NEWARK, Del. — On our way back from the Jersey Shore last month, we had no timeline for getting home, so we took a more leisurely pace. After leaving New Jersey we entered Delaware and found ourselves getting hungry which is advantageous since there is no sales tax there. Our son was ready to be out of the car too, so we wandered into Newark which is pronounced by the locals as “New Ark” as opposed to Newerk (New Jersey) or Nerk (Ohio).

I am somewhat familiar with the second largest city in the First State having toured the University of Delaware as a high school senior and stopped at the McDonald’s on Route 896 scores of times over the years. I was pretty impressed with Delaware’s campus and location at the time and surely would have happy to apply had they sent me an application. Newark strikes me as a pretty good college town, better than say, College Park, Md. or New Brunswick, N.J.

We decided on Klondike Kate’s, a local saloon with an outdoor patio. I ordered a pretty good cheesesteak which was and my wife enjoyed “The Soprano,” an Italian hoagie. Our son had grilled cheese and applesauce, free during the summer, information that may come too late (sorry!). We’d go there again sometime. A co-worker of mine from Delaware agreed it with us that it is a good place. It was also much more affordable than the Friendly’s on Route 896:

Oh and no regrets about not applying to Delaware. While everybody I know who went there really enjoyed it, Penn State was and is pretty good to me. I’m glad I am a Nittany Lion and not a Fighting Blue Hen. 😉