A little country in the big city

I've been on a few adventures since being out of school and not yet at work. One of which was an excursion into the city to one our of favorite restaurants: Hill Country Barbeque. Since Howie is from Texas, he's always on the lookout for "home-comfort-foods," aka real barbecue and real mexican food (I'll leave the explanation of the italicized "reals" for Howie to explain in a guest post since these are two of his hot-button topics). I actually first heard of this restaurant through an old high school friend who attended college in the city. Though it took some convincing to get Howie to try it because he is highly skeptical of the quality of northern bbq, it has turned into one of our top choices of places to eat in the city.

When you first walk into Hill Country it's like walking into an entirely different time and place than the busy streets of New York. Located on 26th between 5th and 6th ave, right near Madison Square Park, Hill Country is a great place to indulge in the southern delicacy of barbecue. The art of barbecue varies from region to region in the south, but the premise remains the same: meats cooked over low heat for hours and hours basted in succulent sauce. With this barbecue comes additional treats for your belly: mac & cheese, potato salad, cucumber salad, mashed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, corn bread, and more. The food is delicious and will send you directly into food coma if you aren't careful, which we usually aren't.

Aside from the southern comfort foods, this place is also unique because of its ambiance. With wood everywhere and mildly dim lighting, you feel as if you've walked into a southern hole-in-the-wall bbq joint. There are wood tables lined up cafeteria style, wooden chairs, a wooden bar, and stacks of fire wood along the back wall. When you enter, you are given a meal ticket that you bring with you up to the meat counter where you order your choice of beef, chicken, or sausage by weight as the meat is taken from the back where its likely just come out of the smoker. The meat is wrapped in paper, you are given a tray, and your meal ticket is marked before you move to the line for sides. At that station there is a minimum of 8 or so options to choose from in a variety of sizes along with an additional 5 or so desserts to choose. Your order is marked on your ticket and you are then free to sit anywhere you like. A waiter will come with options for drinks: water, iced tea, lemonade, soda, beer, the usual suspects. As you can imagine, its extremely easy to get carried away here.

My favorite: the 1/4 bbq chicken, with sides of mac & cheese or potato salad and cucumber salad. Howie usually goes for a multitude of things including sausage, brisket, and whatever else he finds himself drooling over... his eyes are always bigger than his stomach. This place has something for everyone and the food is excellent; its definitely somewhere you should try when you have time in NYC.

Beantown

I've been to Boston a handful of times but yet I couldn't have told you one thing about this city until this past weekend. As a child I can tell you I went on a field trip to the science museum there, but I don't remember anything about the trip. As a college student, I drove into the city once to meet a friend for lunch at BU; the only thing I remember is the drive was a nightmare and I was lost 90% of the time. I also took an impromptu drive from Philadelphia to Boston during the NCAA basketball championship to cheer on the Villanova Wildcats in a crazy run to the Final Four. This trip was of course a there-and-back trip in which we drove 12 hours and were in Boston for about 3 hours.

This time would be different. This time I would be old enough to pay attention and have enough time to explore. The trip was planned around visiting friends. Our drive got us off on a bit of the wrong foot; driving from the NYC region to Boston is long and traffic-filled. It took us a bit over 4 hours and we hit mild traffic in every major city in Connecticut. We arrived late afternoon and had dinner scheduled on the waterfront.

If you're in Beantown, we'd recommend Joe's American Grill. They have more than one location: Newbury Street and Atlantic Avenue. The latter is located on the waterfront near the wharf. They have a beautiful, large outdoor patio and the weather was perfect for outdoor dining. Their cocktail menu is extensive for "girly drinks" and the dinner menu is quite varied. I had a fabulous tuna burger with wasabi aoili (sounds adventurous, but it wasn't spicy at all) and sweet potato fries. It was delicious and definitely hit the spot.

The next day we explored the famed Quincy Market, also referred to as Faneuil Hall. In the heart of downtown, this local has always been a market place and meeting hall for the city of Boston since the 1700s. Unfortunately we neglected to go inside of the Faneuil Hall, but Howie tells me there is a huge sweets shop in there. On the first floor of the Quincy Market building is the largest cafeteria I've ever seen. Outside surrounding the cafeteria building are additional restaurants, bars, and trinket shops with carts selling all sorts of souvenirs and goodies. 

The thing to do at Quincy Market is of course eat! But more importantly, if you want the Boston experience, you need to eat certain things: Lobster Roll, Clam Chowder, or another seafood variety. Despite the fact that this is what you are supposed to do, the cafeteria has any food you could imagine: "philly" cheesesteaks, "NY" pizza, bagels, gelato, gyros, paninis, cookies, thai, everything. In addition to the food, there is also entertainment. We ran into a living statue and a duo performing magic tricks. I could have easily spent an entire afternoon or even the majority of a day hanging out here. However, my biggest recommendation would be to go during a cooler time of the year one a weekday. It was extremely hot, and being a main attraction, it was very crowded. All in all - this market is definitely an excellent thing to do and see if you are visiting Boston.

What to do in Ft. Lauderdale

It seems to be the general consensus among those far and wide that Miami is the place to be in Floridafor vacationing as a young person. However, being full time graduate students, we had no money to spend in Miami. Ft. Lauderdale was the place for us to be, though more reserved and "conservative" as our airport shuttle driver noted. Some of my friends have previously visited the area and knew the beaches are nice and that there would still be enough entertainment for us for the 4 days we would be there. 

What is there to do in Ft. Lauderdale you may ask? Aside from the beaches (which are beautiful), here are 4 recommendations if you are going to be in there area, in order of importance. 

1. Location: Stay within a 2 mile radius (1.5 miles is better) of Las Olas Blvd. We stayed at a cheap beach hotel (secured with just the necessities) on Ft. Lauderdale Beach Blvd, which is also N. Atlantic Blvd, about 1.2 miles north of Las Olas Blvd. Our resort was beach front and the beach was in spectacular condition. Las Olas is apparently the "happening" place and the stretch on N. Atlantic surrounding Las Olas contains the bars, restaurants, and general entertainment.

2. H2O Cafe: End of story. This cafe had the best meal of our vacation: scrumptious breakfast consisting of french toast, waffles, and egg sandwiches. It also had excellent coffee. We went there a second time for dinner, and although the menu looked tantalizing, the prices were a bit out of our budget range so most of us just got the fish taco appetizer. Even that, however, got rave reviews.

3. Spirit of Lauderdale Sailing:  This was a 3.5 hour trip on a catamaran that took us to the ocean, a wildlife sanctuary, and on a tour of the mansions. Cocktails and complimentary snacks were available on board. We found it in a marina a block inland on Las Olas Blvd during a walk we took on the "cloudy" day of the trip - though at least half of us all seemed to get burned while out on the boat.

4. Beach Place: Just north of Las Olas is a complex called Beach Place. It contains multiple restaurants and shopping and was the location where we raided the huge CVS (which contains clothing, food, beer, and wine in addition to the usual CVS commodities), ate 2 of our meals, and started out one of our nights. The food is not outstanding, but still solid and at the right price, and you have an excellent view of the ocean from all of the restaurants.

Not my own picture - but conveys the complex
http://www.thorequities.com/portfolio/beach-place

The best brunch I nearly never had...

While at 'Nova, I was intent on hitting up all of my favorite food joints on our quick 36 hour trip this weekend. These included primarily Campus Corner and Wingers. I mean seriously, I could never go to Villanova and not re-live the "double chicken parm on garlic bread". CamCo still had my phone number registered to my name when I called. Too bad I didn't have my wildcard...

Our food journey also included the staple Gullifty's - I had a delicious cajun burger with some kind of tangy ranch dressing and a Hoegaarden. Boy had a steak sandwich topped with guyere cheese and onions completed by a dunkelweizen. We love our wheat beers. Saturday night we also indulged in some boneless wings and the famed chicken ceasar wrap from Wingers. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. However, and surprisingly, none of these were the highlight of the weekend's food adventures.

Meet Nudy's Cafe

Howard has been talking about this place called Nudy's since we graduated. I can't recall why or when its come up, but on occasion he gets that look in his eye and tone in his voice and starts a rant about the wonder that is Nudy's. I had never heard of this place in all the years I went to Villanova, so naturally I was a skeptic. The only breakfast place I knew and supported was Minella's. Well, forget about Minella's. After eating at this place, I don't think there is a better breakfast place ANYWHERE. Yes, a bold statement, but I am feeling quite passionate about this place right now. Before I jump in, let me tell you a bit about myelf: I'm not a breakfast person. I don't eat eggs, I don't like breakfast meats, I get sugar crashes from the syrup on pancakes and french toast, waffles are burdensome to tackle. Its just not my favorite meal, and that is a-okay with me. When Howie says, "lets go out for brunch," I'll go, but I go begrudgingly. In my mind, why not just wait for lunch?

Fast forward, here we are at Villanova for our pre-cana weekend and its Sunday morning. Part of me is rooting for bagel factory since I know what to expect and am feeling groggy. I know how pointless this thought is, Howard's mind is made up - to Nudy's we go. He keeps talking about this french toast and I'm sitting there wondering who names their breakfast joint "Nudy's." We pull up on the gorgeous morning that was this past Sunday. I was immediately comforted by the smell of the grass and flower perfumes mixed with the smell in the air just after it rains while everything is still moist. The sun was starting to melt the haze and the people was loitering in the gravel parking lot waiting. The place was hopping. The outdoor patio in front was filled, the innside, tiny dining room was a hustle and a bustle with people, and the noise emanating from the back patio was enough to tell us the place was packed. I was okay with it... the hostess said only a 10 minute wait, and it was exactly that. We sat, got our coffees and started perusing the menu. It looked great, complete with anything you could ever want for breakfast or lunch. I asked Howie how lunches were since I was eyeing a few of the sandwiches. He looked at me straight faced and said - "I only get breakfast here." He said it as if I was a fool to get anything otherwise so I flipped back to the breakfast selections. I was not in the mood for an all-carb, sink to the bottom of your belly kind of breakfast. I noticed they had crepes. I'd only ever had a crepe in Africa, and it was pretty good. The menu said it was filled with sweet ricotta and topped with fruit and whipped cream. I'll take it.

There are no words to describe how wonderfully scrumptious this breakfast was. 

This is Heaven. 

It was phenomenal. The best breakfast I ever ate. It was the definition of perfection. Period. End of Story. 

But it's not the end of the story, because Howie also ate breakfast. He ordered the Cinnabon French Toast. What is that all about? It is literally the most enormous cinnabon you've seen dipped in french toast batter, griddled up and served to you with love and tenderness. Oh, and they give you TWO enormous cinnabons. I could only have a bite of his because I was far too infatuated with my own breakfast, but let me tell you - this was awesome. 

Buttery and sweet, it was french toast on a whole different playing field. It couldn't even compete with french toast, really. 

Moral of the story: If you have never been to Nudy's and you live on or near the main line YOU MUST GO. I cannot believe I missed out on this joint for so long. It is worth it. You will not regret it.