The East Flour Now Open

The East Flour, 103 Columbus Drive, is celebrating their Grand Opening this week.

Get to Know JC Eater: JC Muddy Sidewalk

Welcome to "Get to Know JC Eater" where every week I post a profile of a local resident who wants to share where and what they love to eat in Jersey City.  This site is meant to be useful to the community so what better way to do that then involve the community itself? If you'd like to be featured, please leave a comment below or email me directly.

This week's JC Eater is a neighborhood Twitterer who loves checking out new places and like so many of us, has a deep love for Second Street's cinnamon bread.

Pasta Dal Cuore Adds Take Out Lunch Specials

Pasta Dal Cuore is expanding their pasta options! They've been busy doing recipe testing and the store will now carry fresh take-out pasta lunches, available every Tuesday through Friday.

Blue Lotus

One of the few Indian restaurants located in Downtown Jersey City, Blue Lotus opened earlier this year near Hamilton Park on Erie Street between 7th and 8th in a space that has seen a lot of restaurant turnover. Luckily, Blue Lotus seems to be here to stay, offering lunch, dinner, take-out and delivery.

I went for dinner on a weekday and while it was pretty quiet early on, the restaurant soon filled up, stopping short of being crowded, but never got loud or chaotic. Service was attentive and very eager to please, but not overbearing. The menu is separated into categories with several options to choose from under each category and you'll find both classic dishes and some original options.

When we sat down, we were given poppadom but instead of the two chutneys (usually a tamarind and a tomato/onion) that I usually see, we were given three - one was a very good version of the sweet, fruity tamarind, then there was something that tasted almost like orange marmalade that I don't personally recommend, and a very smooth tomato chutney that was spicier than I typically taste but also very good.

We also ordered mango lassis ($4) which were good, but not especially memorable, and vegetable samosas ($5) which were excellent. They were perfectly fried - nice and crispy on the outside with a tender and well-spiced potato and pea filling, accompanied by the tamarind chutney and a cilantro sauce. The cilantro was excellent, herby and slightly spicy which paired well with the potato and I recommend using that versus the tamarind for this dish.