Argyle Restaurant - Kearny, NJ

Each time we visit our doctor's office, we would park in front of Argyle Restaurant or Piper Cove (his office is located directly across the street), where are there always ample metered parking spots. From the signs outside the restaurant, we sort of figured out that it was a Scottish restaurant. After some research online, I found out that Argyle Restaurant and Piper Cove is actually under the same management. Pipers Cove is a specialty shop that carries all kinds of Irish and Scottish products, from candies to highland regalia, kilts and bagpipes! Each time we passed by, we would say that we need to check it out someday, but we never got around to doing so.
I was looking at some Living Social deals there other day (yes, I do that religiously every morning! :P) and saw a deal for Argyle Restaurant. Only $15 for $30 worth of food. I had some left over Living Social credit, so we ended up paying only $5 for $30 worth of food. A very good deal indeed! After reading some reviews on Argyle Restaurant, I found out that it was featured in the NJ Monthly magazine not too long ago and many claim that they serve the best and highest quality Scottish fish and chips in the whole of NJ! Wow, so yeah, we were really excited to check it out.
We decided to go for an early dinner and the the dining room was practically empty. Just us and two other tables. I guess it's a lunch and late dinner place, who knows. The decor of the place was nothing to shout about, just basic furniture and they had Scottish themed photos lining the walls. However, there was a certain charm to the place. Since it was a Scottish place, Kevin thought that he would try the Shepard's Pie ($14.95). Kevin is a huge fan Shepard's Pie, so he was quite eager to try it. I didn't get a chance taste the Shepard's Pie but Kevin said that he totally loved it! He said that it was really flavorful and yummy. From his almost licked clean plate at the end of the meal, I am guessing it must be really good!
Now, the piece de resistance, my Scottish Surf and Turf ($16.95)! A large portion of Fish and Chips, Coleslaw and a Meat Pie. Firstly, let me start with what I didn't like. The coleslaw wasn't really my favorite, it had a weird taste to it. I let Kevin try a little and he agrees with me. There is just something not right about it. Now that the coleslaw is out of the way, I must say that the rest of the meal rocked my socks off! The fish and chips was really one of the best fish and chips I have ever tasted. The batter was light and really good. Add in a little vinegar, and you will be in fish and chips heaven! For an additional $1, you could get curry on your chips. Trust me, that would be a dollar well spent. The mild curry goes so well with the freshly made chips, mmm mmmmmmmm goood! The meat pie was really yummy too. It's crust was flaky and the meat filling was really delicious. I ate that with some HP sauce and boy oh boy, it was good!!

Overall, we had an awesome meal. I have never been to Scotland before (so that I could compare) but I think we had some really authentic Scottish food that day. It doesn't really matter even if it wasn't authentic, because it was really yummy! The fish and chips was seriously one of the best fish and chips I have ever tried. No wonder so many people swears that Argyle serves the best fish and chips in the whole of New Jersey. I wouldn't go that far (since I haven't tasted all the fish and chips in NJ), but I can say that yes, the fish and chips there is mighty awesome!

Argyle Restaurant
212 Kearny Avenue,
Kearny, NJ 07032
Tel: 201-991-3900
Web: http://argylerestaurant.com/index.html

Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ

It was another lazy Sunday afternoon for us and we spent the entire afternoon lazing on the couch, watching TV. We were watching some program on the Food Network about various types of pizzas around America and I realized that I've never tried the Chicago style deep dish pizza before. Yeah, I've been to Chicago before don't ask me why, I just never got around to trying the deep dish pizza. Now, I totally love our NY style pizza and I really think that it's the best pizza ever. Hands down. However, how can I make such a statement without even trying the Chicago style pizza, right? So, I told Kevin that we should go have some Chicago style deep dish pizza for dinner that evening. Now, the big question. Where can we find Chicago style deep dish pizza in the middle of Northern Jersey?
Uno Chicago Grill, of course! After all, they were the ones who invented the Chicago deep dish pizza! We have always driven past this place whenever we go grocery shopping in Clifton, but we never got around to checking it out. I guess today is the day! Since it's located in a shopping/commercial area of Clifton, parking was no problem at all. There were ample free parking spaces available all around the restaurant. I guess we were a little bit early for dinner, so we lucked out and didn't have to wait for a table. I can tell that Uno Chicago Grill is a pretty popular spot, cos all the tables were filled and there was a line when we left.
Before we left for dinner, I went online to see if there were any in store coupons and/or promotions for Uno Chicago Grill. I found out that if we sign up for their Insider's Club, we will get a coupon for a free appetizer. So, I did just that! We ordered the 1lbs of the Honey BBQ Wings ($9.79) to share as our appetizer. Of course, we got that free...so...YAY! The wings were really huge and juicy, just the way I like them! The honey BBQ sauce was also really yummy. Who would have known, that you can find such awesome wings in a pizza place.
For our mains, we of course ordered the deep dish pizza. Since we couldn't agree on a what pie to try, we decided to go with two personal pans. When they brought out the pies, the waiter told us that the pans are super hot. They then helped us remove the pies from the pans and placed them on regular plates. It smelled so good and yummy, we couldn't wait to dig in. Kevin ordered the Chicago Classic ($10.79) and I had the Numero Uno ($10.99) . Kevin's Chicago Classic is crumbled sausage, chunky tomato sauce, Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. It looked yummy and Kevin said it tasted great too.
My Numero Uno pizza is their all time favorite and one of the most popular pizzas on the menu. It's basically a 'the works' pizza. It had sausage, pepperoni, onions, peppers, mushrooms and their signature chunky tomato sauce, all topped with Mozzarella and grated Romano cheese. Look at how deep it is. It's so thick, you can't just pick it up to eat, like the NY style pizza. You have to use a fork! It was just packed with all kinds of toppings and it was soo flavorful too. Another thing that stood out was the crust. It was so buttery and flaky, mmmm mmmm mmmm.
Our total bill came to $28.85 for 2 drinks, 1 appetizers (which was free) and two pizzas. We had plenty of pizza left over, so I would say that it was enough to feed 3-4 people. Not too bad at all. So, the answer to the question we have all been waiting for. Which is better? NY style of Chicago style pizza? I really love the Chicago deep dish pizza from Uno Chicago Grill. In fact, I am already making plans to return real soon. However, I must say that nothing can beat our greasy and huge sliced NY style pizza! Pick up a huge slice of pepperoni pizza with cheese and grease dripping from the sides, fold it in half and stuff it in your mouth. Ahhhh heaven! Now, that's what I call good pizza! :D

Uno Chicago Grill - Clifton, NJ
426 Rt. 3 West
Clifton, NJ 07014
Tel: (973)574 1303
Web: http://unos.com/

Boonsong Thai Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ

We were driving around last weekend, trying to find a new restaurant to checkout for dinner. We came upon this small stretch of shops along Broad St in Bloomfield and we noticed that it was mainly eateries. In that small section alone, there was a Greek, Japanese, Thai, Italian, Chinese as well as a few American restaurants and bakeries. After driving around for quite some time, trying to find a parking spot (there are only limited street side parking available),we finally parked a couple of streets away, in a residential area. We walked down the street a little and decided to check out the cozy looking Thai restaurant (the Greek restaurant looked good too though!).

The restaurant looked pretty empty for a Saturday night but we noticed that most of the servers were Thai. That's a good sign that the food might be authentic, right? *fingers crossed* Our server was really polite and pleasant, and for a moment, we felt as though we were in a restaurant in Phuket or Bangkok :P After being seated, Kevin ordered the Thai Iced Milk Tea (which by the way was really good) before we checked out their menu. The menu was rather basic, with all the 'usual' Thai dishes. However, I was pretty impressed that they had a rather large vegetarian section in their menu. So, vegetarians out there, please take note. You have to go check this place out!

After looking through the menu, we decided to order our food 'family style'. This means everything is served at once and is placed in the middle of the table, so that it we could share them. How can we go to a Thai restaurant and not order Tom Yum, right? So, we tried a small serving of Shrimp Tom Yum Soup ($4.00). When they asked us how spicy we would like it to be, we said very mild. I think that was a mistake, cos the soup wasn't spicy at all. In fact, it was rather tasteless. As you can see from the photo, there also wasn't many shrimps in the soup. Rather disappointing.

We also tried the Tod Mum Pla ($6.95). That's the traditional fried Thai fishcakes that has been spiced with Thai curry, string beans and kaffir lime leaves. The fishcakes were served with a side of sweet peanut sauce. Now, this was really really good! It tasted like the ones we tried when we were visiting Bangkok a couple of years ago, so yeah, very very authentic! I will definitely order this again.

There were also a whole bunch of different Thai curries to choose from. We finally decided to order the Gang Ped Yang ($14.95). Generous amounts of boneless roasted duck, cooked in red curry and coconut milk with large chunks of pineapple, tomato and chilies. Another home run! The curry wasn't too spicy, very creamy and had just the right amount of heat. I must say that this was my favorite dish of the night!

As a filler, we ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice ($9.95). I must admit that I was initially rather disappointed that the pineapple fried rice wasn't being served in a pineapple boat but I think the taste made up for it! Fluffy jasmine rice stir fried with jumbo shrimp, pineapple chunks, onions, scallions, green peas and cashew nuts. Mmmm mmmm mmmm, very very yummy too! Overall, I think that we had a pretty good dinner. Parking was a problem and it was a little bit pricier than other Thai restaurants in the area but I feel that the awesome service and authentic tasting food made up for it. Boonsong Thai Cuisine is definitely a hidden neighborhood gem!

Boonsong Thai Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ
1040 Broad St.
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Tel: (973)338 0507
Web: http://boonsongthaicuisine.com

Pho Mac Vietnamese Restaurant - Staten Island, NY

We were driving through Staten Island the other day and decide to stop for dinner. It's probably like my fourth or fifth time in Staten Island, so I had no clue what's good to eat there. Kevin on the other hand works in Staten Island, so he was given the very important task of deciding where to go for dinner. He suggested a few places and we finally went with Pho Mac. He says that he would sometimes have lunch there (since it's rather near his office) and that it's pretty good. Sounds good!!
Parking at Pho Mac can be quite a challenge, especially during busy hours. We had to park at a side street about a block away from the restaurant because there was very limited street parking in front of it. The restaurant itself has two levels and since the lower level was full, our server brought us upstairs. The decor of the two levels were totally different! It seriously felt like two different restaurants! The lower level was pretty much your regular hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, with basic tables and chairs and minimal decor. Upstairs was wayyyyy nicer. They had nice booths and really nice and rather upscale decor. The servers were all really friendly and they seem to know a lot of the customers (regulars I presume) on a personal level. One thing that kinda bothered me was that all of the servers were speaking in Cantonese. I knowwww, it's a little bit silly to assume that in order for the food to be authentic, the place should be run by Vietnamese instead of Chinese. However, it still made me go "Hmmmm? I wonder how authentic and good the food will be?" :P
We started off our dinner by sharing two appetizers. Of course, we had to order the Goi Cuon or better known as the Vietnamese Summer Roll ($4.75). It looked really yummy when they brought it out. However, when I took a bite, it was all rubbery. Something tells me that it was not freshly rolled upon order. I think it must have been sitting, pre rolled in the kitchen for quite a while. It wasn't flat out bad but I must also say that it wasn't really the best and freshest Goi Cuon I have had.
We also shared the Cha Gio (Vietnamese Spring Roll). It comes in three sizes, Small (2 rolls for $3.25), Medium (4 rolls for $5.50) and Large (8 rolls for $9.95). We ordered the small and boy, it was really SMALL. The rolls were tiny! However, what it lacked in size was made up for in the taste department. Those tiny spring rolls were delicioussssssssssss. Crispy on the outside and the filling was really very flavorful. At that point, I was kicking myself and regretting that we didn't order the medium instead :P
For my main, I tried the Pho Dac Biet with Bo Vien ($7.75). A huge yummy bowl of rice noodles with beef brisket, frank, omosa, tendon, eye of round and beef balls in a some piping hot beef soup. The soup was good but it wasn't great! Compared to the pho from other Vietnamese restaurants in the city as well as other parts of Northern NJ, I would have to say that this was just alright. I would eat it but there is really nothing to shout about.
Kevin had the Com Suon Bi Cha ($8.25). Grilled pork chop with shredded pork and crab patty, served on a plate of steaming white rice. I tried a little bit of everything and I must say that it was really really good. Totally love the grilled pork chop and crab patty, sooo yummmy! I must definitely remember to order this the next time I eat there. So, overall Pho Mac is a pretty decent place. The servers were really really friendly, prices were rather reasonable and the food wasn't too bad as well. No wonder Kevin and his colleagues likes heading out to Pho Mac for lunch! :D

Pho Mac - Staten Island, NY
1407 Richmond Avenue
Staten Island, NY 10314-1553
Tel:(718) 982-9292/8283

Forgotten Taste Famous Pierogies - Wexford, PA

When Kevin and I were back in Pittsburgh two weeks ago, we made our rounds to check out all of the "Pittsburgh" food that we miss so much. Primanti Bros, Eat' N Park, Tokyo Sushi and Buffet (I know, this isn't exactly Pittsburgh food but I love the sushi there!)...you get the idea. Another thing that I really really miss from Western PA is pierogies! Boy, I used to look forward to "Pierogies Night" every Wednesday at the dining hall, back when we were still in college. It was so so so gooooooood! If there is a type of food that you MUST try while you are in Pittsburgh (apart from Primantis, of course!), it has to be pierogies! You can be sure that people from da Burgh take their pierogies seriously. They even have pierogie races during inning breaks at the Pirates games!! Sooooo, naturally we must not leave Pittsburgh before getting our hands on some yummy pierogies.
Pierogies Plus is probably one of the more popular pierogie shops in Pittsburgh, known for their authentic, made from scratch pierogies. Kevin wasn't really in the mood to drive all the way to McKees Rocks just for pierogies so I tried to google for somewhere nearer. I then found Forgotten Taste. They claim to have the best pierogies in all of Southern PA, so we decided to give it a try. They have three outlets around the greater Pittsburgh area and we went to the one in Wexford. Since it was located at the strip mall at the Village at Pine, there were ample free parking right at it's doorstep. Please note that the signboard of their shop doesn't say "Forgotten Taste" but just plain "Pierogies" in bold red. I guess they know what they are famous for!
The store isn't really all that large. You just have to walk up to the counter and order whatever that you want. Then, you can either grab a table (there are not that many though) and wait for them to bring up your food to you or you can just wait (if you are getting it to go). Most of the food are pre cooked, so it doesn't take long at all. What I like about the place is how they have pictures of everything on their menu, hanging up on the wall. This way, you know exactly what you will be getting. Since Kevin's mom was back home and we needed to get lunch for her too, we ordered our food to go.
Both Kevin and his mom each got the Meal #6 ($6.69). One Stuffed Pepper with Tomato Sauce, Haluski and four pieces of Potato & Cheese Pierogies with butter and onions. The Smoked Polish Keilbasa ($3.49) that you see in the picture is actually half of what we ordered from the a la carte menu. As you can see from the menu, most of the food from Pittsburgh has Polish/Czech/Eastern European influence. You might be wondering why. Well, in the later half of the 1800s, large numbers of Polish immigrants settled in Pittsburgh due to the steel industry. I am guessing that it must have started from then. In case you didn't know, Kevin's ancestors (from his dad's side) probably came to America right about then too.
I ordered the Meal #3 ($6.99) which was one Stuffed Cabbage with Tomato Sauce, Haluski and four pieces of Potato & Cheese Pierogies with butter and onions. Also, you can see the other half of the Polish Keilbasa that I was sharing with Kevin in the picture. I must say that I really enjoyed my meal. The stuffed cabbage was really good and so was the Haluski. Oh, for those of you who don't know, Haluski is actually thick soft noodles made from flour, egg and water. It is then boiled, rolled in oil or butter and then served with vegetables or meat. The Haluski that we had was served with cabbage.
Since this was a pierogies place, we HAD to order more pierogies. Four pieces each just wasn't enough! So, we ordered an extra half dozen of Beef and Mushroom Pierogies ($5.90). You could either get it with the traditional butter and onions, with tomato sauce or you could get it deep fried. Also, if you are planning to keep it for another day, you could buy them frozen. Apart from Beef and Mushroom, they also have a whole lot of other different fillings. You can check it out here. I must say that the pierogies from Forgotten Taste is really really good. We must remember to head out there again the next time we are back in Pittsburgh. Oh, and if you are planning to do so, you might want to head out there on Mondays and Wednesdays. They are currently having a promotion where all meals are just $4.99 on Mon and Wed!!

Forgotten Taste Famous Pierogies
11978 Route 19 Village at Pine,
Wexford, PA, 15090
Tel: (724)940 2277
Web: http://forgottentaste.com/

Mandy's Pizza - Pittsburgh, PA

Kev and I were back in Pittsburgh for the whole of last week. In fact, it was a little more than a week. It's been a while since we had the opportunity to be back in Pittsburgh for such an extended period of time (it would usually be just for the weekend or 4 days, at the most), so it was good meeting up with friends and family. We also had the opportunity to head out some of our favorite restaurants in Pittsburgh as well as check out a few new ones. Over the next few posts, I will share with you some of the new places that we checked out during our week in Pittsburgh.
There is a pizza shop just down the road from Kevin's parents house in Westview. We have driven by it countless times and every time we drove by, I would say that we should check it out someday. I know, there are many other things that we can check out while we are in Pittsburgh and really, Pittsburgh is not exactly known for their pizza. After all, we are currently living in a city that is known for their awesome pizza. Why should we want to eat pizza while we were in Pittsburgh? Well, what caught my attention was a huge sign saying that Mandy's has the largest and best pizza in Pittsburgh. In fact, they have won a whole lot of awards as proof of their awesomeness. Now, when somebody claims that they have the best of something, I would really want to go check them out, just to see if they really do measure up. Soooooo, we stopped by one day to carryout a pizza and some wings.
All the pizzas in Mandy's are Gluten-Free/Allergen-Free. From their website and menu, I found out that they came out with a proprietary recipe that is Wheat-Free, Milk-Free, Nut-Free and Corn Free. Now, we don't really care much about all this but I am sure they are a lot of people out there who do. What is most important to us is, the taste! Their menu is rather large and there were quite a lot of traditional as well as signature pizzas to choose from. We finally went with a large Philly Steak Pizza ($16.49). Just look at it! Cheddar sauce, shaved sirloin, fried mushroom, onions, green peppers and premium blend pizza cheese. If that is not fattening enough, they topped all of that off with french fries!! One word - WOW! How does one even come up with that? They must be sitting around one day and decided that pizza in general is not fattening enough, they MUST do something else to bring it over the top. So, hey, why not? Lets top it off with some greasy fries! :P As fattening as it sounds, I must say that, it really tasted AWESOME! The toppings all just came together and the dough was nice and baked to perfection. Really really good!
We also ordered half a dozen of Monster Wings ($7.99). Monster Wings...really? How big are they? Well, Mandy's claim that they serve the largest wings in town. Guess what? They ARE huge! Look at that...none of those tiny dry stuff. The wings from Mandy's are huge and juicy! They are also not 'cut' into drummets and wings, you actually get the WHOLE wing! They come in 10 different flavors and we went with the Honey Mustard. Mmmm mmmmmm goood! Both the pizza and wings hit a home run, in my books. Apart from pizzas and wings, they also serve salads, hoagies, gyros, calzones, Italian dinners as well as desserts. We will definitely stop by again to check out the other items on the menu the next time we are back in Pittsburgh.

Mandy's Pizza - Pittsburgh,PA
512 Perry Hwy
Pittsburgh, PA 15229
Tel: (412)931 1120
Web: http://www.mandyspizza.com/

Buffalo Wild Wings - Watchung, NJ

How many of you have watched the movie Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle? Awww come on, admit it. I know you have :P For those of you who haven't (you really must go rent it!), it's basically about two guys who drove a long way, just to get some White Castle, because they were hungry for White Castle and nothing else could hit the spot. They were ready to do just about anything, in order to sink their teeth into those small juicy sliders. Kevin and I had one of those moments not too long ago. No, it wasn't for White Castle :P We were suddenly in the mood for some buffalo wings and we wanted some now! I am not talking about those crappy small wings that we can from around our neighborhood but big juicy wings. Real Buffalo wings!
Now, we are crazy but not THAT crazy. No, we didn't drive 8 hrs to Buffalo just to get them but we settled for something just as good. Wings from Buffalo Wild Wings!! The nearest Buffalo Wild Wings to us was in Watchung, a good half an hour away. With traffic, it took us almost 45-50 mins to get there. When we finally saw the big neon sign of that sports bar...ahhhhhhhhhhhh, we were in heaven! :D The place was packed to the brim when we arrived but luckily, we managed to score a table! At that point, if there was a 2 hr waiting list, I am pretty sure we would have waited too :P
So, what did we order? Like doh! Wings of course!!! Check out all the different sauces and seasonings. 14 sauces and 4 seasonings to choose from! The best thing about this is, IF we chose not to order wings and wanted something else from the menu, we could add or swap any of the seasonings with anything on the menu. How cool is that??
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm look at those yummy wings. We drove 50 mins for this! Buffalo Wild Wing's award winning Buffalo style hand spun wings! Kevin ordered the 12 pcs ($8.99) traditional wings. We had a choice between traditional or breaded boneless. The darker ones on top are Honey BBQ and the brighter ones are Spicy Garlic. As many of you know, I have a super low tolerance for spiciness, so I found the Spicy Garlic to be a tad bit spicy. OK fine, it was more than a tad bit. I found it to be very very spicy. Kevin on the other hand loved it. I prefer the Honey BBQ. In my opinion, it was the best out of the 4 different flavors we ordered that night. Sweet with a hint of smokiness....mmm mmm good!
I too ordered the 12 piece traditional wings. The one on the right is Mild and Parmesan Garlic is on the left. I just love the blend of roasted garlic with Parmesan sauce and Italian herbs. It was so flavorful and good. What can I say about the Mild? It was awesome! It had just a hint of spiciness, exactly how I love my buffalo wings! The wings were also really huge and juicy. In my opinion, that's how Buffalo wings should be. I just hate those places that sell small, dry and shriveled up wings.
Apart from wings, we also shared a portion of Buffalo Chips with Cheese ($5.79). Crispy natural cut potato slices with Queso cheese. We originally wanted to order potato wedges with cheese but our server highly recommended this. So, we figured we will give it a try. I wouldn't say that it was out of this world awesome but I wouldn't say that it was bad either. It was just alright. After all, how can one go wrong with chips and cheese? All in all, it was a great dinner. The wings were just so so so gooood. Was it worth the 50 min drive? You bet it was! Now, the two fatties can die happpy :P

Buffalo Wild Wings
1599 US Highway West 22
Watchung, NJ 07069
Tel: (908) 222 9464
Web: http://www.buffalowildwings.com/

The Wood Pit BBQ - Montclair, NJ

This is a wayyyy overdue post. We actually checked out this restaurant like way back in March but I just never got around to blogging about it. I was contemplating to myself earlier if I should even blog about this now (since it was so long ago) but decided to do so because this place is just simply awesome! For those of you who don't know, Kevin is a huge BBQ fan. Of course, with us living in NJ, there aren't many Southern style BBQ joints, let alone good Southern style BBQ joints! I went online to try and find a decent BBQ place near us and found The Wood Pit in Montclair. There were so many positive reviews about this place, we just had to go check it out for ourselves!
When we first arrived, the exterior of the restaurant didn't really impress us at all. It was just a small hole in the wall kinda place, nothing really fancy. Since it's located along the super busy Bloomfield Ave and only street parking was available, you can imagine the headache we had, when we were trying to get a parking spot. We actually had to drive around for quite a while before finding a spot, a few blocks away.
The moment we walked into The Wood Pit, all the parking headaches that we had earlier immediately disappeared! The lovely smell of smoked wood chips just hits you the moment you open the main door. It was intoxicating! It felt like walking into a real BBQ joint, somewhere in the south. The place wasn't really all that big but boy, were the people there friendly! The owner was making his rounds, talking to everybody, with a big smile plastered on his face. That was definitely southern hospitality, at its best. Another awesome thing about The Wood Pit is that it's a BYOB! Just bring along your favorite beer to wash down all that yummy food. We didn't bring along any booze, so we ordered some iced tea (there was a huge selection of Joe's iced tea in their refrigerator!).
Now, the yummy part. What did we eat? Everything on the menu looked so good (smelled good too!), so we each ordered a BBQ sampler ($13.95 each). This way, we can sample a little bit of everything. Each sampler comes with two huge ribs, two smoked wings, sliced brisket and a choice of two sides. The meat might look a tad bit burnt in the picture, but trust me, they tasted sooooooooo good! Not only were they perfectly marinated, tender and juicy but it was smoked/BBQed just right. The meat was literally dropping off from the bone! Boy, it cannot get any better than this :D
For our sides, we tried the macaroni & cheese, collard greens and a piece of corn bread each. Kevin loved his mac & cheese and said that it was very good. I have never tried collard greens before, so I figured, why not, let's give this a try. I do not know if it's really good or if it was just alrite (since it's my first time trying it) but I can say that I truly enjoyed it! It was really flavorful and it had small pieces of smoked meats in it. Very very yummy.
The cornbread that our server initially brought out for us looked kinda dry and bad. It had a weird color to it too. You can see it in the picture behind the collard greens. When it owner saw our cornbread, he was shocked and immediately took it away! He said it looked bad and he returned with two pieces of freshly made cornbread, just out of the oven! Boy, those two pieces looked so yummy! Guess what? They tasted yummy too! Really moist, with a whole lot of corn inside. So, would we return to The Wood Pit? Of course, without a doubt! We have been living in NJ for about 4 years now and I must say, this is definitely the best Southern style BBQ we had, to date. Two thumbs up!

The Wood Pit BBQ - Montclair, NJ
108 Bloomfield Ave
Montclair, NJ 07042
Tel: (973) 954 4679
Web: http://www.thewoodpit.com

Pandan Asian Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ

Boy, this is another long overdue post. I really gotta stop slacking so much and update this blog more regularly. I'll try my best, okay? :P Anyways, since Valentine's Day fell on a Monday this year, we decided to go out for an early Valentine's Day dinner the day before. Truthfully, both Kevin and I are not really big on celebrating Valentine's Day but it's kinda nice to go out for a nice dinner once in a while. We decided to go check out this little South East Asian restaurant located at the corner of Broad and Baldwin Street in Bloomfield. Even though it's name says "Pandan Asian Cuisine", most of their specialties are mainly Filipino dishes. However, they do have some Thai and Vietnamese dishes in their menu too.
From the moment we walked in, we could tell that it would be a very pleasant night. With warm orange walls and fairy lights all over, it was a very cozy and nice restaurant. The servers were really helpful and friendly too. To start off, Kevin ordered a glass of Thai Iced Tea ($2.50) and I just went with iced water. I had a sip of his tea and I must say, it tasted really good. Very fragrant and creamy.
Since it was a rather cold night, we wanted some soup to warm up. Now, Kevin is a big fan of Tom Yum, so we tried their Spicy Shrimp Tom Yum Soup ($5). The soup wasn't really all that spicy but it was so flavorful. Really good! They were also quite generous with their large shrimp and mushrooms. It was a big portion and it was definitely enough to share. The bowl in the picture is my share and that's like only 1/4 of the amount served.
Apart from the soup, we also wanted to try another dish from the appetizer menu. There were really quite a lot of yummy sounding appetizers to choose from and we finally decided on the Lumpiang Shanghai ($5.50). Very good choice, I must say. It's basically Filipino style deep fried spring rolls, stuffed with pork. It tasted somewhat like a merge between the Vietnamese Cha Gio and our Malaysian Popiah. The best about it is that it was really crispy and not oily at all. Yummy yummy stuff.
For our mains, we decided to share a noodle dish and a meat dish. Since it was predominantly a Filipino restaurant, we thought that we should try one of the Filipino noodle dishes. So, we went with the Pancit Bihon ($9). Stir fried rice vermicelli with slices of chicken and mixed vegetables, topped with scallions and roasted garlic. Even though Pancit Bihon is pretty much a staple in Filipino cooking, I've never tried it before. Guess what? I liked what I tried. It reminded me of the fried rice vermicelli that my grandmother would fry up during birthday parties and other special occasions while I was growing up, back home in Malaysia. Really authentic and good (not to mention that the portion was huge too!).
Ahhhh now for the main event. I knew we just had to order this when we saw it on the menu. Crispy Pata ($16)!!! It's deep fried pork leg, served with sawsawan (some type of soy vinegar sauce) and a side of som tom salad (shredded green papaya, carrots and mango with lime juice, and ground peanuts). I cannot even begin to describe how good this is! The skin was just oh so crispy and yummy. Granted, its not the healthiest dish in the world but it sure tasted great!! Oh, if only I could eat this everyday....droooooools :P
By the time we were done with our meal, we were just too stuffed to even look at the dessert menu. Our server told us to just take a look at it anyways and boy, were we glad that we did. They were all kinds of delicious sounding Filipino desserts, we just couldn't help it but order one to share :P We ordered a portion of Turon with Ube Ice Cream ($6). For those of you who don't know, Turon is a Filipino deep fried snack that is made of thinly sliced bananas and jackfruit, wrapped in spring roll paper. It came with some yam/taro ice cream by the side. I've never really tried Filipino food before but I am fast becoming a fan! I love this too! Also, look at what the kitchen did with the food presentation. Since it was the eve of Valentine's Day, they even took the trouble to draw out those hearts on the plate. Nice ya? :D
Overall, it was a great dinner. Not only was the food really good, but the prices were rather affordable. Not only that, the portions are huge too (we had enough food left over for lunch the next day!). That, coupled with some really friendly staff, made our dining experience in Pandan Asian Cuisine a really wonderful one. Two thumbs up, we will definitely return soon!

Pandan Asian Cuisine - Bloomfield, NJ
406 Broad Street
Bloomfield, NJ 07003
Tel: (973)748 9997
Web: http://www.pandanasiancuisine.com

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ

There is a fairly new pizza place (well, not THAT new but new enough) that opened up a couple of doors away from Jersey BBQ Pit that we have been meaning to check out. Every time we drive down McCarter Highway, we would say that we wanna swing by one day to try it but we just never got around to doing so. It was another lazy weekend for us and as usual, we were just too lazy to cook dinner or even head out to grab a bite. We just didn't feel like going anywhere, let alone leave our couch! I did manage to make it down to the lobby to collect our mail though and I saw a stack of delivery menus nearby. I picked one up and realized that it was for Mario's Pizza....how perfect! We could try the food from this new place and we didn't even have to leave our apartment for that. Life is good! :P
The menu itself was rather extensive. Not only do they have pizzas but they also offer all kinds of soups, salads, appetizers, pasta, wraps, sandwiches, hamburgers, wings as well as Italian chicken, veal and seafood dishes. Oh, they also have selection of dessert and drinks too. Unlike some other places that deliver, Mario's accepts credit/debit cards transactions. Delivery is also free, with a minimum purchase of $10. The only thing thing that we didn't really like was the delivery time. We had to wait for an hour or so, just to get our food. The acceptable delivery time around these parts is usually half an hour.
To start off our meal, Kevin and I shared a small cold antipasto salad ($7.50). The large goes for $12. Boy, we were glad that we ordered a small cos the portion was really huge! A whole bunch of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, toasted red peppers, black olives topped with rolls of ham, genoa, salami and provolone cheese. Look at the amount of meat that came along with it! Definitely worth the $7.50. Not only were the portions huge, it tasted yummy too.
After such a yummy salad, this was a little bit of a letdown. Sausage Calzone with Marinara Sauce ($6.25). By the time the calzone got here, it was cold. Really cold. Also, it was super greasy. Look at all the grease on the paper plate. Terrible. The crust wasn't all that great and I felt as though they are skimping on the stuffing. There was only stuffing in the middle, which leaves us with very hard (almost stone like) crust at the end. The marinara sauce was also really watery. I wouldn't order this from them again.
The calzone was really bad but I must say that they redeemed themselves with their wings. We ordered 10 pcs of BBQ chicken wings ($7.25) and it came with complimentary celery and blue cheese. As you can see from the picture, they were huge wings. If there is one thing that I can't stand, it would be tiny, hard, over fried wings. This wasn't the case. They were really huge and juicy. The BBQ sauce was awesome too. Yes, they arrived cold but after reheating it for a bit, it tasted great. Sooooo, the big question now. Would we order from Mario's again? Well, this is a tough one. The delivery was super slow (thus resulting in us getting cold food) and the calzone was horrible. However, we really liked the antipasto and the wings were yummy too. I guess we would give them another chance to see if the long delivery time was just a one off thing and maybe we will try something else from the menu. Will keep all of you posted!

Mario's Pizza - Newark, NJ
1413 McCarter Highway,
Newark, NJ 07104
Tel: (973)497 2031
Fax: (973)497 2130
Web: http://themariospizza.com/

Atomic Wings - TriBeCa, NYC

For those of you who knows us personally, I'm sure that you would know that we are big fans of Groupon. Ok ok, I'll admit it. It's not 'us', it's more like 'me'. I'm a huge fan of Groupon! Well, to be fair, it's not just Groupon but other similar companies like Living Social, Yelp Deals and so on. Kevin would always just roll his eyes whenever I tell him that I have found another good deal on Groupon. Hey, you can't blame me. Some deals are just too good to miss out on, right? Now, it is also no secret that the both of us likes wings (this time it's the BOTH of us, not just me :P). You can imagine my excitement when I saw a deal on Groupon for Atomic Wings in the city! I believe it was like $12 for $25 worth of food. I've heard from various people that Atomic Wings makes the best wings in the city, so it was a good chance for us to try it.
When we bought the Groupon, we had to select which location (there are 9 different Atomic Wings outlets located all over the city) we wanted to redeem the Groupon at. After checking out Google Map, we went with the TriBeCa outlet, since it's located within walking distance from our regular PATH station. Little did we know then that the particular outlet wasn't exactly located in the best of areas. We headed out to TriBeCa last Saturday evening and boy, the neighborhood looked kinda shady. Not only did it look deserted, but it was dark and there were lotsa graffiti around. Ahhh well, we must not judge a restaurant by the area it's in. Maybe they have some really good wings in there, right? Well, we'll soon find out!
The entrance leading to Atomic Wings looked somewhat shady too. The restaurant is located below street level and we had to go down this really long and narrow stairway. From the signs outside, it looks like Atomic Wings is not only a wings place but also a so called 'sports bar'. From the moment we walked in, there was this really weird smell (I must say it's not pleasant :P) and the whole vibe of the place felt weird. The whole place looked dark and dingy, even with the bright orange walls. Whole whole back portion of the 'sports bar' was in total darkness, and there was this huge empty space. I assume that there used to be a pool table there, maybe? Apart from us, there was only another table of customers there. We saw a sign up by the counter saying that we could sit anywhere and the waiters will attend to us shortly. Only customers who wanted to take out their wings should order at the counter. So, we went to take a seat and looked at the menu while waiting.
After waiting for what seemed like forever, we finally figured out that the waiters are not coming over to take our order. They were just standing there, behind the counter, staring blankly at us. It was just so weird. If you want us to come up and order at the counter, just say so. You have this big sign saying sit down and we'll come by but you just stand there, without saying anything. We finally gave up and Kevin went up to the counter to order. There is a huge soda fountain by the counter but when we tried to order a fountain drink, they said it wasn't working. Why am I not surprise (rolls eyes). So, we had to order bottled soda instead.
Apart from wings, they also have salads, burgers, sandwiches and wraps on their menu. Since they are famous for their wings, we decided to stick to what they are famous for. We have a choice of either regular or boneless wings (you could also get half and half) and 13 different flavors to choose from. Kevin went with the single serving (10 pieces) of regular medium buffalo wings ($8.99). The wings came with some celery, carrots and blue cheese. When the wings first arrived, we were pretty impressed. They were huge! I guess the reviews were right...the wings from Atomic Wings are huge! I didn't try Kevin's wings but he said that they were nice. Not too spicy, just right.
I ordered a single serving of regular honey mustard wings ($8.99). It also came with celery, carrots and blue cheese. I must admit that yes, they looked really yummy. Did they taste yummy though? Wellllll, in all fairness, I think that the wings from Atomic Wings in general is great. However, this particular branch sucks! The wings were rather cold when it arrived. I really liked the taste of the wings and knew that the wings would be totally awesome if they were served hot (or warm, to say the least). I really don't understand how it could get cold in that short journey between the kitchen to our table when all the wings are supposed to be freshly cooked upon order?
We also shared a combo basket of waffle fries and onion fries ($6.99). When we first saw the price, we were thinking that it was a bit steep, just for a side. When the combo basket arrived, we knew why. It was big enough to feed a family of 6 (maybe even more!)!!! Look at how huge that serving was! I purposely took the picture with Kevin in it, so that you can have a a size reference. Also, check out the wings. Big wings, aren't they?
Our total bill came up to $31. We had the $25 Groupon, so we ended up paying an additional $6. $31 is really not too shabby for so much food. I think there was enough food to feed at least 4-5 people. Would we return to this particular Atomic Wings? Definitely not. However, we will have to visit another Atomic Wings outlet elsewhere to see if the service is any better. I guess it's worth checking out, since their wings are not too bad at all.

Atomic Wings - TriBeCa, NYC
311 Broadway
New York, NY 10007-1153
Tel: (212)571 7667
Web: http://www.atomicwings.com