Italian Lunch Special...

Brio

901 Haddonfield Road

Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

www.brioitalian.com/

A couple of weeks ago it was time for my quarterly mentor lunch, so it was obviously left up to me as I have been deemed the “restaurant blogger extraordinaire” by my mentor. We decided on going to Brio Tuscan Grille in Cherry Hill. They had a special going on this particular day and I decided to get it. It was a Caesar salad followed up by a sausage, pepperoni, and ricotta flatbread. 

The salad was really well done. I had heard some inconsistent things about Brio, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a lot of them were not true. The portions are of pretty good size, and the food was pretty tasty. The dressing was zesty and creamy in each bite, and the croutons were a nice addition of crunch. 

The flatbread was really on the money. It was crunchy on the bottom, and the toppings all melded together perfectly on top. The spiciness of the meats was perfect. The only thing that I think could have been improved was the amount of cheese on top. There was a decent amount of cheese on it, but not enough to counteract the spice of the meats. 

I would definitely go back to Brio. I really enjoyed my meal there, and I think that the prices were pretty fair for what you get. Head out and try Brio if you get a chance and I promise it will be worth it. Cheers!

Chowwwwwda...

Country Kettle Chowder

830 N. Bay Avenue

Beach Haven, NJ 08008

http://lbitv.com/countrykettlechowda/ 

One of my favorite places to get chowder on Long Beach Island is at Country Kettle Chowder. They offer a few different kinds of soups that you can order in a bread bowl if you so wish, and that is usually how I order it when I visit. On this particular visit I went with my girlfriend, my friend and his girlfriend.

My girlfriend and I split the New England Clam Chowder in a bread bowl. They bake the bread fresh every day so it really makes the chowder standout that much more. The crispy bread was texturally fantastic, and the soft interior portion of the bread soaked up all the incredible flavor of the clam chowder. 

The chowder itself was packed with flavor. It was deliciously creamy, and it was full of chunks of potatoes and clams. Each bite was full of both, and I savored each and every last drop of the soup until there was nothing left but the bread.

Country Kettle Chowder is definitely one of the best places on Long Beach Island to get some New England clam chowder. Their bread bowls really set them apart from the rest of their competition, and their consistently great soups keep them in the top year in and year out. It’s hidden next to Bay Village, so give it a try if you are hankering for some chowder! Cheers!

Pizza Party...

Panzone’s Pizzieria

1106 N. Bay Avenue

Beach Haven, NJ 08008

panzones.com/

It had been some time since I had been to Panzone’s Pizzeria in Beach Haven when I visited with my girlfriend close to the end of the summer. It was a place that my family and I used to frequent in our many summers spent on Long Beach Island, but we kind of got away from going there over the years. My girlfriend had never been so I took her with me one Thursday evening and I was looking forward to having a meal at a place that I had loved in my younger years.

We were seated right away and we decided to share a small 10 inch pizza with the traditional toppings of a Hawaiian pizza with the addition of pickled jalapenos. The pizza came out piping hot, and we were both very hungry, so we dug in immediately. 

The pizza was just as good as I remembered it. The dough was really spongy and airy, but still light and not super filling. The cheese was perfectly melted, and the ham and pineapple were a delicious combination as they always are. The addition of the jalapenos was an incredible upgrade. The spicy and the snap that they provided were little morsels of joy in each bite that they came in. We devoured the entire pizza and were not overly stuffed or sick to our stomachs, a true testament to the amazing consistency of the crust.

Panzone’s is always the forgotten place when I think of places to go out to eat in LBI, but they really do incredible food. Their pizza is fantastic, their pastas are amazing, and they offer all kinds of delicious sandwiches and salads as well. Don’t miss an opportunity to eat there if you are down in Beach Haven! Cheers!

Vegetarian Surprise...

Milah Vegetarian

218 South 16^th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19102

www.milahvegetarian.com/ 

My girlfriend’s family came to visit Philadelphia on their way back to the Middle East and France. So I spent some time with them in the city, and I met them for lunch one day at a vegetarian restaurant in Rittenhouse Square called Milah Vegetarian. I never thought that I would eat at a purely vegetarian restaurant, but my girlfriend’s sister was really looking forward to this place so I went in with an open mind.

They offer a pretty good deal; three courses for the price of an entrée, usually in the neighborhood of 10-15 dollars. I decided on getting the roasted asparagus soup, the spring roll, and the tacos made with seitan. 

When the soup came out I was really impressed. First of all, I never thought to make a soup out of asparagus, but this soup was really something else. The charred flavor of the asparagus really came through, and the seasoning of the soup was perfectly salty and rich due to the addition of a touch of truffle oil. The texture was incredibly velvety, and I devoured each and every bite. The spring roll was pretty good, not the best I’ve ever had, but definitely not bad. 

The tacos were just as impressive as the soup. I had never even heard of seitan before this visit to the restaurant, but it was incredibly delicious. I don’t know how they prepared it, but it was so similar to seasoned ground beef that it was almost impossible to tell the difference. I added a touch of lime juice to each taco for a bit of citrus to give it some depth, and I could not have been more pleased at then end of the meal.

I know a lot of people out there shy away from vegetarian restaurants and dishes, and I know I used to be one of them, but I have to admit that I am converted. I was very impressed with Milah and for the price that I paid I could not have been more pleased. Definitely give it a shot if you are in the area! Cheers!

Mexican Fiesta...

Los Amigos

461 Route 73 North

Berlin, NJ 08091

www.losamigosrest.com/ 

My cousin had his 31^st birthday a few weeks ago, and he wanted to make a trip to a restaurant called Los Amigos which is located in Berlin, New Jersey. I had passed this restaurant 1000 times, but I had never thought to try it. I heard from multiple people that had been there that it was quite good, so I was pretty excited to try it.

When we got there we were seated right away by a man they called “Churro”, who happened to be the owner of the place. As we waited for the rest of our party to arrive, I ordered a spicy blood orange margarita, relaxed and enjoyed myself. The spicy part was definitely there, but I seemed to be missing the blood orange part. The drink was incredibly spicy, which I didn’t mind at all, but there was not a single ounce of blood orange taste or color in the drink at all. 

The rest of the meal that I partook in was the chips with salsa and guacamole, gazpacho, the torta ahogada, and the fried ice cream with honey drizzle. The salsa wasn’t terrible, but it really wasn’t very good either. It reminded me of a thick tomato soup, and I really was concerned that the rest of the meal was going to be just as subpar. However, the chips were homemade and incredibly delicious. They were incredibly crunchy, and they had the perfect amount of salt added to them. Dipping them in the guacamole was pure bliss. The avocados were creamy, and the spice added from the jalapenos was delectable.

My gazpacho came out after I had filled up on chips and salsa, but I was looking forward to having it nonetheless. I don’t know if it is just me, but I thought that gazpacho was supposed to be pureed all the way through to form a smooth soup instead of a chunky style soup like many others. That being said, even though it was not what I expected, it was still full of flavor. The strong flavor of the cilantro melding together with the acidity of the tomatoes was incredible.

After dusting off the rest of the gazpacho, it was time for the part of the meal that I was most excited about…the torta ahoghada. Everything about it sounded appetizing to me when I read it on the menu: Mexican pulled pork, a chile de arbol sauce, pickled onions...what’s not to love? When the sandwich came out, I quickly realized I wasn’t going to be able to eat this sandwich with my hands. The sauce was doused over top of the sandwich, and it was then topped with pickled onions and fresh slices of radish. The change in textures from the pork, which melted in my mouth, to the crunch of the pickled onions and radish, was incredible. I have never had to eat a sandwich with a fork and a knife before, but this sandwich was so good that I didn’t care. 

For dessert I went with our waitress’ recommendation, but I was less than impressed by it. When I heard deep fried ice cream I guess I was expecting something different in my mind. Obviously you cant deep fry ice cream the way you can other things but it just didn’t have the texture or taste that I was hoping for. I wish I had stuck to my guns and simply ordered the churros, but you live and learn!

Los Amigos was very inconsistent in my opinion. There were extreme highs and lows throughout the whole meal, and I simply would have enjoyed some more consistency and better execution on a few of the dishes. I would go back though, so I have no problem telling you to go out and try it! Cheers!

Burger Bonanza...

Village Whiskey

118 South 20^th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19103

http://villagewhiskey.com/ 

A couple weeks ago I wanted to show my buddies a place in Philly that I had been once in the past and I had absolutely been blown away by. That place was Village Whiskey, owned by the one and only Jose Garces. It is a whiskey bar, in the style of a pub from the prohibition era, located in the heart of Rittenhouse Square. We all went over one day after work, because it is extremely difficult to get into at almost any other time than before 6pm.

I had been raving about this place for a while, so I was hoping that it was going to be just as good as it had been when I was there last November. I ordered a Yards to sip on while I waited for the burger with cheddar and pickled long hots to come out that I ordered as well as the order of duck fat fries I was going to split with my buddy from work. 

I love Yards’ beer. This one in particular had a slight hoppy finish, and was full bodied all the way through. It was the perfect thing to wash down my burger and fries with, and it was not long before they both came out.

The burger looks phenomenal when it comes out, and it tastes just as good as it looks. All the burgers at Village Whiskey come standard with lettuce, tomato, and home made Thousand Island dressing, but you can order it the way you want it if you do not want any of those things. I kept it the way it was, and simply added the cheddar cheese and the pickled long hot peppers to it. My burger was simply perfection; 8 oz of perfectly cooked meat on a delicious sesame seed roll, and it had the perfect amount of spice added to it with the kick from the pickled long hot peppers.

The burgers are honestly so good at Village Whiskey that I do not think you need cheese at all. The meat had so much flavor and it pretty much melts in your mouth with each and every bite; it really was incredible. If you get any cheese I would recommend the mountain chevre, a goat’s cheese that is incredibly creamy and rich.

The duck fat fries were amazing as well. They are so crispy and so salty in a good way. They were served with cheese sauce and house made ketchup that was absolutely dynamite.

I would recommend Village Whiskey to each and everyone out there. It may be a little pricey, but you get what you pay for, and the quality of these burgers is simply unmatched. I love the feel of the place, and all of the food that I have had there is just outrageously good. If you are going to go I recommend for lunch or early enough that you beat the crowd because it can be next to impossible to get in. Go try it now! Cheers!

Winter Restaurant Preview...

I hope everyone out there following this blog is having a great holiday season. I know I am super excited for Christmas this year, even more so than normal because I get to spend it with my eleven month old niece and nephew. After that, it won't be long until I am in full tax season mode. I am going to do my best to be much better about posting blog entries more often this year than I was last year. I have finally caught up on my blogs now, and have been writing entries as I go rather than backtracking. I will continue to post these catch up entries as we go along, but one they are all posted I wanted to give you all a preview of what is to come.

Fogo de Chao- Brazilian Steakhouse

Triumph Brewery - New American Pub Fare

Buddakkan - Modern Asian...because you voted for it!

C19 - Italian...formerly Cichitterria 19

Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steak House - Steak House

Spasso's Italian Grill - Italian

Zeppoli - Italian

Amis - Italian

These are just a few of the places that I am planning on visiting over the course of the winter. Hopefully they can keep me nice and warm and also keep me and my girlfriend sane while working our 70 hour work weeks. I will also be making a few posts about cooking which will include making cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, making brownies and soup for Christmas, and some others I have not yet decided upon. If you have any input on where you want me to go just let me know and I will do my best to try it!
Cheers!

Fantastic French in Coconut Grove

Le Bouchon du Grove

3430 Main Highway

Coconut Grove, FL 33133

http://lebouchondugrove.com/ 

Over the summer traveled to Miami for the weekend because my girlfriend’s niece was being baptized. We mostly ate in the house for the weekend, but one night my girlfriend, her dad and I headed down to Coconut Grove to go to their favorite French restaurant in Miami called Le Bouchon du Grove. I love French food, and I do not get to eat it very often, so I was very excited to try it. 

As soon as we got there I realized how good it must be. All of the tables were full, and there was a line of people waiting to sit down. We actually got a table pretty quickly, and sat down in the middle of the restaurant. The meal really started on a high note when we were brought our complimentary champagne. Yes, every table gets complimentary champagne when they sit down and are ready to order. My girlfriend’s father was raving about the escargot, so we ordered some. I also ordered the Papillote Marseilles, and for dessert a flourless chocolate cake.

While we were waiting for our food to come out, the music in the restaurant started blaring through the speakers. We all looked at each other like what the heck is going on here? It got louder and louder, and then people started clapping. The waiters came out of the back in droves and then someone in the kitchen started ringing a large bell over and over again to the beat of the song. Just then the waiters started singing happy birthday to someone while the music continued blaring and everyone continued clapping. It was so awesome, but I can only imagine how embarrassing it was for the person whose birthday it was. 

The first thing out was the escargot. Upon first taste I was in a state of complete bliss. I have never tasted something so uniquely delicious in my entire life. The snails were ridiculously tender, and steaming hot from start to finish. The garlic and herb butter that they were served in was so good that I could have drunk it!

My main course was very delicious as well. En Papillote is a French cooking technique in which food is folded into a pouch or pocket and then baked. My Papillote Marseilles included snapper, salmon, sea bass, tuna, mussels, and clams cooked in a saffron broth with potatoes. All of the items were incredibly delicious. The saffron broth was to die for, and the fish and shellfish were all fantastically tender. Again the food was piping hot from start to finish, and the flavor was really on another level. 

The flourless chocolate cake was pretty good as well. I was expecting a bit more since the rest of the meal was so phenomenal, but the chocolate cake was still pretty well done. It was super rich, the way it should be, and the crème anglaise that it was served with was delightful.

I would go to Le Bouchon over and over again if I could. I will definitely be going back the next time I am in Miami, and I will tell anyone who will listen that it is truly fantastic. Get down to Miami and try it! Cheers!

Simple Yet Delicious...

Pat’s Pizza Family Restaurant

2298 Chapel Avenue

Cherry Hill, NJ 08034

www.patsfamilyrestaurant.com/ 

One day a few weeks ago it was really nice outside, so my coworkers and I headed over to Pat’s Pizza Family Restaurant in Cherry Hill to enjoy a good lunch and some sunshine. I had been to Pat’s once before, but I had brought my lunch that day, so I was pretty interested to try out there food this time.

The menu looked pretty standard for a pizzeria/sandwich shop, and I decided on the buffalo chicken cheesesteak. I love buffalo chicken cheesesteaks, and I remember being very hungry on this particular day, so I was extremely pleased when the sandwich came out. It was huge!

The sandwich was stuffed to capacity with large chunks of chicken slathered in a rich and creamy buffalo and blue cheese sauce mixture. It was incredibly velvety in texture, and the taste was quite fantastic. I don’t usually like blue cheese on my buffalo chicken cheesesteaks, but this blue cheese was more of a sauce than chunks of blue cheese, so it actually meshed perfectly together with the buffalo sauce. I devoured the entire thing because it was so darn good!

Pat’s has a nice menu, with a little bit of everything for people to choose from. I know there are plenty of them around the area, and I am not sure if they are a national chain or not, but if you see one around, give it a try! Cheers!

Diner Dining at its Finest

Red Lion Diner

Rt. 70 Circle

Medford, NJ 08055

Growing up in New Jersey taught me a lot about diners considering it is the diner capital of the world. After hockey games on Saturdays and Sundays, my team would eat at any and every diner in the Jersey area. Many people that have not experienced diner dining think that it is just cheap food. Those people are wrong. Diner food is sophisticated and unique and it is truly a wonderful thing to experience.

On a Sunday a few weeks ago, my family and I went to one of our favorite diners, the Red Lion Diner, for Sunday dinner. Back in the days of hockey games and eating at diners almost every weekend, I did not have the food appreciation that I have now. When we went to the diner on Sunday, I looked at the menu with my new perspectives, and I saw some things that I never even would have glanced twice at before. I ordered the Louisiana tuna with sides of potato salad and asparagus with hollandaise sauce.

The tuna was unlike any tuna I have ever had, but in a good way. It was crusted in a homemade bread shavings and potato crust that was mixed with creole mustard. The saltiness and crunch of the crust was a great pairing for the tuna, and the smear of cocktail sauce over top was the final ingredient that rounded out the dish in amazing fashion.

The potato salad was very well done as well. The potatoes were soft and tender, and the mayo and seasonings enhanced their flavor the way a great potato salad should. The asparagus was good as well, but I could have done without the hollandaise. It simply was not as rich as it should have been, and it did not add a whole lot to the flavoring of the asparagus.

The Red Lion Diner has been one of my favorite diners for a very long time. Not many people outside of the Medford area know about, but now that you do, you should get out and try it whenever you can! Cheers!

Phenomenal Each and Every Time...

Stefano’s

1814 N. Bay Ave

Beach Haven, NJ 08008

http://www.stefanoslbi.com/ 

It’s hard to beat a great Italian restaurant. It’s also very hard to beat a great seafood restaurant. You can imagine how hard it is to beat a restaurant that excels at both. That place is Stefano’s Seafood and Pasta located in Beach Haven, New Jersey. I have been to Stefano’s at least 30 times in my life, but the bulk of my visits occurred before I had found my appreciation for food. As I got older though, I started to realize just how good Stefano’s was. This point is highlighted by the fact that they win the local clam chowder competition each fall, and they even took 2^nd in the world at the New England clam chowder competition in Newport Rhode Island in 2009.

On this particular visit I was looking to really enjoy myself, so I ordered a bowl of New England clam chowder, the horseradish and potato crusted salmon with lobster mashed potatoes, and peanut butter pie for dessert. Each entrée was accompanied by a house salad, which you can upgrade to a Caesar or caprese for a small charge. A basket of garlic and other assorted breads is also served at every table. The garlic bread is really worth mentioning. It is unlike any garlic bread I have ever had. It almost seems like it’s a garlic butter/paste that they put on the bread and then toast it, but it is full of flavor and incredibly crispy. 

 

My uncle owns a business in LBI, so he and the owners of Stefano’s get along quite well. They sent our table an antipasto tray, and I loved each and every bite I took from it. There were mounds of prosciutto, capicola, parmigiano reggiano, roasted peppers, fresh provolone, pepperoncinis, olives, and fresh mozzarella balls. Antipasto is one of my favorite things to eat because there is only one thing on the whole plate I don’t like, so I can get as much as I want of all my favorite things.

After the antipasto quickly disappeared, our soups came out, and I was even happier than before. Stefano’s clam chowder is incredible. It is so incredibly flavorful; I really don’t know how they do it. The chowder is the perfect consistency, not too thick, not too thin, and packed with creamy, clammy flavor. There are large chunks of clam and potato in every bite. I used the bread that was left over from earlier to sop up every ounce of soup left in my bowl.

I was super excited to try my entrée as well, so I was very excited to see it brought out 10 minutes after I finished my soup. I love salmon, and I will order almost any dish that offers horseradish, so this was a match made in heaven.  It was almost impossible to believe how crispy the crust on the outside of the salmon was. Each time my fork broke into it made a crunch loud enough to be heard by a few people at the table. The crust kept the salmon incredibly moist inside. The bed of lobster mashed potatoes underneath the salmon was just the icing on the cake. Huge chunks of perfectly tender lobster displayed throughout the creamy and fantastic mashed potatoes… I was in heaven eating it.

I was too full to eat dessert, but it was Stefano’s, so I couldn’t say no. The peanut butter pie that I ordered was huge! I couldn’t eat the whole thing because it was too big and too sweet for one person, but the half that I ate was phenomenal. Each bite gave me a taste of chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, and cookie crunch. I’m a sucker for peanut butter anything, so this was the only choice in my opinion, and I definitely made the right one because it was scrum-diddaly-uptious. 

You need to go to Stefano’s as soon as you can. Make a day trip to LBI and go to Stefano’s for dinner. You will not be disappointed. I never have been in my 20+ years of going there. They are what every restaurant at the shore aspires to be…absolutely perfect. Cheers!