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
I learned a lot that day but let me share my review of our appetizers. Jay had the Beet Gazpacho Soup special and I went for the Charcuterie. The beet soup is presented with the veggies and croutons in the bowl and the broth poured into the bowl table side. Very nice. Jay liked the soup. Although it looked very thick to me, Jay thought the consistency was very nice. He found a mild Beet flavour coming out of the puree, Cucumber flavour coming through too and a good but not strong Gazpacho Spice in the soup. The Croutons added some crunch to the soup. Good looking soup, well presented and good flavours.
I like pate and here in the US, it rare to see it on the menu so when I saw that the Charcuterie came with pate, I had to try it. The menu describes the dish as being ”Artisanal salumi, cured meat & pate, mustard, olives & cornishons” . The actual Pate was very nice with ground chicken livers, spices and pistachio nuts. Nice consistency and nicely spiced. Two different breads came with it, slightly toasted and really crispy. The cured meats and salami included store-made versions of Spicy Salami, Genoa Salami, Prosciutto and Capicolawere delicious. Each slightly different than the others. The spicy salami had some heat but not overwheling, the Genoa salami was slightly salty but the pork meat was sweet making a nice contrast, prosciutto was mild and slightly fatty, and completing the set was very mild capicola. The Ground Mustard was hot and Pickles crunchy making a great appetizer with the different combinations of meat, pickles, breads and mustard.
Facebook Friend, co-worker and Social Media guru Marc and I went for Sushi for lunch earlier this week. We both love sushi and usually just walk down George Street but that day we wanted to try some place different. A quick Google search and we found Midori Sushi just a couple of miles across the river in Highland Park. We went and it was great. Not only great food but great value, we had miso soup, four rolls and ice teas for less than $20 each.
Marc went for the Yellow Tail Roll and the Volcano Roll (Lower left photo) as his choices. Marc thought that his Yellowtail Roll (upper left on the plate) was excellent and one of the best versions of it he has had but it couldn’t hold a candle to the Volcano Roll. That roll was a combo of Yellow Fin Tuna, Alaska Salmon, Avocado and Cucumberon the inside and Caviar and 2 kinds of Spicy Sauce on top. The roll was well named as the two spicy sauces brought the heat. Marc shared one piece with me and I usually like to add some wasabi to add some heat but it wasn’t needed. The two kinds of fish brought the sushi flavour and the avocado and cucumbers brought the texture. An excellent roll and worthy of the trip to Highland Park and Midori Sushi.
For years my co-workers in the Pharma PR group have been holding a Summer Picnic. The PR group dissolved about 3 years ago but the friendships in that group were so strong the picnic continue. This year the picnic returned to Diane’s after being at Laurie and PK’s last year. The highlight of the picnic is getting together with friends and catching up but I am going to write on the food. LOL, you had to be there to get the gossip. Actually, I am just going to write on the salads, cause after the 
Nona brought a great Veggie Pasta Salad. Large Rigatoni pasta, Olives, Tomatoes, Broccoli and Parmesan Cheese were the main ingredients in the salad. The large pasta pieces gave significant body to salad. The “el dente” veggie chunks are a nice contrast to the soft pasta. The light oil dressing helped blend the flavours of the salad creating nice contrast between the sweet Tomatoes and cheese to the salty Olives and slightly bitter broccoli. Great salad, very satisfying.
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.
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.
Kara went for a combo of salad and appetizers. She got Humus, Babaganoush and Turkish Salad. The humas was very creamy with a slight garlic taste. The normal olive oil seem to mix into the chick peas. The eggplant babaanoush was well spiced, The three dishes were perfect for a Vegan.
Ayala and I shared a special Appetizer Combo plate that I think the Chef created just for us. The combo included veggie Moroccan Cigars, Pastels, Kuba, Falafel balls and Humus. The Moroccan Cigars and Pastels had crisp fried coating hidding the yummy potato filling in them. Ayala and I both dipped them into the creamy humas (everyone spells this differently LOL). The Humas had a slight garlic taste with a great creamy consistancy. The Kuba appetizers had a mushroom ragout on the inside of it’s fried goodness. We both thought it was like a Middle Eastern egg roll with the crispy coating and veggie inside. The fried chick pea Falafels were perfectly cooked and even more tasty when we dabbed more humas on them. The combination of apps was very nice giving us different textures and tastes.
I didn’t think the Appetizer Combo was going to be filling enough, I was wrong, so I ordered the Soup of the Day. It was a beef vegetable soup with carrots and a few different lentils in it. Honestly, it kind of tasted like chicken broth with big chucks of very tender beef in it. I also found there were little blobs of fat floating around in the soup which reminded me again of chicken soup. The little blobs of fat gace the soup some extra flavour and weren’t big enough to cause any mouth feel distress. It was very good soup, I wish I could find the name of it but haven’t been able to. Ayala do you remember the name of it?
Tonight we are going to Erika’s in Jersey City to play some poker and watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship 100 Match. Apparently 
I asked Erika if she wanted us to bring something sweet or salty, she went salty and to surprise her. So after some thinking I decided to go for some homemade Guacamole. Yes, I know guacamole is not salty on it’s own but with some tortilla “scoop” chips that should qualify as a salty appetizer. The other reason is that at our 
I love foods that offer different contrasts within the same dish, differences in textures, flavours and heat levels. The final guacamole mixture was a great contrast of flavours and textures. The creamy Avocados with chunky Red Onions and Jalapenos, the sweet Tomatoes with the tart Lime Juice, metallic Cilantro and Kosher Salt and the coolness of the mixture with the heat from the jalapenos. I added some Cumin to give the dip some smokey flavour and some freshly ground pepper to balance the heat of the dish. I hope Erika and my Poker-UFC buddies like the dip.
It was a special treat for me tonight as Ryan, Robbie, Donna and I ended up at the same restaurant at the same time. This time is was Ota-ya in Lambertville. We have gone for there before for the teppanyaki but that was booked up already so we ate in the main dining room. Donna and Robbie ordered the chicken teriyaki, Ryan the beef teriyaki and I got mixed seafood teriyaki.
The teriyaki dinners come with Miso Soup and a House Salad. Since Ota-ya is a BYOB we purchased some Asahi beer at Welsh’s liquor store to go along with the meal. The House Salad comes with Ginger Dressing. The aroma of the ginger is fairly pronounced but fairly mild to taste. The fresh veggies in the salad crunched and contrasted nicely to ginger dressing. This is the one salad that Robbie and Ryan both gobble up. The Miso Soup was very pleasant with small dice of tofu, scallions and seaweed. The miso broth was light and slightly salty. The floating bits of tofu, kelp and scallion contrasted nicely in texture with each other making the miso soup a success.
Donna and Robbie’s Chicken Teriyaki came with large portions of chicken covered in a thick teriyaki sauce and some stir-fried veggies. All the dinners came with steamed fresh rice on the side. Donna described her chicken as moist, flavourful and sweet. The veggies were crisp, well cooked and very tasty. I think well cooked veggies are a mark of a good restaurant so I was surprised they were good here. We asked Robbie his opinion, he nodded and kept eating. Another good sign LOL.
My Mixed Seafood Teriyaki arrived last and it was a very fine presentation as you can see in the photo. Plentiful Shrimp, Scallops and Lobster along with the same stir-fried veggies and rice Donna, Ryan and Robbie got. The seafood were gently grilled leaving some nice char marks and flavour. I prefer Atlantic Lobster to Caribbean Lobster, but these tasty southern morsels matched well with the teriyaki sauce. The dense bay Scallops had a nice mouth feel and a sweet taste that matched also with the sauce. The Shrimp were flashed grilled keeping that sweet shrimp and texture you want in shrimp.
We ordered drinks and some appetizers. So what Ethiopian appetizers do you order? Our waitress, Xavier, was very accommodating with us by helping us order some great dishes. 
So it was Ol’ Geezer wine. LOL it was very funny. The staff was having some fun with me but the wine wasn’t actually that bad so we all laughed and continued with our after party. I was a lot of fun, God knows what we would have done if Tricia actually had won. Maybe next year.
