A few months ago, I saw someone on social media post a hoagie from Momma Pat's A Little Taste of…read morePhilly Grille in Duncannon and immediately saved it to my ever-growing list of places I needed to investigate. On a late August Friday evening, Momma Pat's finally had its turn when I decided it sounded perfect for Friday night date night.
I'd read that wait times can sometimes get a little long, so I called around 4:30pm to place my order ahead of time. They told me it would be about 30 to 35 minutes, which was perfect because it would take me nearly that long to get there anyway.
PRO TIP: Call ahead! Momma Pat's is only open Thursday through Saturday from 11am to 7pm, and after seeing the size of the place and tasting the food, I completely understand why ordering ahead is a good idea.
I pulled in about 35 minutes later and easily found parking. There were a few people enjoying the beautiful evening at picnic tables outside, and then I opened the door to go inside and actually laughed out loud.
When I tell you Momma Pat's is tiny, I mean TINY. Literally one little room. But it was charming in this wonderfully laid-back, no-frills, very Perry County kind of way, and I immediately loved it. My order was ready when I walked up to the counter, but then I spotted cannolis on the menu for $3.50. Obviously, I needed one. Friday night date night isn't complete without dessert.
My original order was a 12-inch Spicy Italian hoagie, a small order of Old Bay fries and a side of cheese sauce. With the cannoli added, I was still right around $20. In this economy?! I was suspicious.
Then they handed me a bag of food that was SIGNIFICANTLY heavier than I expected, and my suspicion quickly turned into excitement. I squirreled my haul into the car and headed home for a picnic in the beautiful weather.
First up were the Old Bay fries. The container actually held plain fries with two little cups of sauce. One was clearly the cheese sauce I'd ordered. The other was a mystery. Assuming it had something to do with my Old Bay fries, I opened it, dipped a finger in and tasted it. Oh...HELLO! I have absolutely no idea what was in that sauce beyond some glorious combination of Old Bay, spice and what tasted like hot peppers, but it was FANTASTIC! I decided to dip my fries instead of pouring the sauce over them, and my only regret was running out of sauce long before I ran out of fries. The fries themselves were pretty standard pizza shop fries. That mystery sauce, though? THAT'S the story.
Next, I opened the cannoli. When I'd ordered it, they called the order back to the kitchen, which made me wonder if they're filled to order. Whatever they're doing back there, keep doing it! I opened the box to find a big, fat cannoli generously piped with filling, topped with chocolate and covered in powdered sugar.
I firmly believe you should eat dessert first just in case something catastrophic happens before you finish dinner, so naturally I started there. Excellent decision! The filling was sweet without being overwhelmingly sweet, the chocolate was just enough to set everything off and the shell was perfectly crisp. For $3.50, I'd happily order another one.
And then came the main event. The 12-inch Spicy Italian hoagie. I picked it up and immediately started grinning because THIS THING WAS HEAVY. I carefully unwrapped it and found a seeded roll absolutely stuffed with Italian meats, cheese and everything I'd asked them to put on it, including a pile of spicy peppers across the top. It was one of the best-looking hoagies I've seen in a very long time.
Then I took my first bite. GOOD. LORD. The whole thing was incredible! The meats and cheese tasted fresh, the lightly toasted seeded roll was the perfect delivery system for the mountain of goodness stuffed inside and those spicy peppers on top absolutely made it for me. I would like to formally petition for spicy peppers to become their own food group because I apparently need significantly more of them in my diet.
The hoagie was enormous. Between that, the fries and the cannoli, there was enough food here to easily feed two people, probably more depending on appetites. I actually checked my receipt again because I couldn't quite believe I'd gotten that much really good food for around $20.
The staff were fantastic throughout the entire experience, too. They were friendly when I called to place my order, had everything ready when promised, happily accommodated my last-minute cannoli addition and got me back out the door quickly to enjoy my Friday night.
I'm not sure I can recommend Momma Pat's as somewhere you should STOP for dinner. I think Momma Pat's needs to be the DESTINATION. Generous portions. Really great food. Friendly people. Ridiculously reasonable prices. And a tiny little South Philly-style hoagie shop in Duncannon that I somehow managed to live near for all these years without knowing existed. Well, I know now. And from here on out,
