Essential songs, local grub, good fish down

XPN's listeners have picked 885 essential songs and they're counting them down as i type this. I've been making excuses to be in the car lately because of this. Some good tunes going around. Although listeners of the station have a penchanct for Sheryl Crow, which i just cannot condone.

Whenever i tell someone thst i live in Phoenixville (well, when i am in Eastern PA anyway) they all say, "Oh Phoenixville is blowing up right now." I guess i agree. I like it here. When i lived here a few years back i could tell it was a few years away from really being something bigger. Some of the best cowboys have already gone unfortunately. We keep adding restaurants but not much else. I dunno. Hopefully we get more shops like Hipster Home and Earthmart that actually give people something to do after they eat and go for after dinner drinks. The Colonial is a great place for a movie or live music. I'd love to mention the other live music venue on the block but the owner has been quite cold to me on more than once and will be forever snubbed by me (although i may make an exception for Mason Porter).

Why am i saying all this? Supposed to be a lead in to me talking about the Pickering Creek Inn. They are one of the newest places for beer and food on the block. At 37 Bridge Street, the group of managing partners has a great approach to Phoenixville's dining scene. Taking the no crap on tap approach, Pickering Creek's current tap list reads as such:

Flying Dog Doggystyle Pale Ale
Bell's Two Hearted
Seadog Blueberry
Blanche De Brux
St. Bernardus Abt 12
Blue Point Toasted Lager

They've got some great bottles and if all holds true there'll be a New Holland beer on tap very soon. The seasonal menu looks awesome, I had a house smoked Texas Brisket sandwich and Wild Mushroom Gratin. I'm pointing out their attention to local detail though, with a slew of local ingredients from cheese to chicken to mushrooms. They're also playing with some mighty fine flavors over there....their fall ingredient list includes:

Eggplant, Mission Figs, Sorrel, Fontina, Goose, Oysters, Fresh Squid, Wild Mushrooms, Dungeness Crabs, and Walnut Oil.

They've got brunch, they've got happy hour with free snacks. They're doing a darn good job over there.

Lastly, my great blue beta, Alex Trebek passed sometime between midnight and this morning. He was a pretty awesome fish. I wish going to bury him by the R5 but i think i am going to do something far cooler. I'm going to put him in a bottle of Orval and recap the crown and go down to the bridge and toss him in the Schuylkill River. If you need history on the fish and the ring, click here.

So i guess those are the thoughts i've got for the day. The Epicurean's (Phoenixville) 17th Oktoberfest Dinner went off without hitch last night. Delicious food by the crew there and some mighty fine beers to match. It was great to have Dragon's Milk involved.