Lunch from Andrea Salumeria in Jersey City, NJ

I don't know how it took us this long, but for the first time Dan and I went to Andrea Salumeria in JC.  It's a small Italian deli that has legittt Italian cold cut subs and freshly made cheese.  This place is also like 2 seconds from Dan's place so I don't know why we never went there.  The subs are pretty large and the ingredients are unparalleled.  It also got like 5 stars on yelp, which is really hard to do ha.

The Soprano - sopresata, prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, sundried tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil.  The perfect HP sandwich.  My only complaint was the bread was a little too crunchy for me.  Would have just liked it a little softer.  

The What's Up - ham cappicola, hot sopresata,  hot cappicola, mozzarella, sharp provolone, and hot peppers.  Of course Dan got this.  The hotness was no joke.

Dinner at Madame Claude's in Jersey City, NJ

Laura, Dan and I went to Madame Claude's for my second visit there.  The place is so tiny that even with reservations we had to wait a little while, but it was definitely worth it.  I am also now in love with French butter.  Unfortunately I neglected to take a picture but it probably would just look like typical butter to all of you haha.  Super creamy and nice balance of sweet and salty.  Could've made a meal of just eating their bread and butter.

Les Escargots - snails served in a butter, garlic, and parsley sauce.  Delish even though the idea of snails is mildly revolting to me.  Dipping the bread in this was awesome.

Dan ordered the special - Bouillabaisse.  Mix of different seafood in delicious broth 

Steak Frites  - classic

Lamb Shank in rosemary and white wine sauce served with Gratin Dauphinois and peas - the lamb was perfectly cooked and tender.  The sauce was wonderful and the potatoes.  OMG best thing I ate there.  Would def just order it on its own.  The potatoes were so thinly cut and balanced with the cheese.

Tarte Tartin - home-made apple tarte with vanilla ice cream.  Did NOT enjoy the tarte sadly.  Too bitter and not very apple-y.

Crepe of some kind that Laura got.  Can't remember what was in it.

Home-made jazzed-up ramen

Added some pork dumplings, frozen veggies, and sriracha to chicken ramen, and made a much better meal than I would've thought.  Actually better ramen than some places we've ordered from in the area ha.

Brunch at ABC Kitchen in NYC

Dan and I finally made it to ABC Kitchen for brunch.  As close as we live to the city, it takes a LOT of effort and will power to hop onto the PATH over the weekend to go for brunch when there are so many closer places nearby.  But we made it.  The decor of the place was very similar to Butter - kind of rustic and hipster-y.  Plenty of hipsters eating there in fact haha.  Everything we had was amazing though and totally worth the trip.  Would love to come back for dinner some time.

Crab Toast with Lemon Aioli - Lots of crab but was a little overpowered by the lemon.  Nice crunch on the bread.

Mushrooms, parmesan, oregano and farm egg pizza - By far the BEST thing I ate there.  The runny egg was sooo delicious and dipping the crust into it was the best.  And no meat!

Pretzel dusted calamari with marinara and mustard aioli - Delicious and perfectly fried.  Not too greasy or too heavy.  Nice dipping sauces as well.

Maple bacon biscuits - Genius idea!  The inside of the biscuit as super buttery and
I loveddd the little bits of bacon

Sundae with salted caramel ice cream, candied peanuts, popcorn, whipped cream and chocolate sauce.   Ridiculously rich and sooo bad for us.  But amazing.  I was a little full when we got to dessert but this was still so worth it.

Dinner at La Conguita in Jersey City, NJ

Dan and I went to THREE different restaurants in downtown JC only to either be ignored wholly at the door, seated then ignored for an inordinate period of time, or told the wait was much longer than we were willing.  So we ended up at La Conguita and the food AND service were EXCELLENT and much less expensive than dinner would be at most other places.  Sometimes the service there isn't the greatest, but this time it was as good as one could ask, and the new stuff we tried was amazingg.

Garlic Shrimp appetizer with Cuban bread - SO DELICIOUS.  BEST THING I HAD ALL NIGHT.  The shrimp was perfectly cooked and pretty large.  Cooked in garlic slivers and oil.   Spread the rest of that garlicky goodness on the bread.

My usual order of Pernil with rice, red beans, and maduros.  As usual excellent and sooo much left over.

Jalapeno Steak Sandwich - Thin cut steak, jalapeno slices, onion, oaxacan cheese and mayo plus the perfectly cut fries.   The steak was nicely cooked - not overdone, which is great b/c it was so thin.  Of course Dan loved the pepperyness.

Bread pudding with vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, and caramel.  ALL HP's fav sweet things.  First of all, this was soo tasty, sweet, and the right texture.  Second, ONLY $4.  Soul Flavors (third place that f-ed us over) has an excellent bread pudding that is I believe $9.  So all in all, despite the stinky start to the night, I would say we were winners going to La Conguita.

Home-made Miso maple-glazed salmon, kale, and brown rice with quinoa

More healthy food Asian-style.  The first time I went to Sushi Samba I had the most amazing miso-glazed chilean sea bass.  Some of the amazingness was the sea bass itself - super flaky and meaty and melted in your mouth like butter.  The other part of the amazingness was the miso glaze, which I had never had.  I went back to Sushi Samba with another friend and had the sea bass plus miso glazed eggplant.  Now everyone who knows HP knows eggplant is on the list of foods that I dislike.  But the miso made it edible and actually tasty!  So finally I bought a package of miso paste last night and found a good recipe for salmon including sriracha and maple syrup, among other ingredients.  I sauteed the salmon on the cast iron skillet for a few minutes because that's what the recipe called for, but I realized this salmon had no skin to crisp so I probably didn't need to do that.  Then I just broiled it for about 10 minutes and it came out amazingly delicious, but the skillet looked messy with the excess glaze having kind of burned/hardened.  Oh well.  Nothing a little water and scrubbing can't fix.  Dan made the kale, and I made the brown rice w/quinoa from scratch on the stove.  Next time though I plan to use the rice cooker. 

Dinner at BaoHaus in NYC

Nicole and I went to BaoHaus in the East Village/Gramercy.  The restaurant is TEENY TINY but fortunately it wasn't crowded.  I was a little full still from lunch so I don't think I was really that hungry.  The food was good but I imagine not the best bao in NYC.  I think I liked the Haus Bao the most - beef cheek, followed by the Chairman Bao (pork belly) then the Birdhaus Bao (fried chicken).  The beef and pork belly were definitely flavorful but the pork belly was a little fatty (duh) and smaller.  The fried chicken was pretty big and overflowed from the bun but there wasn't much other flavors.  The taro fries were tasty and the sauce was spicyyy.  But I was so full I don't think we really needed to share it ha.

Birdhaus Bao - fried chicken with cilantro, Haus seasoning salt, crushed peanuts, and Taiwanese red sugar

Haus Bao - beef cheek with rushed peanut, cilantro, Haus Relish, and Taiwanese red sugar

Chairman Bao on the left - berkshire pork belly, crushed peanut, cilantro, Haus relish, and Taiwanese red sugar
Haus Bao on the right

Taro fries served with Haus sauce