Check It Out:

What are your favorite local places for shopping, pampering or entertaining? Vote now in this year's Best Of Holiday Shopping readers' choice poll.

Cornershot

To submit a CornerShot

The Roanoke Times welcomes CornerShot submissions from its readers. Here are the guidelines:

Length: about 200 words
Topic: CornerShots can run the gamut, but we generally prefer unique and clever observations on the human experience.
No poetry, please.
Email your submission to extra@roanoke.com with your full name and hometown and “CornerShot” in the subject line. You can also mail submissions to Kathy Lu, CornerShot, The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, VA 24010.
Submissions are subject to editing.

1. Britney Spears spotted at Lynchburg restaurant

2. One person injured in Friday night shooting in Roanoke

3. Roanoke resource officer's quick action saved young girl

4. East Carolina poses new challenge for Virginia Tech football

5. Lowe's tapes may hold clues to Roanoke woman's death

6. William Byrd stuns Salem in football win

7. Roanoke County electrical short quiets 5 Wheeler radio stations

8. Captive in Roanoke County describes harrowing time with angry friend

9. Concert review: Timeless Willie Nelson plays to appreciative crowd

10. History says this one will matter for Virginia Tech

Lindsey Nair | 981-3343

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Esquire magazine honored National Grilled Cheese Month in April by blogging about grilled cheeses from across the map on its Eat Like a Man blog.

A former Roanoke Times online intern, Katrina Tulloch (who now works at The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y.), freelanced one blog entry for Esquire about Roanoke’s finest location for grilled cheese sandwiches: Pop’s Ice Cream & Soda Bar in Grandin Village.

Specifically, Katrina wrote about the $6.50 Swiss Melt at Pop’s: “Pop’s Swiss Melt — a fusion of artichoke hearts, Swiss cheese, Dijon mustard, and horseradish — is a zesty antonym to Ma’s standard cheddar. Powerful horseradish delivers a swift kick to the sinuses before surrendering to buttery avocado.”

It is one of about a dozen kinds of grilled cheese made at Pop’s.

Other grilled cheeses featured on the blog during the month were the pecorino and almond pressed sandwich from Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, the ropa vieja from Sugarcane Raw Bar & Grill in Miami, the Caprese at Cheesie’s Pub & Grub in Chicago, and the grilled cheese at Bouchon Bakery in New York City.

To round out the month, Esquire put all of the sandwiches featured for the month up to a vote by Esquire.com readers.

The winner was recently announced, and Pop’s came in third place behind only Cheesie’s of Chicago and Roxy’s Grilled Cheese Truck in Boston. According to the bar graph on Eat Like a Man, Pop’s pulled in about 17 percent of the vote.

I know part of that is because Katrina promoted the heck out of the contest on her social media channels. Thanks for all the love for the Roanoke food scene, Katrina. And congratulations to Pop’s!

Maybe this is the place for “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”?

Saturday, September 14, 2013