Sloppy Joe's

Yesterday I spent some time with the owner of Town Hall Deli, Tony Wonski, visiting the nut factory in Irvington where all our nuts are fresh roasted. (That is another story for another day).Tony has been a good friend to DinnerSmith as his buildout and ours took place at the same time. Tony and I have something in common and not in common,we sell Sloppy Joe's. I did not grow up in Jersey but in various large cities. Mom made red sauce Sloppy Joe's and we had them at school. Here at DinnerSmith we have a great red sauce Sloppy Joes dinner. Fran found it and tweaked it. It is a grown up version with great spices and really good ground beef served on a soft roll.

When I first came to Jersey, I joined a church which had a women book club. What a great seven years it has been! One of the very first meetings was held at the South Orange home of my friend Kathy. On the day of the meeting, she gave me this look and smile and told me 'I am going to Town Hall Deli and we are going to have Sloppy Joe's." She was so happy. I could not imagine that you would buy Sloppy Joes from a deli but I played along. That night I got to the book club and saw the table piled high with large sandwiches, no red sauce and ground beef. I thought I won't say anything, the deli must have run out of Sloppy Joes and so she bought sandwiches which were delicious. It was weeks later that I read an article in the WSJ about regional foods in New Jersey. In central Jersey, there is a legendary large sandwich made in triple decker with firm bread and fresh meat and cheese coleslaw and Russian dressing. They weight a ton and feed a group. I sat on the train and laughed out loud. You can travel around the world but Jersey will surprise you! I have since indulged in many Joes and shared them with countless visitors to the Garden State.

Tomorrow is my turn to cook for the book club. As a tribute to my new home state, I am going to serve both kinds of Sloppy Joe. I will let you know how it turns out.

Tomorrow the nut factory and a bakery!