Over the past year, I've had some fantastic dishes and culinary experiences in Jersey City. There have been new places, new menus, and a huge surge in community and outdoor markets. The food culture has grown by leaps and bounds and I, for one, am incredibly glad to have been able to enjoy it.
As you may or may not have noticed, I generally try to avoid ranking places or calling anything "the best". However, I do have many favorites or meals and experiences I consider special and note-worthy for a variety of reasons so I thought the best way to mark one year of talking about food in Jersey City would be to show some of my favorite things I've eaten in Jersey City over the past year. Some I may have posted before; others may not have been. Please note, except for the final item, these aren't in any particular order.
The cold brew coffee from ModCup - I've always been one of those people who really enjoy the taste of coffee but ModCup really impressed me with how delicious their coffee is, especially their cold brew. Their dedication and passion for bringing incredibly fresh coffee to the public is evident in the flavor of every single cup.
There are a lot of things to love at Andrea Salumeria in Jersey City Heights. Their sandwiches are amazing and while it might seem like sacrilege to not name one of their sandwiches filled with their delicious specialty cold cuts, my favorite so far is Pete's Special Tuna. Not only is it my favorite there, it's one of my favorite sandwiches ever. Made with mayo AND oil and vinegar, peppers, oregano, salt and pepper, lettuce and tomato on fresh, nicely chewy bread , it just completely blew away my expectations of what a tuna sandwich could be. It's also giant.
The BLT at Sam a.m. continues to be one of my most memorable eating experiences. Everything worked so well together and was of such good quality that something simple ended up being flat out extraordinary. I sincerely doubt I will ever have another BLT as good as that one.
It would be pretty difficult to make a "Favorites in Jersey City" list and not include Thirty Acres. I went last year to celebrate my birthday and amongst other delicious things, I got what I consider to be one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. It was pappardelle, made with what I believe were black trumpet mushrooms, arugula, sherry, sesame, and stravecchio and it was fantastic. Certainly not something I'll easily forget. The mushrooms added a depth of flavor while the sherry created a rich, slightly acidic sauce complemented by the slight salt of the cheese. The pasta was well-cooked, and it was such an interesting and unique pasta. I am forever grateful I got a chance to try it. Also worth noting from that same meal, although I didn't order it myself, was the pork loin with apples and brussel sprouts one of my friend's got and when it came out, my entire group stopped talking and just looked at the plate where there sat one of the most beautifully cooked pieces of pork I've ever seen. It may seem silly to look at a plate and admire how something is cooked, but believe me, it's not as easy as it seems to get something that incredible. It really was worth admiring. A succulent pale pink surrounded by a milky cream color with no hint of gray, it was clearly juicy and tender, and going to be amazing (it was).
The blueberry sour cream was the third flavor of ice cream I tried from Milk Sugar Love and I was completely unprepared for how delicious it would be, despite how many other people talked about it.. I'm not even a huge fan of either blueberries or sour cream (although I like them both well enough) but this combination was so interesting and so refreshing. Not overly sweet but rich in blueberry flavor and incredibly creamy with a slight tang from both the sour cream and the blueberries, it was a very happy discovery.
However, my all time favorite meal/food item in Jersey City was the first time I had the fresh corn pizza at Razza. It was the first night they were offering it and it was so unique: fresh corn, chili oil, slightly toasted bread crumbs, and fresh chives. It was slightly spicy, sweet, rich and creamy from the mozzarella - it really hit so many different taste buds. While I've loved every pizza I've had at Razza, the corn will always stand out as number one. Beyond the deliciousness of the pizza itself, I was with friends who were clearly loving it every bit as much as I was and we had a great time that evening which is really what makes that night and that pizza in particular stand out. A great night with great food leads to great memories.
There are plenty more delicious meals I've had in Jersey City and I have no reason to believe that won't continue into this next year. Stay tuned as there will be some exciting new updates and changes to the blog very soon and thank you all again for reading.
The cold brew coffee from ModCup - I've always been one of those people who really enjoy the taste of coffee but ModCup really impressed me with how delicious their coffee is, especially their cold brew. Their dedication and passion for bringing incredibly fresh coffee to the public is evident in the flavor of every single cup.
There are a lot of things to love at Andrea Salumeria in Jersey City Heights. Their sandwiches are amazing and while it might seem like sacrilege to not name one of their sandwiches filled with their delicious specialty cold cuts, my favorite so far is Pete's Special Tuna. Not only is it my favorite there, it's one of my favorite sandwiches ever. Made with mayo AND oil and vinegar, peppers, oregano, salt and pepper, lettuce and tomato on fresh, nicely chewy bread , it just completely blew away my expectations of what a tuna sandwich could be. It's also giant.
The BLT at Sam a.m. continues to be one of my most memorable eating experiences. Everything worked so well together and was of such good quality that something simple ended up being flat out extraordinary. I sincerely doubt I will ever have another BLT as good as that one.
It would be pretty difficult to make a "Favorites in Jersey City" list and not include Thirty Acres. I went last year to celebrate my birthday and amongst other delicious things, I got what I consider to be one of the best pasta dishes I've ever had. It was pappardelle, made with what I believe were black trumpet mushrooms, arugula, sherry, sesame, and stravecchio and it was fantastic. Certainly not something I'll easily forget. The mushrooms added a depth of flavor while the sherry created a rich, slightly acidic sauce complemented by the slight salt of the cheese. The pasta was well-cooked, and it was such an interesting and unique pasta. I am forever grateful I got a chance to try it. Also worth noting from that same meal, although I didn't order it myself, was the pork loin with apples and brussel sprouts one of my friend's got and when it came out, my entire group stopped talking and just looked at the plate where there sat one of the most beautifully cooked pieces of pork I've ever seen. It may seem silly to look at a plate and admire how something is cooked, but believe me, it's not as easy as it seems to get something that incredible. It really was worth admiring. A succulent pale pink surrounded by a milky cream color with no hint of gray, it was clearly juicy and tender, and going to be amazing (it was).
Congrats on one year!
ReplyDeleteAll meals are really looking delicious and you really enjoyed one year. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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