10/3/10

Sahara <---

Ive been meaning to do this review forever so Im gonna do a quick run through of Sahara Mediterranean Cafe.

Sahara is great Mediterranean food and one of the fancier places in New Brunswick. The decor is really nice and it's a good break from Fat sandwiches and dining hall food, which does a number on your stomach- its important to note that Rutgers Housing bathrooms clog easily.

The food at Sahara is well priced and as many would say- legit. Yes, this is a legit Mediterranean restaurant, so order Hummus as an appetizer with peppers and herbs.

Sahara isn't cheap but its extremely well priced for what you receive. I ordered the Lamb Schwarma, which came with a huge amount of rice, beats, and couscous. The chicken schwarma was quite delectable as well.

40 bucks for an appetizer, two huge entrees that became the next days dinner, and an overall great meal, Sahara is well worth it and I definitely recommend it.

Sahara Cafe
165 Easton Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1856
Phone: (732) 246-3020
Hours: 7 days a week

9/12/10

Tumulty's <---

Located on George St on College Ave, Tumulty's is a small pub that is supposedly New Brunswick's Original Restaurant- too bad there's nothing original about it.

Walking into Tumulty's you get a very Pub-y feel, however to me it felt somewhat novelty. The booths are large and most everything in the restaurant is made of wood. The bar is nice, and there is a surprising amount of tables.

Tumulty's offers "Casual American Food" with Irish pazazz. The Menu is pretty extensive with some pub favorites like Fish and Chips, Pork Chops, Burgers, and some items you might not find at other places like Roast Beef and au jus. Everything is priced pretty decent with Burgers and sandwiches around 8 or 9 bucks and entrees a little more pricey, however i dont think I'd come here for the filet.

For a starter we tried the potato wedges covered in cheese and bacon, which were under the misnomer of potato skins, and were only ok. Then came the salads, which are probably the most original thing about Tumulty's. I had heard of the mysterious salad from a friend before who stated they are "strange". They are. Take a head of lettuce, chop it into fourths, pour some random dressing on it and there you go- salad. Im not a huge fan of iceburg lettuce as well, and many people don't know that iceburg lettuce doesn't have as much nutritional value as say Romaine lettuce or baby spinach. But enough about the weird-ass salad. I had ordered Manley's Mess which was Roast Beef on french bread with carmalized onions and your choice of swiss or cheddar and au jus dipping sauce. It was an obvious decision to choose swiss and my sandwich was actually really good, and was great with the au jus.

Im not sure if I'd really recommend Tumulty's to anyone. The pricing wasn't bad and the food was decent, however they have a buy one entree get one free on Mondays which would make it worthwhile, but otherwise I think Tumulty's is only ok.

Tumulty's
361 George Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Tel: 732-545-6205
Fax: 732-545-6383

Hours
Mon-Sat 12-12AM
Sun 12-10PM

http://www.tumultys.com/

9/2/10

Back to school eating <---

It feels great to be back at school and Im definitely going to be hitting up a bunch of restaurants. Rutgers has an extremely diverse student body which leads to a ton of interesting places to eat on college ave. I also plan on doing a weekly Fat Sandwich critique where I'll try a new fat-sammy each week until Ive tried em' all-hopefully I'll still be able to taste the differences between sandwiches while being slightly inebriated at 3AM.


GO RU.


8/24/10

Good Dog Bar <---

Good dog bar is a little joint that more people need to know about. With a small bar downstairs and seating area up stairs enough to fit maybe 20 people, this humble restaurant is a little secret that is cozied up on South 15th st between Locust and Walnut in Philadelphia's center city. If you like the idea of Gushers, or Starburst GummiBursts then you're really going to enjoy a Good Dog Burger.

The Menu is extensive from soups and salads, to small bites that range from wings to BBQ Pork Sliders, big bites like NY strip and Duck Pot Pie, and finally the burgers that include the famous Good Dog Burger: a 1/2 lb of ground sirloin filled with gooey-melty roquefort cheese and topped with caramelized onions on a brioche bun. I don't fuck around with anything but the burgers.

This burger is probably one of my favorites and definitely my favorite burger in Philly. It's served alongside sweet potato fries and a aioli sauce which I usually end up using to dip my burger in, and the cheese inside melts in your mouth. It's a bit messy at times, but I believe that almost all messy foods are delicious.

Basically this place is worthy of a trip, or a subway ride for a great burger, and I highly recommend it. Also its worth mentioning that there are photos of dogs everywhere- cat lovers beware.

Good Dog Bar & Restaurant
224 South 15th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19102
215-985-9600

Hours:
7 days a week 11:30 AM to 2AM

http://www.gooddogbar.com/index.php
http://www.facebook.com/gooddogbar

8/9/10

IKEA food <---



This past weekend I began college shopping (pt 1), which included a trip to Ikea. I was unaware that in order to get the whole "Ikea experience" one needed to not only walk through the entire store which is already massive, but also to enjoy the fine swedish dining Ikea offers.

Let me start off by saying that the Ikea restaurant itself looks more like a college dining hall than a restaurant, so prepare to grab a tray and utensils. However, the seating area is quite nice and has a very Ikea-modern-esque feel. I got the swedish meatballs which is served alongside mashed potatoes, gravy and lingonberry sauce. The meatballs went great with the creamy gravy and the lingonberries, which are much like cranberries, tasted really nice along with the lingonberry juice. I later purchased lingonberry syrup so that I could make this wonderful drink at home. Fucking lingonberries. The mashed potatoes were as potatoey as you would want them and covered with rich gravy, which when accompanied with a bit of garlic bread was also a great C-C-Combo.

Ikea food is highly underrated and my meal only cost around 6 bucks! Maybe next time I'll skip trudging through the entire store and just get some meatballs.

Ikea restaurant page:
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/IKEA_Food/restaurant.html

Also, in the time I wrote this I found that IKEA is an acronym that stands for the founders name Ingvar Kamprad, where he grew up Elmtaryd, and his parish Agunnaryd. Conceited prick!


More posts to come.


7/15/10

Barrel's Fine Food <---

Situated in South Philly on Wolf st, Barrel's Italian restaurant is a quaint little joint that deserves to be noted. I caught wind of the Barrels from one of my mums co-workers, and although Italian food is not my favorite we decided to give it a try (Also my girlfriend is all about Italian food, Bertuccis etc).


Barrels is small-really small. It feels like you are in someone's dinning room. N.B if you'd like to be seated like any normal person use the side door. Walking in we were greeted by some super friendly Italianos who were celebrating a birthday and we were given free cake which we saved for the road. Immediately I got a good vibe about this place.

The menu had everything any hungry Italian would want- spaghet to fancy entrees, most of which were around 12 bucks. I decided to stray from my safety choice when I go for Italian- Chick Parm and went for the Chicken Barrels. It had "Barrels" in the name so it had to be bangin'. My girlfriend ordered Rigatoni with Marinara sauce and we got garlic bread and some salad to start.

Salad was bland and boring and the Garlic bread wasn't anything special but I still had high hopes. Finally after a tolerable wait we received our entrees. My hypothesis about the Chicken Barrels was correct- they were titillating. Chicken covered in prosciutto and then topped with melted mozzarella swimming in a rich brown sauce, with portobello shrooms scattered on top. Popped like 12 food boners. The portions were large and we both had leftovers (the rigatoni was great after work and cooked perfectly although the sauce was quite sweet). The service was fine and it was nice to have conversation going on between tables.

30 bucks later and after I had taken a gorgeous cake to the face I realized I was extremely happy with Barrels. It is so small and truly a neighborhood restaurant. Definitely a solid place to know about and different from any other Italian joint I've ever been to.

Tell all your friends and drive safe.

Barrels Fine Food
1725 Wolf St.
Philadelphia PA 19145
215-389-6010

Hours:
11-9pm Monday- Thursday
11-10pm Friday and Saturday

Become a Fan on fb. I did.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Philadelphia-PA/BARRELS-FINE-FOODS/100945249426



7/11/10

First <---

I fucking love food. Not just food, but good food. The kind that makes you want to tell everyone you know about it. Recently I realized that I spend more money on food than almost anything else, and I have no problem with that. My palette could be comparable to that of a jedi master-quite refined. My family has always gone out to eat and I take great pleasure in knowing where to go on a saturday night for a good burger or finding a small local joint that has something you might not be able to get anywhere else. Basically Im a fatass albiet breasts and rolls upon rolls of skin (this morning I woke up and eat cake then discerned that I had eaten a piece before bed last night, nbd)

I would like the focus of this blog to mainly pertain to unique restaurants, (no chains of any sort) that people in south jersey, Philly, or the New Brunswick area might not know about and that offer something interesting without stealing your cash. I am a student at Rutgers New Brunswick so Ill spend a good amount of time in that part of jerZ critiquing.

Someone needs to tell people which restaurants ought to be checked out and which should be burnt to the ground along with all the staff that work there.