside of pizza circles) trick that letting the dough rest gives a far superior product. If you want good pizza today, make the dough yesterday. Cavoni's obviously shares the philosophy. 

He asked what else I looked for. I then said balance. All of the ingredients in a Reuben are unsubtle. This is a sandwich where hot sauce could be lost in the flavors. I told him that balancing the intense ingredients is the next key thing. 

Finally I said the quality of the ingredients. I told him about sandwiches that I had had elsewhere where you would expect perfection but they turned out to be mountains of good pastrami hiding scraps of bread and cheese with dressing and sauerkraut hiding somewhere in there. 

What you saw in the pictures was a half sandwich and rather huge. The filling was light at the ends and the bread was excellent although just a white hoagie roll. The other ingredients were good, not great and it came with mozzarella instead of Swiss(admittedly I'm not sure how well Swiss deals with a trip under a salamander so...). As I said above while excellent ingredients impress me and can elevate something to a true masterpiece failure lies in the execution. This was very well done and extremely enjoyable. 

The Weeping Radish -- Grandy, NC

I heard about this restaurant in Diners Drive-ins and Dives http://www.foodnetwork.com/restaurants/nc/jarvisburg/the-weeping-radish-restaurant.html where they featured the Reuben. Guy Fieri raved about the home made meat and sauerkraut. I was down in the area and thought I would check it out. 

Since this is a brewpub I thought I would start out with a flight of beers. They were out of the weissen but replaced it with a lemon shandy. 

When the sandwich came I could tell that it was made with homemade pastrami and sauerkraut, as well as hand sliced bread. It isn't something that you think about with preserved items such as sauerkraut and pastrami where the cabbage is fermented and the meat smoked, but there was a distinct lack of processed chemical taste you often find in these things. 

The ingredients were incredible and on the whole well prepared. The bread was a bit stale at the crust and hadn't been buttered quite enough before grilling. It was crunchy more than crisp. Thankfully it wasn't at all soggy. 

My biggest complaint was that there wasn't enough of the wonderful sauerkraut. 

4.5 out of 5

Rock & Brews - Overland Park, KS

I know better. I should have looked. I usually look. One word, coleslaw. Well this wasn't the first time that I would eat my mistake and it likely won't be the last. Usually though when I eat my mistake it is shortly after cooking it.

Let's get this over with. The menu said coleslaw and I didn't read it. My bad. I don't mind slaw on a sandwich when it is supposed to be there. I love a good Primanti's but this is a reuben. 

The bottom of the sandwich was a bit soggy, usually a sign of not cooking things separately. The slaw was cold as it is wont to be. There was a little cheese not as much as I would prefer but in general it was enough. There was real rye bread that was a bit chewy. 

The pastrami was fantastic though. There was a lot of it but not too much. The flavor was incredible. Salty peppery perfection. 

Overall it was what it was. 3 stars out of 5. 

Village Inn - Omaha, NE

The Villiage Inn is a chain of diners much like Denny's. I had high hopes since I knew the sandwich would be cooked on a flat grill which is one of the secrets to a great grilled sandwich.

I saw that it was going to be marbled rye. While not preferred it sometimes yields acceptable results. 

The sandwich came out with a side of seasoned French Fries. The sandwich seemed thin and the bread had an almost polished feel to it. 

I opened it up and took a look inside. I was surprised at how little was in there. Then again in a restaurant that caters to an aged clientele lighter portions are to be expected. 

The sandwich tasted dry and bland and was fairly disappointing. The best thing that I can say about it was that it wasn't soggy. 

1.5 out of 5

Yorkholo Brewing - Mansfield, PA

Boo panini press, hooray brewpub!

After NSO'ing there first home bout of the Dirt Road Dears(lots of sloppy derby, but everyone was new at some point.) the refs and NSO's adjourned to the Yorkholo Brewing Company where I was looking forward to their Pennsylvania Grand Canyon Vanilla Porter. The beer was as good as I remembered it. After looking at wings and fried pickles I went after the reuben. 

My review may be tainted by the excellent one a few days prior but I will endeavor to be fair. 

The bread might have been white bread or may have been a mild seedless rye. It was cooked on a dry panini press so there was none of the crispy buttery goodness I so love. Instead of crispy grilled bread there was a crunch of smushed dry bread. 

The corned beef was dull, the sauerkraut was there, kinda, I remember some cheese and perhaps dressing. This was a shadow of great sandwich. 

That's being said, it wasn't soggy and there was nothing actively offensive. 2.5 out of 5.

Next time I'll get the burger which looked epic!

Local Whiskey - State College, PA

Local Whiskey is a bar above the Phyrst in State College.  I had been meaning to try it for a while, because in addition to enjoying corned beef, rye bread and sauerkraut, I also enjoy distilled aged spirits and local cuisine.

I flipped through to the whiskey and decided on the "Let your rye fly" flight.

All different.  All yummy.

Looking at the menu I saw a ruben.  This was going to be an excellent lunch.  I ordered it with high hopes.  I tasted the whiskey's but saved my palate for the main course.

All on it's lonesome on the plate

It was huge.  There were no sides except for the pickle but I was full eating it.  It was nicely grilled, not to greasy.  The corned beef was pouring off the sides and obviously high quality.

Peeling it open revealed all sorts of goodness.  This sandwich was one prepared by someone who knew what they were doing with high quality components.  I took a bite into it and was pleased.  The bread was soft but dry, not soggy, the meat was salty and flavorful, the sauerkraut was excellent as well.  It was swimming in incredible gooey swiss cheese.

This is one of the best if not the best that I have had.  I highly recommend it. 5 out 5.

Lucky's Cafe - Cleveland OH

Lucky's Cafe is a small cafe in a neighborhood undergoing gentrification in Cleveland.  There are a number of art galleries in the neighborhood which is full of Orthodox churches, lodge halls and small row houses.

Lucky's is proudly part of the farm to table movement which emphasizes local, seasonal foods.  It has also been featured on FoodTV's Diner's Drive-in's and Dives.

When I was eating there I was tempted to try the beef stew since this really has been a winter for beef stew, but I heard that that the reuben here was awesome so I had to try it.  It came with potato salad but the waitress suggested the couscous so I went that route.  I also had the "Sunshine Tea" which was unsweetened iced tea, with some herbal tea components.

The Reuben was incredible.  All of the components were house made, the sauerkraut, corned beef and dressing and bread.  The attention to detail really showed.  The bread was snappy and crisp and crunchy, the beef was hot and flavorful.

My only real complaint was that there wasn't quite enough of the Russian Dressing, but with it off to the side I could have easily asked for more.

5 out of 5 stars

The Distillery - Victor NY

There was a funky taste/smell in the sandwich someplace. Odd from something loaded with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut, but still it was there. This is indicative of the overarching problem that the sandwich was tasteless. The sauerkraut was bland the pastrami was bland and tasteless and processed. 

There was nothing great about the sandwich the bread was marbled and meh. The cheese was meh. The dressing was probably Kraft so they couldn't screw that up. 

The only redeeming feature was that the bread wasn't soggy. The chips weren't even good. 

2 of 5

The Blue Tavern -- Ruckersville, VA

VThe Blue Tavern/Blue Ridge Cafe/Blue Ridge Catering is located in Ruckersville, Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It's a cute little restaurant with painted murals on the walls. 

I ordered a reuben and crispy fries

with coffee to drink. The fries were okay and the reuben was pretty good. The bread was thick and not at all soggy. It could have been grilled a bit more though. There was a good amount of thick sliced corn beef. The sauerkraut was a bit bland and underrepresented. There dressing was a bit skimpy in places as well. 

It was a satisfying sandwich but unbalanced. 3.5 out of 5

Bear Appetit - Jim Thorpe, PA

We were in Jim Thorpe to see the Tartan Terrors play a New Years Eve show. The Tartan Terrors are a Celtic music comedy group that I first encountered at the Pennsyvania Renaisance Faire. They mix serious and funny songs along with pieces of comedy and dance. They put on an incredible show. The doors for the show opened at 8:30 and we got into town about 7:30. Many of the shops were closed but window shopping revealed a lot of fun, funky stores. We stopped in Bear Appetit for a late supper. I had the reuben and sweet potato fries.

Look at that! Real corned beef! It was a little dry and crunchy but the flavor was incredible. It was so deliciously salty. It was an explosion of flavor. 

The corned beef while awesome overpowered the rest of the sandwich and the bread could have been grilled a little longer. 

I had gone in only intending to get a snack. I ordered a reuben only intending to eat half. I ate the whole thing and didn't regret a bite. 

4 out of 5

The Arena -State College, PA

I came to the Arena tonight to watch friends sing in a competition "State College Idol". I ordered a Yurngling and looked through the menu. The I saw the Reuben. I realized that I haven't had one since my adventure this summer. It turns out I picked a great place to have one. 

I admit it. I love the bread. That is one of the most important things to me in any sandwich. This one had a nice seeded rye and was grilled marvelously. It tasted of butter and was nice and crisp. The pastrami was flavorful and well cooked. The sauerkraut had a good flavor and texture and there was a reasonable amount of dressing on it. I have absolutely nothing to complain about with it. 5/5

Governors' Pub - Bellefonte PA

The Governors' Pub had been recommended to me before and when I saw this sign out front I knew I had to try it.  It got it's name from all of the Governors of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania who came from Bellefonte(Five! plus two for other states).

Two words.  Homemade Sauerkraut.  They slice and brine it themselves which gives a firm feel and gives them control over the flavor.  My personal preference is for a stronger flavor but I was thrilled to have fresh kraut.

The bread was a thick cut marble rye which lightly grilled and had slightly doughy taste.  The swiss was well melted and very tasty.  There was a bit less pastrami than I was used to but it seemed an adequate amount.

The fries were truly outstanding and they came with vinegar and ketchup, they were indeed fresh cut and seasoned.  There was a good beer menu and some top notch desserts.  I had the bread pudding which was excellent.

Reuben was 4 out of 5.

Otto's Pub and Brewery -- State College, PA

I stopped by Otto's with some friends from roller derby for Firkin Friday were they have a special conditioned ale on tap. Getting there half an hour after it was tapped means I missed out. I did get a sip and the vanilla raspberry beer tasted very much like Cap'n Crunch with Crunchberries.

The reuben came to me undercooked on one side and slightly overcooked on the other. The bread wasn't soggy at all.  The pastrami was a bit bland but all together it was a good sandwich.

4 out of 5.