nj & nyc

As I mentioned in the last post, we spent several days last week visiting Suzy's sister, Jessie, who lives in Montclair, NJ. During our time in Montclair and our day trip to NYC, we ate out what seemed like every meal to try all the places Jessie recommended. So here's an overview of our gastronomic adventures up north:

After we arrived, we picked up dinner from a Middle Eastern hole-in-the-wall restaurant around the block from Jessie's apartment.

This is the entire storefront, including the restaurant's ONE table.

Suzy had the falafel pita sandwich, I got the Philly cheesesteak, and we split some grape leaves and baklava. The grape leaves were different than any I had previously had, but were very good. The baklava was a little dry (I would've liked more honey). The falafel was really tasty, especially in the pita with lettuce and tomato. The Philly cheesesteak had a slightly sweet taste (maybe from the roasted peppers?) and was super juicy, almost like a French dip. One meal down...

When we went into NYC, our first food stop was Ess-a-Bagel on 3rd Avenue between 50th and 51st Street. 

The have 15 different kinds of bagels, and about a bajillion different types of cream cheese. Here is just a small sample (what would fit in the camera shot) of their selection:

Suzy and I split two bagels - an everything bagel with veggie cream cheese and a sesame seed bagel with chocolate chip cream cheese. The everything bagel was the best I've every had...no lie. I tried a bite of Jessie's boyfriend's, too (an everything bagel with jalapeno cream cheese), which was equally delicious. I was wary of Suzy's chocolatey bagel, but it was almost like a dessert (think: chocolate chip dessert pizza-ish), and was nice when paired with some black coffee.

After walking around, seeing Sesame Street being filmed on location in Central Park, and taking some uber-cute pictures of our baby boy in the big city, we finished our day in the city with dinner at the Shake Shack on East 86th Street. I had the Shackburger with the signature Shacksauce (some version of a mayo-based sauce), paired with their house-made ShackMeister Ale on draught. The burger was a juicy medium-rare, and the beer was a slightly hoppy but refreshing pairing to the burger.

It was a great trip with some great food...but it wasn't over yet. When finally returned to Greenville the next day, we drove straight to Suzy's parents' house to enjoy a good, old-fashioned, home-cooked southern meal. Ahhh...home, sweet home.

And yes, that is fried chicken...