Fall Luncheon at Catherine Lombardi’s

 I wanted to get together with Amy to catch up and learn from her about online strategies for Managed Markets.  I have known Amy for many years since she was doing Media Strategies for our Pharma brands and Internet Media was just starting.  Amy has moved on to Managed Markets which is becoming very important to many brands.  So where do we eat in New Brunswick? I suggested we go to Catherine Lombardi’s for some classic American Italian Food.  The well decorated dining room also allows enough privacy for a business meeting a great food to nourish us. So Amy agreed to meet me there.

After we caught up on what we both have been doing recently I suggest we get my Favourite Appetizer,  the Prosciutto di San Daniele with Parmigiano-Reggiano. I like this appetizer because of the quality of the ingredients and the contrast between taste and texture.  The Prosciutto is custom cut for each order at the bar allowing you watch as they cut.  The meat is moist and slightly sweet.  The Parmigiano-Reggiano is freshly cut into bit-sized cubes providing a contrast by being slightly salty and slightly el-dente.  The added feature to the dish are the Balsamic Cherries that contast with both the meat and cheese.  The size of the portion is large enough for two to share and even take a snack back to the office for a late afternoon bite. (Thanks Amy)

Amy went for the Pappardelle with Bolognese as her main course.  I wasn’t familiar with the pasta Pappadelle so Alex, who did a great job serving us so well with her partner Scott, explained that it was kinda like ”Fettuccini that had been run over by a steam roller”.  Alex and Scott are exactly who you want to see serving you at any meal, attentive, informative and professional. Great job guys.  I hope to see you again.  Amy shared with me that the pasta was perfectly cooked and meat sauce was very satisfying.

I went for the Daily Ravioli Special for my main course. Since Fall had just started the Squash and Cheese Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Cream Sauce sounded perfect for a sunny Fall day in New Brunswick.  The store made ravioli were perfect with a great blend of squash and cheese, perfectly cooked with a drop of Pumpkin Oil on each. The Brocolli Rabe was a perfect side with the pasta as it brought some bitter and garlic taste to the party matching well with sweet squash and cheese.  It was a delicious dish, well balance and perfect for the season.  Well done.

It took a great deal of persuasion, but I managed to convince Amy to have some dessert.  After review all the delicious choices she selected my favourite dessert at Catherine Lombardi’s, the Zabaglione with Fruit. Most of the times I have had this Classic Italian Custard, it has come with Strawberries but today it came with Blueberries.  The light custard was sweet with the tart berries making a nice contrast .

I had to try something different from Amy so that I could share with the readers the experience.  What I do for my readers. LOL.  I went for the Canolli. Come to find out they bake their own shells and then fill them on demand.  The filling, Alex warned was not as sweet as other canolli but the blend of Sweetened Mascarpone and Ricotta Cheese with some Orange Zest would be less sweet than I was used to but it would be very good.  The two canolli arrived on a giant plate with a dusting of Pistachio Nuts, Chocolate pieces and Powdered Sugar.  Alex was right, it was a great change from the super sweet pastries you can get everywhere and a great end to a great lunch.

Thanks Amy for playing along with my hobby, taking photos and helping me understand the state of the art of online marketing in the Managed Market space.  I hope we get to do this again.

Read other reviews about Catherine Lombardi’s here, here and here.

 

Catherine Lombardi’s – 3 Livingston Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1903          (732) 296-9463

More Mountain Food

Donna, Ryan and I spent the weekend with Facebook friends and neighbours Toni, Tony, Stephen and Carolyn up in Sullivan County, PA and had a great time.  They were wonderful hosts and guides showing us all kinds of Northern PA attractions.  One of the attractions we saw about 5oo yards from our “campground” was this Black Bear munching on some berries near our “camp ground” neighbour’s house. We watched the bear for 5 minutes before he either got tired of us or had his fill of berries. LOL.

The bear wasn’t the only one who got their fill. Saturday afternoon we went to the Tombstone Inn for lunch. Tony’s Step-father Ed had told us stories of the Tombstone the night before and it sounded like to a real treat to go. The Inn is an old school house located beside a cemetery and it’s loaded, pardon the pun, with tons of stuffed animals of many species. Toni and Tony’s boys Joey and Nicky enjoyed looked at the Stuffed Bear, Moose and Deer butt-end of a while we waited for the food order.

 

The Tombstone’s speciality is pizza but they had a busy Friday night and sold out. Good to see that the woe’s of the economy have not hit the Tombstone as hard as other places. LOL

In lieu of their famous pizza I ordered the Seafood Basket. It was a deep fried cornucopia of Haddock, Shrimp, Clams and Scallops with Frieson the side. Given our location in upstate PA and a significant distance from the sea, ordering seafood could have been a bad decision but it worked out. The haddock was well cook, nice and crispy batter on the outside and moist flavourful fish on the inside. The same went for the sweet bay scallops and shrimp.  The batter-to-clam ratio was a little high on the fried clam functionally eliminating the clam taste. Fortunately the home-made seafood sauce and lime made even the clam pieces somewhat tasty. The fries were decent and there were a generous portion of them making the basket a filling meal for me.

Donna went for the Chicken Strip- BLT Sandwich. The sandwich came on a Hoagie Roll with Deep Fried Chicken Strips load on. Large slices of Tomato and Bacon were added along with some Lettuce leaves coated in Mayo. Donna thought the sandwich was very good with the mixtures of tastes and textures coming thru. Two hardy Dill Pickles garnished the plate and gave some sour flavours to contrast the sweet tomatoes, mayo and chicken and the salty bacon. A very good sandwich.

I missed taking photos of the Burger and Dog BBQ Buffet back at the “Campground” on Saturday night but they were great. One special treat was a Tomato Blue Cheese Salad that Carolyn created. That was very nice but I forgot to take the photos.  I did better the next day as we brunched on the Overnight Egg and Sausage Casserole. The casserole was a nice mixture of savory sausage and sweet baked eggs. With some chopped Onions added for taste and texture the dish was great.

For our Sunday Field Trip we went to Eagles Mere, PA a picturesque town a few miles. In addition to some lovely shops and art galleries it had The Sweet Shop. In addition to a huge variety of candy and ice cream treats, they also had very decent luncheon choices.

Donna went for the Classic Grilled Cheese sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread. The Sandwich came with pickles and potato chips. Thick slices of toasted bread held the warm melted Provolone Cheese. The crunch of the bread contrasted nicely with the smooth creamy cheese. Good basic sandwich well executed.

Toni, Tony and Carolyn ordered the Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwich. The sandwich came with French Fries and Coleslaw on the side.  The pulled pork had the traditional vinegar dressing contrasting nicely with the sweet pork meat but what was unique about the sandwich was that the created a patty out of the pulled pork and actually grilled it to give some additional char to meat mixture.  They all liked the sandwich and would recommend it.

I went for one of the special burgers on the lunch menu.  I can’t remember the name they gave it but the taste was very memorable. The Mushroom, Onion Cheeseburger was well executed and very flavourful. The mushroom and onions were sauteed together and then the Swiss Cheese was added to create one unit to go on top of my 3 oz patty. Cooked to my medium rare the burger was very juicy.  The side of fries were well cooked and the pickle nice and sour. A great burger

It was a great weekend and you couldn’t ask for better hosts than Carolyn, Toni and Tony.  We had a great time and hope to get to do it again.

A Taste of India

I had lunch with co-workers Kara and Ruth today in New Brunswick at Spice In.  Spice In is the local Indian Cuisine that we can walk to from work.  They offer a great all-you-can eat lunch Buffet for like $10 that we have taken advantage of several time over the past few years.

The great things about an All-You-Can- Eat Buffet is that you a lot of choices, a lot of food and a lot of value for you money.

 As for choices, the buffet offers 7 main dishes in addition to Soup, Salad Bar, Appetizers and Desserts.

Spice In offers a different soup each day and today that was Tomato Soup but they always offer Aloo Tikki Chat – the mildly spices potato patties that goes well with fresh raw onions they are served with on the buffet.

 The other great thing about the buffet is that Kara, my vegan friend and I can both enjoy it as they offer both Vegan and Meat choices. My plate is at the right and you can see I got a nice selection of Tandoori Chicken, Lamb Curry and Chicken Curry that Kara would touch bit we both shared the To Fu Tikka, Bhindi Masala, Salad and Basmati Rice. Ruth and I shared the Naan bread but Kara passed.

The food was amazingly flavourful with each item bringing a different taste to my mouth. The surprize is that the heat that people often associate with Indian food was not there.  The dishes were very mild heat wise but the Curry, Tandoori, Garlic, Cumin and Coriander Flavours were there.  I am sure you can get the heat up is you want.

Great value – Greater flavour.  Try it.

 Read other reviews about Spice In here, here and here.

Spice In, 371 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901       732-247-1177

Chili Dogs

We made chili last night and one of my favourite things to do with the leftover chili is Chili Dogs. They make me think of the summer, relaxing and family outings.  It was a cold rainy day today, so the Chili Dogs cheered my up and I hope they cheer you up too.

To make the Chili Dogs you first need chili.  I make a decent chili.  I start by browning a pound and half of half inch pieces of sweet Italian sausage and then brown two pounds of 80/20 hamburger both of which I set aside so I can cook the veggies in same pot.  I like to saute about 2 cups of yellow onions, four cloves of garlic, a pound of sliced baby bellas mushrooms, a chopped red pepper,  a chopped green pepper, a thinly sliced jalapeno pepper and a cup of celery.  Salt and pepper to season.  Once the veggies are soft, I add the meat back in and stir to combine.  I then add spices oregano, thyme, basil, cayenne pepper and chili powder.  The amounts vary each time I make it so use your own judgement.  I like a nice bean to meat ration so that every spoonful gets meat, veggies and beans.  I also like to use different types of beans so you get different colours and and shapes.  Last night I used thee cans of black and three cans of red beans.  I also added the big  jar of red sauce and stirred to combine.  Salt and pepper again to season.  As the mixture comes to temperature, I did a taste taste and adjusted the spices and heat for the audience (mostly Donna and I but we always make more for Ryan and Robbie and their portions disappear during the night).  Last night was a mild chili night so I didn’t kick up the spices too much.

I like to serve my chili covered with some cheese.  Last night we used a shredded cheese blend of mozza, provolone and cheddar.  A few minutes under the broiler gives the cheese a nice melt.  I also like to serve some bread for dipping.  I have served garlic toast on occasion but with the four cloves already in the chili I thought the french bread would do.

So now we have day old chili to make the Chili Dogs for supper. I like an all beef dog pan fried and a steamed bun. Once you get that far it’s pretty straight forward, cooked dog goes in bun, cover with reheated chili, sprinkle with cheese (same blend as last night) broil until the cheese melt, plate and serve.  It takes a bit of practice to figure out the right amount of chili in the bun so that you can control the chili with the bun and loose only a little chili with each bite. I like potato chips and pickles to garnish and to add some crunch to the dish but Robbie ate all the chips while we were out and didn’t tell us.  Darn kids keep eating and it’s like everyday we have to feed them again. LOL.

These Chili Dogs were great.  The soft lightly steamed buns holding the moist chili.  The veggie and meat chucks in the chili and the heat from the cayenne and jalepeno peppers gives the dog great mouth feel. The pan fried dog snaps when I bit into it making all those memories and feelings return even on a rainy night.  They were really good. Soon it will warm enough to grill outside every night and I can revisit the recipe again and perhaps make spicy chili dogs.

So readers where can you get a great hot dog or chili dog?  Click on comment link below to share.

Karla Can Cook (actually it’s Pancho)

Today I went to lunch with my former co-worker and Facebook friend Anne.  Anne keeps the pulse on health care advertising and how brands are leveraging social media to keep in touch with their customers. We selected Karla’s in New Hope as our dining destination.  I have been to Karla’s before and they offer a very nice set of lunch (and dinner) choices and my friend Ed, tends bar there. 

For appetizers, Anne choose the House Salad with Thai dressing and I chose the French Onion soup, Au Gratin.  Anne’s salad was pretty straight forward combination of greens, radicchio, tomatoes, cucumbers and red onions with a ginger based Thai dressing.  Some fresh ground pepper completed the dish.  The fresh crispy salad was a good start to the meal, not to heavy and a dressing to keep you interested. 

The French Onion soup was very good.  This classic was a standout because of the quality of the broth.  Many French Onion soups end up being very salty because they use bouillon rather than beef stock.  Karla’s version was perfect.  The mozzarella covering the croutons was nice and stringy making it somewhat difficult to eat but that’s part of the fun.  The generous portion was more than I wanted given I was looking forward to my luncheon salad.

One of the treats at Karla’s is their homemade fries.  Anne and I decided to share an order and they lived up to their reputation.  Golden brown pieces of potato goodness irregular in length and colour confirming these were made on premise rather than shipped in from some factory.  Seasoned with kosher salt each fry was perfect in texture – not too crispy and not too soft and chewy. It would be easy to make a meal of these but I have been trying to cut down on fries. But if you are going to fall off the diet wagon the fries at Karla’s are worth it.

Anne’s main course was the chicken wrap sandwich. (shameless plug for taking the Sandwich Poll if you haven’t already inserted here.)  Large chunks of chicken, tomatoes, lettuce and goat cheese filled the spinach wrap.  The goat cheese was a substitution for Anne showing the fflexibilityof the wait and kitchen staff.  A good test of a restaurant is how they deal with minor changes in the food and Karla’s staff passed with flying colours.  The sandwich came with a dill pickle spear and a creamy carrot and cabbage coleslaw.  A very filling sandwich that completed the meal for Anne.

I am not sure I have eaten so many salads in one week in my life before this but when the waiter described the Seafood Salad I knew I wanted it.  The combination of crab, mango and avocado seemed like a natural and lord forbid this might be healthy for me.  The crispy greens, tomato, red onions played a nice supporting role to the stars of the show the crab, mango and avocado.  Usually I like hunks of crab meat that are almost sushi size but the crab was shredded into almost rice sized pieces.  I was surprised as the shreds worked well.  The pieces of yellow mango provided a sweet aromatic taste that matched well with the salty sweet crab. The crown jewel of the salad was the partially sliced avocado that topped the salad.  The fresh avocado’s creamy texture was a good contrast to the crunchy chunks of mango, onions and greens.  I thought this salad (shameless plug for salad survey inserted here if you haven’t already participated) was very will conceived, the combination of ingredients, the colours and textures make this a tasty and eye pleasing dish you should try.

A couple of other things you should know about Karla.  Ed makes a great cocktail so even though we didn’t engage get him to make the Blue Hawaiian like he did for my 50th Birthday Party. Karla’s offers a Local’s Menu on Mondays where you can get an appetizer, entree, dessert and tea or coffeefor a price range of $14-$19.  The choices are different each Monday so the price varies but always a good deal. Menu prices for lunch range from $6-$16 and $6-$30 for dinner.  The last thing is that Karla’s offers a decent al a carte Sunday Brunch from 11-3 with great versions of Egg Benedict’s, Omelets and Pancakes. (Don’t forget Ed’s Cocktails).

Karla’s Bar & Restaurant, 5 West Mechanic Street, New Hope, PA, 215.862.2612

Only in Miami is Cuba so far away

I have been a Bette Midler fan since my undergraduate days at Acadia University and she does a great song about the Cuban exPats missing Cuban and living in Miami on her “Best of ” album.  One of the ways you get to know a culture or community is to experience it’s food.  To know the Cuban community you should try the Cuban Sandwich.  I never had a Cuban Sandwich until I visited the Sunshine State in a few years back on a corporate assignment. 

Tonight I had to go directly from work to poker so I decided to eat at the bar again (like that never happend before).  It was a good night cause Triumph was hosting the Wood Brothers at that bar tonight so they decided to increase the usual $6 Bar Menu items from the usual six items to ten differnt items.  One of the additional items was the Mini Cuban Sandwich.  Given my sameless promotion of the sandwich poll I decided to go with it.  (Go ahead new readers choose three sandwiches types).

Tonight’s sandwich a mini version of the classic Cuban Sandwich actually was very tasty.  I am a big fan of presentation and was disappointed when the dish arrived.  Once again it was only $6 but I think the staff could do better with the presentation.  The photo above is my attempt at making the sandwich looking better but the chef should have done better.  The good news it tasted very good.  Most impressive was the soft thin moist pita bread  that contained a moist roast pork, swiss cheese, ham and pickels with a light coating of mustard.  The sandwich came with the homemade chips which I am already a big fan of.  Other than the need to work on the presentation the sandwich was tasty and good value.

A Sandwich by Any Other Name Would Taste as Good*

Today was a great day at work since I got to talk with my co-workers and invited external bloggers about blogging and social media as well as go to lunch with my friend and co-worker Kara.  Kara and I get to eat and talk over lunch often at work in New Brunswick and the bonus to great lunchtime conversations is that she’s a vegan.  The best part of eating out with a vegan is getting them to order first, this usually gets you the best menu review as the vegan and wait staff go thru item by item describing the ingredients.  Our office is very close to several very good restaurants so choosing which one is always fun.  Today we chose Evelyn’s authentic Lebanese cuisine.  The sunny day and outside seating gave us  a very warm Mediterranean feeling reinforcing the Lebanese choice.

To support my sandwich survey, which I hope you will take if you haven’t already (I’ll wait while you do it) I decided to order two classic middle eastern sandwiches, the gyro and the shawarma.  The shawarma has tender beef marinated in a mixture of middle eastern spices, lettuce, tomato, onions and sauce on a thin pita.  The gyro contains spicy slices of combined beef and lamb, yogurt sauce, lettuce, tomato and red onions on a fat pita bread.  Both sandwiches had a nice crunch from the veggies and spicy meat tastes.  Although both sandwiches came on pita bread it seemed to me that they were two completely different types of pita bread. Anyone know about this?  The sour taste of the yogurt on the gyro was a nice contrast to the lamb/beef meat combo.

 

When I did my undergraduate degree in Nova Scotia, Canada, the gyro was street food near the colleges but known there as a donair and it came with a sweet garlic sauce instead of the yogurt sauce.  The donair is so popular in Nova Scotia that a chain of Greco Donairs has opened stories all over the Maritime provinces and the sweet sauce is sold in grocery stores in half liter containers. 

Since this was our 5th or 6th trip to Evelyn’s, Kara and the waitress quickly reviewed the vegan choices and she selected the veggie salad.  A delicious combo of mixed greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions and mint dressed with a wonderful lemon- olive oil-paprika vinaigrette.  It was a huge serving of salad for lunch so Kara was generous and gave me a side plate salad.  The crisp veggies were a great match for the lemon and paprika dressing that really brought out the best in this salad and this from the guy who ordered two meat sandwiches with a vegan lunch companion. Was I compensating for something? LOL

Another bonus eating with Kara was she usually does and did today, order the homus (their spelling).  The chickpea-garlic combo is very good at Evelyn’s.  Their version is special because of the  paprika and the high quality olive oil they top it with.  Matched with the fresh pita bread, it was a great addition to the meal. 

 

 * Apologies to W. Shakespeare, but co-worker and friend Tricia reminded me that it was Shakespeare’s birthday this week so I had to work in some vague reference or lose credibility with all my readers that took English Lit past high school.  LOL

 Evelyn’s Restaurant & Bar, 45 Easton Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901 732-246-8792

Sub, Hoagie, Cheesesteak or Grinder? At Cafe Europa it’s the Grinder

Although Phil and his staff make a very fine cheesesteak, chicken parm and hoagie, my sandwich of choice at Cafe Europa is the Grinder Europa.  This bad boy comes with three kinds meat (Genoa salami, capicolla and imported ham), provolone cheese, fresh veggies, oil and balsamic dressing all on a toasted roll.

The Grinder Europa’s magic is in the contrast of textures, tastes and temperatures.  The crisp and crunch of the veggies and bread contrasting to the cheese slices and cold cuts.  The sour of the balsamic, sweetness of the tomatoes, the tang of the onions and the savory of the meats.  The cold veggies on the toasted bread, meats and cheese. It’s a complete sandwich for the senses.

The sandwich is also a good value.  Last night I couldn’t finish this one and often have brought half a sandwich home. So for $6.99 it’s a good deal

In addition to fine sandwiches Cafe Europa serves excellent pizza and full menu of Italian dishes.  Be sure to say hi to Phil and Sandy if you go in person.

Check out free Texas Hold’em Poker on Tuesday Nights and ask Carolyn about her drink specials. 

Cafe Europa Trattoria,  Logan Square, New Hope,  PA 215-862-9600

Triumphant Bar Food

 

My son and I played in a Texas Hold’em Tag Team Tournament yesterday at the New Hope Triumph Brewing Company.  During the tournament Ryan and I took turns playing the same stack of chips until one of goes “all in” and get eliminated from the tournament.  Each turn (blind for those who know Texas Hold’em)  lasts about 25 minutes so that is an excellent time to savour the bar food offerings.  Since it was early in the day, Ryan tried the Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls and I tried the Smoked Turkey Sandwich.

 

 

 

 

Ryan’s Buffalo Chicken Spring Rolls came with blue cheese dressing and hot sauce dipping sauce.  The very crispy deep fried spring rolls arrived very hot at the bar and were very flavorful.  With Buffalo in the name you would expect the roll to bring the heat but it’s the hot dipping sauce that does, making the spring rolls enjoyable for almost anyone who would order them.

My smoked turkey sandwich, off the daily specials menu, came with avocado, bacon, lettuce and tomato. It was served on sourdough bread with home-made chips and dill pickle.  The generous portion of moist meat comes from turkey smoked right here in the brewery. The nine dollar sandwich was very tasty and a crowd favorite, being essentially a BLT plus turkey and avocado.  The sourdough bread baked locally in Frenchtown N.J., was very fresh and close enough to San Francisco sourdough to please my palate.  My only watch out would be to ask to have the bread toasted rather than default untoasted the bar serves.

 

Triumph also offers a $6 Bar Menu that includes Rosemary Shrimp, Loaded Fries, Nachos, Quesadilla and Mini Cheesesteaks.  My poker playing buddies order these when the play Monday and Thursday nights.

A special shout out to blog reader Polina who reviewed the Potato Pancakes as I was writing this review.  The pan-fried pancakes were nicely browned on the outside and creamy on the inside.  The julienned Granny Smith apple that topped the pancake was fresh and crisp but we both lamented not getting apple sauce or sour cream to smear on the hot cakes. We did manage some sour cream from the bar staff so remember to ask for it if you fancy the potato pancakes. The sour cream helped complete the dish making a nice mixture a hot pancakes and, cold sour cream; crusty pancake and smooth sour cream; and sweet apples and sour cream.  Polina enjoyed the pancakes, I hope Phil send the photo over so I can show the pancakes.

 

Triumph Brewing Company, Union Square, New Hope, 18938, PA 215-862-7855

Bambi Elephant Please

Work took me to the Raritan, NJ area this morning and since I work there for about five years I remembered Thai Kitchen for lunch.  It’s just down the road from where I was visiting.  I found this ironic since the poll I created yesterday didn’t include Thai as a choice (take the poll if you haven’t) 

Not much had chanced in this shopping center eaterysince my last visit a couple of months back .  The restaurant turns tables quickly but keeps customers coming back with good food, quick service and good value.  For $12 including a 20% tip, I got a delicious a crispy Thai Egg Roll, Shrimp Pad Thai and a Thai Ice Tea.

Pad Thai, Thai Spring Roll and Thai Ice Tea = $12

 

The lightly fried Thai Egg Roll contained cabbage, glass noodles and carrots.  It was served with a gentle sweet and sour sauce.  The Pad Thai was a delite with nice mixtures of hot smooth Thai rice noodles and cold crispy bean sprouts, crunchy peanuts and turnips along with soft tofu and egg. I choose shrimp, rather than chicken, pork or squid, to complete the dish.  The waiter did ask me how hot I liked it.  The menu had a scale of one to five very red elephants.  Given I come from the Great White North and haven’t built up a good tolerence to heat even after 8 years in the USA, I went for one Elephant. The waiter suggested I go for a”Bambi Elephant”.  LOL but I went for it.  In retrospect I think I could handle a whole Elephant or even two (big day for me).

 

If you are in the Raritan/Bridgewater be sure to check out the Thai Kitchen.

Thai Kitchen – Somerset Shopping Center (US Highways 202/206) Bridgewater, NJ 08807 908-722-8983