Sunday, April 17, 2011

A Brewery for the Ages

Iron Hill Brewery
124 East Kings Highway
Maple Shade, NJ 08052


My office offers a mentor program for new hires, in which each mentor and mentee get to go out to lunch together with another mentor-mentee pair to discuss work concerns and issues each quarter of the year. This quarter my mentor decided to take me out to Iron Hill Brewery in Maple Shade, and I was glad that it was his choice.

I have been to Iron Hill a few times before, and I have enjoyed it every time that I have gone. I hate going without being able to indulge in their amazing microbrews, but their food is still very good without it. One of my favorite things on their menu is the cheesesteak eggrolls, so I talked them up to the other people that I went to lunch with, and we wound up getting an order of them for our table. I also ordered the crabcake sandwich.



The cheesesteak eggrolls were as good as ever. Fiercely crunchy on the outside and piping hot on the inside, the meat and cheese combination that is packed into these huge eggrolls is unbelievable. You all know I am a cheesesteak fanatic, so finding it in a deep fried shell is about as close to heaven as I can get. The horseradish sauce served on the side is creamy and full of bite, exactly the way a horseradish sauce should be.

The crabcake sandwich that I got was very scrumptious as well. There was a nice crunch to the crabcake that separated its texture from the doughy bread. The crabcake was full of sea flavor, and tasted exactly how I like crabcakes to taste, and the tartar sauce that was served with it only enhanced its flavor. The fries were quite good as well. Fries are usually pretty hard to mess up, and Iron Hill did a pretty good job with them, making them crunchy, salty, and delicious.

I love breweries, brew pubs, and any place that serves good beer, but when a place known for beer serves great food, they are sitting on a winning lottery ticket. Iron Hill is a great place to go with any group of people at any time, for any occasion. If you haven’t been there yet I suggest you get out there for a great meal and some great beer. Cheers!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

You Won't Believe This One...

PB and U
163 East Lancaster Avenue
Wayne, PA 19807

I had one of the most interesting experiences of my food journey. My girlfriend wanted to take me to a place near where she lives in Bryn Mawr that she had been to with her friend, and thought I would love. It was an incredibly unique restaurant based around the theme of peanuts and peanut butter! I knew that I would love it, and when we arrived my feelings were confirmed.

The whole eating area has tables in the shape of peanuts and the walls are filled with peanut decorations. I decided to order sliders, that way I could try three different sandwiches. I ordered the peanut butter, bacon, banana, and honey slider; the peanut butter, nutella, fluff, and m&m’s slider; and the peanut butter, bacon, cheddar and pickle slider. The restaurant also offers make your own varieties, and many different options to choose from ranging from peanut butter pizza to peanut butter fondue!



I was in such a crazy feeling mood because I simply had no idea what to expect from these sandwiches. When the food finally came out, I was blown away. Each and every bite of each particular slider was incredible. Who knew that peanut butter mixed really well with anything other than jelly?

I loved the sweet and savory aspect of the two sliders that had both sweet and salty elements. I love sweet and salty contrasts, which is probably why I cannot have just a sweet snack or just a salty snack, I have to have a bit of both. Bacon and peanut butter…AMAZING! The same goes for peanut butter and pickles with cheese! I dare any of you to try this place and tell me I am not right. I guess you need to be a peanut butter fan in order to do so, but do it if you can!! Cheers!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Blown Away by French Mastery


Le-Bec-Fin
1523 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102

This may get a little long, but I will try to keep it concise. I had heard a few months ago that Le-Bec-Fin was up for sale and it would be closing its doors in the very near future. I decided that I wanted to try it before they closed, so I made a reservation for my girlfriend and I to go. We were by far the youngest people at that restaurant on our own, but I was very excited to be there, so I did not really care.

The entire experience from start to finish was mind-blowing. From the minute we stepped in the door to the minute we got our coats from coat check and left was a truly wonderful evening. The servers are incredibly well versed on the menu and the restaurant, so any questions were quickly answered. We decided on getting the four course menu where you get an appetizer, a fish course, and a meat course and a dessert. The six savory courses we got were the foie gras and huckleberry pudding, the escargot, the barrumundi, the diver scallop, the lamb loin and the prime strip loin. Our two dessert courses were the caramelized apple beignets and the toasted meringue.

While you are waiting for your courses to come out, a woman walks around with a tray of breads to choose from, and each time that you need a new roll, she will come to your table and let you choose another. I tried two different breads; one was just a plain mini baguette, and other was a French onion style roll. Both were very good. The French onion roll was much softer and texturally different than the baguette, but both were very delicious.

Our appetizers came out first, and I was very interested to try them. It was my first French dining experience, so the escargot and foie gras were completely new ideas to me. The duo of Hudson valley foie gras, huckleberry pudding, roasted beets, and maple Feuille de Brique was certainly the most interesting thing I have ever eaten. The duck liver was seared nicely on the outside yet still tender and fatty on the inside. Each bite melted in my mouth in a haze of saltiness and gaminess. It paired very well with the beets and the maple flavorings. The escargot was incredible! The snails were chewy in a good way, a lot like calamari, and they were served in a garlicky butter broth that simply enhanced the flavor of the snails that much more.

The courses were spread out far enough that I had time to digest, so by the time our fish course came out I was quite hungry again. The slow baked barramundi with lobster crust, savoy cabbage, saffron tapioca, and a lobster emulsion was quite amazing just to look at, so I was extremely excited to eat it. The lobster crust was delectable. It added a great crunch element to the moist, perfectly cooked fish. The saffron tapioca and savoy cabbage were perfectly complimentary to the crispy yet delicate fish. The tapioca was salty and looked very reminiscent of fish row The cabbage was crunchy and delicious. My girlfriend’s scallop was very good as well, but I am not a huge fan of scallops to begin with, so I only tried a very small bite. Unless the scallop is very, very crisp on the outside, chances are I most likely will not like it.

Our entrees came out a bit later, and I was very much looking forward to eating them. I have quickly made lamb one of my favorite dishes since trying it for the first time two years ago. This lamb was absolute perfection. It was seared amazingly on each side, and it was still perfectly cooked to medium temperature in the middle. It was served with a parsnip puree that was also extremely flavorful. The baby turnips served on the plate were kind of citrusy but at the same time it had the sweetness that comes from similar root vegetables. Drizzled all around the plate was also a maple reduction that was 1000 times better than any maple syrup that I have ever had. The thing that made the whole dish simply blow me away was the lamb jus that was served with it. It accentuated each and every aspect of the dish with its depth of flavor. All of the flavors melded perfectly together, but they all stood out well enough to be by themselves as well. My girlfriend’s strip loin was fantastic as well. I would never have thought to pair steak with vanilla bean puree or a pomegranate gelĂ©e, but both worked well in contrast to the saltiness of the meat since they were both quite sweet.

My girlfriend and I had heard incredible stories about the dessert cart at Le-Bec-Fin and were disappointed that we were not rich enough to order from it. However we still had great desserts; mine being a toasted meringue with a chocolate wafer, and hers being cinnamon apple beignets. My meringue was fluffy and smooth, and the chocolate wafer on top was the perfect textural compliment to the soft composition of the meringue. My girlfriend’s beignets were pretty good as well. I have had better beignets in my lifetime, but they were very well done. They had good apple flavor, the hot apple cider it came with was great, making the dessert course a success just like all the others.

I would not even have to think twice about going back to Le-Bec-Fin. It was one of the best overall dining experiences I have ever had in my life. They offer so many things that many good restaurants may offer in bits and pieces; great service, fantastic food, and an overall incredible experience. Most good restaurants can say they have one of the three, but Le-Bec-Fin nails them all. I hope it remains open long enough for many more years so I can return one day, but if I cant make it back, you better get out and try it before it closes! Cheers!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Don't Miss This One Laddies


Dublin Square

482 Evesham Road
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003

So I got home from Lancaster and I was pretty relieved and happy to be back home. As much as I love eating out, I had been doing it for four days straight and I really needed a break because it just gets to be a little tough on me. However, I had forgotten that I had made plans with my cousins, girlfriend, and best friend to go to an Irish bar called Dublin Square on Friday night. I had a great time, so my break from going out to eat being postponed did not really upset me too much.

One side of my family is Irish in heritage, and I have always wanted to go to Ireland to see what it is like because I really think that I would enjoy it. I love going to Irish pubs, and the traditional Irish fare has always caught my eye. We had a few beers while we waited to be seated, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Yuengling lager was the cheapest beer on the menu. When we got called to sit down, I had a really tough time choosing what I wanted to eat. Everything sounded so very good, but I wound up choosing the black and tan battered fish and chips. For the table we also ordered Irish quesadillas and the spicy potatoes.

The only true complaint I had about Dublin Square was that the noise level was pretty bad. We had seven people at our table and I really could not hear the people at the other end unless they spoke up. Once the appetizers came to the table, we were all pleasantly surprised. They were both very good, and they made me very excited for my main course.

The Irish quesadilla was incredible! It was a traditional quesadilla in looks, but it was far from it in taste. The quesadilla was filled with a white, sharp Irish cheddar cheese and crispy bacon. It was like eating a breakfast sandwich on tortillas instead of bread!

The spicy potatoes we got because the waitress said that they were her favorite thing on the menu. The potatoes looked like they had been made with a melon baller, then tossed in spicy buffalo sauce and topped with crumbled blue cheese. As you know from reading this blog, I do not usually care for crumbled blue cheese, but this addition to the potatoes was incredible. It added a texture and creaminess to the potatoes that balanced well with the spiciness of the sauce.

I was really happy with the appetizers, but I was even happier with the entrees. My fish and chips were so well done! They serve it on wax paper that looks like newspaper, which I thought was a cool interpretation of the normal way it is plated. The batter was thick and crunchy, and the fish was still light and fresh. They served it with wonderful fries as well. I wish I had remembered to ask for malt vinegar to use with my fish and chips, but I used the tartar sauce that they served. I also tried my girlfriend’s shepherd’s pie and it was absolutely delicious. It was tender and flavorful, and the mashed potatoes that topped it were to die for.

I would go back to Dublin Square in a heartbeat. The bar scene was awesome because there was such a wide variety of age groups there, and the live band was pretty good. The food was very well done, way better than I expected it to be, and the beer prices are very reasonable. They have a few different locations, so if you can not get to the Cherry Hill location, try one of the other ones and let me know how it is! Cheers!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Shockingly Wonderful

Hadyn Zugs
1987 State Street
East Statesburg, PA 17520

By far the best restaurant that we ate at on our trip to Lancaster was a place called Haydn Zugs. You cannot tell that the building is a restaurant when you walk up to it, but once you are inside it is undeniable. Before we left for Lancaster there were more than a few people that told us all to order the dish that I wound up eating when we were there. The dish is called Medallions of Beef Tenderloin Chesapeake.

This dish was absolutely amazing! It was a half portion, so it was about a 4 oz piece of beef that was covered with crabmeat and a lobster sauce. The lobster sauce was a mixture between a hollandaise and bisque. It was wonderful. The creamy nature of the sauce melded perfectly with the crabmeat, and I soaked up every bit of the sauce with every ounce of steak that I had.

The dish also came served with potatoes and green beans, but they were completely lacking in comparison to the steak and the lobster sauce. Something else that was completely separate, but was very tasty as well, was the date, nut bread that was served at each and every table to begin the meal. I have only recently begun eating dates and figs, but I have found them to be really truly incredible. The bread was sweet and savory, a wonderful start to an amazing meal.

Hadyn Zugs is definitely the hidden gem of Lancaster, PA. Do not miss an opportunity to try this place if you get a chance! Cheers!

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Ruby Ruby Ruby...

Ruby Tuesday
1294 Millersville Pike
Lancaster, PA 17602
http://www.rubytuesday.com/

Ruby Tuesday used to be at the bottom of my list of places to eat for a long time. It was not until I went to Lancaster and the client took us out to lunch that I changed my opinion. They have completely revamped their menu in recent years, and it is much more appealing than it used to be. They used to mess up even the easiest things on the menu. That was the problem that I had with the chain. I am happy to say that they have changed their ways and the restaurant for the better.

They offer a white bean chicken chili as part of a combination that sounded very delicious so I ordered it and the buffalo chicken sliders. I wanted to try to keep it a bit lighter because dinner was going to be steak again.

When the chili came out I was very impressed. The chili was very good! It had nice chunks of chicken, big tender white beans, and a delicious broth that tasted as every good chili should. It was the perfect amount of spice and flavor.

The buffalo chicken sliders came out pretty great too. I am a spicy food junkie, so I wish that they were spicier, but the flavor was there. The chicken was crispy, the sauce was wonderful, and the rolls that they were served on were rich and scrumptious.

Ruby Tuesday’s has cleaned up their act and their business in a great way. I am looking forward to going back sometime soon to give some more of the new items on the menu a try as well. If you get back there before me, drop me a line and let me know how it was!! Cheers!

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
I am a food lover living in Philadelphia.

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