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Archive for November, 2009

Victor’s Pizza

Monday, November 30th, 2009 by virginia

When Josh and I are testing out pizza on our quest for the go-to delivery place, we compare them to our golden standard, Victor’s Pizza in Teaneck, NJ. This is the pizza that we grew up eating so maybe that’s why we hold it up on a pedestal, but even when we’re home visiting our parents on weekends, we’ll stop by for a slice or a small pie and it’s always as good as we remember.

But our quest is about delivery pizza, so one Saturday when we were in NJ we placed a delivery order for a large cheese pizza, a chicken parm hero, and an eggplant parm hero. We always ask for our pie to be “well done” so that the crust is golden and the cheese is brown and bubbly.

Large cheese pizza "well done"

As usual, Victor’s delivered the perfect pie, with a crust that’s crispy on the outside and nicely chewy in the middle. The crust has a nice developed flavor but doesn’t taste too floury or yeasty. The sauce to cheese to crust ratio is also spot on, and there’s a nice saltiness to the cheese that complements the sweet tomato sauce.

Underside shot

The chicken parmesan hero is packed with lots of breaded chicken but it usually needs some extra toasting in the oven to crisp up the bread a little bit and melt the cheese more. I wish the “well done” philosophy also applied to their sandwiches. Still, it’s a substantial and pretty tasty version of the hero.

Cheesy chicken parm hero

I’m not the hugest fan of eggplant parm heroes, as I think they’re usually seedy and slimey, but Victor’s actually makes a pretty good rendition that almost makes you forget there’s no meat. The eggplant in the sandwich is more thickly sliced and breaded, which makes it seem much heartier.

Meaty eggplant parm hero

I don’t know exactly what it is about Victor’s Pizza that makes it so delicious, but pizza preference is always a personal taste. The thing about Victor’s is its consistency. It delivers a basic, classic pie that’s always very well prepared every single time we get it. We haven’t found that consistency with any of the places we’ve ordered from in the city. Every place that showed potential disappointed us the second time around. So while our quest for our go-to pizza place continues, I can take comfort in knowing that if I’m truly craving a solid standard pizzeria style pizza, I can just head to Victor’s the next time we’re in NJ.

Victor’s Pizza
540 Cedar Lane
Teaneck, NJ

Tags: Delivery, NJ, Pizza, Sandwiches
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#2 – Le Bernardin – The best 5 meals of my life (so far)

Sunday, November 29th, 2009 by josh

New York, NY USA. March 2009
4-course prix fixe
I developed the desire to try Le Bernardin after reading about the chef, Eric Ripert, in Michael Ruhlman’s books and seeing him as a judge on Top Chef. The restaurant didn’t disappoint in the slightest. Everything was cooked to perfection and the flavors were light but delicious. My meal began with a Geoduck ceviche with sweet dried corn from the “Almost Raw” section of the menu. Next, from “Barely Touched” I had Bacalao with arugula/lemon confit pesto, almond and chorizo oil. During this course Virignia had zucchini flowers stuffed with peekytoe crab in a black truffle sauce that, before visiting Alinea, might have been the best thing I had ever eaten anywhere. My main course came from the “Lightly Cooked” section and was Wild Striped Bass – Langoustine with confit tomato, agnolotti, bouillabaisse consommé and curry emulsion. Before dessert, Eric Ripert stopped by our table (we had told the waiter that we’d like to meet him). My sister embarrassingly told Ripert first off that Virginia and I were fans of his and he looked at us and coyly asked “are you still fans?” He was extremely nice, wishing me a happy birthday and letting us know his favorite desserts on the menu before heading back to the kitchen where the stove hoods must be built into the ceiling to accommodate his seemingly twelve-foot frame. For dessert, I ordered the Grapefruit (vanilla cream, grapefruit sorbet, tarragon coulis, crisp meringe), which was not recommended by Ripert but was different than what everyone else at the table ordered. We did get to try his recommendations (chocolate/peanut and the hazelnut desserts) and the kitchen sent us a free dessert (pineapple panacotta I think) because it was my birthday. Overall it was a fabulous meal, one of the few where I remember everything I ate even though we took no pictures of the dishes.

Tags: top5
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Homemade Cuban Sandwiches on Amy’s Bread

Sunday, November 29th, 2009 by virginia

Josh was on an Amy’s Bread kick one week and would stop there every day on his way home to pick up a nice baguette or some tasty baked treats for noshing. One night he picked up a rustic Italian peasant bread with a sturdy crust and we decided to make toasted Cuban sandwiches using some boneless pork chops that I had been marinating in the fridge.

My method for marinating pork chops is really simple. I liberally sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of two boneless pork chops and place them in a quart sized Ziploc bag. I drizzle some extra virgin olive oil into the bag, enough to coat both chops. Then I use a garlic press and squeeze two medium sized cloves directly into the bag and add the leaves from one small sprig of rosemary. I seal the bag with just a tiny bit of air inside and squish everything all around for a minute or so, making sure all the seasoning and herbs are dispersed evenly on both pork chops. Leave for a few hours or overnight in the fridge.

Marinating pork chops

To cook the pork chops, simply put them on a skillet that has been heated on medium high heat. Cook through on one side, then flip over and cook the other side. The olive oil from the marinade is enough to prevent the pork chops from sticking, so you don’t need to add more oil. The resulting pork chops are seasoned throughout and perfectly juicy from the marinade permeating through the meat.

To make the Cuban sandwiches, we cooked up the pork chops and sliced them into thin strips. I slathered some mayo on one piece of sandwich bread, and yellow mustard on the piece. Then I piled on deli ham, salami, the pieces of pork chop, sliced pickles, and swiss cheese. I closed the sandwich, pressing down hard so that it would hold together, and brushed some olive oil on the outside of both slices of bread.

Constructing the Cuban sandwiches

We don’t have a panini press in our apartment so I simply heated the oven to 375 degrees with my pizza stone inside. Once it was heated, I put the sandwiches directly on the stone, topped them with a piece of aluminum foil, and placed a heavy cast iron griddle on top, pushing down hard on the sandwiches. If you don’t have a griddle you can use a heavy pot or a cookie sheet weighed down with a few oven safe pots/pans.

Once the sandwich was nice and toasty and the cheese completely melted, we were ready to eat. The Italian bread was a nice change from the usual Cuban bread, though it was a bit harder and crunchier in texture.

Heat up the sandwich so that the bread gets nice and toasty brown

Make sure the bread gets nice and toasty brown

I drew my inspiration for the fillings from Margon, as salami isn’t always a traditional ingredient. For a homemade version of the Cuban sandwich, I thought it tasted pretty good and was really quick and easy to make.

Autopsy shot

Amy’s Bread (multiple locations)
672 9^th Ave. between 46^th and 47^th St.
New York, NY

Tags: Cuban, Pork, Sandwiches
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Baluchi’s

Saturday, November 28th, 2009 by virginia

Josh and I both love Indian food but it’s not something we eat too often, as most of our family members don’t enjoy it as much as we do. When we do have Indian food, we usually get it delivered for dinner. We’ve tried a few places in our neighborhood but our standard go-to place is Baluchi’s. There are branches all over the city, and even when we lived downtown we would order in from the one in Tribeca or visit it during lunchtime when everything is 50% off (even on weekends). I can’t really vouch for the authenticity, but the food is consistently good and their delivery/takeout prix fixe menu is really a great value.

For $14.95, you can select an appetizer and an entrée from a decently long list of offerings. It doesn’t include everything on the regular a la carte menu but there’s a nice variety and most “standard” Indian dishes are available. The prix fixe also includes basmati rice, a piece of naan bread, cucumber raita, and mango chutney. When you consider that most chicken/lamb curries already start out at $13.95/$14.95 when ordered a la carte, and appetizers start out at $6.95, this prix fixe is an incredible deal.

One night when Josh and I had a craving for some Indian curry, we placed a delivery order using Baluchi’s easy online system. We decided to get two prix fixes, one with samosas and lamb rogan josh, and another with aloo papri and chicken korma. Usually we get two orders of samosas, as they are our favorite appetizer and Baluchi’s has one of the better versions that we’ve had. The skin is thinner and usually still somewhat crispy even after being delivered. The filling of potato and peas is soft and flavored with curry powder. They top the samosas with chickpeas, and then drizzle on a tasty green sauce and a tamarind sauce. There is a mélange of textures and flavors that all really work well together. It’s salty, sweet, and a little bit sour.

Samosas

This time we decided to try a new appetizer in addition the samosas. We opted for the aloo papri, which is described on the menu as a snack with potatoes, chickpeas, and yogurt. While it did have a messy pile of chickpeas, yogurt, tamarind, and green sauce, there were no potatoes to be found. There were little soggy crisps mixed throughout though that I think were fried lentil dumplings, like in papri chaat. I was a bit disappointed with this dish as it had similar ingredients to samosas, minus the potatoes, but less flavor overall and it was very mushy in texture.

Aloo papri and the case of the missing potatoes

Aloo papri, though no potatoes

Lamb rogan josh is my favorite Indian dish, and this is one of the best versions that I’ve had. There are huge chunks of tender gamey lamb stewed with tomatoes in a cardamom sauce. The dish is spicy in a flavorful way but doesn’t have any heat to it. I like to wrap pieces of the lamb in some naan bread and dip it in the curry sauce, then in the raita. The yogurt mellows out some of the spice and makes the curry a bit creamier.

Lamb rogan josh

Chicken korma is Josh’s favorite Indian dish, though I find Baluchi’s version to be a bit too creamy in flavor. The curry is made from an almond cream sauce and the pieces of chicken are mixed with fruit and nuts, giving it a nice sweetness. Though it’s a very mild curry, it’s also very thick and rich so I can’t eat too much of it. I usually end up mixing some of the korma curry with the lamb rogan josh curry to create a sort of creamy tomato-y curry sauce that I mix together with the basmati rice.

Chicken korma

The basmati rice is mixed with visible pieces of dried spices, which I pick out before eating as biting into a clove or cardamom pod gives you kind of a shock. The flavors of the spices still remain with rice though, making it very fragrant. The naan bread is large and fluffy and always comes wrapped in a piece of aluminum foil so it stays warm. I really like that they give you both rice and naan, since it’s hard to choose between the two.

A little taste of everything with a big fluffy piece of naan

As I said earlier, while I don’t know how authentic the food is, Baluchi’s is still our go-to Indian restaurant. Now that we live on the upper west side, we order in from the 56^th St. branch, but I’ve found the food to be pretty consistent between different branches. When we get delivery, we always get the prix fixe as it’s a bargain compared to other places. The portions are as large or larger than other restaurant deliveries, and the food is always tasty and flavorful. I highly recommend checking it out the next time you have a craving for Indian food.

Baluchi’s (multiple locations)
240 West 56th St. between 8th Ave. and Broadway
New York, NY

Tags: Delivery, Indian, Midtown, Prix Fixe
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NC – Nikos Taverna

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by virginia

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We went to Nikos Taverna, a Greek restaurant near my brother’s house for a pre-baptism dinner with Alexander’s godparents. The restaurant is also in a strip mall but is very nicely decorated inside with requisite pictures of Greece on the walls but a modern and upbeat vibe.

We received a bread basket with a standard white loaf and some olive oil for dipping. I was kind of disappointed that they didn’t give us pita bread, since regular white bread seems out of place in a Greek restaurant. Nevertheless, the bread was fine and the oil was flavorful.

Bread and olive oil

We saw another table receiving some sort of flambéed appetizer that looked really neat so we had to order one for ourselves. It turned out to be flaming Greek cheese saganaki, which is a thin wedge of seared kefalograviera cheese (made from sheep’s milk) that is covered in brandy and set on fire. It was a very festive appetizer as they shouted “Opa!” when the cheese was lit.

Flaming cheese

After the flame went out the waiter squeezed lemon juice over the top and we quickly dug in. The cheese developed a beautiful golden brown crispy crust on the outside and was warm and melty on the inside. The sheep’s milk cheese wasn’t too gamey or tangy in flavor, and its saltiness was tempered by the lemon juice.

Cheese saganaki

We also shared a fried calamari appetizer that was served with tzatziki sauce. The tzatziki was one of the better versions that I’ve tasted, rich and creamy with lots of bright flavor and well seasoned. The calamari was also well done, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Fried calamari with tzatziki sauce

For my main course, I selected the yogurtlu kebab, which was ground meat patties served with triangles of pita bread, salad, tzatziki sauce, and tomato sauce. It was a huge serving of food, and all of it delicious. I thought the ground meat patties were made from lamb but when I asked the waiter, he said it was beef. It had a deep complex flavor though, and a slight gaminess to it that made me think it was lamb, but maybe that was because of the seasonings. The tomato sauce was kind of weird and sour tasting, so I ignored it and used the tzatziki sauce exclusively. I would cut off a piece of the patty and place it on a pita triangle with some of the salad, then top it off with a dollop of tzatziki and eat it like a mini gyro.

Yogurtlu kebabs (ground meat patties)

Josh had the grilled chicken kotopoulo skaras, which was marinated grilled chicken with roasted lemon potatoes and vegetables. The chicken was moist and tender, and the potatoes had great lemony flavor but I wish they had more texture and crispiness to them. It was a perfectly fine dish but nothing exciting. I liked my dish and some of the other dishes I sampled (the braised lamb shank, the lamb tenders) better.

Grilled chicken with roasted lemon potatoes

Overall I really did like the food and the ambiance at Nikos Taverna. The décor is more upscale but the atmosphere is casual. It’s a good place for large groups and there is a nice bar area in the front where people were hanging out having cocktails. The waitstaff was very friendly and attentive. I would definitely come back here if we’re in Raleigh again, which will be likely since I already miss holding my nephew!

Nikos Taverna
4075 Davis Drive
Morrisville, NC

Tags: Greek, North Carolina
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NC – Smokey’s BBQ Shack

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN4556

We arrived in Raleigh early Saturday morning the day before Alexander’s baptism. Not wanting to deal with sub par airport food again, we had skipped breakfast so we were pretty hungry by the time we got to my brother’s house. After settling in and having some quality nephew snuggling time, we headed out to Smokey’s BBQ Shack for an early lunch.

Smokey’s is the Carolina barbecue place that my brother wanted to take us to the first time we were in Raleigh but it was closed that weekend for Labor Day. The hours of operation are pretty sparse, as the restaurant mostly caters to the work lunch crowd. They do usually open on Saturdays from 11-7 so we were in luck this time.

The restaurant is basically a little shack/hut on the side of the road that has a lot of character. There are lots of funny signs posted everywhere, as well as some interesting decorations on the walls.

Just some of the "character" of the restaurant

We ordered at the counter in the back, got some soda from the dispensers, and settled at a table to wait for our food. It came pretty quickly, as the meats are smoked for hours beforehand. Josh and I both got the Smokey’s Sampler because we wanted to try all the meats offered. The sampler came with pulled pork, beef brisket, chicken wings, and a large rib.

Chicken wings and pulled pork

It also included hush puppies (the same kind that we had last time I think) and a side dish.

Crispy hush puppies

The sauces are served in squeeze bottles on the table and included a Carolina vinegar-based sauce and a slightly spicy barbecue sauce. We found that mixing both sauces together was the best way to go, as it made a smoky, sweet, and tangy combination that we doused all of our meats with.

Smokey's bbq sauce

All of the meat was tender, a little bit smoky, and very very good. My favorite was the rib, which was falling off the bone and had just the right amount of fat mixed in with the meat to make it really succulent.

Meaty and fatty rib and tender brisket

For our sides, we opted for macaroni and cheese, which was pretty standard. The sauce was rich and thick but I missed having a crunchy topping to provide some textural contrast.

Macaroni and cheese

Our other side dish was Brunswick stew, which was a much better version than the one we had at Danny’s BBQ. This version actually had meat in it and was much thicker and richer. It had a nice tomato base and didn’t have any of the canned quality that marred the previous version we had.

Brunswick stew

I definitely thought that Smokey’s BBQ was far superior to the other Carolina barbecue we had, and I liked the casual home-y atmosphere. It’s just sad that the hours are so sporadic, but it’s worth the effort to get there while it’s open. Portions are generous and nothing costs over $10, making it a pretty good bargain. Though the menu isn’t extensive, it covers all the basic barbecue items and sides, and the food they produce is well prepared and comforting. I definitely recommend coming here if you’re ever in this neck of the woods.

Smokey’s BBQ Shack
10800 Chapel Hill Rd.
Morrisville, NC

Tags: BBQ, North Carolina, Pork, Ribs
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NC – Super Wok

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by virginia

DSCN2303

One of Josh’s favorite Chinese food dishes is pork in garlic sauce. He even knows how to say it in Mandarin, so that if he doesn’t see it on the menu, he can still try to order it. Whenever we go out to a Chinese restaurant with my family, my parents always make sure that it’s one of the dishes that we get. With that in mind, my brother suggested going to Super Wok for dinner, a Chinese restaurant near his home that serves really good pork in garlic sauce.

The restaurant is also located in a strip mall and kind of looks like a hole in the wall takeout joint. It was pretty packed though, which was a good sign. We ordered a bunch of different dishes to share, including the touted pork in garlic sauce. It really was a very tasty version, with tender shreds of pork and a nice thick, spicy garlic sauce.

Pork in garlic sauce

The stir fried spicy tofu homestyle, however, was a complete disappointment. It looked pretty good, with triangles of fried tofu mixed with broccoli, carrots, baby corn, snow peas, mushrooms, and other vegetables. Unfortunately, the flavor was totally off. It was sour and very weird tasting, nothing like other versions of homestyle tofu that I’ve had, and it wasn’t just different, it tasted gross. None of us enjoyed this dish.

Very weird tasting homestyle tofu

Another disappointment was the fried fish cut like a squirrel tail in sweet and sour sauce. It looked neat, with two fish filets cut so that it cubed and curled, kind of like squirrel tails. However, it was either over fried or just had too much coating and not enough fish, as it was very hard on the outside and not very meaty on the inside. The sweet and sour sauce was standard, but I couldn’t get past the bad texture of the fish and the hard crust.

Fried fish cut like a squirrel tail

A much more successful dish was the intestine hotpot, which had chewy but tender pieces of intestine stewed with assorted vegetables in a ceramic hotpot. The dish was a little spicy and a nice mix of textures. There were a lot of bamboo shoots in the hotpot, which normally I don’t like, but it worked well with the rest of the components. Even Josh enjoyed this dish, and he typically doesn’t eat intestines or tripe or anything that’s super chewy.

Intestine hotpot

The stir fried squid with scallion was also not too chewy, which was a good thing. It had kind of a pleasantly bouncy texture, and the squid was slightly peppery in flavor.

Stir fried squid

Last but not least, we had peking style pork chops. It’s similar to General Tso’s or sesame chicken, with crispy pieces of pork covered in a sweet and sour sauce, but it’s not overly sweet and cloying. This is a dish that I grew up with so it’s one of my comfort foods. The sauce is great for spooning over rice, and it has kind of a barbecue/orange flavor to it.

Peking style pork chops

Overall I thought the food at Super Wok was hit or miss, with very high highs and very low lows. The pork in garlic sauce and the peking style pork chops were some of the better versions that I’ve had but the homestyle tofu was pretty bad, as was the fried fish. However, we really didn’t try that many things from the menu so I don’t know whether the restaurant excels in American style dishes or in more authentic Chinese dishes. From what my brother tells me though, good Chinese restaurant choices are limited in his area. So if anyone has a recommendation for a good Chinese place near Raleigh, let me know!

Super Wok
Chatham Square
1401-L SE Manyard Rd.
Cary, NC

Tags: Chinese, North Carolina, Pork, Seafood
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NC – Cooking at Home

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 by virginia

My brother and sister-in-law are very hospitable hosts and they prepared a really delicious lunch for us after we got back from church on Sunday afternoon. My brother grilled up some awesome filet mignons and hot dogs while my sister-in-law made garlicky and tasty mussels.

For the filet mignons, my brother used Paula Deen’s house rub recipe to season the steaks. The rub is just salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and is really flavorful despite the simple preparation.

Simply seasoned and grilled filet mignon

He cooked it for just a few minutes on the bbq grill and it was a perfect medium rare.

Flavorful and juicy steak

For the hot dogs, he slathered them with a spicy chili sauce, ketchup, and soy sauce mixture and then grilled them, which gave them a nice kick and an Asian twist on flavor.

Hot dogs covered in a spicy chili sauce and then grilled

To prepare the mussels, we scrubbed and de-bearded them, making sure to discard any that appeared dead or had cracked shells.

Huge bowl of mussels ready to be cooked

Then we chopped up one small onion, a couple of garlic cloves, and measured out some butter and white wine.

Garlic, white wine, onions, butter

My sister-in-law then sauteed the onions and garlic for a little bit before adding everything into a huge stock pot, letting the mussels gently steam open. The result was a huge bowl of garlicky mussels with lots of flavorful broth in which we dipped toasted pieces of bread. Yum!

Delicious steamed mussels with garlic and white wine flavor

Tags: Hot Dogs, North Carolina, Seafood, Steak
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NC – Danny’s Bar-B-Que

Monday, November 23rd, 2009 by virginia

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While we were in Raleigh I really wanted to try Carolina barbecue, which is smoked meat doused in a vinegar based sauce, but because we were there over Labor Day weekend, most of the bbq joints my brother wanted to take us to were closed. Boo. I really had my heart set on having it though so my brother found a place near his home called Danny’s Bar-B-Que that was still open.

The restaurant is located in kind of a nondescript strip mall and the décor is a bit generic but that didn’t really matter because we were here to sample the food. The restaurant is definitely kid-friendly and there was plenty of room for Alexander’s stroller at our table. The hostess and the servers were all super friendly and offered up their suggestions when Josh and I said we were inexperienced with Carolina barbecue.

We started off with an order of hush puppies, something that I’ve had before in Hilton Head. It’s basically deep fried corn bread batter. The ones at here were uniformly shaped logs so I think they were probably the frozen kind but at least they were served piping hot tasted pretty delicious. They had a crispy outer shell that gave way to a sweet corn center.

Crispy hush puppies

I really wanted to have some baby back ribs so I opted to go with a two meat combination with baby back ribs and beef brisket (baby backs are $4.75 extra). The combination came with Texas toast and a choice of two sides. I picked baked beans and the special of the day, collard greens. The ribs came in a huge slab and were really tender. The brisket was a bit on the dry side but I doused them in the vinegary carolina bbq sauce as well as a spicy bbq sauce. The baked beans were sweet and smokey, and the collard greens had a nice slightly bitter flavor to them.

Beef brisket, baby back ribs, baked beans, Texas toast, collard greens

We wanted to try all of the bbq meat offerings so Josh went with the three meat combination that came with St. Louis style ribs, chicken, and chopped pork. The St. Louis style ribs were larger than the baby backs but not as falling off the bone tender. The chicken was juicy and flavorful, while the chopped pork was a bit fatty but super moist. For his sides, Josh chose french fries and Brunswick stew. The french fries were standard and fried well, but the Brunswick stew was a bit of a disappointment. There was no meat in it, just beans, and it tasted like they were just dumped straight from a can. The stew didn’t have much seasoning and still had a tinny metallic taste to it.

Chicken, chopped pork, St. Louis style ribs, french fries, Brunswick stew

Overall I thought the food at Danny’s Bar-B-Que was decent but didn’t blow my mind. I don’t know what I was really expecting with Carolina barbecue but I thought it would be a bit smokier in flavor. Most of the meats we had were tender but unseasoned and a bit bland. I guess this is so you can pick what sauces you want to douse on top, but then all I tasted was the sauce and not the meat. I did like the vinegary bbq sauce though, as it’s not as sweet and overpowering as regular bbq sauce. Not being a barbecue connoisseur, I don’t know how authentic the food is but it was a nice place to have a fun, casual, and affordable family dinner.

Danny’s Bar-B-Que (multiple locations)
9561 Chapel Hill Rd.
Morrisville, NC

Tags: BBQ, North Carolina, Ribs
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Ruby’s Diner

Monday, November 23rd, 2009 by virginia

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The airport diner… we meet again. After the debacle last time at Garden State Diner, also at Newark Airport, I was a bit wary to try another but we were hungry and had time to kill before our flight to Raleigh. So Ruby’s Diner it was. Slightly smaller, a bit less kitschy. I don’t know if we got an abbreviated menu but there really weren’t all that many options for us to choose from. Maybe it was just the time that we were there but the menu only had a handful of breakfast items, which we were told they would be cutting off soon as they switched over to lunch, so we quickly placed our orders and hoped for the best.

Josh ordered a simple bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast sandwich that was served on a long soft roll. Though the sandwich was slightly larger than the typical bacon/egg/cheese on a roll, it was pretty standard. The cheese wasn’t even melted on the sandwich. It did come with a side of home fries but when Josh asked if he could switch it to french fries, the waitress thought for a second and then gave a flat out “no.” I’ve never been to a diner where they wouldn’t swap home fries for french fries during breakfast, but given the location, I can’t say I was surprised. The home fries weren’t terrible but they were a bit mealy and underseasoned.

Standard bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll and home fries

I ended up getting two eggs with bacon, toast, and home fries. However, I didn’t get a choice of how I wanted my eggs cooked (they turned out to be scrambled) or what kind of toast I wanted (I prefer white; I got wheat). I don’t know if that was the diner policy or what but I found it kind of strange. At that point however, we didn’t have much time left before boarding so I didn’t bother asking to exchange my food. It’s just eggs and toast after all.

Bacon, home fries, scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast

Josh kept with the airport diner tradition and got a vanilla milkshake, which was fine. It wasn’t as good thick and frothy as the one from the Garden State Diner, but it’s pretty hard to mess up a milkshake.

Classic vanilla milkshake

What else can I say? Ruby’s Diner is at an airport, and that pretty much sums it up. It’s nice to have a place to sit down and get table service while you’re waiting for your flight, but it’s very overpriced and the food is just meh. Our waitress was also pretty surly and unhelpful, which only made the meal seem much worse. It looks like Ruby’s Diner is a chain restaurant though, and I can only hope the food/service is better at the other locations.

Ruby’s Diner (multiple locations)
At Newark Airport
Newark, NJ

Tags: Airport, Diner, NJ
Posted in Restaurants, Travel | 1 Comment »

Archive for November, 2009

Victor’s Pizza

#2 – Le Bernardin – The best 5 meals of my life (so far)

Homemade Cuban Sandwiches on Amy’s Bread

Baluchi’s

NC – Nikos Taverna

NC – Smokey’s BBQ Shack

NC – Super Wok

NC – Cooking at Home

NC – Danny’s Bar-B-Que

Ruby’s Diner

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