Lunch from Koro Koro in Jersey City, NJ

I picked up some lunch from Koro Koro JC, which sells rice balls.  A nice convenient meal on the go.  While I'm glad I tried it, I don't know if I would eat these again, only because I think the filling to rice ratio is a little off.  A little too much rice for me, which I've never said as an Asian person haha.

Cochinita Pabil - pork, habaneros, achiote, cilantro, garlic and lime

Cuban - pork, black beans and plantains.  Perfect flavors together, but overshadowed by the rice

Spicy salmon - salmon, kimchi, garlic chili and mayo

Miso Beef - lean ground beef, miso, shallots, leeks, scallions, ginger and sake.  My favorite flavor-wise but I wished there was twice as much filling

Dinner at Sawadee in Jersey City, NJ

I went to Sawadee in JC with Mei Lun for dinner since she was craving Thai.  The food was all really well prepared and super flavorful.  The only negative comment I have is that they rushed us out because it was late and they were closing.  The entire meal was pretty inexpensive as well.

Hot and Sour Soup

Fried vegetable dumplings  - great texture and perfectly fried

Thai Chicken Wings - serious heat.  Super well fried

Pad Thai Duck with glass noodles - I got this and it was perfect.  The duck was so crisp and the glass noodles were a surprise (vs regular pad thai noodles) but tasted just like pad thai with all the usual toppings and flavors

Pad See Eow - wide rice noodles chinese greens, sweet soy sauce and tofu

Dinner at Left Bank Burger Bar in Jersey City, NJ

Went to Left Bank Burger Bar in JC with Jess.  The restaurant is where a greek restaurant used to be.  Nice space and excellent happy hour.  I think $3 well drinks and $5 martinis, and house wine and beer.  So many types of burgers with lots of toppings.  It was hard to decide what to get.  Ultimately I think I made a good choice with the Mac Daddy  I would go back to try some of the other things on the menu.

Left Bank Mac and Cheese - Jess got this as a starter and loved it

Pork Rinds - only $3 for a giant container of it.  Well cooked and seasoned

Jess made her own burger.  I think there's some pulled pork on there, plus cheese obvi and onion rings on the side

Mac Daddy Burger - house blend, fried mac-and-cheese, butcher-cut smoked bacon and tomato

Inside of my burger.  It was a beast

Dinner at Razza Pizza Artigianale in Jersey City, NJKale sala

Dan and I went to Razza for some legit pizza.  After my healthy foray into cauliflower pizza, we were craving some real deal pizza.  As usual Razza was spot-on with some amazing new pizzas.  Still we couldn't help get some tried and true goodies like the meatballs and kale salad.

Kale salad with caesar dressing, sourdough croutons, and parmigiano reggiano

Polpette Al Forno - meatballs

Maple Bacon Pizza - fresh mozzarella, mangalitsa bacon, PA maple syrup, shaved onion.  So delicious.  Perfect balance of sweet and salty

Soppressata pizza - tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, pimenton, heirloom garlic.  This was good too but not quite as outstanding as the maple bacon

Salted caramel panna cotta.  Delish!  Whoever does their desserts is a star

Home-made cauliflower pizza

I found a recipe for online for carbless pizza made from cauliflower instead of flour.  The instructions were pretty easy to follow and it turned out well, though I think I should've gotten more water out in the microwave so the crust crisped up more.  An entire cauliflower made two full cookie tray crusts.  Each little slice was actually very filling, much more so than regular crust.  We made one pesto veggie pizza and the other was traditional marinara pepperoni.  A nice healthy dinner.

Uncooked cauli-crusts

One cooked crust

 

Two cooked crusts

Final pizzas

Pepperoni six cheese pizza

Mozz pesto tomato pizza

One slice of each was enough to fill me up!

Dinner from Ani Ramen House in Montclair, NJ

Dan and I went to Ani Ramen House in Montclair for dinner on a Thursday night.  The restaurant itself wasn't too large, but there were enough seats that I was surprised that we had to wait as long as we did.  It was definitely worth it though, as the buns were delicious, on par with places we've gone to in the city.  The ramen also was excellent - tasty broth and noodles.  The portions were generous, though one thing we learned is they don't take take-out, which includes leftovers!  You can bring your own tupperware though haha.  When the waiter told us no leftovers, we rallied and almost finished our food.  It was kind of painful, but again worth it.

Spicy Miso Ramen  - classic chicken broth, miso tare with pork charsu, bean sprouts seasoned with roasted chili oil.  Dan got this and enjoyed it a lot; it had some serious heat.

Pork buns.  As good as other ramen joints in the city

Fried chicken buns, which were a special.  So amazing.

Another view of pork buns

Ani ramen - traditional pork broth, soy tare with chashu pork, kakuni, spinach, kikurage, and scallions.  So delicious.  The broth was incredibly flavorable.

Dinner from Tony's Pizzeria in Newark, NJ

We ordered take-out from Tony's Pizzeria in Newark and it was one of the worst delivery experiences we've ever had.  From order to arrival, it took almost exactly two hours.  For a place that was like a 3 min drive away!  When the food arrived, the pizza was lukewarm, and Dan's sandwich was improperly made.  Additionally we called several times to check up and were hung up on once, one time they didn't answer, and another time words were exchanged.  We were about to call and cancel the order outright, despite the fact that we were starving and angry, but the delivery guy showed up.  The only good thing I can say is that the pizza itself was actually tasty, but only after we reheated it in the oven.  If not for the horrendous customer service I would say it's a good pizza option, but this experience was just so negative.  Too bad.  Not too many places to order from in Newark.

Half meatball pizza and half garlic broccoli.  The veggie side was actually even tastier

Jalapeno poppers - soggy

Fried ravioli - cooked so long ago that they were hard :(

Dan's sub had the wrong kind of meat. But he said it tasted good.  Not worth two hours wait though