Category Archives: Food Thoughts

Pizza Discovery Road Trip 3

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Bricco Coal Fired Pizza, Haddon Heights, NJ

We ordered one large pizza, half Margarita & half Mushroom Arugula (They had a fancy name for it)

The mushrooms appeared to be Shiitakes with long stems and were very chewy. In my experience, the stems on shiitake mushrooms are typically discarded. For my taste there were too many arugula leaves on it. The crust was extra thin and rustic looking. The Margarita was traditional with delicious red sauce, fresh mozzarella and the right amount of basil leaves. I was surprised that the leaves were basil since they were serrated, however as soon as I tasted one I knew it was indeed a basil leaf.

From where I was sitting, I had a view of the pizza oven and I was amazed at the open flames I could see inside of it. Probably, why the edge of the crust was well done and blackened in places. The restaurant itself had an industrial decor. When we arrived there was only one other patron seated. The hostess sat us in the booth next to the occupied one. When a large group of attorneys came in, the restaurant became so noisy, that DH and I had to shout at each other to be heard. I think it had to do with the hard surfaces and acoustics of the restaurant.

We loved the Margarita side better than the mushroom. We would definitely go back for it.

Note: DH had a mushroom slice that was leftover and he stated it was better the second day.

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Bobby’s Burger Palace in University City

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DH and I were over at the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine for testing and a doctor appointment. So since we were going to be leaving the area at 6 PM on a Friday, DH had asked me if there were any restaurants in Philadelphia that I wanted to try? I Googled restaurants near the Perelman Center and up popped Bobby’s Burger Palace. We looked at the menu and decided we would try it. As it turned out, the testing was faster then expected, and the doctor took us in early. This caused us to be out and about at 4:15 PM. We thought about ditching the idea and just heading home because we both started diets. You only live once and besides I hadn’t eaten all day in anticipation. Also because there is only street parking, we decided we would see if we could even get parking. Surprised, we only had to drive around three blocks once to get a space.

The restaurant wasn’t what I expected. I was surprised to find out that is this place was a combo of order at the counter, and then they bring the food to you. The place wasn’t crowded at all, maybe a handful of people. I attributed this to be a result of the time of day, a Friday late afternoon and a college campus. I ordered the Philly Burger mid rare without the jalapeños. It consisted of a beef burger with provolone cheese and caramelized onions on a sesame seeded roll, with a dill pickle on the side and an unsweetened iced tea. At first I was going to get the a diet soda, but I wasn’t quite sure if the soda tax applied to it or not. DH ordered the Bobby Bacon & Blue Burger mid rare, which came with two full sized bacon slices, lettuce, tomato, American cheese, topped with a scoop of blue cheese. We also ordered one order of onion rings.

I almost didn’t get to try the onion rings, as unknown to me, DH was devouring them. I drizzled ketchup over my burger and was savoring the juicy combination of flavors. We both enjoyed our burgers, however we both thought the iced tea was yucky. I thought maybe it had to do with the Philadelphia water. The onion rings were lightly battered, crispy with huge actual onions inside. As we were leaving, more people were arriving. On the whole, it was very enjoyable and we would go back, however next time, I would really go over the top and order a Black & White Milkshake too.

Road Trip 3 ~ Donkey’s Place, Camden, NJ

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There are some scary places and traveling to Donkey’s Place is not for the faint of heart. It is well worth the trip at least once, as the sandwiches are out of this world. Not your traditional Philadelphia style cheesesteak sandwich, which traditionally is served on a long roll, with actual chipped steak. Donkey’s Cheesesteak sandwiches consist on what appeared to me as marinated pot roast or something similar, American cheese and fried onions. It is a huge sandwich served on a Kaiser roll. Table side there are condiments including some of their famous jams plus the typical type. It’s a bar so it has alcoholic beverages and it has seating at the bar, plus several shareable tables in the back. There are a few off street parking places, but most are on the street. I couldn’t eat my whole sandwich as it was so big and filling. We also ordered French fries, which I never even tried. DH ate his whole sandwich and the French fries. Sandwiches were tasty, but I wouldn’t go back to the Camden location. However, Donkey’s has a second location in Medford, NJ.

Road Trip for Pizza – 2

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Tomato Pie

So I selected another pizza restaurant from the list. This time I selected the Holy Tomato in Blackwood, NJ. DH and I headed to the address on the Black Horse Pike, however the GPS in our vehicle took us to the wrong location. As a result, I decided to plug it in to my phone. We finally found the place, but it was closed. Only, then did I check their hours. They didn’t open until 3pm and the time was noon. We have not yet been to the Holy Tomato as of this posting.

Instead we went to Carollos in Turnersville, NJ which we spied when we were looking for the Holy Tomato. Weather outside was warm, sunny and a Saturday in July. The restaurant was beautifully maintained. Restrooms were clean and spotless. The inside had ample comfortable seating. Parking lot with parking.

We bought “slices”. DH ordered a Sicilian style slice. It was thick and airy. I ordered a slice of tomato pie which also had a thick airy crust. The tomato sauce was laced with the perfect amount of garlic. One of the things I love about having a slice reheated is the crust gets a crunchy texture on the bottom with soft interior. This one was one of the best tomato pies, I have ever had. DH talked me into sharing another slice of the one he had originally ordered. It was good but not as tasty as the tomato pie in my opinion.

DaHub’s Salad

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This recipe is basically a mixture of ingredients that makes a delicious salad that my husband just loves. He uses a honey whole grain mustard dressing on it although it is not pictured.

DaHub’s Salad

Ingredients ~

  • 3 cups baby field greens
  •  1/4 cup sliced heart of palm
  • 1/4 cup pickled mushrooms
  • 1-Slice sweet onion (separated)
  • 1/8 cup croutons
  • 1/8 cup roasted red peppers
  • 1/8 cup gouda cheese
  • 1/8 cup cucumber salad
  • 2-Tablespoons whole grain honey mustard salad dressing (or your favorite)
  • Mix everything together and enjoy!

    • Road Trip Pizza 1

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    Slice for the Love of Pizza – Featured by New Jersey Monthly Magazine as one of the top places in the State of New Jersey for Pizza and we agree.

    In Washington Township / 12:30 Pm Saturday, June 9th, 2018

    Hazy sunny Day, 80 degrees & Humid

    Tables – Ample seating – Not busy at all

    Ordered large pie $21

    1/2 Margarita & 1/2 Bruschetta

    Unsweetened ice tea for DH

    Diet Coke for Me

    Total bill w/ tax & gratuity $33

    The crust on the pizza was super thin. DH and I both preferred the Margarita half over the Bruschetta as in my opinion, it had way to much balsamic vinegar drizzle on it for our tastes. We definitely would go back for the Margarita. Crust was flavorful and crispy with soft center, and red sauce was garlicky. I liked the amount of fresh basil and mozzarella dotting the pie.

    Annual Trip

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    Amazing looking pastries.

    Amazing looking pastries.

    Black truffle cheese!

    Black truffle cheese!

    Well, despite the weathermen predicting a big Nor’easter for this weekend, our DD, my DH, my MIL and I, all planned to make our annual pilgrimage into the heart of South Philly. A revisit of the Italian Market is a must at least once a year. I can’t tolerate hot oppressive weather so we tend to go in the Spring or Fall. We have our tradition Italian market stores that we go to. Most are along 9th Street, except the pastry shop which is on Christian St. One of the markets is known for making fresh pasta, another one carries exotic meats, a kitchenware store, a cheese shop, fruit and vegetable stands and the pastry shop. Today we went to all of the shops except for the exotic meats butcher although we did look in the window. The thing that caught my eye was boneless Iguana. The iguana fillets looked like boneless chicken thighs. The Butcher also had some sort of skinless animal hanging upside down in the window, which we weren’t sure what it was? It did not sit well with my MIL. I went into a different butcher shop as I was looking for lamb shanks and was able to get two nice looking ones.

    What we bought: At the pasta store: Black Raviolis, and freshly made capellini ~ At the veal and lamb speciality store: Lamb shanks ~ At the kitchenware store: Seafood forks and a small mesh strainer ~ At the Cheese Store: Gorganzola, garlic & herbs spreadable cheese and Moliterno Al Tartufo which is a semi hard cheese with ribbons of black truffles coursing through it. The cheese has an earthy taste, and will probably be as close as I will ever get to tasting a black truffle due to the expense. At the Pastry store: A marscapone cheese stuffed eclair, a whipped cream stuffed pastry pictured above on the left of the photo, 6 elephant ears and 1/2 pound of chocolate Italian cookies. Also we stopped into a Olive Oil & Baslamic Vinegar store: I tasted then bought black walnut infused Baslamic vinegar. Although we saw stand after stand, block after block of fruits and vegetables we didn’t purchase any.

    We also went to a local speciality market as they had samples for tasting. DH and I shared a fresh mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, tomatoes, with bell pepper pesto and a dark balsamic vinegar drizzled over it sandwiched between two pieces of focaccia bread which we purchased and a bottle of spring water. It was delicious!

    From there we went to the local Amish market. I bought coleslaw, soft pretzels, a dark chocolate  solid bunny, barley sugar hard candy and chipped steak to make beef jerky. It was an amazing day and it was nice that the weather although in the 40 degree F range was perfect for walking the streets of Philadelphia.

     

     

     

    In Search Of…

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    Removal of outer edge and woody area at base.

    Removal of outer edge and woody area at base.

    Prickly Pear in the wild.

    Prickly Pear in the wild.

    While DH, MIL and I were out in Tucson, Arizona a couple of years ago, my Sister-in-law requested that we buy prickly pear paddles and ship them to New Jersey so she could make a sauce from them at Thanksgiving. Her theme was going to be all about the Southwestern USA. This was brought about as She and her DH had purchased a house in Tucson which they would be retiring in. So we went out there to see her new house and tour the area. We went to numerous supermarkets and specialty foods outlets, but no paddles. So after going to numerous stores and not finding the paddles, MIL called home to have my sister-in-law send the actual name. That is when we realized that MIL had been having us look for the wrong thing. Even the fruit was hard to come by, but we finally found some. MIL made the arrangements to ship them home which cost about $45. in shipping. They arrived in good condition. After we got home back to New Jersey, I went to our local grocery store, and there in the produce section were the paddles and the fruit.

    So since I tasted the fruit of the prickly pear, I decided to taste the paddle as well. I watched a video on the Internet on how to clean and cook them. Even still I managed to get stuck with one of the thorns. I tasted a raw piece of the cleaned paddle. It was crunchy with a clear slime textured juice, and wasn’t bad at all. I could see tossing it into a salad. I then cooked the rest of it which caused the slime to be even more abundant. It reminded me of my experience with okra when I was a kid. If I was starving or out in the desert in need of nourishment, then it is good to know that these are edible and contain moisture. But otherwise, these are not my cup of tea.