Junior's Restaurant

Junior's in downtown Brooklyn, New York, is one of my very favorite restaurants, but since I've moved to Utah I don't get a chance to eat there as often as I'd like. My husband and I had a layover of just over 24 hours in New York, though, and we decided to take the time to travel from Queens to downtown Brooklyn to have lunch there.

Usually one is brought a small plate of pickled vegetables,
but today we were brought this tray of rolls and baked goods.

I started out with a bowl of matzoh ball soup (which I love).

I also ordered the brisket melt, which was, in fact, a very
large sandwich that I couldn't finish.

My husband ordered the combo reuben (corned beef and
pastrami, grilled sauerkraut, and Swiss on rye). 

We were both full, but we shared a slice of No. 1 Original
Cheesecake (with whipped cream).

Shake Shack

And so this morning we left New York behind.

But because of a time zone flub on Google calendar, we got the airport this morning very early for our flight. (Since we live in Utah, the time zone is two hours behind the east coast, which meant that our 12:50 p.m. flight was listed on our calendar as departing at 10:50 a.m.) This meant, however, that we had a lot of time to explore terminal four of the airport, and have lunch before we departed (also meaning we didn't have to buy overpriced mediocre airplane food).

Fortunately, we had arrived in terminal four, and while I noticed passing Shake Shack on our way out, I forgot, although quick search of airport eateries reminded me. (I've been to Shack Shack before, but only their Madison Square Park location.)

It's a bit difficult to tell, but that's a SmokeShack burger (which comes with applewood smoked bacon, chopped cherry peppers, and ShackSauce) on the left; a bacon, egg, and cheese in the middle (which was one of the best breakfast sandwiches I think I've had); and an order of fries. I couldn't eat it all. I tried, though. Unfortunately, I was too stuffed to go back for a frozen custard or a concrete, which was probably just as well. 

It was the best final meal to leave New York.

The Steam Room

We had much of the day to ourselves, and since it was beautifully warm and sunny outside, so I took my husband to explore the familiar environs of Port Jefferson.

You can't quite tell from this picture, but Bridgeport, CT, is
across the Long Island Sound; the car ferry, pictured, goes
back and forth several times a day.

After we walked around for a little while, we stopped at The Steam Room for lunch.

I started with the seafood bisque...

...and then had a lobster roll, which was quite tasty.

My husband and the fish and chips.

Caffe Amici

One of my closest friends got married this afternoon, after which the 11 of us (including one very active, bouncy four-year-old) traipsed on over to Caffe Amici to celebrate the newly married couple.

It all started with hot garlicky, buttery rolls...

...then a salad (with blue cheese dressing, of course)...

...then a giant rice ball, which my husband and I shared.

I ordered combination #3:
veal cutlet, chicken cutlet, meatball, and sausage.

My husband and I were both stuffed, but that didn't stop us
from ordering and sharing a slice of Italian cheesecake.

Better on a Bagel

November 1st is, in the Catholic church, a Holy Day of Obligation (All Saints' Day), so even though we're out of town, my husband and I went to Mass this morning. Back when I lived in Long Island, I usually went to Mass on Saturday evenings, and on Sunday I'd often walk the two blocks to my local bagel joint, which was really an amazing place, for a sunflower seed flagel, cream cheese (sometimes scallion cream cheese), lox (sometimes belly lox), and onion.

That particular bagel place is a bit too far of a drive, but I wanted a bagel after Mass this morning, so my husband and I went to the nearest bagel place: Better on a Bagel. It wasn't as good as Town Bagel (No flagels! No belly lox!) but I was still pretty happy.

My husband got a salt bagel with lox and an egg everything bagel with cream cheese, but I went with a plan bagel, scallion cream cheese, lox, and onion. (I shoulda gotten the salt bagel. Dang.)

Port Jeff Lobster House

My husband and I are in Long Island for a friend's wedding; we arrived this evening and went in search of a late dinner.  Having lived in Long Island for just over eight years, I'm familiar with various good restaurants in various parts of the island (of which there are many), but the Port Jeff Lobster House was one seafood restaurant that I'd been to a number of times and had remembered fondly; quite conveniently, it was a very short drive from our hotel.

We both had bowls of lobster bisque.

My husband ordered one of the Thursday night specials:
the Lobster Fest, which came with a whole lobster,
mussels, corn on the cob, and a potato.

I had the seafood paella, which was fantastic.

Hill Country

One of my favorite barbecue joints is in New York City. That sounds blasphemous if you're from Texas or Mississippi, I suppose, but Hill Country is absolutely fantastic. After a day of traipsing around NYC, I took my husband for some barbecue before heading back to Allentown.

I had some moist brisket;
 two Kreuz sausages - one original, one jalapeno cheese;
and a chicken leg and thigh.
(It came with a choice of crackers or white bread.)
I also got a cucumber salad, but it did not photograph well.

Junior's

My husband and I decided that since we were planning on visiting my parents, who live in eastern Pennsylvania,  over Christmas anyway, we should take advantage of their proximity to New York City (two-and-a-half hours by bus) to see NYC at Christmastime. We hopped a bus early(ish) Thursday morning, and headed into New York for the day.

Well, clearly we had to eat anyway - you guys, there's a lot of walking - so the first thing we did after arriving at the Port Authority Bus Station was to hop the subway and head down to Brooklyn to Junior's, of Junior's Cheesecake fame.

Before we even ordered, dishes of pickles, cole slaw, and
beets and onions were placed before us. I'm not a big fan

of slaw or beets, but I did dig the pickles.

My husband and I both ordered cups of matzoh ball soup.

I ordered a sandwich I came nowhere close to finishing:
a brisket melt with melted mozzarella, onions, and fries.

Junior's is famous for their cheesecake, so of course
I got the chocolate pudding. Was it good? Very!
Did I come close to finishing it? Nyet!

My husband, reasonable fellow that he is,
got the cheesecake.