Zylo Tuscan Steakhouse in Hoboken, New Jersey

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It has been a while since I wanted to try Zylo in the W Hotel in Hoboken (it opened in 2009). They call themselves a Tuscan Steakhouse. Knowing that we like Steaks and Italian food, there was no more hesitation!

The restaurant was interesting: it looked more like a lounge than a restaurant with the low leather chairs and couches. We went on a Tuesday night and it was packed!

The service was perfect: efficient and extremely courteous.

Now, the most interesting thing about Zylo is the menu.

There is a wide variety of dishes that can satisfy every palate: pizza, pasta, fish and steaks. This time, we were there for the steaks! All steaks are prime meat, dry aged and finished with Tuscan olive oil and sea salt. They are all served with a watercress salad (nice, but I do not really care about the salad!).

So we tried the filet mignon.

We asked for the meat to be cooked medium and it came at the correct temperature. 

We also tried the bone-in ribeye.

We asked for medium rare. Both steaks were perfectly cooked, juicy and you could definitely taste a hint of olive oil and sea salt that made it delicious. The ribeye was 20 Oz and there was only the bone (and the salad) remaining at the end of the dinner on my plate! There was a bit of fat, but I love that, especially around the bone as it gives to the meat and the fat a stronger taste (in fact, when ordering a bone in filet mignon, the taste of the meat close to the bone will be between a filet mignon and a ribeye). It was so good that I think I devoured it!

Then we picked some sides. At the beginning, we thought about going for an appetizer (the tuna tartare) and a side. But then I saw that they were offering the pasta in small portions!

So we had the ricotta gnocchi.

The gnocchi were pretty good. Not the lightest I ever had, but good. The sauce was an heirloom pomodoro sauce (tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and basil) that had a nice thickness. All of this was topped with some parmigiano reggiano.

The other side was French fries. 

They were just ok for me. I like them more crunchy and would have loved truffled fries!

Last, was dessert. Yes, I know: you are surprised that after that we were still able to eat dessert. Well, as we were in a tuscan steakhouse, we went for the tiramisu.

It came with some white chocolate decoration and an expresso ice cream that were very good. But the most surprising thing was the tiramisu itself: it was immersed in a chocolate fudge. This was simply delicious! Not a traditional tiramisu, but a very interesting and amazing twist on it! Definitely something to try!

We really had a great dinner at Zylo and will definitely have to try their lunch and brunch menu that are mouth watering. It is great to discover another great restaurant in Hoboken!

Enjoy (I did)!

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European Vacation - Part 13 - The Viktualienmarkt in Munich, Germany

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If you like food, the Viktualienmarkt behing Marienplatz in Munich is the place to go. It used to be a farmers'market and is now a place where gourmets and Chefs shop for victuals. It is a huge market that is comprise of more than 140 stalls and shops. 

This is definitely a tourist place as it is one of many attractions that you can find in guides, but people from Munich also go there to get their food and lunch. There is definitely a relaxed atmosphere and you will see many people taking their time to eat or enjoy a delicious beer from Munich!

The market is kind of split by specialties. On one side, you will have a succession of stores that sell meat and sausages.

Shops were next to each other and tourists (like me) were trying to take photos...

Then, the seafood section was on the opposite side.

There, you could enjoy lobsters, shrimp, oysters; you name it.

Other stalls were selling cheeses from all over the world, as well as fruits and vegetables. Interestingly, as it was from season, we saw plenty of white asparagus and Germans seems to be fond of them!

There was even a vendor who was selling exotic fruits. For instance, I saw a durian, a fruit that I tasted once in Singapore, known for its smell (it is forbidden to carry it in public transportation and they are forbidden in hotel).

On top of this, there are plenty of vendors who offer lunches: you can eat sausages, pork meat in bread... We went for a veggie and cheese sandwich.

Yes, I admit that we were not very adventurous there. It is because we ended up in the market after having tried Ratskeller self-service with its awful potato pancake! Of course, after the sandwich, we ended up at Cafe Hag that I mentioned in a prior post...

If you are in Munich, the Viktualienmarkt is definitely a site to visit, even if you do not eat any food there.

Enjoy (I did)!

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European Vacation - Part 12 - Bagel Company in Berlin, Germany

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We were walking in Berlin, looking around when we ended up in front of the Bagel Company. Bagels did not originate in Germany, but the different stories I found confirm an Easter Europe origin directly or indirectly linked to Poland (some say it is coming from there, others that it was a viennese bread to celebrate the Polish King Jan III Sobieski for saving the people of Austria from Turkish invaders). What is sure is that they existed for Centuries before coming to the United States at the end of the 19th Century, brought by Jewish immigrants. 

I never had a bagel before going to London many years ago: bagels are not known in France. But the best bagels I ever ate were in the United States.

My favorite bagels are H&H bagels (in NYC) and Bagels on the Hudson (in Hoboken, New Jersey).

So, back to the Bagel Company: they have a large selection of sandwiches and spreads (curry/chicken, tuna, feta/tomato, or dried tomato and basil spread, lettuce and vegetables), as well as several types of bagels (plain, whole wheat...). The size of the bagels is probably 80% less than the one we find here.

So, first we tried the whole wheat with cream cheese.

It was good. Simple and good.

Then, we picked the Salami bagel.

It was served with cream cheese, salami, lettuce and tomato. It was good, but there was only one slice of salami, so you could barely taste it. I also preferred the whole wheat bagel. 

In term of price, it was a bit higher than what one would be paying here, but it is a safe choice!

Bagel Company‎
Rosenthaler Str. 69
10119 Berlin
030 40690001
www.bagel-company.com
Note: they have several locations in Berlin.

Enjoy (I did)!

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Persepolis Restaurant in NYC, New York - A taste of Persian Food!

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What I love in New York City is the diversity of restaurants and cuisines. I think every cuisine is particular although you will always find similarities due mainly to historical reasons. 

This time, we went for Persian (aka Iranian) food at Persepolis in New York City. It was not the first time for us and the place has not changed: nice decor and very attentive service, with food as good as before!

Going back to the decor, Persepolis is pretty big with red bricks on the wall, a large map of what use to be the Persian Empire and photographs of the soccer team the founder of the restaurant used to be in back in Iran.

They have a large menu that can satisfy any taste: meat, seafood and vegetarian.

At first, they gave us some Iranian bread or Naan (yes, like in India).

There were two sorts: one thick that I believe is called barbari and another one that looked like a thin pita, called lavash. The barbari was my favorite: a bit crusty, it did not need anything on it. They served the bread with a dip made with sesame, that I did not like.

Then we went for the kebab (pieces of meat roasted or grilled on a skewer or spit):

The Kubideh is skewers of marinated ground aged sirloin. 

We also tried the Taj Kebab that is a combination of Saffron Chicken (boneless breast of chicken kebab, marinated in saffron and onion) and Baby Lamb Barg (marinated tender lamb kebab).

When you are ordering, you can pick the way you would like the rice (basmati). My favorite is the one with almonds and orange: it is so good! There is no need for any sauce on it! They also have rice made with sour cherries: surprising and still good!

Each dish is served with a braised tomato and some cabbage. 

The Kubideh is definitely my favorite: the meat is very tasty and extremely moist. The saffron chicken had a surprising buttery taste at first and was very well cooked, not dry at all. Last, the lamb (the chicken was sitting on top) had this delicious taste that is so particular to lamb meat. It was very tender.

These dishes were outstanding, but again, the Kubideh is the best!

We ate the dishes with some Most O Khiar that is Yoghurt (Most) with cucumber and mint.

This was very refreshing. I just wish that the cucumber was cut smaller.

Of course, we could not end this delicious meal without dessert!

We picked the Baklava! This is one of the best Baklava I had in New York (with the one at Molyvos)! It was not too sweet and very buttery. I wish I was still hungry to have another one...

Persepolis is definitely a great place to go to! We had, once again, an incredible experience there!

Enjoy (I did)!

And remember: I Just Want To Eat!

 

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European Vacation - Part 11 - Ratskeller and Spatenhaus in Munich, Germany

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Besides the Hofbrauhaus, we did not really eat that much of German cuisine. I do not know if it is the cold I had at that time or the restaurants we went to, but it was really not my thing. It is not that we did not try as this post will show (besides the Hofbrauhaus).

Ratskeller Self Service:

Marienplatz 8  80331 Munich, Germany

089 219989-0

www.ratskeller.com

After walking around the city and our visit to one of its Art Museums, we decided to go to Ratskeller, a self service on Marienplatz. It was crowded for sure and we thought it was because the food was delicious... 

Like any self service, we picked up our tray and went first to the salad bar. There was some mozzarella and tomatoes, grilled vegetables, salad, etc...All priced by weight.

We decided to have a mix of tomatoes and mozzarella and grilled eggplants.

I know what you are going to tell me: it does not look like German cuisine. True, but considering the other choices of food they had, it was the safest...For sure, it looked better than these boiled white asparagus and potatoes!

Then we saw the potato pancakes: on the photo on the menu, it looked like any potato pancake you will find in a deli in New York. So we were thrilled to try to see if it was similar.

It was served with some black-ich sauerkraut that had an awful taste! Well, in fact the pancakes did not taste better: they were greasy, mushy and the fact that they put the apple in it did not help. We barely touched it.

Clearly, besides the salad, this was a bad choice! I do not think I would go back there....

Spatenhaus:

Residenzstraße 12  80333 Munich, Germany

089 2907060

http://www.kuffler.de/en/muenchen/spatenhaus/index.php

The restaurant is across the street from the Opera. It seems to be a popular restaurant, not only for tourists. The decor is very nice with painted arched ceilings. The service was a bit cold...Efficient, but cold!


In term of food, they serve Bavarian cuisine. So we gave it a try.

First was the clear consomme with liver dumpling.

Think about a Matzoh ball soup with a liver ball. I have to say that it was very good! The broth was delicate and the liver ball light with a nice liver taste.

Then, the spaetzles gratine with cheese (melted cheese, oven broiled), served with crispy onions and a salad.

Honestly, I did not care about the salad and it was weird to serve pasta (the spaetzles) with it. I did not really like the dish: it was dry and the pasta seemed overcooked. It might be the way German eat it!

Then, there was the warm goat cheese salad.

The cheese was deliciously toasted: I guess they put some sugar on top of the cheese and torched it. Simple and good.

So, overall, it was just ok. Interestingly, they put a pretzel basket on the table. Usually, when they put a basket on a table, you would not think that they would charge you for it. Over there, yes. They charged 1.50 Euros for each pretzel that was eaten! I personally do not like this type of pratice: at least tell your customers what the rules are! Do not trick them!

So, if you are in Munich, find another restaurant or go to Spatenhaus only if it is the only choice you have!

Enjoy (the post, not the food)!

And remember: I just want to eat!

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European Vacation - Part 10 - Treats in Germany

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I'll be honest with you: I was not thrill with the food I ate in Germany: heavy, heavy, heavy! So I was looking forward for sweets.

Cafe Hag in Munich:

In Munich, we ended up at Confiserie Rottenhöfer Café Hag. 

Address: Residenzstraße 25, 80333

Phone: 089 22 29 15

Website: www.rottenhoefer.de

We went twice in fact. The entrance is kind of weird: first you go through the confiserie (sweets and chocolate store) and then you have the entrance to the cafe. The cafe is big and was very busy. There you could see either tourists or...senior people! The selection of cakes was pretty impressive and it looked yummy. We tried three of them:

First is the Schweineohr (pig's ear):

You probably saw these cookies in New York. In France, we call them palmier or palmito. This was my favorite: it was light, buttery and cripsy. If you like butter, you can easily be addicted to these!

The second cake was the Baumkuchen Torte, a chocolate layered cake.

This one was disappointing: the chocolate taste was not as pronounced as I had imagined. In fact, the only part I really enjoyed was the frosting....

Last was of course the Apple strudel. You cannot go to Germany without trying one!

It was good, but was missing some sweetness (I can't believe I just said that: usually, it is too sweet)!

So, overall, it was not a great experience, but I would go to Cafe Hag for sure for the Schweineohr and would try other pastries: with all the choice they have, I am sure there are some amazing one! No?

Bandy Brooks in Berlin - Ice cream and homemade chocolate:

Friedrichstr. 96  10117 Berlin, Germany
030 20962323
www.bandybrooks.org

So, here we are in Berlin for our last day of vacation. The weather was very cold so far and it rained a lot. So we were happy to have a wonderful day with Spring temperatures so we could walk around the city. Of course, at some point, we decided to have a snack. We passed by Bandy Brooks, an ice cream and chocolate maker. They say that they make their ice cream with fresh ingredients on a daily basis. They have plenty of flavors: vanilla, banana, Belgian chocolate, wild berry,  crunchy macadamia, almond hazelnut, hazelnut, mango, etc...

They also make crepes with Nutella! My favorite! 

So we tried the vanilla ice cream:

And the hazelnut one:

The ice cream were delicious! Flavorful and creamy. Perfect treat to cool down! Definitely a good address.

Incredibly enough, these were the only treats we had in Germany!

For the most part, I enjoyed (I did)!

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European Vacation - Part 9 - Hofbrauhaus in Munich, Germany

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Anybody who went to Munich will tell you to go to the Hofbrauhaus! Even the taxi driver other there mentioned it!

It is a very old brewery owned by the state government of Bavaria and one of the epicenter of Oktoberfest in Munich. The brewery is beautiful inside with some amazing painted high ceilings. There is really a bavarian ambiance there between the loud band and the staff wearing traditional outfits!

Some would say that it is a tourist trap. I do not know. I can only say that their menu is pretty reasonable. For sure you will not find fine dining there! No, it is traditional bavarian food.


Of course, as it is a brewery and as we were in Germany, we had to have some beer.

I had the Hofbrau original. It was nice, slightly bitter and refresing. Perfect with the food we ordered!

So, first was the Mushroom pot.

It was a kind of cream of mushrooms made of mixed fresh mushrooms and served with two bread dumplings. This was pretty good (perfect dish for mushroom lovers), but quite heavy. The bread dumplings were good, but I could not imagine eating them without a soup!

We also picked the Hofbrauhaus sausage platter that had several different types of sausages. It was served with sauerkraut and mustard. The sausages were just ok for me. I think I prefer sausages with a more pronounced taste. The sauerkraut was too sweet: I did not like it. I prefer it sour.

Of course, we had some pretzels with our lunch.

It was good. At least they do not put as much salt as the carts you find in New York! Interesting enough, there was a staff member walking around the restaurant, selling some huge pretzels!

For our first lunch in Germany, I was not wowed by the food. However, I would go back to the Hofbrauhaus though for the folklore and the beer!

Enjoy (I kind of did)!

Hofbrauhaus

Platzl 9  Bayern, 80331
089 290136100

http://www.hofbraeuhaus.de/en/index_en.html

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European Vacation - Part 8 - L'eden, seafood restaurant in Coublevie, France

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Still in France, we decided to go outside Grenoble for a delicious seafood lunch. We ended up in Coublevie, at L'Eden. Nice name for hopefully a paradisiac meal!

The restaurant is located on the highs of the city of Coublevie and the view of the town is beautiful. The decor is all about the sea with a large fish tank where you can see live lobster that most likely will end up in your plate.

The service was a bit slow, but courteous and the restaurant was busy (it was a Sunday).

In term of food, they have a large menu offering traditional specialties such as the bouillabaisse that is a fish soup from Marseille in the South of France, or some plates featuring various seafood.

They also propose different prix fixe menu. We went for the Madrague menu that, for 26.50 Eur ($34) offers an appetizer, an entree and a dessert.

As an appetizer, I picked the seafood plate that consisted of prawns, oysters from Marennes Oleron in Brittany, Bulots (buccin), mussels from Spain and clams.

This was a nice presentation and the various seafood tasted very fresh. The clams were not rubbery and the prawns were perfectly cooked. First time I had mussels from Spain and I liked them. The only thing I did not like was the bulot: I did not like the taste and the texture.

Then, I picked the Veloute de Homard, that is a lobster cream soup.

Presentation wise, again, very nice and appetizing! The soup was perfect: correct amount of spice, creamy with a delicious lobster taste. It was served with sun roots (Topinambour in French) on the side: I do not like sun roots, so I did not finish it.

As I was with my Family, I had a chance to try other plates (he he!)...First there was the Saint Marcelin salad.

Saint Marcelin is a small town few miles from Grenoble where they produce this deliciously creamy cheese that you can toast on a piece of bread and serve with a salad. You can in fact find this cheese at any good cheese store in the US.

They also proposed a salmon tartare served with apples, citrus and an avocado mousse. 

This was a very refreshing dish. The salmon tartare was perfectly made and seasoned.

Of course, last, came dessert!

They had this great idea of proposing a dessert sampler (I wish all restaurants would do that)! It was composed of vanilla ice cream, a creme brulee and strawberries. They were all very good!

There was also the "mushroom" that is a succession of homemade meringue cookie and vanilla ice cream shaped like a mushroom and topped with a thick chocolate fudge. This was very good, but a bit sweet and after having eaten the dessert sampler and all the food described above, it was tough to finish it!

This was a nice lunch, very refine, in a very relax atmosphere. I definitely suggest L'Eden if you can go to Coublevie. After lunch, you can even walk around to help your digestion: the landscape if beautiful!

L'Eden

Route de Chartreuse

38500 Coublevie

www.restaurant-poisson-grenoble.com

So this is it for the food in France! Next stop: Germany!

Enjoy (I did)!

And remember: I Just Want To Eat!

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European vacation - Part 7 - Crepes at Le Celia in Grenoble, France

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Crepes are a very thin version of pancakes that originated in Brittany and are today commonly eaten all around France (for instance, there is a whole street with crepes restaurants - creperies- in Paris). There are two types: the ones made with wheat flour (crepes de froment) and the ones made with buckwheat (galettes). They are not complicated to make (I promise I will post the recipe soon) and are great because you can put whatever you want in it! 

In NYC, there are plenty of places where you can eat delicious crepes: Maison on 53rd and 7th or Bar Suzette in Chelsea Market are a good example.

So here we are in Grenoble, at Le Celia, a very popular creperie. I went there last year and we decided to go back. I like the decor that references Brittany and its fishermen. The restaurant is warm with its blue walls. Reservation is suggested because it gets very busy!

There menu is composed of traditional crepes but also some creations like the leeks fondue, seafood...

They serve a smoked salmon crepe (Norwegian) that is great! 

The presentation is beautiful with all the elements that you would normally find rolled in the crepe, on top of it! It includes of course the smoked salmon, but also the creme fraiche and some fish eggs.

The fromagere (photo 1 on top) is my favorite: it has some emmental, roquefort and goat cheese in it! Mixed together with the softness of the crepe gives a very nice texture.

Of course, if you do not like crepes, you can go for a salad! They even have one with foie gras!

If you would like to try crepes, I suggest you go to Le Celia: you will not regret it!

Enjoy (I did)!

Reference:

Le Celia

1 rue Irvoy 

38000 Grenoble

www.creperie-lecelia-grenoble.fr

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