Our Pork Roll Playoff is heating up!

More than 10,000 votes were placed in our first round, which saw 16 competitors vying for eight spots. The second round of voting, which will determine the top four, begins Wednesday, March 8, and ends at 11:59 p.m. Friday, March 10.

Here's what readers have been saying:

Our favorite comment? "I feel like I need to take a trip to all of these spots before voting." Not a bad idea!

More:Pork roll expert weighs in on the pork roll vs. Taylor ham debate

Votes are limited to one per day. Be sure to get your friends and family to vote for your favorite by sharing the matchups on social media with #PorkRollPlayoff.

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Johnny's Pork Roll and Coffee Too (Red Bank) vs. Allenwood General (Wall)

The sandwiches at Johnny's in Red Bank are made with pork roll that is sliced thin and cooked till crispy (owner John Yarusi treats it like bacon). Folks tell us the pork roll, egg and cheese at Allenwood General Store in the Allenwood section of Wall is "the best ever."

More:Ultimate Insane milkshakes and a carousel: Brownstown Pancake Factory opens in Freehold

Bing's Deli (Avon) vs. Kelly's Tavern (Neptune City)

Bing's Deli in Avon makes their sandwich with a generous amount of pork roll on a Portuguese or hard roll. Kelly's Tavern in Neptune City opens at 7 a.m. daily, and their pork roll, egg and cheese comes on a hard roll with crispy potatoes on the side.

Frank's Deli (Asbury Park) vs. Joe's Bagel & Grill (multiple locations)

The cash-only Frank's Deli in Asbury Park is a longtime favorite for a classic pork roll, egg and cheese. Joe's Bagel & Grill, with nearly a dozen locations at the Shore, kicks things up a notch with a triple-decker sandwich that has six slices of pork roll, four eggs and bacon on French toast.

More:We got in to the secret restaurant at Newark Airport. Here's what it's like

Beach Shack Deli (Point Pleasant Beach) vs. Beckman's Deli (Belmar)

For summer visitors in Point Pleasant Beach, a day isn't complete without a breakfast sandwich from the seasonal Beach Shack Deli. Beckman's Deli in Belmar is a beloved local spot for a picture-perfect classic pork roll, egg and cheese sandwich.

Come back to app.com on Wednesday, March 15, for the next round of voting.

HOWELL – Municipal officials are moving forward with the purchase and preservation of a 6-acre vacant property at 2822 Allenwood-Lakewood Road, Howell. The parcel is known as the Wainwright tract.

In September, Township Council members introduced an ordinance which set forth the proposed purchase of the property.

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On Oct. 12, Deputy Mayor Thomas Russo, Councilman John Bonevich and Councilwoman Evelyn O’Donnell voted “yes” on a motion to adopt the ordinance. Mayor Theresa Berger and Councilwoman Pamela Richmond were absent.

O’Donnell praised the adoption of the ordinance and said, “Although it is less than 7 acres, any time we preserve property it is a real plus for Howell.”

According to the ordinance, a formal offer contingent on an environmental review of the land and property in the amount of $350,000, subject to adjustments for exact acreage, taxes and other closing costs, has been accepted.

Howell has $203,380 available for land acquisition as a result of the 2019 State House Commission approval for the diversion of parkland to support the New Jersey American Water Howell to Lakewood Transmission Main Project.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Green Acres program has advised Howell officials the Wainwright property represents eligible compensation land and that the $203,380 may be used to acquire the property and for incidental costs incurred by the township, according to the ordinance.

By using the $203,380, the property can still be preserved as municipal open space and would be listed on Howell’s Recreational and Open Space Inventory, and by using that funding, Howell designates the Wainwright property as compensation land which fulfills its obligation under the State House Commission approval.

Municipal officials said the remaining $147,000 needed to purchase the property will come from Howell’s open space fund.

Howell officials will reserve the right to acquire portions of the Wainwright property that are encumbered by rights-of-way with money from alternative municipal sources, not to exceed $17,500.

In other business on Oct. 12, a second public discussion regarding the potential operation of cannabis businesses in Howell did not take place as scheduled because the Township Council members needed to have an executive (closed) session that evening.

During the summer, Howell officials adopted an ordinance that prohibits all six types of cannabis businesses that may be licensed to operate in New Jersey from operating in Howell.

Those six types of businesses are cannabis cultivator, cannabis manufacturer, cannabis wholesaler, cannabis retailer, cannabis distributor and cannabis delivery service.

During a public hearing that preceded the adoption of the ordinance, some residents criticized the legislation as being a missed opportunity for Howell’s elected officials to set precedent and standards for cannabis businesses in the municipality.

In response to the residents’ comments regarding the ordinance, the council members said they would give residents a chance to discuss the issue in an open forum. The first public discussion took place on Sept. 14.

The second public discussion about cannabis businesses is now scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. Nov. 9 in the municipal building. Any community member who wants to speak on the issue may address Howell’s elected officials at that time.

Joe Giudice, a former regular cast member on "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" alongside his wife Teresa Giudice, has been transferred out of the Federal Correctional Institution at Fort Dix and moved to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Recent court documents show that Giudice will next be transferred to another low-security prison, the Federal Correctional Institution in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. There, Giudice, who faces the possibility of deportation, will be able to have a hearing on his immigration status. (A court document filed on Nov. 6 said the Federal Bureau of Prisons expects Giudice's transfer to happen "in the coming days.")

Giudice's transfer to the Metropolitan Detention Center, first reported by the Courier-Post, comes after he objected to Fort Dix barring him from alcohol counseling while in prison because of a detainer imposed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The 47-year-old reality TV star and father of four was born in Italy and is a permanent resident of the United States, but never became a citizen after he moved with his family to the country as a young child.

An ICE detainer was instituted just after Giudice began serving his sentence in March of 2016. Giudice, whose legal name is Giuseppe Giudice, was subsequently prevented from participating in a Residential Drug Abuse Program -- which would have qualified him for early release -- because he could later face deportation proceedings. (Fort Dix doesn't allow inmates to appear in front of an immigration judge.)

A Sept. 8 court filing shows Giudice contested his placement at Fort Dix. Giudice's complaint mentions that his sentencing judge, Esther Salas, had expressly recommended that he participate in the alcohol program.

"He was placed in Ft. Dix by the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) so he could get the benefit of the program yet it is being denied because of the unsigned ICE Detainer," Giudice's filing says, calling the detainer "improperly executed."

In a Nov. 6 court filing in answer to Giudice's petition, Jessica O'Neill, assistant U.S. attorney, said Giudice's complaint had been "rendered moot by his pending transfer to a facility (Allenwood) at which he will be able to have a hearing on the ICE detainer."

In 2014, Giudice, a former resident of Montville, was found guilty in federal court on charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud and failure to file tax returns and sentenced to 41 months in prison. The court recommended that he be remanded to a facility close to his home where he could receive alcohol treatment. Giudice, who was charged in 2010 with driving while intoxicated, said in a Bravo interview before he began serving his prison term, and after his sentencing, that he had been drinking up to four bottles of wine per day.

Allenwood is located about 150 miles away from the Giudices' Towaco home (Fort Dix is about 90 miles).

If Giudice were to stay at Fort Dix, he could not fight the possibility of deportation until his scheduled release on March 14, 2019. His petition claims the Federal Bureau of Prisons shouldn't have used the possibility of deportation upon release to justify barring him from the program. If Giudice were to be admitted to the drug program, he could see his sentence reduced by up to a year.

U.S. District Judge Noel Hillman has yet to rule on Giudice's petition, which claims that the Federal Bureau of Prisons improperly placed him at Fort Dix.

NJ Advance Media has reached out to Jerard Gonzalez, Giudice's Hackensack attorney, for comment.

Before Joe Giudice began serving his 41-month prison sentence in March 2016, Teresa Giudice was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being indicted, alongside Joe, on charges of bank, bankruptcy, wire and mail fraud. She ended up serving less than a year at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut, from January to late December of 2015.

Joe Giudice addressed the possibility of deportation to Italy in a 2015 episode of "Housewives" focused on Teresa's family during her own prison stint. He said that if he were to be deported, Teresa and their daughters would likely move to Italy to be with him.

"In order for me to go there, it'd be like an immigrant coming here and not knowing anything here," he said. "I consider myself an American. Besides eating pasta and making sauce, I don't know anything in Italy."

"The Real Housewives of New Jersey" is currently in its eighth season.

Jerry McCrea/The Star Ledger

General stores — misshapen and musty, cobwebs hanging everywhere, or at least that’s how many people perceive them — sound and look so archaic. You wonder why modern convenience stores — better stocked, better lit, more accessible — didn’t run them out of the neighborhood years ago.

At the sprawling new Quick Cheks and Wawas, you can buy breakfast, lunch and dinner, fill up the car, use the ATM — just about around the clock.

The general store soldiers on, all squeaky floors and sagging ceilings and limited stock.

In dozens of towns and hamlets across the state, particularly in Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon counties, the general store is the main business, the center of commerce and attention. It’s the best place to catch up on local news and gossip; in several towns, it serves as the local post office.

Not all general stores live up to the name; some have been painted over and gussied up and turned into delis and pizzerias. But at least three retain their old-timey flavor: the Old Stillwater General Store in Stillwater, Rambo’s Country Store in Califon and the Allenwood General Store in Wall.

The first, opened in 1876, is the state’s longest-running general store. The second is a hardwood-floored, high-ceilinged local hangout known for its meats. And the third is a breakfast/lunch spot with mix-and-match tables and chairs and a weirdly compelling assortment of antiques, artifacts and junk for sale.

Need a bee’s nest — minus the bees, of course — for that ultimate home decorating statement? What Jersey general stores lack in convenience, they more than make up in originality — and history.

Carving out a niche

No, the owner of Rambo’s Country Store does not wear a blood-soaked bandanna in honor of Sylvester Stallone’s mercenary movie hero.

But Don Freibergs can offer you fresh-ground beef, homemade salads and some Fartless Chili Makins’.

Wait, the latter is not for sale; it’s among the vintage products and signs on display at Rambo’s, part general store, part museum of vintage Americana. There are boxes and containers of Mother’s Oats and Knox Unflavored Gelatine and Bull Durham Tobacco. Washboards. A massive roll-top desk. A sign reading, “Customers must weigh before and after eating.” And a rusted but splendid BPS (Best Paint Sold) clock that keeps on ticking, just like this general store.

Abraham Philhower opened the store in 1888; the Rambo family took it over in 1952, and Freibergs, who started working here as a stock boy when he was 13, bought it in 1998. It’s spacious and well-stocked; the potato chip selection alone dwarfs the entire inventory at its Stillwater counterpart.

Maybe some of the store’s old-time values are rubbing off on the younger generation; when Freibergs’ teenage son, Andrew, walks in the back door, he is munching not on salty snacks but a piece of cabbage.

Andrew helps his father at the store, which, the 43-year-old Freibergs says, teaches him “a good work ethic, which is missing today.”

With an A&P nearby, Freibergs needed to carve out his own niche, and did it by offering soups, sandwiches, pot pies and maintaining a butcher’s shop. He sells 30 to 40 rib-eye steaks a week, roasts his own roast beef, and will go through 300 turkeys this Thanksgiving.

Jerry McCrea/The Star Ledger

The hardwood floors, white walls, roll-top desk and cast-iron stove convey an ageless and innocent charm, but upstairs is where you truly feel, almost smell, the history. Freibergs is chairman of the local historical society, and several artifacts, including a soapbox derby racer and voting booth, are kept for safekeeping in the small auditorium, which would make a marvelous movie theater. Nothing up there is for sale, but downstairs? Make an offer.

“Nothing is not ever not for sale,” Freibergs says cagily.

In a bookcase on the porch is a more or less unbeatable offer. Every episode of “Mash.” On videotape. Fifty bucks.

Junk for sale

There’s only one place in Jersey where can you get “the world’s best pork roll sandwich” and a perfectly good bombsight.

“If it’s not here,” says the irrepressible Jeff Herbert, owner of the Allenwood General Store in Wall, “you don’t need it.”

There’s a 1940s-vintage dentist’s drill, its creepy metal arm and various dials and doodads making it seem more like a torture device than a medical instrument.

“This is no museum,” a sign reads. “This junk is for sale.”

The store, minutes from the beach, somehow manages to be a bustling breakfast spot/deli; community hangout; a French chocolate shop (Pierre Chocolat, in back) and a yard sale run amok. There are beehives, oxen yokes, horseshoes that enabled horses to tread on ice, one barbershop pole, a deer head, two airplane propellers, cans of Gloss-It Miracle Liquid and containers of Kex Spackling Compound, rotary phones, dinner plates etched with angry-looking grizzly bears, and that asparagus buncher you’ve been looking for.

The April 24, 1912, issue of the Breeder’s Gazette? It’s here.

A karate practice dummy? Please.

The store can be traced to the 1850s, when it was located 100 yards up the road. John and June Herbert, Jeff’s parents, opened the current location in 1972. John is mostly responsible for the antiques/junk/what-have-you; much of it came from auctions and sales in New England.

The store’s eccentricity even translates to the menu; burgers are $2.50; pickle, cheese and tomato are extra.

Jeff Herbert caught some grief for adding a snazzy menu board, but he knows enough not to mess with success, no matter how cluttered it looks. He’d like to add an old-fashioned ice cream shop in back.

The general store might be the best place around to find an electrician, landscaper, contractor, mason, plumber and so on; tradesmen are always in and out of here as customers.

“Whatever you need done in your life, you can find here,” Herbert says. “Give me a day, I’ll find someone I can recommend to you.”

Neighborly love

The American flag snaps in the mid-morning breeze above a rusty red Fire Chief gas pump long out of service. Inside the Old Stillwater General Store on Main Street in Stillwater, owner Joe Van Valkenburg talks to store regular Roger Castner, co-owner of nearby Castner Sawmill.

“It’s where the locals meet, exchange stories,” Castner says.

He eats lunch here every day, a different sandwich each time. The old-timers call the store Garris’ after longtime owners Harold and Doris Garris. George Dallas Garris, Harold’s grandfather, used his mustering-out pay from the Civil War to open the store in 1871, across the street from where it is today. By 1937, George Dallas Garris, then in his 90s, was the oldest living grocer in the state, according to one account.

Van Valkenburg, a former bartender and printing company manager, took over the store six years ago. The store opens at 6 a.m., and he routinely puts in 15-hour days.

Eat here and pick up your mail. There are 269 boxes; the fee is $44 a year. Around a corner is a town bulletin board filled with items for sale and business cards: knife sharpener, firewood, certified luthier, decorative concrete, the Snake Oil Willie Band.

The entire canned goods section fits on one wooden shelf. There are three cans of Silver Floss sauerkraut, three bottles of Ragu sauce, three jars of Skippy peanut butter, three cans of Maxwell House coffee — detect a pattern here? The health and beauty section, such as it is, consists of ChapStick, Tylenol, Advil and Imodium. There are 50-plus plastic duckies on a shelf; a local pastor gave Van Valkenburg several for his 50th birthday, and pretty soon everyone was dropping off a ducky for the owner’s “collection.”

The menu is not just buttered rolls and pastries wrapped in plastic; you can get filet of flounder, chicken cordon bleu, fettuccine Alfredo and “buckaroo burgers” — sliders modeled after the ones at White Manna in Hackensack that Van Valkenburg fondly remembers from his childhood.

The formidable dining table at the window was built by local carpenter Bob Vendetti; he stopped in one day and told Van Valkenburg he would build him a table, and fix the screen door. For free. Other customers plow the lot in the winter or drop off bales of hay for store displays — no charge.

Does it surprise Van Valkenburg that people up here are so helpful?

“In the beginning,” the Dumont native says. “Not anymore.”

Peter Genovese: (973) 392-1765 or pgenovese@starledger.com

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WALL—The Wall Township School District has announced its 2021 summer program schedule, which will run from July 6 to Aug 12.

The district-wide extended school year (ESY) is a program for students with Individual Educational Plans (IEP) to prevent regression of skills. A student’s ESY eligibility is discussed and determined at their annual IEP meeting.

There are two programs, a six-week, and a four-week program, both of which are Monday-Thursday, with the elementary ESY program to take place at Allenwood School from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and the ESY programs at Wall Intermediate and Wall High School will run from 7:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m.

For elementary school kids in Wall, two programs are being offered. The Summer Knight Academy, for students entering kindergarten through fifth grade, will take place from July 12-29 from 8:30 to 12 p.m. at Old Mill School.

The Summer Knight Academy will offer students math, reading, writing, word study, STEAM, Mindfulness, and SEL integration.

There will also be an English Language Learners (ELL) summer program for K-5 students at West Belmar Elementary from July 6-29. From 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., students will learn a curriculum developed and taught by the Reading Specialist and ELL teacher.

For students entering or already at Wall Intermediate School, three programs are being offered: the Summer FOCUS program, a program for students who need additional ELA and math support, and the Summer Knight Academy, a program for students entering grades 6-8. Both programs will start July 12 and end July 29 and will run from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The third program, Knights In Training, is for select students entering grade 6 a successful transition to Wall Intermediate School.

There are four sessions being offered: Session 1: 8/9 - 8/12 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Session 2: 8/9 - 8/12 1 - 4 p.m. Session 3: 8/16 - 8/19 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. Session 4: 8/16 - 8/19 1- 4 p.m.

The Wall High School Summer Knight Academy will help students get ready for ELAs 9 and 10, Algebra 1, and Geometry, along with offering academic support for upper-level students. This will also take place from July 12 to 29 from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m.

For more information, including upcoming registration information, check out the Wall school district’s website.