WHATCHATHINKIN'

You’re reading this in November, but I’m writing it just as the World Series Division Series begin. For those who don’t care about, or even hate, stick and ball, or if you happen to be a Phillies or Dodgers fan, please skip to the next paragraph so I don’t get hate mail. My forever beloved and constantly disappointing Mets blew it BIG TIME and will have an extended months’ vacation. The Dodgers will play the Phillies and I’d like them both to lose or the sharks somehow destroy Citizens Bank Park as they did in Sharknado 2 to Citi Field. As my brother Jan was a Chicago Cubs fan, and they have always been my back-up team when the Mets flounder, I will root, root, root for that home team. I really don’t care about the American League, but I do like the Detroit Tigers’ stadium, so my pick for the World Series would be Cubs vs. Tigers (who would win in politically-correct sports?). In a month from today’s writing, we’ll know the answer.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled Whatchathinkin’. It is a beautiful autumn day today (somehow I feel using the word ‘Fall’ in a motorcycle magazine doesn’t fit), Brian is off on his own adventure with BMW riding the new R 1300 RT through some southern states, so I think it’s perfect to head out for my own ride. Taking a suggestion from our friend Gary, who told me the other day that Charlie’s Pool Room – now just known as Charlie’s – has reopened in the same spot in Alpha, NJ, but is completely renovated, I plotted a somewhat circuitous route to get me some of those infamous Mealie dogs.

We visited Charlie’s Pool Room in the early 2000’s and, believe me, it looks very different today. Gone is the Collier’s Mansionesque interior. But before I continue, let me give a very brief history of what Charlie’s Pool Room was. Occupying a 1909 building, it housed a pool hall on one side and a barber shop on the other. Grandma Fencz decided that the men playing pool should have something to eat so started serving hot dogs with her Hungarian sweet and sour ‘secret sauce’. Brothers Joe and John took over the business, which no longer had a barber shop nor a playable pool table, but still sold hot dogs, in addition to the candy counter, which started as penny candy and slowly caved to inflation, rising penny by penny. John cooked the hot dogs in a 12” skillet, Joe made the sauce and hosted, while patrons waited for their hot dogs. Like Forest Gump, you could get a hot dog, a hot dog with sauce, or a Mealie hot dog, which had sauce, chopped onions and precisely cut and placed strips of hot peppers. There was a round communal table with a little less clutter than the non-usable pool table on which to enjoy your hot dogs. Charlie’s Pool Room closed in 2013 due to health code violations (?!) in the kitchen. History over.

Alpha native, Mike Weirsky, bought the building, did a MAJOR renovation and reopened Charlie’s in July of this year. And thanks to Gary, I was on my way this day to see if the Mealies were as good as I remembered them.

While the ride from Backroads Central to Alpha is one that I’ve done many times, I tried to incorporate some new (or at least new to me) roads, and I was pretty successful. Making a turn off Silver Lake onto Ackerson Road, I did a double-take as the black and white cows I saw on the hill to my left looked awfully stiff and, indeed, they were excellent statues of dairy cows. Did the owners really have dairy cows on premise or were they just wannabee farmers? Continuing on, passing through the little hamlet of Hope, I eventually turned onto Sarepta Road in Warren County. This little gem did some twists and turns, passing over a lovely stone bridge, before dropping me back onto Route 519. A favorite road is Brass Castle leading into Harmony Brass Castle Road. While I could have taken this back onto Route 519, I opted to turn onto Montana, taking me to Fox Farm and around the Merrill Creek Reservoir. I had no idea this lovely body of water was here nor how much fun this road was.

Parking in front of Charlie’s, I ordered my Mealie Dog and, new to the menu, a Mealie cheeseburger (perfectly cooked smash burger with the same delicious sauce, onions, peppers and pickles). Just as good as I remembered and probably even better.

With my hunger satisfied, I finished my ride, making a stop at True Vine Ice Cream on Lake Hopatcong in Sparta, for a cup of Harvest Caramel Crunch and Moose Farts (you’ll just have to go there yourself to find out what that is). A perfect day, a most excellent ride, and now to see how the next four weeks play out on the diamonds. Pitchers and catchers report on February 10, 2026……