I took my mother to the Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange, NJ a few years ago. It’s an old casino perched atop Eagle Rock Reservation, which looks across the Oranges and a sea of trees all the way out to the New York skyline. It’s an upscale place with fountains, a jacket policy, and excellent food styling. Fun fact: this beautiful building had actually fallen into completely disrepair and was covered by graffiti before it was restored.I didn’t take the following photo.

Highlawn Pavilion Restoration. I DID NOT TAKE THIS PHOTO.

Disclaimer: these photos are not my best, but I thought they still looked tasty so I’m posting them. I’m following up with another post right away to make up for it.

I thought I’d start with dessert first. Mom got a raspberry napoleon, which is basically strawberry shortcake, replacing the shortcake with puff pastry and the whipped cream with buttercream. It’s official name is mille feuille, or a thousand (Mille) sheets of pastry. See, I taught you Polish in the last post, and French in this one — it’s an educational blog! Note how thin the layers are in this baby, and how big those raspberries are. It was delicious. I love frosting and buttercream especially, so I coveted her dessert.

Raspberry napoleon at Highlawn Pavilion. Berry closeup!

Here’s a top view of the pastry. I might have taken that bite out of the side.

Raspberry shortcake at Highlawn Pavilion

For coverage’s sake, I got a chocolate-caramel gateau. A gateau is a French sponge-cake that is brownie-like. It is very dense, and this particular execution was quite tasty. I love it when they outline the fork with cocoa powder like that. I think the swirling cookie is a little silly, but I still ate it. I think I recall that icecream being rum raisin. It was the first time I ever had it, and now I’m pretty fond of it.

Chocolate gateau at Highlawn Pavilion

If you live in New Jersey, you need to drive up to Kingston one Saturday and go to the Amish market there. They call it the Pennsylvania Dutch Market, but I think it’s safe to call it an Amish market because Amish people are serving you behind every counter. It’s right off Route 1 by Princeton and Rutgers. The market is small but has a bakery, freshly slaughtered meats, poultry, cheeses, jams, vegetables, desserts, pickles, and, occasionally, a pig roast. The bakery is what keeps me coming back over and over again. They make soft pretzels. Auntie Anne’s pretzels are based off Anne’s Amish background, so imagine those pretzels but even better. They are right out of the oven, made with freshly churned butter, soft, salty, sweet, and just perfect in every way.

I took a bite out of this one before I could take a photo of it. These are truly humongous pretzels, and I have a to-scale picture after the jump.

Amish pretzel from the Kingston, NJ market

Isn’t that beautiful? It’s thicker than your finger.

Pretzel close up

This next beauty is a pepperoni roll. It’s pepperoni, marinara, and mozzarella cheese, baked into a pretzel shell. It is heaven. The marinara has the perfect amount of spice, and when it is combined with the cheese, it’s like you all of a sudden realize why cheese and tomato sauce have gone together since time immemorial. This is what cheese + sauce should taste like, pure and simple. Everything else is just reaching towards this state of perfection. I usually find pepperoni a bit overwhelming in flavor, but it’s well-balanced here.

Pepperoni roll

Pepperoni roll closeup

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Sweet Avenue Bake Shop, a pretty cool vegan bakery in Rutherford, NJ, did some liquor-themed cupcakes recently. I had hoped to try Whiskey Sour, but they only had Margarita and Pina Colada when I stopped in. The Margarita cupcake has a tequila-jelly filling, lime icing, a lime wedge, and large sugar (“salt”) crystals. The Pina Colada has a coconut-rum jelly instead with coconut icing and a pineapple-flavored glob on top. They were alright — the cake was supposed to be liquor-soaked, but it did not seem to be. The jelly fillings weren’t hitting the spot for me, either. However, their cake and icing is always wonderful, and I gladly ate these, even if they didn’t quite taste like cocktails. These gorgeous and tasty creations have no dairy or egg products in them. Amazing, right?

Lime icing closeup on a Margarita cupcake

I love big chunky textures at the macro-level.

Sugar crystals in icing

Two body shots if you care, but we’re all here for the icing, right?

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My mother is low-carbing due to her upcoming wedding, so I took her to a seafood place, Blue Water Seafood Company, for Mother’s Day. The fish was rumored to be excellent, but it’s hard not to get lobster if you have the choice. She got a ~2.5 lb lobster, and I a smaller 1.5 lber. They serve it with flare. Look, he has a lemon fedora. I think it is a small blessing that the lobster itself is out of focus because, having looked at a lobster in a macro lens that day, I think I’d rather spare you the experience. A close up picture of the lobster’s face is after the jump if you think you can handle it.

He tasted delicious. The meat came right out – no digging around to pull it out. I wish I ordered a bigger one.

Lobster dinner at Blue Water Seafood Company.

These potatoes accompanied it, but who wants to eat anything but lobster?

Roasted potatoes

These clams were delicious; very meaty and served with both broth and butter. I’d definitely recommend Blue Water Seafood Company (what a mouthful) for the quality of its fish, but it is pretty pricey. I guess good clams are gonna cost you.

Steamed clams

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We spotted the Cinnamon Snail’s truck parallel to the river. This was a godsend, because I had skipped dessert at Onieal’s on the slim hope that I could get into Carlos’ Bakery for a cupcake. When we got there, the line was around the block, and they had a ‘bouncer’ ushering people in as other people left. There would be no cupcakes for me that day, but thanks to the Cinnamon Snail, I got some tasty and unusual vegan treats instead.

It was late afternoon so the vendor had just turned off his grill, but still had plenty of pastries. He kindly offered to take out any item I wanted to photograph so I could get a better shot, and after we selected our items, he gave us a few extra things since it was the end of the day. We got a piece of tiramisu, a pop ‘heart’ pastry, a coconut chick, a blueberry muffin, and a cider donut. We only ordered about half of those things.

Cinnamon Snail Bounty

The coconut chick was adorable. It had a soft, moist cake center, much like a blueberry muffin, that was then covered with coconut. It had an almond beak, clove eyes, and dried berry feet. Anyone who gives their baked goods feet is okay in my book. It was satisfying — if you like blueberry cake and coconut, you’d like this. Points for presentation for sure.

Vegan Coconut Blueberry Chick

A pophart and tiramisu after the jump.

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Lou and I both took Good Friday off so we could have a leisurely lunch in Hoboken. He works there, and I occasionally meet him for lunch on my days off, but it is  always a rushed affair since he has to get back at a reasonable time. We figured having the ability to walk around afterward might be a good change of pace, and it was. We went to Onieal’s, an Irish tavern sitting inconspicuously on the corner of 4th and Park, set far away from the traffic of Washington street. We had been there before, and it was a good experience; tasty food, quick service, nice ambiance.

The weather was warm and breezy, so we opted to take a seat outside where I had some natural light for my photographs. The park across the street supplied a soundtrack of squeaks and shrieks, courtesy of children and some metal swingsets. I envied them those swings.

Onieal’s menus

He ordered a burger. There wasn’t anything overtly wrong with it, but it wasn’t as good as last time. I blame the bun. I don’t really trust buns with shiny crusts. If the top of the bun has a crust like that, I anticipate the rest of the it to be slightly stiff or stale, and I like them soft. I also think the egg wash is a little pretentious — does it really add flavor at all? No. It’s just meant to look better. I guess I prefer a burger with more self-confidence. At least it was delightfully pink! Nice grind, too.

Burger dish at Oniea's bar in Hoboken.

Burger close-up at Onieal's bar in Hoboken. Hell yeah.

Quesadillas, guac, and onions after the jump.

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