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Archive for Guest BitesBig Apple Bite: Cercle Rouge Brassierie on West Broadway
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Hudson Restaurant Week
7 Foods to Help You Get Focused
Two Local Harvest Sides
Tutti Toscani in Cherry Hill
»» Tutti Toscani in Cherry Hill
Tito’s Burritos in Morristown
»» Tito’s Burritos in Morristown
The Pour House in Westmont
NYC Food Tours: Greenwich Village and Chelsea Market
»» NYC Food Tours: Greenwich Village and Chelsea Market
Seasons 52 opens in Cherry Hill
Every so often, my husband will take off from work and we will lounge for the day. Last Friday happened to be one of those days. So after the kids headed off to school, we headed to the gym in preparation for our lunch out. Seasons 52 is a new restaurant that just opened up in the Cherry Hill mall along with a few other upscale restaurants. It boasts a healthier, seasonal inspired menu 52 weeks a year. The menu changes four times a year according to the seasons and the restaurant has different specials every week. When I saw the menu, I knew I wouldn’t be disappointed. On a closer look, I realized that each menu item contains less than 450 calories. Maybe we didn’t need to prep at the gym after all. The wine collection is amazing and Seasons 52 has over 120 wines to choose from. Over 60 of their wines are available by the glass. We arrived at the restaurant to find no parking spaces available. It was prime lunch time and the parking lot was filled with hungry shoppers all waiting to try the new restaurants. This was not a problem as we realized that Seasons 52 has complementary valet parking. We were thankful for our reservations since there was a 40 minute wait for a table. You would not know the country was in a recession at this restaurant. First on the menu were some appetizers. I had heard that the flatbreads were really good so we ordered the Grilled Steak and Cremini Mushroom Flatbread. I am a seafood lover so we also ordered the Caramelized Crab and Shrimp Stuffed Mushrooms. Both were delicious but I just could not get enough of the flatbread. The crust was thin and crisp, the steak tender and the whole thing so flavorful from the sweet onions and hint of blue cheese. I was enjoying my food so much that I realized the appetizers were gone before I took any pictures. Here is a picture of the shrimp flatbread so you can get an idea of the wonderful presentation. This is also what I am trying next time.
We left the restaurant thinking about when we would go back to dinner. Everything was excellent including the friendly service and comfortable upscale décor. If you plan on visiting Seasons 52, make sure you have reservations because I think it will be busy for a while. Seasons 52
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By Lisa Grant. Jersey Girl Cooks Love to cook, love to eat and love to run (thank God)! I am also the CEO of a household of four. My handsome hubby and beautiful two children keep me busy. If there is time to spare, I enter recipe contests and work on my blog to feed my obsession with food.
Fairway Market opens in Paramus
I’ve been hearing rumors about Fairway Market opening up a New Jersey location for years. I lived around the corner from Fairway in New York City and its accessibility was one of the aspects of city life that I was the most torn about leaving behind. My one bedroom apartment may have been overflowing with baby equipment, but I could run out and grab Moroccan olives, extra virgin olive oil, or triple cream Brie whenever I had an inkling of a craving, even if it was at midnight. Needless to say, I’ve been scouring the Internet for gossip about the Fairway move to NJ avidly. Just when I was getting ready to attribute the rumors to an urban myth, construction began in the Fashion Center Mall in Paramus. Signs pointing to “Fairway, Like No Other Market” appeared long before the store was much more than a gutted shell. I prowled the parking lot every week or so, surveying the construction progress like an anxious parent-to-be. Two weeks ago, I was gearing up for another drive by reconnaissance mission when I received an email from a PR firm representing Fairway. They were wondering if I wanted to come to the opening ceremony of the new Fairway Market in Paramus. I immediately penned the invitation details on all my calendars, electronic and paper, and counted the days until the event. The big opening took place on Wednesday, March 25, complete with ribbon cutting and speeches by many politicians including Governor Corzine eager to celebrate the creation of 350 new jobs. The actual market was even better than I had imagined. It is over 50,000 square feet (more than twice the size of the Upper West Side one), and feels gigantic, humongous, and heavenly.
I walked in to the glorious maze of gleaming towers of produce, apples in every hue stacked well above my head. When I rounded the corner, I beheld the rest of the Fairway magic. The store feels like a Costco from a size standpoint, but the merchandise is like a fine specialty store in terms of quality and selection. An army of butchers stood ready to prepare any cut not available on the endless pre-packaged wall. The Kosher meat section was generating a great deal of excitement from local residents carting away armfuls of brisket.
The pastries in the bakery could rival any I’d seen at fancy French patisseries on the Madison avenue. The selection of fish was dazzling, from Australian cockles to whole red snapper, and a special case at the end displayed over a dozen different kinds of smoked salmon. I spent some time at the cheese counter and learned that Fairway carries the largest selection of artisan cheeses in any retailer: over 600 cheeses from all over the world, including gloriously stinky French raw milk cheeses.
While the Upper West Side Fairway was sometimes lacking in grocery items (like only carrying Coke I ran all the way to my car, carting a huge fillet mignon roast I felt like I’d stolen by paying only $20 for it. I can’t wait to go back to the store once the madness of the opening has calmed down to really take the time to squeeze their melons. Fairway Market Fashion Center Mall Rt 17 North, Paramus NJ, 07652. 201.444.5455.
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Vanessa Druckman aka Chefdruck, is our North Jersey contributor. Chefdruck is not a chef, as her online name suggests, just a huge food aficionado. She loves to cook and to eat out, and then to write about her experiences. Vanessa is a transplant from the big city. She is half-French and spent a big part of her childhood in France, so as a result, there’s no fear of cream and butter for Chefdruck. Read more from Vanessa at: http://www.chefdruck.blogspot.com/http://www.chefdruckwrites.blogspot.com
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Before a much planned visit to the “Big Apple” I went to the internet to find a French restaurant for dinner on one of my few precious date nights out with my husband! In my ‘internet travels’, I came upon CERCLE ROUGE on West Broadway, a quaint French restaurant that I just have to share with all of you!
Guest Bite by Melissa Yurasits
Guest Bite: Chef Tom
