I was exited as could be, to make my return to Philadelphia, otherwise known as the “City of Brotherly Love,” which gets its name from the literal meaning of the city’s name in Greek. Backtrack to the Wednesday before Labor Day, I had to first drive to Tiffin, OH, and perform at Heidelberg University. Due to the lack of businesses in town that were open, I was surprised that the town supported not one, but two full-times colleges – Heidelberg & Tiffin University. I was glad they moved the show from Rickly Chapel to the student union. The former is one of 3 designated sacred places on campus, according to the schools website. Since I’m not that religious, this was a win for me.  They were a good crowd, but I had to head back to the hotel, so I could catch a few hours of sleep. 

     The plan was to wake-up at 3:45 am the next morning, drive 8 hours to do an afternoon show, check into my hotel, and do another show. My afternoon show Thursday was a bit problematic…because even though the contracted start-time was 1 pm, they’d advertised it on campus as starting at Noon.  That and the fact that it was “Welcome Week” for Bucks County Community College, in Newtown, PA… meant that students were eager to get to class.  Towards the end, it dwindled down to 5 students, and an IT employee. After the show, I was starving, so I stopped at “Lorenzo’s Pizza” in Philadelphia for a cheesesteak. It came highly recommended by Roadfood.com. There is no better trusted source for food, than Micheal Stern’s website detailing the best eats, based on whatever town you’re in. 

I was stil hungry, so after Lorenzo’s, I made a brief stop at Tony Luke’s, and had a roasted pork with provolone, and broccoli rabe. While the sandwich was delicious, I didn’t enjoy it as much, since I only had a few hours to spare before my next show. Finding parking in downtown Philadelphia was a lot harder than I thought. The main problem was, not one of the garages could give me a straight answer on how much it would cost me to park. At one garage, the 2 employees couldn’t agree amongst themselves how much I’d have to pay. One garage quoted me $72.50 for the privilege.  I was scheduled to perform at University of Science, in SW Philly that evening, so I was able to find temporary parking, check into my hotel, rest for a few hours, than head on to campus. It happened to be “Welcome Week” at this school too, and I was grateful they were a fun bunch. The faculty/students in charge couldn’t have been nicer, and they treated me to a cheesesteak after the show. 

I hit “John’s Roasted Pork” on the way out of town to to Jefferson, PA, for my last show at Thistletwaite Vineyards. JRP had come highly recommended by various sources, and my expectations were high. The roasted  pork, with sharp provolone, and garlic spinach was fantastic. Out of the 5 cheesesteaks I tried, this was the winner for my favorite Philly sandwich to date, and is shown above. The crowd was a motley group…several of them thought it was OK to blurt stuff out during the show, or talk throughout…but I still had a blast with them. The place was family owned in part by Annette, a sweet and smart women who was wise beyond her years. Below is my reward for driving over 1700 miles in 4 days to do 4 shows. It’s Greenhouse Smoked Meats in the West Loop, Chicago. You’re looking at brisket, chicken, potato salad, and coleslaw. It was great ! 

I was exited as could be to make my return to Philadelphia, otherwise known as the “City of Brotherly Love,” which gets its name from the literal meaning of the city’s name in Greek. Backtrack to the Wednesday before Labor Day, I had to first drive to Tiffin, OH, and perform at Heidelberg University. I was surprised that the town supported not one, but two full-times colleges – Heidelberg & Tiffin University, due to the lack of businesses that were open surrounding the schools. It came down to a gas station, a small cafe and a Subway. I was glad they moved the show from Rickly Chapel to the student union. The former is one of 3 designated sacred places on campus, according to the schools website. Since I’m not that religious, this was a win for me.  They were a good crowd, but I had to head back to the hotel, so I could catch a few hours of sleep. 

The plan was to wake-up at 3:45 am the next morning, drive 8 hours to do an afternoon show, check into my hotel, and do another show. My afternoon show Thursday was a bit problematic though, because even though the contracted start-time was 1 pm, they’d advertised on campus an earlier start-time.  That and the fact that it was “Welcome Week” for Bucks County Community College, in Newtown, PA… meant that students were eager to get to class.  Towards the end, it dwindled down to 5 students, and an IT employee. After the show, I was starving so, en route to the hotel, I stopped at “Lorenz’s Pizza” in Philadelphia for a cheesesteak. It came highly recommended my Roadfood.com. There is no better trusted source for food, than Micheal Stern’s website detailing the best eats, based on whatever town you’re in. 

 I was stil hungry, so after Lorenzo’s, I made a brief stop at Tony Luke’s, and had a roasted pork with provolone, and broccoli rabe. While the sandwich was delicious, I didn’t enjoy it as much, since I only had a few hours to spare before my next show. Finding parking in downtown Philadelphia was a lot harder than I thought. The main problem was,  not one of the garages could give me a straight answer on how much it would cost me to park. At one garage, the 2 employees couldn’t agree amongst themselves how much I’d have to pay. I eventually found a lot that was reasonable. I was scheduled to perform at University of Science, in SW Philly that evening, so I checked into my hotel, rested for a few hours, than headed on to campus. It happened to be “Welcome Week” at this school too, and I was grateful they were a fun bunch. The students in charge couldn’t have been nicer, and they treated me to a cheesesteak with mushrooms & provolone, after the show.

     The plan was to hit “John’s Roasted Pork” for lunch, and this place had come highly recommended by various sources, roadfood.com being one of them. The roasted  pork, with sharp provolone, and garlic spinach was fantastic. Out of the 5 cheessteaks I tried, this was the winner for my favorite Philly sandwich to date.  My last stop, headed back to Chicago, was Thistlewaite Winery in Jefferson, PA…and they were a motley group. Most of them had never seen other humans, let alone a comedy show. Several of them thought it was OK to blurt stuff out during the show, or talk throughout…but I still had a blast with them. The place was family owned in part by Annette, a sweet and smart women who was wise beyond her years. Below is my reward for driving over 1700 miles in 4 days to do 4 shows. It’s Greenhouse Smoked Meats on Green St. You’re looking at brisket, chicken, potato salad, and coleslaw. It was great !