If you're doing burgers, you're doing "steamed hams", a delicacy in its own right. Use some smoke!

It's a water oven, good for smoking and low cooking. Barbeque at its finest. Does a fine job on "steamed hams" (Simpsons reference)

*blink*... Cleveland?! I swore they were a New England thing!
... well, it's Something To Do if i ever find myself in Cleveland, I suppose...
--thanks for the tip, i'd have never guessed!

Just recently expanded to the Pittsburgh area! (their logo is even aping the steelers now!... I kinda think that might be intentional...) Believe everything's still made in eastern pa.

(sides: op was from central pa, where you do see turkey hill all the time)

Also; when people say "don't refridgerate" they mean keep at around 70-80 degrees. If you have a root cellar, a place where there's wind and relative coolness/darkness, they may keep better.

Quite possible that OP has never tasted winter supermarket tomatoes... At least not the way we do them Stateside.

Thanks for the "season" update! Was reading everyone else talking about "winter" tomatoes, and thinking, "okay, when's winter in the Middle east?"
(If i remember right, that means dry season is tomato season, and wet season is not tomato season?)

Where are you finding White Castle in Pa?

Martin's Potato Bread.

Also, I don't know if you do Costco, but their sliced bread varies wildly by location. Harrisburg's is far better baked than Pittsburgh's.

The bagged stuff has carcinogenic icky stuff in it.

Wabash sells Real Theater Popcorn Oil -- the original stuff with refined coconut oil and real (artificial) butter flavor.

Ya know, the stuff they banned way back when for being bad for ya?

nu, yes. but raw chicken juice falls into my "contains fat" category, anyhow.

That's old coffee. They don't test the good stuff, because it loses its flavor so fast (and isn't really relevant to commodity grade coffee)

Da good stuff? Causes chemical hallucinations. I can't tell you what you're gonna think you're drinking!

and that'd be why. a proper popcorn tastes and smells a good deal like fine basmati rice (I confuse people at work sometimes...)

hate hops. like beer ;-)

Do you really hate tahini? Because that's way more bitter than... good coffee.

[Re: my coffee] Do you like blueberries? How about grapefruit juice?

Isn't it hops that are bitter?
I love me a good doppelbock!
But, man, that's SWEET, not bitter at all...

Gettysburg Pretzel Factory (hope that's not too far. Are they closer to Akron?)

if you do try it, please let me know how it is!

Definitely worth a visit! The bubble tea is delish, and so's the food! (If you come with an appetite, you may wind up ordering more than one dish. the prices are fair, so you won't notice, but, I figured I ought to point out that the portions are a bit smaller than sometimes).

I hope my review was entertaining at least!
Haven't been to everyday noodles, but someone on the bus liked it...

I didn't think Breyers was still doing Philadelphia style anything, anymore... (I buy turkey hill, which, if not local to pittsburgh, at least makes "blitzburgh").

Look up what they mean by highest quality (the U Minn folks)... it's fascinating, but somewhat misleading. They're particularly focused on what a farmer can do to improve their taste/yield.

All that being said, the quality of grass and water plays a large role in what places have good tasting milk.

Lancaster area has the third best milk in the Western Hemisphere.

Name some brands/places I could find some Philly style ice cream in SF?
Next time I'll visit I will swing by.

Right. You'll miss the MILK, which is why the Creamery ice cream is so good.

Midstate milk is far better than any you'll find nearly anyplace else. Out here in pittsburgh, I miss it.

One what? One Block?
You have Sun Penang (malaysian)
Rose Tea Cafe (Cantonese)
New How Lee (Hunan/Sichuan)
Everyday Noodles
Ramen Bar
(and a few others...).

But you also have:
Coldstone,
a NY pizza joint (I'm bad with names)
Rita's ice
... etc.

Lotta restaurants

Nu, I've had Ramen in San Francisco (practically all I ate for days), and Manhattan too. So, as you might guess, I'm a fan of the genre.

Atmosphere: Well, they're going for the "street cart" atmosphere in terms of decor. Doesn't seem to quite work with the female waitresses (I'd have gone with something slightly different).

Portion size: Large enough for a six mile walk afterward, and to still be not hungry at the end. Larger than Lulu's, and about triple what I had at Salt when they first started serving Ramen.

Miso Broth: Adequate, which puts it head over heels above the competition. This broth was seriously healing. Note: I'm not the one to ask about "too much salt." Also, they're serving Tokyo style, so it's using aka miso.

Noodles: did not appear to be made on site (not a knock). seemed neutral (as opposed to alkaline).

Veggies: excellent quality

Silverware: Chopsticks, which made dining interesting. But nobody was slurping the noodles, which was sad.

This restaurant is a must visit, even for me, who doesn't go to restaurants often. Note: they're doing a much better job with the ramen than with the "specialty noodle bowls" (the tom yum's broth was notably weaker.)

Grandma Utz can be ordered from California...
Martin's pretzels can also be ordered, but won't be in any store.

Lebanon Bologna
Philadelphia style ice cream.

Root Tea.

Anyone know if you can find Troegenator on the west coast?

Chowrin's memory for names is awful. lingua's right.

It's a pick your poison type of town. I like the "chain" one--Bella Luna (it's got two branches down near dc). other folks around here like the neapolitan one.

Whatever you do, don't forget about dessert (@the Creamery, home of some award winning philadelphia-style ice cream).

For actually biodegradable, nothing beats Dr. Bronner's.
For degreasing, use simple green.

Remember, dish soap is totally not necessary unless you've got oil (or bacon grease, or other things with fat.) Hot water kills bacteria.

State college has some nice places. That's about all I've got.

Not that I'm saying that Albania is a third world country, but it is quite beyond me why people insist on ordering salads in 3rd world countries. Either you're eating dirt, or you're eating unboiled water.
... let alone eating "salads" in a place that doesn't have them as a traditional dish.