Dinner at Fishmarket in NYC

Took a bunch of people to Fishmarket.  The food did not disappoint and everyone agreed it was the best fried rice they had.  The curry chicken, which was new for me this time, was excellent.  Also the ginger wings were amazing - we even got two orders.  And there are still many other dishes I'd like to try.

Fried rice with chinese sausage and sriracha.  Even more amazing this time with the sausage

Ginger wings. Perfectly fried

Crispy chicken.  Again quite salty

Mama's curried chicken.  So hearty and flavorful and lotss of chicken in that pot

Yummy noodles.  This time with clams on top.  Delish

Brunch from Jollibee in Jersey City, NJ

Following a visit to the vet, we swung by Jollibee for some filipino breakfast.  Everything was delicious and I didn't have to wait too long on line.  Wish it were closer!

Dan wanted a fried chicken.  Who cares that it was 10 am haha

My cornsilog meal - garlic fried rice corned beef and egg

Brunch at Light Horse Tavern in Jersey City, NJ

Dan and I went to Light Horse Tavern and were pleasantly surprised by how excellent it was.  Some of the places around our apt. are hard to distinguish - generally good, kind of expensive, not that memorable.  This brunch was much better than average - so good that we affirmatively decided we need to come back.  The crowd is a little more mature than a lot of places around here, but that must reflect the quality of food ha.

House Smoked Salmon plate - trio of cream cheese (reg, olive, and sun riped tomato), red onions, tomatoes, capers on a toasted bagel.  A LOT of salmon and great bagel quality.  I loved the tomato and reg cream cheese options.  Olive not so much

Marinated steak and eggs with onions, crimini mushrooms, toast, and side of fries instead of home fries

Fries with chipotle mayo

Brunch at Jane in NYC

Dan and I went to Jane for brunch, which is supposed to be one of the most popular brunch spots.  We got there maybe ten minutes before our res time and there were crazy lines.  Fortunately we were seated close to our reservation time.  I think the food was overall good, but I expect something even more amazing based on the yelp reviews and how many people were there.  The special benedict Dan ordered was kind of a disappointment, which was tough given that he passed up ordering some other things we wanted to try.  I wouldn't be against eating there again but there are definitely other brunch places I'd want to try before returning.

Delicious bread with a strawberry butter

Small pastry basket - glazed donut, candied bacon scone, everything biscuit and chocolate financier. All were solid but the candied bacon scone wasn't bacon-y enough for me.  I was comparing it to the North End Grill maple bacon croissant, which is no longer, but is one of the best things I've ever eaten

Everything crepes - smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, chives, and marscapone cheese.  Great dish - lots of salmon in every bite

Short Rib benedict special - egg was overcooked and not runny.  Short rib wasn't that memorable either womp womp

More salmon showing

Dinner from Sawadee in Jersey City, NJ

We ordered some take-out from Sawadee for some delicious and reliable Thai food.  I hadn't gotten Pad Thai in awhile so got some of that, and also tried the chicken satay, which was excellent.  Loved the charredness of the chicken as well as the peanut sauce.

Beef Pad Thai

Chicken satay with delicious peanut sauce

Vegetable fried dumplings.  A staple order

Dinner from Left Bank Burger Bar in Jersey City, NJ

This is a combined post since I ended up going to and ordering from Left Bank in a mere matter of days haha.  The special burger I got was amazing; def the best I have had there.  The sweet potato fries were also much better than I recall, which is why when we ordered take out a few days later, we got it again.

Gundam Wing challenger burger with sweet potato fries

Panko crusted chicken & pork patty, fried nori, pickled daikon and carrots, mixed greens, tomato,  sesame seeds and tonkatsu sauce.  Amazing

Take out order of sweet potato  fries

My house burger with fried goat cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon and ketchup

Dan's house burger with american cheese, lettuce, pickles, bank slaw, bacon and spicy aioli

Dinner from El Sazon de las Americas in Jersey City, NJ

I ordered a very inexpensive meal from El Sazon de Las Americas.  Walking by the store, it doesn't look that enticing, but the food is solid.  The entire meal was $13 so can't complain too much.

Roast pork with beans and rice.  $6 and pretty large portion

Rotisserie Chicken Special.  Not sure why it was so yellow, or so bony, but it was only $4.

Side of fried sweet plantains. $3

Lunch from Au Bon Pain in Jersey City, NJ

Went to Au Bon Pain for early Thanksgiving lunch and was sorely disappointed by their attempt at their holiday sandwich.  Not much of anything on the sandwich other than bread.  The

Turkey stuffing and cranberry.  Together the filling was still smaller than the bread thickenss

Sad sandwich

Lunch from Mighty Quinn's in NYC

I picked up lunch from Mighty Quinn's at Brookfield Place.  They had one of their specials - spicy crispy chicken sandwich.  The sauce was the same as what they use on the wings, so you can tell it's really got a kick.  I also got a special German potato salad with bacon.  I didn't love it because there was a lot of mayo, but Dan really enjoyed eating it later  ha.

Spicy crispy chicken sandwich

Special German potato salad.  Very mayo-y.  Plus vinegar pickled sides

Underneath the chicken.  Yummy vinegar pickles

Dinner from JC Sakura in Jersey City, NJ

I order some sushi from JC Sakura since I didn't want too many rolls and it's significantly cheaper here.  I also ordered Katsu Don but was so full from the sushi (because of all the crunchies) that I didn't even think to take a pic.  I got a salmon tempura roll and yellowtail roll with crunchies.  I didn't realize how filling those rolls would be but since there was so much friedness, it was hard to eat too much in conjunction with all the rice.  Glad it was so cheap because otherwise I would've felt like I had ordered way too much food.

Yellowtail roll and salmon tempura

Too much friedness 

Brunch at the Peacock in NYC

For Book Club we had brunch at the Peacock, a cute British restaurant owned by the same people who run Raine's Law Room.  Unfortunately it was not a great experience. Clearly something was going on in the kitchen that was throwing off all the servers.  There were a prix-fixe deal where you could get something sweet and savory plus option of unlimited drinks  The waiters kept saying they were out of xyz dish so the options were severely limited.  They also were not good about refilling our "unlimited" drinks.  Other groups had it worse though. So bad that they got some of their food completely free.  We got some a la carte drinks to be unlimited.  The food itself was actually good but the service was so bad I couldn't come back.

Some tart that they said they didn't have but everyone wanted.  I don't even remember how it was honestly. 

Sweet pancakes

My full English breakfast.  Actually very well done but it took so long to come it was hard to enjoy it

Tracy's fish and chips

Lunch at Burger Walla in Newark, NJ

Went for a weekday lunch to Burger Walla.  This time I had a beef burger and you could tell how exellent the meat was (Pat LaFrieda).  The size is just right. I only got a single patty because I didn't want to be comatose.  A solid lunch option.

Beef burger with blue cheese and bacon

Lunch at Taste of North China in Jersey City, NJ

Dan and I met my parents for some authentic Chinese food.  The ambiance inside was very much like places we used to go to in Chinatown, particularly as all other diners looked Chinese and the owner was a very cute old Chinese man who made lots of jokes with my dad ha.  The food was pretty good albeit expensive.  They didn't have Peking-style pork chops but their salt and pepper pork chops were excellent.  Would def order that again.  Their "American-ized" Chinese food was tasty as well.

Scallion pancakes.  Not too greasy but could've been crispier

Shrimp and broccoli.  Well cooked with lots of shrimp

Excellent mapo tofu.  Definitely spicy 

Shrimp lo mein.  Good though a little greasy

Pork and shrimp soup dumplings.  Excellent but was already a little fun when this came out

Salt and pepper pork chops  By far the best part of the meal.  Had a bit of kick but a perfect amount.  Also a very hearty portion

Dinner from Future Restaurant in Jersey City, NJ

We ordered some cheap Chinese for dinner as we have yet to find out go-to Chinese take-out spot.  Future I think used to be one of those Chinese-Mexican places but seems to have ditched the Mexican part of the menu.  Everything was fine.  Nothing spectacular but nothing bad.  I don't think good enough to warrant necessarily ordering only from them.  We'll have to explore what else is in the 'hood.

Vegetable dumplings - didn't get a shot of the inside but it was very ginger-y.  Dan didn't love that

Boneless spare ribs.  They were okay but didn't seem as charred as they usually are

Vegetable delight - a bunch of mixed veggies in brown sauce, including zucchini, broccoli, string beans, bamboo shoots, tofu, and peapods.  Way to feel healthy ha

But then I also ordered fried chicken wings, which were so not healthy.  They were pretty good though

Lunch at Hopsscotch in Jersey City, NJ

Dan and I finally tried Hopsscotch, which I've been meaning to go to for like three years.  The service was mehh but I enjoyed the Connect Four at the table, and there were plenty more things on the menu that tempted us.  We decided on a pretty unhealthy and very filling meal consisting of sausage and fries, loaded tater tots, and poutine aka loaded fries haha.  So we were clearly unable to finish it but it wasn't the kind of food that would reheat well.  The food was very heavy but fulfilled what we wanted - something kind of gross/unhealthy yet delicious.

German Bratwurst - toasted garlic and caramelized onion and whole grain mustard on pretzel hero.  I enjoyed the pretzel roll and sausage with the caramelized onions was great.  Surprisingly the sweet potato fries were dusted with cinnamon and had no salt.  I still enjoyed them though since everything else was pretty salty/savory

Loaded tater tots with beer cheese, bacon marmalade and sour cream.  Ridiculously rich.  I think too much beer cheese for me

Short Rib Poutine - house gravy and cheese curds.  Great meat and gravy but a little stingy on the curds.  I also prefer them more chunky/soft rather than melty.  This could have just been melted cheese