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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 »

Nisi Estiatorio

Monday, August 24th, 2009 by virginia

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Josh’s parents have been raving about Nisi Estiatorio, a Greek restaurant in Englewood, for a long time now so when we found ourselves in NJ on a random weekday night, they decided to take us there for a nice treat. The restaurant features fresh seafood that is simply prepared. The fish are displayed on ice and you can choose which one you want; the fish you pick is priced by the pound.

The fish are displayed on ice and you can pick the one you want

The fish are displayed on ice - you can pick the one you want and they'll weigh it for you

Our waitress took Josh and me up to the fish display to select our fish. We decided to try a fish we’ve never had before, a fagri, which is a pink sea bass. The fagri they had on hand that day were big enough for two so we decided to split one. Josh’s mom chose a dover sole, and Josh’s dad decided to go for a special of the evening, a red snapper. We also decided to share some appetizers and side dishes. After placing our order, they brought out the bread basket which had pieces of warm bread brushed with olive oil, as well as a little dish of kalamata olives. The bread had a sturdy and crispy crust and I thought the olive oil was a nice touch.

Crusty bread brushed with olive oil

Our first appetizer was diced beets topped with a whipped feta skordalia. The beets were marinated in vinegar so they had a bit of a tang to them. The whipped feta skordalia was light and fluffy and very garlicky (skordalia is usually a dip made with potatoes and garlic). I didn’t taste much feta, but I thought the combination of the tangy beets and the creamy skordalia was wonderful together. I’ll definitely have to experiment with making this at home.

Diced beets topped with feta skordalia

Next we had a greek salad with huge chunks of cucumber and tomatoes in it, as well as olives, peppers, and onions. There was a big block of feta cheese on top that was creamy, not crumbly, and had a mellow gamey flavor to it. Josh doesn’t normally like feta but he enjoyed this one. The salad was lightly dressed with some oil and vinegar and was very refreshing.

Greek salad with delicious feta

For our last appetizer we had Nisi chips, which were thinly sliced vegetables lightly battered and deep fried. There were thin strips of eggplant, onion, beets, and some other vegetables that I don’t remember. The chips were crispy and not at all greasy. It came with some tzatziki sauce for dipping, but unfortunately the tzatziki was pretty disappointing. It’s usually my favorite dip but this one tasted only like plain yogurt; it lacked both flavor and seasoning.

Nisi chips with tzatziki sauce for dipping

For our main course, the fish that Josh and I chose was brought to us fileted and served with a little drizzle of oil and lots of capers and herbs. We squeezed some lemon juice over the top and it was just perfect – light and simple. The fagri was a meatier fish than I thought it would be, but still had a nice delicate texture to it. My only complaint was that it was served to us at room temperature, not warm. But I still enjoyed it a lot and would absolutely order it again.

The fagri (pink sea bass) we selected

Josh’s mom had a dover sole that appeared to have been floured and pan fried. It had a crust on it that was a bit tough, and the fish was overcooked. I don’t think she was too pleased with her dish.

Disappointing dover sole

Josh’s dad had a red snapper special that was served with roasted vegetables. I only took one bite of it but it was cooked perfectly and nicely seasoned.

Red snapper with roasted vegetables

For our sides, we had a bowl of three cheese smashed potatoes, which were super rich. The potatoes still had a bit of texture to them, which I liked. It was a heavy dish but I thought it went well with the fish.

Three cheese smashed potatoes

Our other side was roasted vegetables, which was a colorful mix of peppers, zucchini, asparagus, tomatoes, and other vegetables. They were lightly seasoned and still retained their crunch.

Colorful medley of roasted vegetables

Overall I really enjoyed Nisi Estiatorio. One bad dover sole aside, the fish for the most part is super fresh and well prepared. All the appetizers were great, and the sides were delicious as well. There were lots of other things on the menu that I’d like to try, such as the grilled lamb chops. My only issue with this restaurant is that it’s pretty pricey, and most entrees are served a la carte so sides cost extra, which means that it’s not somewhere we can go often. The atmosphere is really nice though, and the restaurant is big and airy and nicely decorated, which means it would be perfect for a special occasion. I hope that we will be back here again soon.

Nisi Estiatorio
90 Grand Ave.
Englewood, NJ

Tags: Englewood, Greek, NJ, Seafood
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Louie’s Charcoal Pit

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009 by virginia

Our Singaporean friend Francois wanted to go shopping at the Woodbury Common outlets so we first headed off to NJ to borrow a car from Josh’s parents. We had enough time to grab a quick breakfast with Josh’s mom and ended up at Louie’s Charcoal Pit, of course.

I had my usual breakfast order of two eggs over easy with bacon, french fries, and toast. The eggs were perfectly runny and the bacon was nicely crispy. We always make sure to ask for our bacon well done so it’s never soggy or greasy. The fries were freshly fried and golden brown.

Two eggs over easy, bacon, french fries, and toast

Josh had bacon and egg on a roll, and contented himself with stealing some of my fries.

Fried egg sandwich with bacon

Josh’s mom had a bagel and lox platter, which comes with smoked salmon, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Though the bagel and cream cheese are nothing special (for truly great bagels, just head up the block to Three Star Bagels), they give you a huge portion of lox that is really delicious. The lox is a slightly thicker cut and not too oily. You can really pile it onto your bagel and it makes a filling and satisfying breakfast.

Bagel and lox platter

Louie’s is still and probably always will be my favorite diner. It’s just so familiar and comforting. It’s the kind of place where people greet you by name when you walk in, and the waiters know what your usual order is. The food comes quickly but you never feel rushed; we can sit for hours just chatting and they’ll always keep coming by to refill our coffee cups. I can guarantee that we’ll be back here, and often.

Louie’s Charcoal Pit
510 Cedar Lane
Teaneck, NJ

Tags: Diner, NJ, Sandwiches, Smoked Salmon
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Fiore’s Deli

Thursday, August 20th, 2009 by virginia

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I don’t watch 30 Rock, much to Josh’s sister’s dismay, but somehow I ended up watching the “Sandwich Day” episode that featured a roast beef and mozzarella sandwich with magical dipping sauce. It was and still is the only episode of 30 Rock that I’ve seen, and I couldn’t get that sandwich out of my mind, or the scene of Tina Fey’s character eating it at the airport security gate because the dipping sauce was over 3 ounces.

I read a post on Serious Eats New York that revealed the sandwich to be from Fiore’s Deli in Hoboken. Even though Hoboken is just across the Hudson, and Josh and I are in NJ fairly often, we could never find the time to get over to Fiore’s to try out this sandwich. So when Josh was assigned to a project in Jersey City and he mentioned that he had been hoofing it over to Hoboken for lunch, I quickly looked up the deli’s address and found that it wasn’t too far from his office. I asked him to pick up some sandwiches for dinner and made sure to tell him that he had to go on a Thursday, as that was when the magical dipping sauce would be available.

So the last Thursday before his Jersey City project ended, Josh made the trip to Fiore’s. He picked up two sandwiches, which are so large that they’re really like four sandwiches, and brought back 1.5 for our dinner that night (he ate a half for lunch).

A crazy big half of a sandwich

He also got a huge container of the magical dipping sauce, which is gravy made from the roast beef drippings. We heated the gravy up on the stove, and it smelled and looked a lot like soy sauce.

The magical gravy dipping sauce

Fortunately it didn’t taste like soy sauce, although I thought a detected a hint of it in the flavor. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me since it really looked so much like soy sauce. We also heated up the sandwiches briefly in the oven, since the bread had gotten very soggy from traveling all day. While the bread crisped up nicely, and the cheese got a little melty, I think it dried out the roast beef unfortunately.

Autopsy shot

The dry roast beef wasn’t a huge issue though, as we had lots of dipping sauce on hand. I liberally dipped each bite into the gravy, letting it soak into everything.

Lots of dipping action

Overall I must admit that I was a little disappointed with this sandwich. I know a lot of it was probably my fault in not eating it right away and reheating it in the oven, but the flavors weren’t as good as I thought they’d be; it was kind of one note. The beef didn’t have a huge amount of flavor to it.

Josh did eat half a sandwich right away, and while he said the roast beef was definitely moister originally, the bread was better after being toasted. And I’m sure the mozzarella cheese lost a lot of its fresh taste after being melted a bit. I thought the sandwiches would have roasted peppers on them but maybe you need to specially request them. I wonder if adding those would have helped perk up the flavors of the sandwich.

I think I’ll need to find a Saturday to make the trip to Fiore’s Deli myself, so that I can have a freshly made sandwich and dipping sauce and eat it right away. I don’t think that I can fairly judge this sandwich at this point. I also wouldn’t mind trying some other things that the deli has to offer!

Fiore’s Deli
414 Adams St.
Hoboken, NJ

Tags: Deli, Hoboken, NJ, Sandwiches
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Baumgart’s

Friday, August 7th, 2009 by virginia

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Josh and I were back in NJ for the weekend and had dinner at one of our old favorites, Baumgart’s. It’s a kitschy retro-looking diner that serves Chinese food and ice cream. A weird combination but somehow it works. The Chinese food isn’t totally Americanized, which I like about the place, and service is always fast and efficient. Plus the ice cream is outstanding.

We ended up ordering a ton of food for some reason, and we still managed to finish most of it. For appetizers, we started off with steamed house dumplings that are filled with a shrimp paste and served with pickled vegetables. These are probably pre-made frozen dumplings but they’re delicious. The skins are super thin and the filling is ample but light. I could eat dozens of these, easily.

Steamed house special dumplings

I think Baumgart’s has the best bbq spare ribs I’ve ever had at a Chinese restaurant. They’re always hot, covered in sauce, super meaty, and tender. The meat comes right off the bone and they’re not covered in fat like at other places. They give you plenty of wet naps to get the sticky sauce off your fingers afterward.

BBQ spare ribs

Our absolute favorite appetizer is the chicken with pine nuts. Tiny pieces of coarsely ground chicken are cooked with pine nuts in a light brown sauce and you spoon the mixture onto lettuce leaves. Then you eat it like a wrap. It’s sweet and salty and crunchy – the flavors and textures of this dish are just outstanding.

Chicken and pine nuts in a lettuce wrap

For our main courses, we got an order of crispy shrimp with honey walnuts. The shrimp is kind of cooked like general tso’s chicken, with coated shrimp that’s fried until crispy and tender and served with a sweet reddish tomato based sauce with peppers, onions, and water chestnuts. The walnuts are coated with honey and roasted until they’re also crispy and taste like candy. This is always a solid dish for us.

Crispy shrimp with honey walnuts

The sesame chicken is pretty standard, with chunks of chicken that are coated and fried with a sweet and tangy sauce that clings to the chicken. This dish can get a little dry sometimes, as they use white meat that doesn’t have a lot of moisture to begin with.

Sesame chicken

The brandied black bean filet is thin slices of filet mignon served over steamed spinach with and topped with the black bean sauce. Fortunately the sauce isn’t too powerful, since I’m not a huge fan of black beans (the fermented Chinese kind). But if you’re looking for that black bean flavor, you won’t find it in this dish. The beef is also hit-or-miss. On this trip, it was tender and still pink in the middle. Other times it has been tough and chewy and flavorless. The pieces of beef are pretty thin so they’re easy to overcook. Overall I’m not a huge fan of this dish but Josh and his dad like it a lot.

Brandied black bean filet

We got two noodle dishes – chicken pad thai and house special flat wide noodles. The chicken pad thai has all the usual ingredients – rice noodles, chicken, egg, bean curd, bean sprouts, etc., but it’s slightly pink which makes me think they put ketchup in it. It’s a bit sweeter than normal pad thai, but not bad. I like that they sprinkle a lot of crushed peanuts on top for extra crunch and flavor.

Chicken pad thai

The house special flat wide noodles come with shrimp, chicken, and beef, as well as lots of veggies. It’s cooked with a “sha cha” sauce, which is like Chinese bbq sauce. This is also a hit-or-miss dish, as sometimes they overcook the noodles and they all stick together in one mushy pile. This time it was cooked well, and the sauce isn’t liquidy like American bbq sauce. Sha cha is more of a paste, so it keeps the noodles dry but you can just taste a hint of it in the background.

House special flat wide noodles

The only major disappointment this time was the whole sea bass that was deep fried. We ordered the crispy ginger version, but we should have gone with the steamed instead. The fish was large but it didn’t seem like it had any meat on it. I don’t know what it was coated in before it was fried, but the entire fish was like one giant crust. It was so hard to get to what little meat there was, and everything was super super dry. It seemed like such a shame to ruin such a big piece of fish that way. I don’t know if it was a bad fish to begin with or if it was just over fried, but I definitely won’t be ordering this dish again.

Deep fried sea bass with ginger

Even after all that food we just consumed, we all saved room for dessert. You can’t go to Baumgart’s without getting ice cream! The ice cream is homemade, though I’m not sure where “home” is. It’s rich and creamy and never icy. I got a black raspberry “mini sundae” which is a large scoop with hot fudge and whipped cream. The fudge was so hot that it started melting my ice cream immediately. They really do put on a thick layer, and I love getting a bit of fudge, a bite of ice cream, and a dab of whipped cream all on one spoon. The black raspberry is not too sweet and has a strong berry flavor. This is definitely one of my favorites.

Black raspberry ice cream with hot fudge and real whipped cream

Josh had the mint chocolate chip mini sundae, also with hot fudge. The mint ice cream is appropriately minty and refreshing. It just tastes “clean”, if you know what I mean. Nothing artificial and it’s not the neon green color. Watch out for the chocolate chips, as they are more chunks than chips. There are huge blocks of frozen chocolate dispersed throughout the ice cream, and finding one is like finding gold. These are not your ordinary chocolate chips. We pretty much inhaled all of our ice cream.

Mint chocolate chip ice cream mini sundae

Even though I don’t generally crave Chinese food, I’m always happy to go to Baumgart’s. Aside from the standard sesame chicken, nothing else is like typical Chinese take out. I think a lot of the dishes are more authentic, even though the atmosphere is more of a 50’s ice cream soda shop than a Chinese restaurant. Even my dad has enjoyed their crispy shrimp, and he’s super picky about Chinese food outside our home. If you go to Baumgart’s during lunch or brunch, they also have really good chicken salad sandwiches and other more diner-ish fare. The restaurant also serves sushi, with a lot of tasty special rolls. This really is a place where anyone can find something to eat. Even the pickiest kids would be satisfied with their grilled cheese or burger with fries, and the adults can enjoy an eclectic asian feast. I definitely recommend Baumgart’s for anyone. And as a bonus, the Englewood location is BYO so bring along your favorite beer or wine!

Baumgart’s (multiple locations)
45 East Palisade Ave.
Englewood, NJ

Tags: BYO, Chinese, Englewood, Ice Cream, NJ
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Teaneck Kebab House

Friday, July 31st, 2009 by virginia

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I first heard about Teaneck Kebab House when it was reviewed by the NY Times. Josh and I got a delivery order from them one weekend that we were in NJ but at the time, I wasn’t really familiar with Afghan food. Since then, I’ve grown to love all kinds of middle eastern cuisine. I had a craving for it so when Josh and I found ourselves heading to NJ on Friday night, I suggested picking up food from the Teaneck Kebab House and bringing it home with us.

We had to wait a little while to pick up our food, as they were still baking a batch of Afghan bread for us. We were starving at that point so we ripped into the bread during the drive home. It was hot and crispy and absolutely delicious. Two pieces came with the food we ordered, so I’m glad that we picked up an additional order, which was another two pieces. This bread is seriously addictive.

Freshly baked Afghan bread

We got an order bouranee baunjan, which is eggplant covered in mint, garlic, and yogurt. It doesn’t look very appetizing but it’s absolutely delicious. The eggplant is tender and breaks apart easily. Mixed in with the yogurt sauce, it’s perfect for dipping the Afghan bread into. This was my favorite dish of the night.

Bouranee baunjan (eggplant with mint, garlic, and yogurt)

We also ordered the mantoo, which are beef dumplings topped with yogurt sauce and spices. The dumplings were shaped like tortellini. They were large but didn’t have too much filling in them so mostly it was just pasta. It’s also supposed to have tomato sauce (the NY Times review likened it to pasta Bolognese) but I didn’t really taste any tomato; the mint in the yogurt sauce was the predominant flavor. The dish was also very greasy for some reason, as there was a pool of red-tinged oil that gathered at the edge of the container. I was a bit disappointed as I’ve had better versions of mantoo elsewhere.

Mantoo (beef dumplings topped with yogurt and mint)

For our main course, we split a combination kebab platter which came with beef chapli, lamb, and chicken kebabs on a heaping pile of rice. The chapli, which is ground beef mixed with onions and spices, was super spicy. My mouth was on fire after one bite. I ended up dipping it into the leftover yogurt sauce from the mantoo, and that helped temper the heat. Once I got past the burn, the kebab was actually really tasty and seasoned with interesting spices. Both the lamb and chicken kebabs were cooked perfectly. I loved that the lamb was gamey, but people who are adverse to gamey lamb might be turned off by that. All the kebabs were really tender though, which is not an easy feat to accomplish. Too often I’ve been plagued by dried out and chewy kebabs. I wasn’t sure why the chapli was served in two different shapes though, one cylindrical and one flat patty.

Combination kebab platter (beef chapli, lamb, and chicken kebabs)

The combination platter also came with a salad of lettuce, tomato, carrots, cucumbers and onions topped off with a minty dressing. It was a good way to cool off my mouth after the spiciness of the chapli, and it was a generous serving.

Salad with minty yogurt dressing

Overall I really liked the food from the Teaneck Kebab House, and it would have been even better had we ate there because the food got a little bit cold on the drive home. Next time I think we’ll try eating at the restaurant rather than taking out. Portions are pretty big and the food is reasonably priced. Josh and I had two appetizers and shared one entrée, and we were absolutely stuffed. The restaurant is a BYO too, so it’s really a great value.

Teaneck Kebab House
251/253 Degraw Ave.
Teaneck, NJ

Tags: Afghan, BYO, NJ
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Tick Tock Diner

Sunday, July 19th, 2009 by virginia

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We had a few errands to run so we headed to NJ to do some shopping at Willowbrook mall. We stopped for lunch along the way and ended up at the Tick Tock Diner in Clifton. This place was on an episode of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”, though I don’t really remember that particular segment, as I only paid attention to when he visited White Manna in Hackensack, one of my favorite hamburger joints. Guy Fieri kind of annoys me so I only watch him when I hear about a place that interests me. They must be fans at the Tick Tock, as they have a huge autographed poster of him in the restaurant.

Autographed poster of Guy Fieri

The first thing that I saw when I opened the vast menu was disco fries, which I love so we ordered some for us to share. Disco fries are basically French fries with cheese and gravy. They listed American cheese on the menu though, which I find gross. We substituted swiss instead without any issues. Unfortunately, when the plate arrived, it was piled high with steak fries but very little cheese and gravy. Only the middle top pieces of fries were covered, leaving the fries on the outside and bottom hanging out to dry. The gravy was pretty tasty though, not too watery or greasy; I just wish there was more of it. We ended up eating only the cheesy fries and left the dry ones on the plate.

Disco fries with swiss cheese and gravy

I had a hard time choosing what I wanted for lunch, as many of the options sounded pretty good. I ended up choosing the “My Big Fat Greek Burger”, which is described as a lamb burger with feta tzatziki, eggplant medallion, and lettuce, served with seasoned fries. When it came, it didn’t look like how I pictured it would. The lamb patty was quite thin, there was only a small shmear of the tzatziki on the bun, the eggplant medallion a sad thin strip, and the lettuce was a few pieces of limp iceberg. Usually lamb burgers are fat and juicy, but this version just looked a bit sad.

"My Big Fat Greek Burger" with lamb and feta tzatziki

Nevertheless, it smelled pretty good so I carefully assembled everything together to make sure that I would get a bite of everything at once. The lamb patty itself was very flavorful, though people who don’t like gamey lamb should beware as it was super gamey. Unfortunately, it was also extremely dry. The thinness of the patty did nothing to help that, and it was completely cooked through (I wasn’t given an option of how I wanted it cook, not that it would have mattered since the patty was so thin). The eggplant was pretty much nonexistent in flavor, and the lettuce did absolutely nothing so I ended up pulling it out. The feta tzatziki was nicely salty and had good flavor but there wasn’t enough of it, which was too bad because it would have helped with the dryness factor.

Autopsy shot

While the lamb itself tasted good to me (I love gamey lamb), the dry texture was really off-putting. The patty was way too small for the bun, and the bread to filling ratio was pretty poor. The burger did come with seasoned waffle fries, my favorite, but these were a bit cold and soggy. It was not a well put together plate overall.

Josh ordered his diner standard, a triple decker turkey club. While the turkey wasn’t incredibly dry, it was really cold for some reason, like it had just been pulled straight from the refrigerator. It was colder than the lettuce and tomato on the sandwich, which I found kind of weird. The bacon was nice and crispy though, and there was a lot of it. The sandwich came with potato salad, which was pretty good and not overly drenched in mayo, but Josh doesn’t eat potato salad so he left it alone; I stole a few bites.

Turkey club with potato salad

Josh’s mom also had a hard time deciding what she wanted to eat so she ended up with eggs benedict. The eggs were a bit overdone but not completely hard boiled (they were, shall we say, medium rare?). The Canadian bacon was thickly sliced, which I liked, but the English muffin wasn’t toasted enough. The hollandaise was perfectly made, not too eggy or buttery, so overall the dish tasted pretty good.

Eggs benedict

To me, there’s nothing so special about the Tick Tock. It’s a diner, and it’s pretty much just like any other diner I’ve been to. The food is decent overall, but there are hits and misses as well. I wouldn’t order the lamb burger again but I’d try some of their other offerings. You pretty much can’t go wrong when you order standard diner food, and the food is pretty reasonably priced. It’s not a diner destination that you should go out of your way for, but if you happen to be hungry and driving along Route 3, it’s not a bad place to stop.

Tick Tock Diner
281 Alwood Rd.
Clifton, NJ

Tags: Burgers, Diner, Eggs Benedict, NJ
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Ichiban

Sunday, July 5th, 2009 by virginia

We were back in NJ on Sunday to do a little shopping (ok fine, a lot of shopping) and had dinner at Ichiban Japanese Restaurant in Hackensack. Ichiban is attached to a Best Western hotel but it has a separate entrance and is a far cry from mediocre hotel food. They serve sushi as well as regular Japanese food, but the hibachi tables are the highlight of the restaurant. The food is cooked on the flat griddle in front of you, and many of the chefs take the opportunity to turn it into a show. Depending on how interested the audience is, it can mean an onion volcano, a beating fried rice heart, or lots of ingredients being tossed in the air at various targets.

We started off our meal with a la carte orders of hand rolls – yellowtail and scallion for me, tuna for Josh. My yellowtail, though more reddish than normal, was fresh and tasty, and the little bits of scallion really go well with the fish. Josh’s tuna, though beautifully red, was tough and stringy. It was hard to bite through the fish, which is not a good thing. Oh well. This is why we come for the hibachi and not for the sushi.

Yellowtail and scallion hand roll and a tuna hand roll

Hibachi dinners start off with soup, either miso or clear. I prefer the clear, which is a peppery and salty broth with mushrooms and scallions floating in it. There are also little bits of fried onions, similar to the kind that tops off green bean casserole. Yum!

Clear soup

Next up is the salad, which is a bowl of mixed greens topped with delicious carrot ginger dressing and one sad cherry tomato. I can’t get enough of the dressing though, and my attempts at replicating this at home have failed miserably. Does anyone have a good recipe to share? Ichiban’s version is light, sweet and tangy, and there’s no mayo in it, so it doesn’t come off like a watery thousand island dressing. I could drink this stuff, so I don’t mind that they use such a heavy hand in dressing the salad.

Salad with ginger dressing

Now this is usually time for the show, when the hibachi chef comes and shows off his skills (I’ve never seen a female hibachi chef. Why is that?). Our particular chef this evening didn’t seem to keen on entertaining though, and stuck with straight cooking. We didn’t even get an “egg roll” joke out of him when he was making our fried rice. This has never happened before (the lack of entertainment) so I was surprised but I didn’t really mind. Usually I can’t stand when they bang utensils around, but I do enjoy an onion volcano once in a while. Nevertheless, he prepared our food in front of us methodically, only pausing to ask if we liked garlic in our fried rice (of course), and how we wanted our steaks cooked (rare).

Food cooking on the hibachi

First thing off the grill is fried rice, which I think costs about $3 extra (the hibachi dinners come with white rice). It’s just eggs, diced onions and carrots, garlic, soy sauce, salt and pepper – you can make this easily at home and it’s very tasty.

Fried rice

Next up were our shrimp appetizers, which are three big pieces that come with your set dinner.

Shrimp appetizer

Then come the mains, which for me were sirloin steak and chicken. He cooked my steak well past rare, rendering it a bit tough, but the chicken was cooked perfectly and still juicy. I guess it’s hard to regulate temperature when everything is cut into little squares. Josh’s order of filet mignon was cooked better and much more tender. The mains are quickly followed by cubes of vegetables that have been grilling on the hibachi, and noodles quickly sautéed with soy sauce and garlic. The portions here are enormous; I could barely fit everything onto my plate.

Crazy amount of food

What makes the meal complete for me are the sauces, ginger sauce and mustard sauce. I’ve been to lots of hibachi places that don’t offer mustard sauce, and it completely detracts from the experience. Mustard sauce is to hibachi as ketchup is to fries. I don’t enjoy one without the other (though I’ll still eat it!).

Ginger sauce on top and mustard sauce on the bottom

Finally, after most of my food has been placed into takeout containers for future meals (seriously, I can stuff myself silly and still have enough leftovers for at least two lunches at work), we get ice cream. They offer green tea and red bean, as well as chocolate, vanilla, and sherbet (usually orange). I always go for the green tea. Josh likes to mix it up and chose the red bean this time. The ice cream is always just a bit icy but it’s included in the meal, so that just makes it a bit more forgivable. I wouldn’t pay extra for it though.

Green tea and red bean ice cream

Overall Josh and I both love the hibachi dinners at Ichiban. It’s one of our more frequently requested dinners when we’re in NJ with his family. The prices are reasonable, especially for the amount of food that you get. I usually order steak and chicken because it’s only about a dollar or two more than just getting steak, and you get full portions of both (I’m a pig, but like I said, I also take home a lot of leftovers). Josh’s filet mignon is pricier, but most dinners top out at under $30, and that includes the soup, salad, white rice, shrimp appetizer, noodles, vegetables, and ice cream. For us, it’s always a nice treat since there aren’t many hibachi restaurants in the city (Benihana doesn’t count), and the food at Ichiban is consistently good.

Ichiban Japanese Restaurant
414 Hackensack Ave.
Hackensack, NJ

Tags: Hackensack, Hibachi, Japanese, NJ
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Garden State Diner

Friday, June 12th, 2009 by virginia

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Unfortunately for Josh, his Vegas business trip was scheduled after we had already booked our flights to Chicago. Rather than trying to change his flights to go directly from Vegas and having to deal with the red tape and all the rebooking fees, he opted to take a redeye into Newark from Vegas and meet me at the airport for our flight out to Chicago. Because his flight arrived at 5:30 am, and our flight out was at 10:15 am, it didn’t make sense for him to try and get home in between. I had him call me as soon as he landed and I headed to the airport immediately in an effort to cut down on the time he would have to wait by himself. We obviously had a lot of time until our flight so after we checked in and deposited our bag, we headed off to the Garden State Diner for a super early breakfast.

I’ve already waxed nostalgic about my love for Jersey diners, and the one in the airport was obviously a kitschy version – stainless steel chairs, red vinyl booths, neon lights, the whole bit. Still, it was more comfortable sitting in a booth than on those hard chairs by the gate, plus there was food involved.

Kitschy diner decor

We took our time deciding, and finally settled on Jersey eggs benedict for me (with Taylor ham instead of Canadian bacon), a bacon/egg/cheese sandwich for Josh, and a side order of fries to share. I asked the waitress if I could have the hollandaise on the side, and she seemed really confused, like she didn’t know eggs benedict comes with hollandaise. Regardless, my order showed up with the sauce on the side as requested but unfortunately, the eggs were way overcooked. One still had a tiny bit of runny yolk, while the other was almost completely hard-boiled. I generally hate sending things back, but a hard-boiled poached egg for eggs benedict is inexcusable.

Overcooked eggs on my Jersey eggs benedict

I flagged the waitress down, apologized first, and asked if I could new eggs since mine were overcooked. Again, she seemed really confused. I was trying to explain to her that the poached eggs should be runny, and she asked if I wanted them done “medium.” I don’t even know what that means! I’ve never been asked how I wanted my eggs done to a temperature, just whether I wanted them scrambled, or over easy, etc. So now I was also confused, because if I wanted runny eggs, do I order them rare? I didn’t want the whites to be runny though, because that’s not right either. So after some confused looks back and forth, I just restated that I would like the yolks to be still runny, not hard-boiled, handed my plate back, and hoped for the best. She returned with eggs that were better, but not perfect. I think the temperature of the water they were poaching the eggs in was too high because the yolk still had a layer of hard-boiling on the outside, but it was much runnier on the inside. The cheese on Josh’s sandwich was quickly congealing so I just sucked it up and went with it.

Better eggs, but not great

I’ve never really had Taylor ham before, even though it’s a NJ staple, but it tasted ok, kind of like a mix between mild bologna and mild salami, if that makes sense. Josh’s sandwich was fine and exactly what he expected it to be.

Bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll

The fries were standard as well.

The usual

To kill some more time, Josh ordered a vanilla milkshake, which was served in a classic tall glass with whipped cream and a cherry on top. This was the best thing we had – creamy, sweet, and just the right consistency.

Classic vanilla milkshake

To be fair, I wasn’t expecting much from this breakfast. We’re at an airport, after all. And just to warn you, Josh got a cup of coffee and said yes when asked if he wanted a refill. She took the mug away, filled it up, and brought back the same mug. In the end, we were charged for both coffees. I guess we should never assume that coffee refills are free, but usually at a diner they are. Our mistake. But the whole egg situation really threw me for a loop. Am I just crazy? Has anyone else been asked if they wanted their eggs cooked “medium” before?

Garden State Diner
At Newark Airport
Newark, NJ

Tags: Airport, Diner, Eggs Benedict, Newark, NJ
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Quickie Recap: Fatburger

Thursday, June 11th, 2009 by virginia

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I was working in Jersey City for the day, one of the rare occasions that I was allowed out of the office. None of us were really familiar with the area but there was a Fatburger across the street so we decided to try it out. I got a “Fat Deal”, which is a 1/3 lb hamburger with fries and a soda. You have a choice between fat fries (steak fries) and skinny fries (regular), of which I chose skinny. Steak fries are probably my least favorite variety of french fries. You can choose the toppings that you want on your burger, but the choices aren’t as vast as Five Guys, for example. I asked for everything except mustard, which was lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mayo, and relish.

Hamburger with the works, no mustard

The relish was a huge mistake. They really slathered it on, and the taste totally overpowered everything else. I have no idea what the patty tasted like, and texture wise it was all pretty mushy. The meat is coarsely ground and loosely packed so everything started falling apart as I was eating it.

Messy autopsy shot

The skinny fries were good though, as they were thin, hot, salty, and crispy.

Skinny fries

Overall I was a bit disappointed with my Fatburger experience, but I do think the relish was my fault. I didn’t notice it on the list and wouldn’t have put it on otherwise. I also made the mistake of not ordering a shake, as my coworkers all raved about theirs. I’ll have to give the place another shot, and be more careful in my ordering. Unfortunately I won’t be back in Jersey City any time soon, so who knows when I’ll come across a Fatburger again?

Fatburger (multiple locations)
286 Washington St
Jersey City, NJ

Tags: Burgers, Jersey City, NJ
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