Ever have those days when you need comfort food? I’m not talking about a handful of M&Ms because your boss yelled at you, or maybe a spoonful of ice cream in between dinner and Grey’s Anatomy because it’s only Tuesday and you’ve already worked half a normal wage earner’s week. I’m talking about needing to soothe a world of hurt. We’re talking about the short end of 49-0 football games, youth hockey teams that lose their 20th game in a row more than 3 hours from home, maybe finding out that one of your high school classmates has a long criminal record. A world of hurt, the kind you feel deep down inside and must soothe with solid cooking in mass quantities.
It’s days like those that make me drive from somewhere within the 856 or 609 area codes to Ponzio’s Diner in Cherry Hill, NJ. Ponzio’s has been a favorite of my wife’s family for nearly its entire 45-year history, and for good reason: amazing bread, huge portions and a bakery case that reduces grown men to wimpering three year olds who want that Elmo cupcake.
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Ponzio’s bread basket is a “one of each” cornucopia of baked goodness: onion bread, cheese bread, cinammon bread, and some whole grain stuff that you can leave for your little sister. Go for calories. Get a dozen cheese breads to go while you’re thinking of it. On the right is my personal favorite, only half listed on the menu: Ravioli with Ponzio’s hot sausage. Yes, that hunk of meat protecting the ravioli is a sausage patty with all of the right seasonings (heavy on the fennel) and the right heft to round out a comfort meal. You have to ask for the ravioli, but the hot sausage is available with an all-day set of breakfast foods.
My father swears by the almond horns (singly or by the to-go box), and Ponzio’s has black and white cookies with an explanation: a thin sponge cake with bi-modal icing. They even win on transparency in the bakery case.
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