Metro Halal Food, New York

It seems like only yesterday that we arrived in Pitman. Actually it was 13 days, but whose counting? Bidding a fond farewell to the homefolks, we were off to the big smoke. I’m not kidding either, because this is right outside Madison Square Garden, and nothing in my limited experience is bigger and smokier than […]

Pegasus Diner, Malaga

Aaaaaah, another South Jersey Greek diner. Why are there so many of them? Why are they all the same, and so boring? We were speculating on the way in that Pegasus would have blue and white walls, but that was only because we had been to Olympia the night before for takeout. Nothing really Greek-looking […]

Blue Pig, Cape May

Cape May is beautiful, isn’t it? There are blocks and blocks of houses like this. But there’s only one Congress Hall, the first and most historic hotel at the Cape. You should see the inside here – lots of historic or restored touches in marble and wood, a nifty lounge in a semi-jungle theme and […]

Ebbitt Room, Cape May

Good heavens, the Virginia Hotel is an awesome sight in the twilight. Just in the middle of Jackson Street, the heart of the preserved neighborhood, it’s the best hotel in Cape May. It’s only fair that it should have what’s generally regarded as the best restaurant, and it’s only fitting that we should go there. […]

King Edward Bar, Cape May

The Chalfonte Hotel is a heckuva place. Open since 1876, it’s Cape May’s oldest continuously-operating hotel (and remember that Cape May is America’s first beach resort). And as a Southern-style hotel, they like to point out what I always maintained in college – that Cape May and southern New Jersey are south of the Mason […]

Pizza and Gyro King, Cape May

Why does Greek food go with pizza in New Jersey? No, wait, I had a better opening for this post (no edits). I was going to reiterate my Theory of Culinary Naming. You know when you see a restaurant that has more than one genre in its description? “Chinese and Tibetan food”. “Indian and Bangladeshi”. […]

The Beach House, Cape May

Some things are just iconic experiences. Epic experiences, if you will. Or even if you won’t. We got down to Cape May at lunch time, couldn’t check in to the hotel, and wandered off down the beach. I couldn’t shake the idea that fried seafood while looking at the ocean was the only acceptable choice […]

Jim & Mike’s, Pitman

The pizza of my childhood, here it is. For some reason we always used to order from here. I don’t know why, because I suspect that other place were better (at least they are now). But the pizza is OK, the cheesesteaks are better, and we used to get gyros sometimes, back in the days […]

Hugo’s Frog Bar, Chicago

No visit to New Jersey is complete without a daytrip to Chicago, that’s what I always say. So Thursday saw us up at the crack of dawn, suffering through three hours of mechanical, technical and weather delays plus in-flight turbulence that had more than one fellow flier screaming in terror. Once the day’s business was […]