pellegrino31's Profile
First-trimester hounding
Congratulations! I'm 33 weeks along and I got through my morning sickness (which was never in the morning but always the afternoon and evening) by eating a lot of plain food. I also couldn't even open up the fridge and smell everything in there without feeling my stomach churn. It was really hard to go from being so focused on food to feeling so repulsed by everything. The oddest one was salad - the idea of making a salad in my first trimester made me so sick.
So during my first trimester, I took my vitamins and pretty much only ate plain chicken, rice, Lipton soup (the noodle soup you make from a package), pasta with butter, apples and bananas. Didn't matter what meal it was for, this was my diet. And I could only eat the banana if I sliced it into pennies! I forced down soy milk - I drank it without a problem before getting pregnant and made myself keep up with it for the calcium because I couldn't stomach the thought of eating yogurt or cottage cheese. Kept plenty of saltines and ginger ale around me. I think almonds were okay too - the roasted/salted kind.
Like you described, if my stomach was empty then I felt sicker. So even if I was full from crackers that still helped a lot.
Good luck with your pregnancy and I hope that once the second trimester rolls around you will be feeling better.
Dark Chocolate with salt [moved from Boston]
Mast Brothers (a small producer based in Brooklyn) has two fantastic flavors - Fleur de Sel and Almonds and Sea Salt. You can order online or they list sources for outside of NYC:
http://mastbrothers.com/chocolate/
Where can I buy really nice loose leaf tea?
That's great news - you're most welcome. Except for F&M and MF, we've pretty much stopped trying other places because the options at Upton are so fantastic. Enjoy!
The best strawberry jam
Try American Spoon strawberry preserves. We first tried them from Zingerman's when we saw they were having a sale. It's delicious and we'd definitely buy again even if they were full price!
Chow-worthy places near Princeton, NJ?
We ate there a few weeks ago as well. It was amazing - this is the write up I put together on CH.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/797835
Where can I buy really nice loose leaf tea?
If you want an easier route to Mariage Freres, the Dean & Deluca in SoHo sells some of their varieties. Not all of them but you might find a few options you like. My husband and I love their tea and every so often are lucky enough to go to Paris for work and I make sure to stock up on a few tins. Some of the options at D&D are in sachets but I've enjoyed those as much as the loose leaf.
Anyways - we order our tea from Upton Tea Imports. They have a huge selection. We've always been really pleased with the quality of the tea, that is until we got hooked on Mariage Freres and more recently Fortum & Mason.
Heirloom Tomatoes?
Princeton Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings near the train station - I can't recall the name of the stand - but last weekend they had great heirloom tomatoes and were selling them 3 for $5 or something like that, which I think is a terrific deal. They were delicious.
Bell and Whistle in Hopewell--Anyone Have Info?
Great to hear...is it BYO or do they have wine/cocktails?
KidAgain, I have to agree with you about Blue Bottle though admittedly it's just based on one dinner where the food was just okay and the service as pretty disappointing.
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Blue Bottle Cafe
101 E Broad St, Hopewell, NJ 08525
Amazing at The Peacock Inn, Princeton
My husband and I have now lived in the area for 6 months and wanted to celebrate this little milestone this past Friday night. We debated between elements and Peacock Inn but chose the latter and are so glad we did (though we would have likely had a terrific time at elements from what we've read about it, that will be our next place we want to try).
Service was incredibly efficient and professional but welcoming. We started with cocktails - Hendricks martini for me, a Manhattan for my husband. Both well executed. I liked that our server took our drink order without rushing us into looking at the menu so it gave us time to settle in.
We enjoyed an amuse bouche of tuna tartare with crispy wanton strips.
For starters, we had the lamb tenderloin tartare and the seared scallops. Scallops were cooked perfectly and were accompanied by pickled white peaches if I remember correctly. The tartare was a standout - very rich tenderloin and it was served with homemade tzatziki. Excellent.
As for mains, I couldn't resist the poached lobster with corn succotash. It was amazing. The lobster and succotash was served on top of a buttery, velvety corn pudding (more like consistency of bechamel) which was really incredible. I had the eyes roll back in my head moment when I had my first bite. My husband had the duck breast which was cooked rare/medium rare and very flavorful. It was served with a little surprise of shredded duck confit - also incredible. With our main courses, I had a glass of Sancerre and husband had a glass of Pinot Noir.
For dessert we shared the berry cake (I am blanking on the specific name) which was a nice ending - a little sweet and tart but not cloying. The chocolate dessert looked very tempting but we thought it would be too rich. Then as we were settling the bill, they brought over two blueberry French-style macaroons which were lovely.
I have to say, it was perfect. We have eaten pretty well in a number of restaurants and have had some truly excellent meals but I don't know how many delivered as well as this dinner did.
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Peacock Inn
20 Bayard Lane, Princeton, NJ
Blue Fish Grill in Flemington
We went for dinner on this past Saturday night - had about a 15 minute wait around 8pm for an outside table though we ended up switching to indoors because the gnats were really annoying.
The food was excellent - we started with Manhattan clam chowder and fried calamari. The tartar sauce with the calamari was so good. For entrees, I had the grilled shrimp, husband had the swordfish (it was the catch of the day) and my stepson had the fried catfish po'boy. He's 8 and loves his fried catfish but once he tried the shrimp and swordfish, he said he wished he got both of those instead. I really liked the fries that came with the po'boy - not quite shoestring but also not quite regular fries - kind of like a compromise in between. The key lime pie was also fantastic and one of the best versions we've had.
Can't believe how inexpensive the place is - it was something like $56 for the three of us. We will definitely go back.
Bell and Whistle in Hopewell--Anyone Have Info?
The sign said something about take out and dine in. I agree their website looks like they are a restaurant. But their hours also made me think it was a cafe or something casual - I mean, closing at 9:30pm on a Saturday?
Bell and Whistle in Hopewell--Anyone Have Info?
I passed by there earlier this week and the sign caught my eye. Their website is up: http://bell-whistle.com but for they need to fix it - the menus won't come up.
I did see on their website that they close really early - Thursday until 8pm and Friday and Saturday until 9:30pm. Why so early?? I remember seeing their sign that they are a market so maybe it's more like a cafe rather than a restaurant? Anyways looks interesting. I like the aesthetics of the sign out front of their location. I hope they get their website fixed soon so we can see what the menu looks like.
Kitchen sink recommendations?
We're now at the tail end of our kitchen renovation and we bought a Kraus sink:
http://www.krausproducts.com/kraus-stainless-steel-30-inch-undermount-16-gauge-single-bowl-kitchen-sink-kbu14_2430.html
Our kitchen designer recommended it to us - we initially did some of our own research but in the end had a hard time figuring out the differences. She had other clients who bought Kraus and were very happy. The sink is nice and deep and has insulation to prevent it from being very noisy when dishes/pans/etc are placed in it. It was also very affordable (or we thought so) at about $400 which was the price our contractor got from her supplier.
Good luck with your renovation! Ours has lasted 5 months and we're so happy to not be eating out of a microwave or crock pot any longer!!
Exploring the Princeton area: Da's Thai, Brother's Moon and Americana Diner
My husband and I recently moved to the Princeton area (officially 1.5 months of getting acclimated to suburban life) and have enjoyed exploring the area. Here's where we ate recently:
Da's Thai -
I guess this is in Hightstown? We were intrigued by the idea that a coffee house by day turns into a Thai restaurant by night. We went on a Saturday night and arrived there around 7:30 - surprised that there were only a few tables occupied. We ordered two appetizers - fresh spring rolls and green papaya salad. The spring rolls were fine, I mean they were fresh but nothing super exciting. The salad had great flavor but we would have liked it to be spicier. Next time we'll ask them to punch that up a bit, they don't have to be too timid with the chilies.
For entrees, I had the panang curry with tofu and my husband had the beef massaman. Both very good but again we would have liked them to be spicier. We were too full for dessert so we didn't try any gelato. Anyone know if they do mango and sticky rice when mango is in season?
All in all we'd definitely go back - food is good, just needs to have more heat.
Brother's Moon -
Tried this place for Sunday brunch. I had the ham and gruyere omelet which was really good with nice sauteed potatoes and steamed haricot verts. My husband had the egg and proscuitto sandwich with pesto and roasted tomatoes on brioche. That was quite good. He ordered a side of bacon too and it was terrific - perfectly crispy.
We enjoyed trying it and would go back. The atmosphere feels more formal that I think a place like that should. Our only minor gripes were some moments where we thought the service was a little on the amateur side. The restaurant was nearly empty when we arrived but we were first brought to a 2-top in the corner which we thought was a little odd, especially since a couple other 4-tops were occupied by 2 people. My husband ordered coffee and when it arrived the server had spilled some of the coffee into the saucer so the cup was sitting in a pool of coffee. She just kind of laughed and said sorry and that was it. We thought she should have offered to cleaned it up a bit or went back to get a new cup instead of us soaking our napkins to clean it up.
Americana Diner-
My husband has been eager to try some NJ diners and we went for lunch yesterday. Really like the place - not the standard diner in so many ways.
I like that the diner doesn't have that standard plastic coated menu and instead the menu is on heavy cardstock. We had burger lunch - I had a regular cheeseburger, my husband had the veggie burger (hard to pass up a homemade veggie burger) and my stepson had the kids' cheeseburger. We were all very happy and the fries were really good. On the way out I noticed the bottled beer selection and they offer some nice options - again not the standard Bud, Bud Light, Coors - the bottle that caught my eye the most was Schneider Weiss. I love that beer, and it's not that common to see at a restaurant, let alone a diner.
On our way out we bought a few chocolates from the front counter. Both myself and my stepson each had balsamic caramel and my husband had the port wine fig. The chocolate is very high quality. We agreed the balsamic caramel had sea salt on top was the better of the two. We also got a fourth chocoate - lychee wasabi. Very nice flavor but lacked heat!
...Still so many places to try so we're just scratching the surface. But we've been very happy so far with the food options around our new neighborhood.
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green papaya
Riveredge, NJ, Riveredge, NJ
Americana Diner & Restaurant
US Highway 130, Hightstown, NJ 08520
Main Street Bistro - Princeton
We went this past Friday night - got there around 9:30. It closes at 10?! Ignore my surprise, that's just us getting used to living here. Anyways - we sat at the bar and I had the half order of gnocchi and my husband had the burger. Burger was great and the homemade chips are really good. He had a Flying Fish draft which was terrific. The gnocchi was served with sauteed mushrooms and the mushroom's flavor was excellent. The gnocchi itself wasn't as pillowy as I would like but they were okay. I had a glass of malbec which was on the jammy side. It's a cute place - definitely fits the bill for a neighborhood pub.
Chow-worthy places near Princeton, NJ?
Thanks for the warm welcome! We really like the area. We've done a fair amount of exploring particularly because we have no kitchen to speak of (renovations) and are making do with a microwave, electric skillet and a slow cooker.
We have gotten take out from Lucy's Kitchen twice - both times the lasagna. We also bought a few items to make an antipasto platter for friends that came to visit.
We attempted to eat at Osteria Procaccini on a Sunday night recently and we were there on the early side - 6:30 - but all the tables were full and everyone just sat down so we didn't feel like waiting. It looked good though. It's about a 5 minute drive from our house so I'm sure we'll make another attempt.
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Osteria Procaccini
4428 Route 27 North, Kingston, NJ 08528
Chow-worthy places near Princeton, NJ?
Thanks! It's definitely different but after 12 years of cramped city living, we like the new change of pace. Are there any Princeton area CH meet-ups?
We've also been to Enoterra which we like a lot. Both times sat at the bar and the service, food and wine were excellent. I love the caesar salad with kale rather than romaine, a lot more interesting.
On the other end of the spectrum, we've also had a few meals at Tiger's Tale. We hoped it would be a substitute for our favorite pub food spot (Waterfront Ale House) but it's not quite there. Though the burgers were pretty good, we tried the steak and it was underseasoned and overcooked. Tried the spinach dip but it had a ton of cream cheese and was really unappetizing. The menu is just way too big. The other night we were looking around at Bon Appetit and saw the Main Street Bistro next door and think maybe that's going to be the pub food spot. Beer choices look really good.
We're curious to try the more upscale places - One53, Blue Bottle, etc - but haven't got around to it just yet.
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Bon Appetit
301 N Harrison St, Princeton, NJ
Blue Bottle Cafe
101 E Broad St, Hopewell, NJ 08525
Main Street Bistro
30 E Main St, Freehold, NJ 07728
Tiger's Tale
US Highway 206 N, Skillman, NJ 08558
Chow-worthy places near Princeton, NJ?
My husband and I just tried Teresa's this past weekend - we moved to the area from NYC a few weeks ago. so we're trying to get out and check out the restaurants in the area. We loved it - we sat at the bar since the wait for a table was a bit longer than we wanted. We had the cavatelli and a margherita pizza. Both very good. We were very happy with the service. Then again I like anywhere that has Allagash White on tap.
Before Teresa's, we went to Mediterra for drinks to see what the crowd was like. We liked our drinks (a Manhattan and a Hendrick's martini) but found the bartenders to be overwhelmed and amateur-ish. We ordered the cheese plate and it was set down with no explanation whatsoever - we had to beg a bit to get a bartender's attention and his description was less than polished.
After dinner, we went to Bent Spoon. We are happy it stays open until 11! We tried it before when we were house hunting and it probably factored about 50% in our decision to move to the area. We had the olive oil gelato that night, which was served with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt. Amazing.
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The Bent Spoon
35 Palmer Sq W, Princeton, NJ 08542
Mediterra
29 Hulfish St, Princeton, NJ 08542
Cafes/Coffee Shops, etc. in Eastern Queens? (and maybe Brooklyn)
Go to Espresso 77 in Jackson Heights. Comfortable and decent coffee and pretty much the only place like it in east-ish Queens.
Whatever you do, resist the urge to go to Martha's Bakery in Forest Hills. While it is nice inside for sitting in, the bakery items are awful.
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Espresso 77
3557 77th St, Queens, NY 11372
Clean takeout sushi joints in Queens?
Sushi Yasu on Yellowstone.
Maybe Katsuno on Metropolitan? I would think they do take-out.
Sushi Time is very basic but I've always had good sushi there.
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Sushi Yasu
71-45 Yellowstone Blvd, Queens, NY 11375
Katsuno
103-01 Metropolitan Ave, Queens, NY 11375
Sushi Time
72-42 Austin St, Queens, NY 11375
Special Occasion in Queens
My go to place in Queens for something like that is Danny Brown in Forest Hills. Excellent food and atmosphere.
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Danny Brown
104-02 Metropolitan Ave, Queens, NY 11375
Any cooking classes that are under $100 and excellent in Queens?
I don't think there is anything like that in Queens - there are no culinary schools or kitchen stores like Brooklyn Kitchen. I thought about Whole Foods but none of the LI locations offer classes so unless you can relax your criteria for location, Sur La Table is likely your only bet.
There are so many options in Manhattan to pick from so if you're set on this present, it makes much more sense to send him there.
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Brooklyn Kitchen
616 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hill Country or Blue Smoke for a group dinner?
We had our rehearsal dinner at Hill Country (yes, it was non-traditional for sure). Anyways, there were 15 of us and we didn't need to do the prix fixe because of our party size, so we lined up for our food like everyone else. We had several buckets of beer and some other drinks but only about 10 of us were drinking...in the end we spent $375 all in which was super reasonable.
I've been to Blue Smoke and the food there is good but for BBQ I like a more casual kind of place; plus the fatty brisket is pretty amazing.
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Hill Country
30 W 26th St, New York, NY 10010
Blue Smoke
116 East 27th Street, New York, NY 10016
High-End Cocktail Question
Henry Public is a good suggestion, but could be out of the way depending on where dinner is. I find Brooklyn Social to be on the downhill with their drinks. The drinks are fine, nothing special; they were better when they first opened and there were fewer serious cocktail bars at that time. But given the choices these days, that bar feels like any oher crowded bar.
Clover Club has terrific drinks and a really nice atmosphere - and since the OP is going early enough it won't be too crowded.
Christmas Day...where to eat between Charleston airport and I-95?
Thanks for the suggestion - just left them a message. I checked on Open Table and they don't show availability but thought I'd call just in case. Crossing fingers - the menu looks terrific!
Christmas Day...where to eat between Charleston airport and I-95?
Thanks everyone...I know this is a tall order and appreciate all the feedback. Especially the info about the exits and where we'll be - that was something I was having some issues figuring out.
We're prepared for Waffle House which in a way might be kind of cute but will keep our eyes out for other options when we're on the road. Part of me has some angst (or a lot) that we won't be able to enjoy amazing Southern food since we are woefully lacking up here where we live (NYC) but our travel plans are so nuts that we'll take what we can get. Will have to come back for a proper visit, for sure!
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Waffle House Restaurant
120 S Goose Creek Blvd, Goose Creek, SC 29445
Christmas Day...where to eat between Charleston airport and I-95?
Hi there...been doing my own searching but having a hard time finding something for Christmas dinner that is between the Charleston aiport and where we'll pick up I-95. My husband, stepson and I will be flying down to Charleston and making our way to FL on Christmas Day. Our flight arrives around 6:45pm so by the time we get our bags, rental car and get on our way we'd like to try to get to dinner by about 8pm.
I looked on Open Table and see restaurants in downtown Charleston that have availability and then there are a few seafood/BBQ places that look good but are a bit out of the way and I have a feeling they might be closed. So any recs would be much appreciated - no restrictions on food and while I'd like to get out of dinner for under $100 total, I'm also not going to be super picky since Christmas openings are few and far between. Thanks!
Rome Trip Report
Oh and it just occurred to me we did have a quick stop at Palatium one of the days we were there. Very nice wine bar. We each had a glass of red (I can't recall the one we had, all I remember was that it was about 6 euro) but I was a little disappointed by the snacks which I thought would be more abundant - it was just olives and crackers. I think we were there around 5:30ish and the kitchen was closed otherwise.
Rome Trip Report
You know you are the poster I have to thank for Vladimiro!
I ended up buying a bottle of Averna at duty free on our way back, with the exchange rate it was about $16 which is a pretty good deal. I don't often get Averna here at Italian restaurants because it seems ridiculous to pay around $10 for a glass whereas when I was in Italy it was dirt cheap. I know the reason why it's cheap there but still.
Rome Trip Report
My husband and I just returned in Rome where we spent 4 days there. Yes, it was just 4 days - he was there for work and I joined for a long weekend. It was also a slightly belated one year anniversary celebration which is meaningful because last Nov we spent 2 weeks in Italy for our honeymoon, of which about 5 nights were in Rome. But anyways...a few highlights of where we ate:
Ristorante Vladimiro - this was just a few minutes from our hotel (Hotel Eden) and picked because my husband was flying in from another city and got in on the late side. So we picked somewhere close because he had been traveling for the previous 4 days and didn't want to stray too far. I found just one mention of this restaurant on CH and normally would have been wary but it was posted by someone who I've seen make many good recs before. We were very happy with our meal here. We had the spaghetti carbonara (great) and the tagliolini al limone (also great) for our primi and then shared the filet in barolo sauce which was nicely prepared. Also ordered a side of roasted potatoes. Not sure what happens in Europe but every single time we have potatoes they have been terrific. Finished with lemon sorbet for dessert. Had a bottle of their house red too. The bill was about 65 euros total.
Antico Arco - this was our favorite meal of the trip, we absolutely loved everything about it. Service was impeccable. We were seated upstairs but it did not seem like purgatory which I got the sense from other posts that it might be. A few English speaking customers but otherwise the rest were Italians. Started with a glass of prosecco and we shared the octopus with artichokes to begin and it was amazing. Octopus was cooked exactly how you want it to be and not chewy in the least. Then we had the puttanesca with cubes of tuna, also terrific, and the risotto with nebbiolo sauce which was creamy and delicious. Since we each had our own pasta, the server brought us a small dish of the other person's pasta which we thought was a cute touch. Next, we shared the pigeon breast which was also incredible - neither of us have had pigeon before so we were curious to try it. It was seared and rare and reminded us a lot of duck breast which we love, and we were so happy with it. For dessert we had what was like a lemongrass creme brulee with apple crumble. For wine we had a bottle of San Leonardo 2004 which was recommended by the server and it paired very well with all of our courses. My husband ended the meal with a whiskey and I had an Averna amaro - I had fallen in love with that drink when we were on our honeymoon. Our dinner there was 3 hours and we loved every minute of it. Total bill was around 170 euros.
Hostaria Romana - so I was curious about the NYT trattoria article awhile back and liked the sound of this place. It was about a 5 minute walk from our hotel and we ate there on our last night. Turns out it was quite good though if I returned I probably would just get antipasti and pasta - partly because we realized that eating 3 courses, even though some are shared is way too much food for us day after day. We started with the antipasti della casa so we could select from what was laid out and we enjoyed roasted vegetables, mozzerella and the best of all which were these lemony sardines. We missed the artichokes - they were on a different counter and we weren't sure if they were for the taking so that was our ignorance. Then we each had the carbonara and it was excellent, better than Vladimiro. For our main we shared the grilled fish which was cooked well with sides of potatoes (very good) and spinach (a bit overdone). We shared the tiramisu for dessert but honestly we were so full. With house wine and water, the bill was about 75 euros.
The other meals to mention were just okay - one of which I hesitate to mention since it gets such good feedback on the board - we had a dinner at La Campana and it was good but we didn't think it was all that great. Maybe it was what we ordered, I'm not sure but we found it to be lacking a bit. We had the arancini, fettucinini with mushrooms, cacio e pepe, beef with peppercorns and balsamic (beef was a little tough but the sauce was incredible) and yes more potatoes plus spinach. I think the meal was about 60-65 euros total.
The other meal we had was at il Margutta for their Sunday brunch. We were curious about the brunch since it was vegetarian and we needed a place where we weren't tempted to get meat, so decided to check it out. The brunch buffet had a nice selection, the best was a farro soup but otherwise it was just okay and pricey (25 euro a person).
For future visitors the best advice I can offer is make reservations. We saw a few people turned away at the trattorias we went to. We didn't have to make them far in advance, our hotel made them for us and calling the day of was sufficient except for Antico Arco where we reserved a few days in advance to make sure we got the time/date we wanted. We ate most of our meals later - the earliest was 8pm but mostly we went around 9. We're used to eating dinner late like that at home (we're in NYC) so it didn't feel unusual there.
All in all we had a great time returning to Rome. The only place where I wished we ate at again was Osteria Sostengo which I don't see much chatter about and we stumbled upon it last time - we stayed near the Pantheon so it was very close. We had 2 excellent meals there. I regret not writing a trip report but after the wedding and honeymoon, we were exhausted and needed a break! Hopefully we will spend many more anniversaries in Italy...
