Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Delicatessen


We were down in Philly for the day. With a combination of my not reading the GPS correctly and a detour causing a road to only go one way, we had a bit of trouble getting to the Delicatessen. In fact, we ended up in Jersey since that one road had no exits before hitting the bridge, LoL. Oh well, live and learn. $4 later (NJ is so quirky. It makes me giggle about how they charge you to leave all the time) we found the place and picked up our order (we had called it in). 

I had Mom Mom’s Tuna Fish Salad Melt with potato salad, and Jonathan had smoked pastrami with waffle fries. The potato salad was made with red potatoes, but it was really sweet. As in, I think they added sugar, LoL. I didn’t really care for it, but Jonathan liked it. The tuna salad sandwich was on Challah and served open-face. The muenster and tomato were a great addition, and the tuna weighed down the bread quite a bit. A delicious combination that left me full without finishing the first half, LoL. Jonathan’s sandwich was *very* smoky, but he liked it. He had added cheese to it, and they certainly gave him his money’s worth – he got four slices! 

The waffle fries were a little soggy by the time we ate, but still delicious. We can only imagine how good they would have been fresh!! The only downside to the meal: the pickles were salty.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Whistler's Inn

We watched Ghana beat the USA in the World Cup at Whistler’s Inn. Jonathan found it online since it was near Costco… another place we needed to stop by. It’s a nice little place, with lots of televisions in the bar area, and an entirely separate area for dining (you could still get the full menu in the bar area as well). We had a high top, though there were also booths. The servers were all very friendly and excellent at anticipating your refill needs.
We started out with the appetizer combo, which had mozzarella sticks, onion rings, cheese balls (think jalapeno poppers), and chicken tenders. It was all pretty good, but the props go to the mozzarella sticks, which were excellent. The chicken tenders tasted like large frozen ones that had been reheated, and the onion rings were pretty standard. The cheese balls were decent to me, but Jonathan liked them rather well. They were very cheesy with just hints of jalapeno, so I liked them better than most. 

Then, Jonathan (and Rob) had the garlic wings, and I went with the tuna club with fries. The fries were delicious, and the tuna was plentiful. I was struggling to finish half of the sandwich, and it was really interesting to have bacon on a tuna sandwich, LoL. I didn’t try the wings, but the boys reported that they were pretty good. They were very big, and breaded thoroughly, with bits of minced garlic on them. 

Overall, I’d recommend the place. Good food, excellent service, fun sporty atmosphere. We probably won’t be back (we don’t venture down toward Costco often), but that shouldn’t stop you!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Tonelli's Pizza

Probably six months ago at this point, my friend Dani mentioned that there's a pizza place near her that has pierogie pizza on the menu. Since I'm a big fan of potato-type-pizza (thanks, Stevi B's, for turning me on to that!), I've wanted to try it ever since. Well, I finally got down there and Dani and I went to Tonelli's. It's a sports bar with a lot of televisions, and it was Friday night so it was pretty busy.

We decided to go with a half-pierogie and half-"the great white," in case pierogie turned out to be a dud. The Great White was an olive oil base with garlic and parmesan plus mozzarella, always a winning combination. This pizza was no different, another delicious white pie. The server was a little unclear on what was on the pierogie pizza (we asked since the menu did not specify), but it turned out to be a base of mashed potatoes, mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, and onions. We got the bacon on the side. The server also mentioned it had sour cream, but it didn't come with any. When I looked online, apparently it was supposed to be on the side. No worries, it was still yummy. Dani and I both agreed that chives would have been better than onions in this case.

I'd go back, it's a good place. It's rather far from us tho, probably a little more than half an hour. And in the land of pizza and cheesesteaks, there's not really a normal need to go further than ten minutes, hehe. I'd recommend it, especially to watch sports. Oh, and their coke is fantastic (for those of you who are picky about your fountain beverages).

Sunday, June 13, 2010

McGee's Pub

We had taken in some sights, I had seen a matinee, and we were staying in the City to see a show at 8pm, so we had a little time. At 5pm, we headed over to have a drink at the bar of the place where we had already chosen to eat dinner. McGee's Pub, what the How I Met Your Mother bar (MacLaren's) is based on, was our selection. They were still nice enough to give us happy hour prices, even though happy hour had ended. We moved downstairs and into a booth for dinner, but it ended up being more of a snack, really. We shared the cajun calamari (that day's special appetizer) and the baked macaroni and cheese, and Rob went with some sliders and fries. The food was pretty good, and we ended up sitting right under a photo of the How I Met Your Mother cast, so that was interesting.so we'll tackle the transportation next time.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Corner Bistro

We were spending another day in NYC, this time bringing our friend, Rob. We had already planned our meals, and we headed over to the Corner Bistro (menu outdated online), which is mentioned as a great burger place on How I Met Your Mother, a sitcom that's set in NYC. Rob and Jonathan each ordered a cheeseburger, and I had the bistro burger. Bistro apparently adds bacon, LoL. These burgers were FABULOUS. And I mean it. We all LOVED them. The fries were pretty average, but they were baked almost dry, so I was happy, LoL. Service was friendly (like mom-and-pop friendly!) and especially fast. The prices were beyond reasonable ($6 for a half-pound cheeseburger), and all three of us stand behind recommending the place to anyone and everyone. It's not even in a bad area of town... it's hard to come up with a negative (well, there is a tiny one. on my third refill, my water seemed to have a little greasy film on top. but Jonathan's didn't have this, so not sure where it came from).

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Sushi Planet

We were down in Philadelphia to swap out the rental, and we wanted to get some sushi. A quick internet search suggested we try out Sushi Planet. It happened to be down near Penn's Landing, so we drove that way and hoped for some parking. We got lucky and saw someone pulling out, so we grabbed their spot and paid at the kiosk. Reasonable rate, although we over-guesstimated how long it would take us (better than to get a ticket, tho!). It was only a couple blocks away, and with the Flyers game on tv, the eateries (and the sidewalks in front of them) were filled with screaming fans.

It was Friday night, but we were seated immediately, and promptly had water-filled glasses. The menu was average for the area, but with the great reviews we saw online, we weren't too worried.

A bowl of marinated cucumbers arrived (their standard give-away appetizer, we think), and they were okay. Honestly, they just gave us far too many of them, as it seemed we hardly made a dent (you can see the plate a little in one of the photos). Shortly after we ordered, another appetizer arrived. The server (who had an accent we couldn't place AT ALL... must've been Lithuanian or Siberian or something... some country where I don't know what the language sounds like, LoL) described it, but all we could make out was "carpaccio" and "on the house" so that was good enough. The sauce (ponzu-ish) was fabulous, and there were also scallions. The meat had the consistency of thinly sliced raw chicken, but it must've been some sort of fish, we ascertained. We figure it was probably a new dish they were trying out, since several other tables also received it, and we gave our opinions when the server came by again.

I ordered the chirashi, and was surprised when it came in a bowl (usually it's served in more of a box). The photo came out a little overexposed, but you get an idea of the fishes. The white tuna was phenomenal. As in, it might have been swimming in the ocean that morning, it was so fresh! The tuna and salmon were also very fresh. The striped bass was average, the squid was average (maybe a little above), and the sponge (the breadcrust-looking thing in the top right of the bowl). I forget what else might have been in there. The only problem was that I couldn't get to the rice forever since it's all underneath the fish, and because of the design of the bowl, whenever I ate a piece, that void was filled by the fish falling onto itself and closing up my rice access. Also, the julienne radish got in the way, since it was a little heavy on that as well.

Jonathan ordered two rolls. The first was the JB roll, which is pretty standard for cream cheese and salmon (JB in this case stands for Japanese Bagel, if you didn't know). This roll, however, was tuna and salmon. Not sure if that's the way this place interprets that item, or if someone made a mistake somewhere. Either way, the cream cheese was a little overwhelming for the tuna, but it was okay. The second roll (the gargantuan roll in the picture) was that night's special. It had salmon, white tuna, and scallops, and was topped with strawberries. It also had a sauce that was quite different, not sure how to describe it other than spicy mayo-ish. The flavor combination was astounding. Very creative, and absolutely one-of-a-kind. I had never had strawberry in sushi before, but apparently fruit is a common thing for this restaurant, since there were several other items on the menu that included things like apples.

Overall, the place is good, and worth taking out-of-towners to. It's BYOB (let's not forget about Pennsylvania and its interesting liquor laws), and they are very friendly. Stop by if you're down in that area.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Hong Kong Pearl

It was Memorial Day and we planned to have a picnic. A couple months ago I had discovered a BBQ place (they're rare here), and we decided to pick some up and take it to the park where we'd spend the afternoon. Except, when we got there, we found out that they were closed. The Chinese restaurant next door was open and serving food, so we just decided to go in there. The menu was pretty big, and average-priced. We ordered a few things (couldn't really make up our minds since we were in the mood for BBQ, lol) and it was less than ten minutes before we were out the door and on our way to the park.

We both ordered chicken dishes - I went with the spicy garlic chicken and Jonathan chose the hunan chicken. Both came with pork fried rice and spring rolls. The problem? We couldn't really tell them apart. The sauces were the same color, and they tasted unbelievably similar. We ended up just each taking one, and neither of us were really in love with the taste. Eventually I realized that the one I was eating was indeed garlic for sure, but that took about ten minutes. The pork fried rice wasn't fried so much as yellow rice with veggies, so nothing special. I had to pick out the peas, but they were few and far between, plus we were at a park so I just plucked them and threw them. This reminds me, I bet we were a sight with chopsticks in the park, haha.

The spring rolls were average, too. Nice and crispy, but the filling was mostly cabbage. The chicken that was inside, however, was delicious. Jonathan also got an order of crab rangoon, which was the very best part. He reports that the wontons were incredibly well-made, fried just right, and the filling inside was delicious.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Bucks County Chocolate Show

So we heard that there was going to be a chocolate show up in New Hope. I found the website and discovered it was actually the 3rd annual Bucks County Chocolate Show. We couldn't really come up with a reason not to go, so we drove up to New Hope on May 23rd and went.

As always, downtown New Hope was completely packed, and there was no parking. Luckily, the event was being held at the fire hall, which has its own parking lot. They were apparently expecting over a thousand people, and had a shuttle set up so you could park at a local school. However, we pulled on up to the main event and parked about a hundred feet from the door.

Tickets were $13 each, and when you consider that we were more than done in about 45 minutes, it doesn't sound like a good deal. HOWEVER, Jonathan pointed out that a person would be hard-pressed to buy as much chocolate as we sampled for that price. Especially once you consider the rareness and uniqueness of some of the delectable pieces that we tasted. We started off with cake, ended with truffles, and had all sorts of goodies in-between, including some great melting bits, some pretzel-toffee-chocolate, and the most delicious bananas foster chocolates you could ever imagine. The only disappointing aspect was that the chocolate fountain was pay-only, and I wasn't feeling $3 to have two chocolate-covered strawberries.

It would have been good if we were there an hour earlier, so we could have attended the seminar on pairing wines and chocolates, as the table only had a white wine left when we got to it. It was still good wine, but I'm sure it would have made more sense if there was still the complementary chocolate next to it, hehe. The history of chocolate and the science behind making chocolate were also covered, and some really nice pieces were on display.The place wasn't that big, and there were probably only about twelve different vendors there, but it was a fun way to spend the better part of an hour. Should you go in the future, buy your tickets in advance (save a couple bucks), and definitely park on-site to save that hassle. But, go. It's nowhere near the awesomeness of the Chef's Sampler in Tallahassee, but it's still delicious!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Baja Fresh

We have seen a dozen Baja Fresh restaurants. We've seen them in several states (though not Florida, though they might be there). We once ascertained that they serve Mexican food. But we had never actually stopped to eat in one. We see one every time we venture into Mount Laurel to go to Costco, as there's one in the same shopping center. This time, we finally planned to go there for lunch.

The menu is a tad confusing at first, but then makes sense. I chose the chicken burrito ultimo, and Jonathan chose the pork carnitas quesadillas. We also shared an 8oz cheese fundito with chips. The appetizer/side was okay... the cheese sauce was pretty uneventful, even after we added some spicy salsa to give it some kick. The chips, however, were pretty good, so it worked out overall. Jonathan thought that the quesadillas were pretty average, with the exception of the cheese, which was very good. The guacamole they came with was also pretty decent. My burrito was very sloppily put together, although the tortilla was grilled, which was nice. The mixture of veggies, cheese, and sour cream was pretty bland, and the chicken wasn't memorable. Once I added some fundido cheese to the burrito, it added some character, but overall it was just kinda "eh."

Neither of us ate more than half of our respective entree, so we had leftovers the next night, which was nice. However, we weren't impressed as a whole, and probably wouldn't go back unless there weren't any other reasonable choices around. Apparently, though, some people must really like the place, since it was packed...

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Number 1 Buffet

I really had a craving for Chinese food. We haven't really had much Chinese since we've been here, focusing mainly on Japanese since that's more prevalent in our area. Plus, we were spoiled with California on that one, LoL. We searched around online and found a buffet about fifteen minutes away that had great reviews. It's actually called "Number 1 Buffet" and it's in Morrisville.

It's only $5.99 for dinner, and the food is pretty good. For the most part, it wasn't greasy. The selection was pretty good, and most everything was very fresh. They had the typical foods: steak & peppers (average), chicken & broccoli (good sauce), pepper chicken (average), sweet & sour chicken (good), spring rolls (vegetarian and average), lo mein (average), fried rice (average), egg drop soup (really good), wonton soup (above average), chicken teriyaki on a stick (good chicken but pretty tasteless sauce), bourbon chicken (slightly below average), and General Tso's chicken (not spicy at all). They also had several types of dumplings/"dim sum", stuffed shrimp, and crab rangoon. The dumplings were all pretty good, although one tasted like pork and scallions and not much else. The Chinese donuts were also very good.

We'd go back. In my opinion, it's hard to find a buffet that even has an overall "average" rating, so this was a good find. I kinda wish they had filled the shrimp egg foo yung while we were there (it was empty the entire time), and maybe there will be a bigger selection of steamed/fried dumplings next time.