Dinner at Union Republic in Jersey City, NJ

I took Dan to Union Republic in JC for birthday dinner #1.  Apparently the owners of UR use to own MAE (Modern American Eatery), which used to exist in JC on Communipaw Ave.  There were some issues with the landlord and MAE shut down, but please see former reviews of how awesome it was.  Anyway, so glad that UR opened up and in a nicer part of time.  Like MAE there is a modern, non-uptight theme with lots of different cuisine all lumped under "American," though MAE had more of a southern flair and UR has more of an Asian/meat-inspired theme.  Just like Hungry Panda haha.  Everything was delicious and I can't wait to come back to try the ramen burger!

Complimentary hummus, toast points, and black bean dip.  The hummus was very subtle but together with black bean dip was excellent.  I wished they had given me more toast but I continued to eat up the dip anyway

Lamb ribs - This was SO good and very reminiscent of what they had at MAE.  Maybe it's the exact same recipe.  Tender meat, albeit a little fatty, with a rich sweet sauce

Warm Octopus with chorizo, potato, frisee, and cherry tomatoes.  Possibly the best thing we ate all night.  The octopus was perfectly cooked and all the other elements worked perfectly together, with a nice light citrus dressing

Dan's A Hen Full Ramen with rice noodles (gluten-free) - soft egg, chicken meatballs, dashi and shoyu broth.  Dan wasn't loving the noodles and I'll admit they weren't the best I've had, but the broth was really nice and flavorful

My Nose to Tail Ramen - pork, heart, belly, sofrito-shoyu broth.  Looking back on it I'm not sure what exactly the crunchy part was (left) that was a little salty, but everything else within it tasted great.  I loved the soft egg but I ate so much before that I could barely get through half of this.  No worries though because it reheated well

Creme brulee for dessert.  Excellent vanilla and citrus flavors