Picnic Garden

I really enjoy introducing people to new foods. As long as they are curious enough to try, I'm willing to show them. On this chilly night, a few friends, Mr. M&P, and I drove over to the Picnic Garden in Edison, NJ. There we enjoyed in the delights of all you can eat Korean barbecue dinner for about $30+ per person. That includes a buffet of meats and seafood for the grill and a variety of cooked appetizers, rice, soups, and ice cream. It also includes traditional banchan like tofu, kimchi, pickled cucumbers, etc. It's really a great deal. And what's best is that they have these huge vents above every grill allowing the smoke and odors quickly get sucked up instead of into your clothes. Oh and have I mentioned it's BYOB? Oh yeah, bring your own booze. Does that sound enticing enough for you?

We started the night with some appetizers. I usually like to choose some lighter more vegetable based fare to offset all the meat we would be eating that night. Above, I had some jap chare, watercress salad, spicy cucumbers, pajeon, and mandoo.

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Stage House Tavern

It has come to Mr. M&P and my attention that we need to explore our neighborhood some more. So one random night, we decided to go out to dinner. We chose the Stage House Tavern as it always seemed to be busy. Once we arrived, we wished that we had gone and visited earlier. They have a really nice outdoor area with its own bar, tvs, and tables. A good space to just sit and hang out. But since it was a bit chilly this night, we decided to have a table inside and enjoy dinner.

With a predominately Italian menu with some American aspects, the menu looked pretty simple and familiar. We started with the garlic bread to share. This wasn't exactly what I was expecting. This Italian bread with chopped garlic, cheese, and even more cheese on top was kind of like an Ellio's pizza but not as bad as that. You know what I mean.

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Perona Farms

There are some banquet halls in NJ that offer buffet style lunch and/or dinner on a regular basis. That is, when there isn't an event going on. One such popular place is Perona Farms. Supposedly their brunches get really busy especially since they can cater to larger groups. So one day, Mr. M&P, Ms. Pastry Chef, Ms. Cordon Bleu, and myself went in search of food.

The room is set up like a wedding with tables spread all around. But don't worry, there are small tables too. Plenty of 2 tops for the smaller parties. I also saw plenty of birthdays being celebrated so round tables holding 8 to 10 people was spread around as well. Once you are seated, a waiter comes around and takes your order. Then you're led to the room with all the food. It's buffet style so take as much or as little as you please. I always like to take a walk around the room first to see what's being offered. Then I go back for the items I want to try.



My first plate including the raw seafood bar like shrimp cocktail, oysters, clams, and smoked salmon. Each of these items were decent. Not the best but certainly just fine. I also tried the eggs benedict (this is very popular) and kale salad. The eggs benedict was much better than I assumed. The egg was actually properly cooked being completely runny in the middle. That is talent because these babies were just sitting in a warmed chafing dish. I think that the popularity of this item keeps the rotation fresh. And thus, the egg not being overcooked. The kale salad was really, really good. Refreshing, crunchy, and well dressed.

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A Splash of Thai

If you're a regular reader here, you would know that when I lived in Hell's Kitchen, there was plenty of Thai places to choose from. Although, I recently found out that my favorite place is now closed?! Is this what happens when I leave the area? Sigh... Anyway, one of the best things about living in NYC is that the variety of cuisines and restaurants is endless. Especially with Asian cuisines. Man o man did I love eating types of Asian food. But now that I'm in NJ, good Asian food is much more difficult to come by. Luckily there's a good Asian grocer not too far away so that I may make my own food all the time. But when I just want to eat out, the choices are a bit more limited.

A Splash of Thai boasts a pretty sign near the Westfield train station. It's hard to miss them. They advertise pretty good lunch deals but we were there for dinner. As a group of 4, we sat near the window and commented about the atmosphere. Although there were very few tables occupied (it was a weekday), the service was still friendly and the place looked modern and clean.



We decided to share a bunch of plates as this was our first time there. Also, a couple of the guests claimed not to be too hungry. We started with the Thai spring rolls ($8) with glass noodles, vegetables, and a sweet peach sauce. These were meh for me. In general spring rolls aren't that good to me. Most places just don't know how to make them really good. Either the filling sucks or the wrapper isn't crispy. Or both.

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Seafare Chippery

Interesting thing about my new neighborhood is the variety of fish and chips places. These stand alone fried fish and seafood joints certainly only make one type of cuisine. You would think that just one place would satisfy the many in the surrounding towns. But behold, there are several to choose from. The closest to me is the Sea Fare Chippery. It's easily spotted off the roast as a small blue building with a giant anchor outside.

The menu is short, the service is fast and friend. Since we wanted to try a variety of things, Mr. M&P and I shared a bunch of things. First, the seafood salad ($10) for a large pint. As one of the few items not fried, this was delicious. Fresh tasting seafood, bright olive oil, and tasty herbs envelope each piece of mussel, clam, shrimp, conch, and calamari. Normally, seafood salad is priced per pound making it a pricey dish. Not so here.

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Mitsuwa

Mitsuwa is a great place to grab hard to find Japanese and Asian groceries. But really, I go there for the prepared food. The food court is always busy so be aggressive. Their prepared sushi is also good to take home for a later meal. This post is mainly to showcase the former.

The ramen line is always long. Put your order in and just wait for your number to be called. In the meantime, find some seating. People are hawks when it comes to this. Don't be afraid to walk extremely fast to get a table.

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PJ's Pancake House - West Windsor

Did you know that a new location of PJ's Pancake House opened up? Yup, this Princeton famous institution finally opened up a second location and it's located in West Windsor. That leaves me even closer to fluffy pancake heaven.

The above is two eggs sunny side up with breakfast sausage ($11) and 3 buttermilk pancakes. You also have the choice of potatoes and toast instead of the pancakes. This is my normal order but I wasn't feeling like having it that day.

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Due Mari

I told you I was conquering the rest of Chef Michael White's restaurants for my birthday this year, didn't I? Well to remind you, I went to Costata and Ristorante Morini. Due Mari is the last restaurant to cross off the list. After this, I can proudly say I've been to all of his restaurants! How's that for a fan following? You're probably tiring of hearing me say how much I love this cooking. I'm probably sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher at this point. Buuuuut, before I begin my review, I would like to mention that Due Mari does a 4-course prix fixe meal for $58. That's a steal compared to the prices in NYC. We ordered a la carte at Due Mari but would definitely opt for the prix fixe with a smaller group. So, enough with the yapping, onto the food porn!

To start, we shared a bunch of appetizers like the arancini ($6) which came with 5 generous orbs of risotto balls in pomodoro sauce. Crispy fried breaded crust and creamy filling. Perfect for a group.

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Ginger Sushi

When I moved to NJ, I was nervous about the take out/delivery options I would have. I got really spoiled in NYC with the plethora of choices around my home. I certainly wasn't expecting a close representation of the kind of places I had in Hell's Kitchen. But I did need to know if I could count on some of the basic meals I ordered frequently. Sushi is such a meal. When it comes to this delicious Japanese cuisine, there are kinds for me: moderately priced and high end. The latter is usually set aside for a special occasion. What I wanted was a moderately priced neighborhood sushi restaurant that I can count on. Now, you may have noticed that I didn't say cheap. In general, I do not enjoy cheap sushi. I think the quality lacks so much that it's worth paying just a bit more for something substantially better.

So Mr. M&P and I one night decided to try out Ginger Sushi which was only a block away from our home. The convenience was clear. But what about the quality of food? Well, a good sign was that the restaurant was regularly filled through all nights of the week. At least the ingredients were having a good turn around rate. That's important to me when it comes to sushi. But the real test was actually going there and trying it for ourselves. For the first attempt, we went to the restaurant to eat in. We started with a seaweed salad ($3.75) which is a simple staple. The serving size was quite small and the addition of fake crab meat was neither warranted nor needed. Otherwise, the seaweed salad was just fine as it met every one of my expectations.

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