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| Hello, gorgeous Photo Credit: TH |
The Place: Nonna Lisa's Kitchen
Location: 315 W. MacDade Blvd., Ridley, PA 19033
Website (Facebook)
For the longest time, the building where Nonna Lisa's Kitchen occupies held Della Polla's Family Tavern, one of MacDade Blvd.'s many standby Italian restaurants. There was Italian Delight in the MacDade Mall, Tavani's just east of Holmes Road, and Italian Village down on the west end near Fairview, known nationally on an episode of Restaurant: Impossible. The only one that is still in business is Italian Delight, which moved across the street from the mall to an old Pizza Hut. For as much history as was located in these restaurants, the inexorable march of time comes for everyone, and you have to hope that something new can grow in their places, kinda like the rebirth of the Great Deku Tree in Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time.
Nonna Lisa's was actually the second attempt at revitalizing the Della Polla's building, but it feels like it deserves to stick given the quality of the food my family has ordered over the last six weeks or so. Of all the rotten luck, Nonna Lisa's start of business just happened to coincide with the onset of COVID-19, but luckily, people's hunger for food they don't cook themselves allowed their takeout business to have some success. The menu overall appears basic for a pizzeria/Italian home cooking joint. Outside of a few gonzo appetizers and a baked ziti pizza, there's not a whole lot of hipster experimentalism that you find in newer places. So in order to stand out, a restaurant has to execute on what they have, but luckily, Nonna Lisa's does just that. They have the best pizza in the Ridley area. Their pasta dishes are fantastic. They have good meatballs, a weird thing to say about an Italian place, but honestly, I've become such a meatball purist over the years. Most places I've had them out taste so much like bologna for some reason, and I retreat into homemade ones. Nonna Lisa's taste like homemade.
But this isn't the Pizza Party or the Meatball Melee. It's a Cheesesteak Crawl. We ordered from Nonna Lisa's three times, and twice, I got a cheesesteak. A cheesesteak can have whatever you want to put on it, but it must have three components: bread, meat, cheese. Anything else, even the fried onions, is just extraneous. So I will judge all sandwiches on those four categories, the core three plus "extraneous stuff."
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| Photo Credit: TH |
Meat: The real star of this sandwich is the meat, and honestly, as much as a cheesesteak is defined by the fact that it has steak on it, the meat almost always feels like it's relegated to "necessary evil" status. It's how a lot of people can throw frozen chip steak on a griddle without seasoning it and leaning on the fact that they spend big money on Sarcone bread or just gobsmack the sandwich with cheese. Neither of those things are a bad thing, but the meat is the reason for the season, and Nonna Lisa's gets that. The meat is seasoned well. You can actually taste it as a major player in the sandwich. The biggest thing you notice is black pepper, which is odd to say about such a core seasoning people take for granted. But the dirty secret is that black pepper is one of those ingredients that plays so well with beef, the dry piquancy dancing with the fatty goodness of the base protein.
Cheese: You might laugh, but I feel like the cheese is the most important part of any sandwich, because it's the main conveyance for flavor. There's no such thing as too much cheese, but "too little" cheese is a rookie mistake, especially for people who insist on making it with Cheez Wiz or some other kind of sauce. Nonna Lisa's does not make that mistake, at least if you order with American cheese (my personal default pick, your mileage may vary). Nonna Lisa's makes sure to spread the gooey goodness around so that you get cheese in every bite, which combined with the quality and flavor of the meat itself, makes this an elite sandwich.
Extraneous Stuff The first time I ordered a steak from Nonna Lisa's, I got long hot peppers and fried onions. The second time, I got just the onions. The long hots are my jam, but I also have a tricky relationship with them, because they can be HOT HOT HOT in ways that punch you right in the face. Much like shishito pepper, it's a Russian roulette of capsicum, but unlike a shishito pepper, there are five bullets in the chamber and one empty. However, Nonna Lisa's was able to make them tasty as well as blistering hot, which is where you want to be. The onions, however, got lost in the shuffle both times. If you can't make them stand out, there's no real point of putting them on the sandwich.
Overall Verdict: Nonna Lisa's cheesesteak is new, but it's already a major contender in the wars. It's worth the trip out to Delaware County for more than just the cheesesteaks, but honestly? They pay respect to the regional king food that few others do, even with some minor missteps along the way. Nonna Lisa's cheesesteak is the real deal.
So, the food blog is back and with a new name. Why? Well, who the fuck is "Holzerman" and why should you care if they hunger? That, plus "It's Eatin' Season" is a fun name that evokes the passion and playfulness of eating without ever realizing that it is always eatin' season. I hope to update this more than just once a month. I hope you join me in my journeys of eating and cooking. I can't wait to share it with you, again.
