Cheesesteak from Sonny's, brunch in montclair and

We got a chance to go to Toast in Montclair for brunch and as expected the food was excellent and Murphy even got the chance to beg a little bit for the bananas foster french toast.  I had to try for the first time ever the carrot cake pancakes. These could have been deserts instead of brunch.

The night before we ate at the remodeled Rosie's trattoria on the new patio and we had fresh pasta dishes. My pasta had a nice amount of crab and Leslie's had really good salmon.

Great surprise last night when Allie and Tyler came back from Philly with Allie handing me a cheesesteak sandwich from Sonny's in Philly.  Definitely top 3 of Cheesesteaks I have had in Philly so add that to the list.

My quarterly visit to Americana Diner in East Windsor yielded a very good combo of Burrata en Carrozza and coconut shrimp.

Local brunch places

The last few weekends we have focused on some really good local places for brunch in NJ.
In no particular order we went to Rockaway and Missy's Main street cafe.  I had one of the Specials in the Bananas Foster French Toast which was delicious.  Neat place with the check coming in a mini mailbox.

Mara's cafe looked good as a bakery but my Steak and Egg Burrito was a super Summer special. The pepper jack cheese and siracha sour cream was a really nice addition to the Steak and scrambled eggs.

Next up was Sweet Basil's cafe in Livingston.  Reviewers of this brunch spot focused on a number of good looking options but I had to go with something I never had in the Shrimp Benedict which was excellent but unusual. The ingredients were roasted corn & yucca hash with shrimp, topped with guacamole, two poached eggs & cilantro chipotle hollandaise co     rn & yucca hash with shrimp, topped with guacamole, two poached eggs & cila

ntro chipotle hollandaise

Hoboken updated

Updated 09/24/17

Last weekend we got the opportunity to go to Antique Bar and Bakery in Hoboken which we had heard great things about.  The restaurant did not disappoint and the vibe was very cool with great music and a kitchen that is open and near our table; a little dark but the pictures came out ok.  Careful because the drinks are kind of pricey but the appetizers were very good.  We shared the rice balls and peas as well as the Hot Oil Shrimp.  For our main courses, Connor had the Hanger steak with an excellent dipping sauce, Leslie got the Black Bass and my stuffed lobster with pasta was really good.The most unusual part of the meal was the Peanut butter and Bacon banana split.  I am not sure the slab bacon really worked but the rest was amazing.

        We then tried to walk off the meal but Connor suggested a really fun bar that was dog friendly.  Made a note to bring Murphy the next time we went to Hoboken.  Really interesting beer selections with cask beer (see menu below) and we ran into the Mahon's and chatted until moving on.

We finished the night with a few drinks at the roof top bar of The Dubliner on a beautiful night.

This Sunday we tried the breakfast in Denville at Mara's cafe and I can recommend the Breakfast Steak burrito and the baked goods were very fresh.

9/4/17

Great afternoon in Hoboken for a food walk from Connor's apartment to the 14th street pier and then back again on the Labor Day weekend.  We started with a cheesesteak from Piccolo's (which is never open when I go by) and a real piece of good steak.  This place was like going back to the 50's with Sinatra playing in the speakers and photos galore on the walls.

Next we hit the Pier and had an excellent lobster empanada from a food truck but the beef was very good as well. After splitting a Pizza and some beers we made the nice walk back along the Hudson.  

On the way back we stopped at Makai Poke on Washington Street for a strong bowl with salmon and spicy king crab and my first Poke experience.  Well done!

Can't help but end with my latest dinner at my favorite dinner, Americana in East Windsor where the lobster and crab fritter (I love fritters!) and a shrimp tower.

When we passed the Brass Rail I could not help but think of the amazing country ham and southern hash we had two weeks before.

The Big weekend of the Meth/Jillions wedding!

Although food was a side attraction to the main event of Tyler and Allie's wedding we still had a fun food experience the past week or so. Please excuse the wedding photos but proud papa has to post.

Weekend before we ate on the back porch of Towne restaurant in Morristown and had some strong seafood spaghetti.  Started the weekend on Thursday with an amazing roast pork sandwich from John's Roast Pork in Philly. Friday morning at the Cubby Hole in Moorestown. Really happy with the food at the rehearsal dinner especially the desert of fruit tart on a croissant bed. The wedding was so much fun and the appetizers were amazing.
  Thanks so much to the Jillions who went above and beyond and got an amazing priest to do the wedding with a rare combination of humor and warmth that was engaging.

Millburn and Jersey City

The last two weekends have been food gold mines with two restaurants that are really tough to get into. The first restaurant was Common Lot in Millburn.  Everything we had was fresh and tasted great. Most interesting was the steak which was not like a steakhouse but really a great taste.

Sunday we got into Battello in Jersey City and the meal and the views  of downtown NYC were as good as advertised.  Especially amazing was the Bronzino with Crab fondue on top.  The amount of large lump crab meat was just ridiculous. Check out the picture below.