Brick Farm Market, Hopewell NJ

Mercer County foodies have been eagerly awaiting the opening of the Brick Farm Market in Hopewell, NJ.  They are finally slated to open next Friday, May 17, but they are doing a sneak preview tonight during Hopewell's Cruise Night. We've been lucky to have tasted some of their wares through the past few months, including delicious salumi -- coppa, lardo, sopresatta, whipped lardo (so good melted over toasted baguette!), and a variety of cheeses.  Can't wait to try more goodies tonight!

Brick Farm Market
65 East Broad Street
Hopewell, NJ 08525
(609) 466-6500

Salumeria Rosi, Upper West Side, NYC

Even though I used to live and work on the Upper West Side, these days I don't often find myself in that neighborhood often, so when we had a concert to go to at the Beacon Theater, even though it was Good Friday, we decided to be bad Catholics and eat at Salumeria Rosi.

Naturally we started with the chef's selection of salumi -- we got their signature parmacotto, mortadella de bologna, proscuitto (can't remember from which region), coppa, and maybe a couple more. 

Also got the cheese selection, though I tried to talk Redneckhunter out of this in favor of something from the main menu. Nothing too special here - we got a parmigianno romano, smoked provolone (our favorite of the 3), and a pecorino.

 We got 2 dishes from the main menu - sweet potato gnocchi and and Pancia -- slow cooked pork belly served with Tuscan chickpeas, blanched greens and crispy skin (which was the best part, naturally).

We had a nice cup of coffee while waiting for our friend who was meeting us, bug instead of staying for dessert, we decided to brave the cold and grab a waffle from the Wafel and Dinges cart we had spotted outside the 72nd Street subway station before the show.

Salumeria Rosi
283 Amsterdam Avenue
New York, NY

Return to El Puerto, Tampa FL

On our last trip to Tampa we had to take Redneckhunter's brother to our find from our last trip -- El Puerto in Ybor City.  Since he was stuck in traffic, we ordered the biggest entree we could find for him -- the Parillada Argentina, Argentinean sausage, short-rib, skirt steak, chicken breast, pork chop, sweet bread, and morcilla served with two sides (obviously he had more than enough to take home).

Since we didn't want to steal from his sweet bread and morcilla (blood sausage), Redneckhunter and I ordered them as appetizers to share along with ceviche. 

The sweetbreads were big and meaty and the blood sausage was sinfully rich. I could feel arteries hardening...  Luckily the ceviche was vinegary and refreshing with those wonderful big corn kernels from Peru.

 El Puerto Restaurant and Grill
1623 E. 5th Avenue
Tampa, FL 33605
(813) 248-8222

Alla Spina, Philadelphia

Sorry for the long absence in posting!  We're hoping to get more out and about in the spring.  We did have a great meal recently at Alla Spina, part of the Vetri family of restaurants in Philly. We pretty much wanted to eat everything on the menu, so did our best to sample as much as we could among 5 people.

We started with the testina hash poutine (pig head, french fries, mozzarella curd and sunny side up eggs) and donuts as starters.  The soft runny eggs on the poutine were the perfect addition to the Quebecoise classic, and the pig's head has was slightly crispy and very porky.  The donuts (a mix of 3 flavors) were disappointing though.

Redneckhunter and J. happily did a tasting flight of 3 beers - I could not even begin to remember the names, but there was one nice sour raspberry Belgian that even I liked!

K. got a tasty bloody mary, but D. and I were disappointed in our "mocktails." Not only were they very small considering their $5 price tag, but my basil spritz barely had any basil flavor.

But then the entrees came.  I got the alla spina gnocchi (with porcini mushrooms and tallegio).   Wow - such amazingly soft pillows of deliciousness.  Marc Vetri does know how to make great gnocchi - I remember fondly the brown butter spinach gnocchi we had at Vetri. 

K. got a beautiful smoked salmon salad - those soft-boiled eggs look amazing don't they?

Redneckhunter opted, of course, for their spin on his beloved biscuits and gravy -- these were sage biscuits with veal ragu and poached eggs.

D. got pancakes made of squash with bacon-maple syrup and walnut butter, and J. got  the “necci crespelle” chestnut crepe, honey, breakfast sausage and over easy eggs.

We also shared a side order of cheesy parmigiana polenta.

After another tasting flight of beer by Redneckhunter and J. and an after-brunch Negroni cocktail (that no one else liked), it was time for dessert. 

D. ordered the "choco taco" and Redneckhunter got the donut bread pudding. 


As J. put it, this place would be very dangerous to the wallet if it were in our neighborhood...

Alla Spina
1410 Mt. Vernon St.
Philadelphia, PA 19130
P: 215-600-0017

Street Eats, NYC

The other weekend we had some time to kill before meeting friends in the West Village, so we decided to walk around the neighborhood and of course, have a snack... or two, or three.

We saw some Union Jack bags coming out of a store, and were drawn to Myers of Keswick British groceries.  Along with McVities, PGTips, Marmite, HP Brown Sauce all that good stuff, they also make their own Cumberland sausage (the best West of Allonby, according to their website), bangers, and meat pies of many varieties.  We got a Cumberland sausage roll and it was indeed magnificent.  We also got a pork pie with stilton, but decided to save it for later.  Unfortunately our friend's dog managed to scarf it up before we did, but she seemed to enjoy it!

Then under the High Line, we wandered among the food stalls, and couldn't resist getting a Throwdown from Wafel and Dinges.  This is the waffle they beat Bobby Flay with -- topped with speculoos, whipped cream, and powdered sugar.

Myers of Keswick
634 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014
(212) 691-4194

Wafels and Dinges
www.wafelsanddinges.com

Cooking Trotters

Redneckhunter brought home a big bag of pig trotters from Double Brook Farm, so we spent a lazy Saturday cooking them one weekend.  This involved first boiling them -- along with onions, herbs, garlic -- for about 4 hours.  This yielded a delicious pork broth, which we saved of course!  Then smoking with hickory for another 2 1/2 hours.  They were already falling off the bone after the boiling, but the smoking really made all the cartilage nice and gooey and gelatinous.

Bobby's Burger Palace, Princeton, NJ

Over the summer, our local mall, The Princeton MarketFair, shut down their food court to bring in more sit-down eateries, and we were a little wary of what would come.  That changed when we found out one of the new places would be Bobby Flay's Burger Palace.

There are only 11 of these currently, all in the Mid-Atlantic region. Ours opened in late August, and we've already gone there 3 times.  It's a good mid-price, slower-than-fast-food, faster-than-sit-down kind of place. The decor is tongue-in-cheek retro-chic with long serpentine bar seating and communal tables with faux wood finish.

The menu is pretty simple - 10 varieties of burger topping combos which you can get on Angus beef, ground turkey, or chicken breast;  two types of grilled cheese;  a regular salad, a chopped salad, or a salad with any of the burger varieties on top; fries, sweet potato fries, or onion rings; and 13 flavors of milkshake (include 3 spiked shakes). 

Redneckhunter was happy to see a Black and White milkshake actually listed on the menu.  A lot of times he has to explain to people what goes into black and white -- vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup or hot fudge.  He had to admit that Bobby made a good one.  One of these times I'm going to have order their dark chocolate shake.

So in our various visits, we've tried a few different things.  Well, I have, at least.  Redneckhunter has stuck with the LA Burger -- avocado relish, watercress, cheddar cheese, and tomato.

I've tried that one, as well as the Napa Valley with fresh goat cheese, watercress, and Meyer lemon honey mustard, and the Dallas as a turkey burger, which was spice crusted, with coleslaw, Monterey Jack, BBQ sauce and pickles. 

The beef burgers have always come out a perfect medium rare, the meat flavorful, the buns soft and fresh.  All in all, a mighty tasty burger.

I liked my turkey burger - I think the spicier Dallas was a good combo for it -- though I still don't think it beats my favorite turkey burger, which is from Big Nick's Burger Joint on the Upper West Side. 

The only two things that have just been so-so are the sweet potato fries (we haven't tried the regular fries or onion rings yet) , and Bobby's sauces (a selection of which are left on the table -- jalapeno, chipotle ketchup, a signature burger sauce -- and a honey mustard horseradish for the fries).  Nothing really was better than just plain old ketchup.

Smorgasburg in DUMBO

My cousins recently moved to DUMBO, and so did Smorgasburg! So on a recent weekend visit, we set off for a Sunday outing to the Smorg. 

First off, what an amazing setting for it, under the span of the Brooklyn Bridge in the old Tobacco Warehouse shell, and the old timey Jane's Carousel nearby. 

Most of the Smorg regulars were there.  Probably fewer prepared food vendors, but plenty of eating options. 

After a walk-through, I was sucked in by the pretzel rolls on which Schnitz served their chicken schnitzel sandwiches. 

Redneckhunter went for a brisket sandwich - he was a bit disappointed that he got mostly burnt ends, and not so much fatty meat. 

I finished things off with not one, but two, frozen treats -- a plum shave ice from People's Pops, and a gourmet lemon slushie from Kelvin Natural Slush Co.

Smorgasburg
Sundays in DUMBO in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Through November 18