If no one is going to claim the uptown wrecked sailboat let’s spray paint it Elks Lodge gold, put a plaque on it and make it the Sandy Memorial.
Tagged: hoboken, hurricane, sailboat ashore, sandy
I am a home food delivery addict and have been since I moved to the city. I have earned, not one, but two Delivery.com snuggies as recognition for my dedication. Here are my tips and stories.
I love The Taco Truck for great Mexican street food, but when they deliver they almost always forget to include the sodas. A quick call to the store will get you an apology and sodas in a second delivery.
Casual Thai is a good late night delivery for ethnic sweets. It’s also a good place to call if you happen to enjoy hoarding serving plates and cups. Every time I have ordered coconut Thai custard, it shows up at the door in restaurant dinnerware. Is it a Thai custom to lend customers their serving plates or are they gifts? The bowls are definitely not edible.
The now defunct Tutta Pasta was one of my favorite places to order from because it was often a negotiation to get them to deliver. On one call, they answered and I said, “I’d like to order delivery.” The man on the phone promptly said, “No. No time.” and hung up. Other times, they would take the order if I promised to keep it simple and pay with cash. Always a fun negotiation.
There is just something magnificent about having a medium rare 48 ounce ribeye, properly rested before serving at the restaurant, arrive at your door having been improperly rested on the back of a bicycle for a few minutes in the rain. The most expensive meal I’ve ordered and eaten out of a plastic box was from Dino and Harry’s. Raw oysters on the half shell in plastic with mini bags of ice as an appetizer, too.
Many restaurants in Hoboken have their own delivery staff, but a few brave restaurants work with NJ Waiters to deliver their food. Their service can be hit or miss but their delivery staff is usually the most, uh, colorful. At the far other end of the spectrum, Ben and Jerry’s sends out their nubile ice cream dippers to deliver their orders.
Piri Piri BBQ is awesome. When ordering delivery they will send out catering-grade containers full of food, enough rice and vegetables to feed a small family in one box. Just be warned, their fresh cut potato chips arrive soggy because those boxes they use act like a sauna on the chips.
There’s Energy Kitchen who sent three deliveries in one night to get food to me and failed. Within days they were closed for “remodeling” which in the restaurant biz means they are likely gone forever. In the off chance they do re-open, I’ll still take that bison burger and peanut butter shake.
I have a love/hate relationship with Japanese and Chinese delivery. I love the cuisine but I have beef with whoever packs the delivery bags. Each bag is evaluated for food quantity and selection which then determines the number of chopsticks, fortune cookies, and orange slices to include in the bag. This is a slap in the face because its their way of telling me how many people I should have but don’t have at my dinner party.
What are the craziest home food delivery stories you have to share?
Join fellow runners for the Hoboken Resilience Run 5K on Saturday, April 6th at Pier A.
The event is part of the U.N.’s “Making Cities Resilient” campaign. Proceeds from the run will go to the Rebuild Hoboken Relief Fund, the New Jersey Relief Fund and also the town of Port Maria in Jamaica which was also impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
You can register here and watch the running montage below for some motivation.
Tagged: 5k, disaster relief, hoboken, running, united nations
I must have been too busy stuffing my face because I only have this picture to show for the inaugural crawl this past Wednesday.
I was initially skeptical of a crawl that involved a progression of gourmet food in 45 minute sittings because it’s a lot more to orchestrate than drinks. It turned out to work just fine.
It started at Matt and Meera, which may be my new favorite spot for Indian food. We then headed to The Cuban which is always good, but the restaurant was much less accommodating to our group. The Cuban misunderstood “crawl” to mean foodies like to be on their feet when eating and they also had nothing to drink for us except behind the bar. Our last stop was Village Pourhouse for gourmet pub grub and dessert delivered from Charritos.
We ended the night with karaoke at the Pourhouse which included memorable renditions of “The Thong Song” by the D.J. and fellow Dish Crawler Matt Cordeiro blew us away with ”New York State of Mind”.
The Crawl will be back for a second round on Wednesday, April 24th. Tickets are on sale now and are likely to sell out quickly. Hope to see you next month!
Jenna Drew, 2013 Miss New Jersey and Miss Hoboken, comments on the latest controversy surrounding Punxsutawney Phil, weather prediction groundhog from Jenna’s home state of Pennsylvania and answers other burning questions.
Jenna Drew, Hoboken resident and 2013 Miss New Jersey International
1. Can you comment on today’s indictment of Pennsylvania weather prediction groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil?
“I have to admit, I’m ready to defend Punxy Phil if this madness gets out of hand.”
2. I read you enjoy painting with acrylic. You ostensibly could crush former President Bush in a semi-self nude paint-off, but who would take home the fluffy dog painting honors?
“Sadly, I think President Bush would take home the treats for his puppy portraits. I typically paint landscapes, but I did paint a beautiful tiger once!”
3. Serendipity is one of your favorite movies. Have you ever gone to the Waldorf Astoria to chase someone up and down the elevators?
“I have not, but this sounds like a fun challenge! Believe it or not, I haven’t even been to Serendipity 3, yet. They are always booked with reservations so far in advance!”
4. What do you have to do to prepare for Miss International competition in July?
“Since the International pageant system is so heavily weighted on interview, I will be spending a lot of time preparing with interview coaching with some of the top pageant interview coaches. Continuing my community service and volunteer work is also a big part of my preparation. From attending Celiac Awareness events to speaking at Gluten Free Expos and volunteering with the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign, I’ll be pretty busy! Of course, there is a fitness portion to the competition, so you’ll see me working out at Planet Fitness, too.”
5. What are the most common warning signs that a person might have Celiac disease?
“While there are over 300 symptoms of Celiac (one of the reasons it’s so difficult to diagnose), some more common symptoms include fatigue, migraines, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, growth failure, rash, unexplained infertility, and nutritional deficiencies.”
6. What are some of your favorite gluten free meals in Hoboken?
“I adore Bin 14’s Prosciutto di Parma, fig, ricotta on a gluten free crust.”
You can follow Jenna on Twitter @GFJenna or find her on Facebook.
Congratulations are in order for Hoboken resident Jenna Drew, former Miss Indiana (Pennsylvania) and Miss Hoboken, who was crowned Miss New Jersey International last weekend. She will go to Chicago this summer to compete for Miss International, which my imagination wants to believe includes Hunger Games style girl fights in pits of deep dish pizza.
Photo by Richard Krauss
In case you were wondering, there are four major international pageants. According to Yahoo! Answers, where I do all of my fact checking, we have Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth and Miss International. Each one has a different charter and organization behind it. Miss International is currently the smallest of the four in terms of number of entrants, mainly because it doesn’t cast a wide net like Miss Universe (which includes women of other planets, duh.)
Jenna is a Pennsylvania native, a graduate of Penn State, which makes it very likely she knows the proper pronunciation of the town “DuBois” and other PA colloquialisms. She lives in Hoboken now and does public relations work at Litzky Public Relations.
Celiac disease awareness is central to her pageant platform, having been impacted by it personally and in her family:
“One in 133 people have Celiac Disease which is an autoimmune disorder where a person is unable to digest a protein called gluten. Gluten is in wheat, rye and barley and commonly found in foods like pizza, pastas, cookies, cakes and other processed foods. As Miss New Jersey International, I will work to raise awareness for Celiac Disease because living with non-diagnosed Celiac Disease can lead to other autoimmune disorders, infertility, cancer and other health issues.”
One of her first events will be the Make Tracks for Celiacs 5K coming up in May. You can donate and support here. I think this is a great cause. I have a couple friends that went for many years with undiagnosed Celiac disease and its a tough life change. For the foodies reading this, I have a celeriac vs. celiac awareness joke for you. Get it?
Best of luck to Jenna as she goes off to wrangle the international title this summer.
One final thought.
I saw in her bio that Jenna is into acrylic painting. She ostensibly could crush former President Bush in a semi-self nude paint-off, but who do you think would take home the fluffy dog painting honors?
Tagged: hoboken, jenna drew, miss hoboken, miss international, miss new jersey
There are different approaches to making burgers, and much like pizza, there’s no way to really put them all in the same category.
There’s the “all american” burger that’s greasy with american cheese, lettuce, tomato and ketchup. There’s the “gimmick” burger that, like a martini menu, is all about topping combinations and less about the beef. There’s the “grill experience” burger that’s charred at 500 degrees for a split second and makes your clothes smell like the fire pit it was cooked on for the rest of the day. There’s the “fake” burger, not made out of meat. And the list goes on.
So, in a futile effort to name some favorites anyway, I asked Twitter earlier this week who had the best burger in town. @RMZFarrell offered up her pick of 10th and Willow. Others recommended Pilsner Haus, Elysian Cafe, Zylo, Onieal’s and the national chain Five Guys.
After trying Onieal’s and 10th and Willow this week for the first time, here are my unscientific, food snob results:
All American: Five Guys – They are the closest thing Hoboken has to an In N Out Burger, Shake Shack or Bill’s Bar and Grill. For the “All French” variation, try Elysian Cafe and order it with french fries.
Toppings: Onieal’s - 10th and Willow comes in as a close second. Both places have a long list of topping combos to pick from, but Onieal’s wins simply because their beef has more flavor.
Onieal’s Bacon and Bleu Cheese Burger
Grill Experience: Pilsner Haus – Little compares to standing in line with a beer stein in hand and watching your burger being made. And as a bonus, you get to smell like burgers and wienerschnitzel for the rest of the day.
Lean Meat: Energy Kitchen - Energy Kitchen offered bison, ostrich and other lean meat burgers but has been closed for quite a few months now. I would love recommendations for alternatives to healthy, lean meat burgers in town.
I’m relieved no one suggested I try Johnny Rockets or McDonalds. Thanks for that.
Tagged: burger, cheeseburger, elysian cafe, energy kitchen, five guys, hoboken, newjersey, onieals, pilsner haus, shake shack, zylo
