Goldie's in Nassau, Bahamas...

After doing my homework before vacation, I decided to try authentic Island Food at Goldie's, being that it had the highest ratings and most positive reviews. As we are driving there we pass Twin Brothers, where we ate on our last trip, and the line is out the door.. Good sign, right?
We come upon Goldie's and there's not a soul near the place. We get out, get closer, look around and now I am apprehensive about going further. It looks like a real dump. No one is saying a word, but I know they're thinking, where the heck did she take us to this time?
I get closer to the inside window and say, I am not so sure we should go in here. No one's around, it looks dingy. I venture in and indeed there are a few people inside. The waitress asks if we want a table inside or outside, we decide in cause it was freezing in there. We go out back and there's no table, no chairs, no nothing. Now, we are laughing, out of confusion, not funny things.
We come back in and decide to sit in the front of the restaurant where there's 3 tables with mismatched chairs and a fan. I figure my group is gonna kill me.. But brave ones that we are, we open the menus and start ordering. First up, the conch salad, served cold with tomato, celery, garlic, lemon & olive oil. Fantastic..

Next dish, conch soup. Creamy, tasty, thick and delicious.. We are on a roll.. Next we ordered the conch fritters. I don't usually eat fried food but I had to stop myself from eating more of these delicious little balls of dough & conch with a great spicy dipping sauce of probably mayo & ketchup and some other unknown condiments. Don't care, it was great.

The main dishes were Grilled Local Red Snapper which came wrapped in foil with assorted veggies and plantains in the most delicate, delicious, flavorful broth ever.. Okay, so it wasn't really grilled as we know it, but it was absolutely fabulous. Fresh as can be. And it was $13 with a side of rice and peas.

We had the pork chop stir fry which was again, fantastically prepared and perfectly cooked. The grilled shrimp was cooked, again, in foil with assorted veggies & plantains, same delicious broth. And I had to try the Mac N Cheese, cause the Island people, to me, make it the best. True to form, I loved it. The others in my group weren't crazy about it, but I did enjoy it. The sides, rice n peas, cole slaw, potato salad, all homemade and amazing.

So, the moral of the story is, this was a great, great restaurant and i am glad we weren't too scared away by the looks of it on the outside, cause we truly would  have missed a fantastic meal. Oh, yeah, as the saying goes, "don't judge a book by its cover."  

The Meatball Shop. Gimmicky to me.

Sliders.. One bite and it's gone.

The place has 3 locations, one in the Village, on the Lower East Side and in Williamsburgh Brooklyn in NYC. Sounds successful.
My friend Joyce was dying to try this place and after hearing/reading so much about it on TV, magazine articles, foodie things, I wanted to go too. We decide to go pretty early on Saturday evening, making sure we got in. I get to the front of the place, packed already. The hostess asks for my name and cell number.  She informs me she will send a text confirming that we were there and another text when our table was ready. I like it.. very cool, very techno efficient. We had a 25 min wait, as estimated by the hostess.
So, we go inside, there's stools at the counter on the right and table on the left. A pretty small place that I think holds maybe 40. There's an open kitchen, music and a bustling staff. We get the menus and boy are they confusing. Our waitress comes over, very nice, pleasant girl. She attempts to explain the confusion and really makes it worse, I think. They have erasable markers on the tables for you to mark right on the menu your choices. Ok.  All 6 of us, pretty bright women, with the exception of one genius, figure it out.

Roasted cauliflower. Bland.

No sauce, unappetizing spaghetti, agreed?

So we order up some appetizers. We order the vegetable of the day, roasted cauliflower, spaghetti with marinara and a rigatoni dish too; and a market salad and the polenta, all around $4. And don't forget, they are tiny servings. We order a nice bottle of Chianti for $36. Good price, good wine. We wound up having 3 bottles and enjoying each one.

Too dry, tiny portion, no flavor.

Meatball hero with side salad. 

All the apps come out at once, including the Meatball hero, beef meatballs, with spicy marinara that was a main entree for one of us. From the looks of it all, the food was cold. And sure enough, it was. We summon our waitress and she takes it all back, apologetically. She then offers us extra food we didn't order and says she will take stuff off the bill. Ok.. The apps find their way back to us extremely quickly an we're hoping that didn't make it to the microwave.
So here we go. There are naked meatballs that come 4 to a dish, you pick from beef, spicy pork, chicken, vegetable or the special of the day, which was lamb. It comes with a side salad for $7.
You can have sliders at $3 each (top picture), again,  picking your ball and sauce. The sauces are marinara, spicy meat, mushroom gravy, parmesan cheese or pesto. You can order a hero on white italian or whole wheat, same set up, pick your sauce and ball, but there's the mozzarella or provolone for the top and a side salad for $9  You can have them over a salad. Why is beyond me. You can have 2 balls smashed on a brioche bun with a side salad for $8, also with the cheese.

Excellent polenta

We order a little bit of this and a little bit of that to taste it all. Only thing I didn't taste was the brioche bun. Once again,  the order comes out screwed up. Apologies, apologies. The manager comes over to apologize too and says, Desserts are on us.. Free stuff always makes things better.

Just meatballs with sauce

Ok, down to the meatballs. They're ok. Nothing special. I tried the pork, the beef and chicken. Eh.
The sauces were just ok too.  The pesto was very good though. The Polenta really was the best thing I tasted here besides the dessert. The hero bread was crappy. All the great bread makers in NYC, there is no reason for crappy italian bread. One of my dining companions, Patty, opted for the special balls of the day, which was lamb with Tzatziki sauce, couscous and a salad, (below). It looked great and she was quite pleased.

The desserts are ice cream sandwiches.. Again, you pick your cookie, you pick your ice cream and out it comes. They also have an ice cream special of the day which was strawberry lavender. I tried it and it was excellent. No cookie to make the sandwich for me. But I did taste the snickerdoodle with vanilla and it was really really good.

Chocolate Chip cookie with vanilla ice cream

Strawberry lavender ice cream. Yummy.

All in all, the idea of this place evidently is genius. Packed day and night. Why? I think cause it's sort of fun, at least to the crowd of mostly late 20s and 30s people. But the food all in all, not impressed, not so great.
I know at least 5 people on Staten Island who make those meatballs at The Meatball Shop taste like dog food.  I am not saying it's dog food, but these friends of mine who make meatballs, theirs are just far superior. t
The bill arrives, they took off a few of our ball dishes, desserts were free.. Smart business people.
I gotta get a meatball truck or something. People eat anything.

Pizzeria Giove.. Pizza worth staying on the Island for.

My third trip to Giove sealed the deal.. The pizza is truly fantastic. The plain & simple margherita pie has a very thin, crunchy crust while the fresh mozzarella (made daily on premises) has a soft, creamy & just a tad of salt taste. The sauce is the boss, just the way I like it, a little sweet and a really true tomato flavor. SAN MARZANO, the only way to go.
I don't usually order specialty pies, but they have so many tempting ones that next trip I am gonna try two different ones and get back to you on them.

We ordered mussels marinara and an arugula salad for appetizer. The mussels were cooked perfectly and the sauce tasted like mine.. No bull...

The salad was okay. It needed some more shaved parmigiano and a bit more olive oil. 

White pie with broccoli rabe.. I opted for no sausage tonight.. It was fantastic anyway.

 The crust is impeccable. 

A nice full glass of Chianti and I was in.. for 4 slices that is..  Brick oven pizza like it should be.
I can't say enough about Pizzeria Giove.. well, maybe, I can.. I can't wait to get back there. PRONTO.




Pizzeria Giove 
278 New Dorp Lane 
347-286-0635 
Hours: 
Sunday - Thursday, 
10:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. 
Friday and Saturday, 
10:30 a.m. until late-night closing. 

Seaside Turkish Mediterranean, Staten Island

I love, love, love Middle Eastern food.  Whether it be Greek, Turkish, Lebanese, it's all good to me.
I have been to Seaside before and thought it just to be okay. Passable. But I was dying for some Middle Eastern food and didn't want to travel, so I figured I'd give it another try.
We get there at 6pm on a Wednesday and the place is packed.. Promising? Maybe.
We receive the menus and the choices are many and sounding delicious. Then I notice a large Italian menu with pizza. Really? I figured at this point, maybe not so promising. Not a good idea to advertise your Turkish restaurant and then feature Italian food and different kinds of pizza.

I much prefer Sahara, Turkish, in Bklyn, or Elia, Greek, also in Bklyn.  But this is five minutes from my house.
We order the Shepherd Salad which I love. Once again, it falls short. Not even the shredded feta could save the salad, nor the freshly baked bread, which to me, was not freshly baked. It was decent, but not hot out of the oven. The salad needed salt and perhaps some lemon. I do not want to add things to my food in a restaurant. If it's good food, you shouldn't have to do anything but eat and enjoy...

Next we had the grilled calamari, at $8 a serving. And after counting the rings, there was 7, 7 rings of calamari. I have never seen such a small portion of calamari in my life.. And again, it was just okay. I didn't think it was worth a photo, so I didn't take it.. But I should have. 

The mixed salad looked great, came with craisins,, walnuts and cheese, but the dressing was bland. It wasn't awful. Just needed something, again.

I will say that the chicken shish kebob was very very good. The chicken was flavorful and moist, the rice pilaf was delicious as well. The accompaniments, the red cabbage slaw with slice red onion and the grilled tomato and pepper also were very tasty and the flavors all complimented one another, especially when adding the tzatziki sauce. 

The beef kabob also was good, but the vegetables on the side were mostly red & green peppers that were sauteed and it really didn't go with the dish.

So, basically, if you are on Staten Island and have a jones for some Turkish food and you don't want to travel, this will suffice. But if you prefer really great Turkish food, head on into Brooklyn. 

Seaside
Turkish Restaurant

124 Ocean Ave., Staten Island, NY 10305 Ph: 718 556 9000

Watermark Asbury Park

What a gorgeous, huge, fun, yet romantic, if you want it to be, place. Watermark is located on the boardwalk in Asbury, actually on the second floor hovering over the boardwalk with floor to ceiling windows all around. Gorgeous views of the ocean as you drink, eat and mingle. The interior is beautiful with lounge areas, large bar and another huge room with dim lighting and two fireplaces.

Polenta Cakes

The menu is small but covers just about any appetizer/small plates of food you might want. We ordered 2 of everything being that we were 8 people.

Spicy seared Ahi Tuna

This spicy seared tuna on a bed of edamame topped with seaweed and basil oil was amazing. The tuna was fresh and melted in our mouths.

Chicken Quesadilla

 These are the baby back ribs that were luscious and fell off the bone.. Tender and delicious.

Waldorf Chicken Sliders with shoestring fries

The drink selections are quite expansive. There's a huge cocktail list, nice wine list, several iced teas (alcohol included), sangrias, seasonal specialites too. 

The service, the food, the drinks, the locale, all told was a great night out and we can't wait to go back. They have outside seating as well, if you prefer, also loungy (couches, large comfy seats), cocktail tables. It's great for groups and you can spend hours there just having a great time.

Watermark

800 Ocean Avenue  Asbury Park, NJ 07712 (732) 455-3447

Aurora Restaurant, Williamsburgh, Brooklyn, NY

I just can't stop talking about this restaurant. It was a friend's birthday, a big one, and I wanted to take her out for a great meal. I did my research, came up with 4 places to go to and one by one I made reservations. After having 4 different reservations for the same night, same time, I had to eliminate. I did further reading and investigating and finally came to my choice, Aurora.. Woo Hoo, I hit the jackpot.
     
As you enter the restaurant you almost feel like you could be in a Tuscany spot in Italy. There's an outside area as well, really nice atmosphere, albeit you're in a Brooklyn yard. SMILE.
We ordered a bottle of Chianti, $48. Excellent choice. Smooth, soft, nice flavor. The first bottle we ordered was a Nero D'Avola which was very acidy so we sent it back. Not a problem.
We had a very nice waitress who gave us the specials and we were oohing and aahing at them all.

Crostini

Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

We decided to split 3 appetizers amongst 4 people. Next time we do 4.

Gorgonzola & Cauliflower croquettes

We had the special of stuffed zucchini blossoms (above), the crostini with carmelized fig, goat cheese, arugula, a sliver of speck and a light sprinkling of balsamic reduction and the gorgonzola & cauliflower croquettes. Oh my god, each of these appetizers were stupendous.

There were so many tempting choices for entrees that I was in a dilemma.. Well, I had to go with my 

favorite, Pasta. Next time I will try another pasta and a fish dish or something else. But we all decided on a pasta dish. Most of the pastas here are all homemade. I had the spinach pappardelle with a veal ragu, asparagus and parmigiano reggiano in a very light sauce. The only problem here was the portion. I could have had 3 more fork fulls and been ecstatic. But the pasta itself had the perfect consistency, the veal melted in my mouth. Fantastic.

The next pasta dish that I tasted, compliments of one of my dining companions, and I tasted everyone's, is the Agnolotti ai Porcini, which is similar to ravioli, but different shaped. It was stracchino cheese and porcini filled pasta with asparagus and preserved lemon. Absolutely delicious. The flavors all melded together in a very soft, smooth yet savory dish. Again, just a drop more on the plate would be perfect.



The next pasta dish was a spaghetti frutta di mare which was just exceptional. It wasn't a traditional thick red sauce smothering fish. This was a light blend of tomatoes, but not a tomato sauce, and there was shrimp, clams, mussels and fresh, real crabmeat. Wonderful flavors, loved this twist on an old favorite.

The final pasta is a familiar dish, again with a different twist. Homemade large rigatoni  wheat pasta with roasted eggplant, tomato, buffalo mozzarella and pesto. The best pasta a la Norma ever.








The desserts, each of them that we shared, were just magnificent.

AFFOGATO. Gelato rolled in chopped hazelnuts and chocolate, then drowned in espresso.. What a surprisingly delicious experience.

Vanilla pannacotta served with Amarena cherries and aceto balsamico, and a short bread cookie

CHEESCAKE with grain, ricotta and a caramel sauce.

The desserts were of a really nice size portion. Wish I could say the same for the apps and entrees. But still, all in all, I'd go back in a second. 

Jill-icious Food Adventures: The Office in Cabo.. on Playa Medano

Jill-icious Food Adventures: The Office in Cabo.. on Playa Medano: The Office restaurant is centrally located on Playa Medano in CABO San Lucas, Mexico. What a delightful night out with great drinks, live ...

The Office in Cabo.. on Playa Medano

The Office restaurant is centrally located on Playa Medano in CABO San Lucas, Mexico. What a delightful night out with great drinks, live music, flowing tequila and really excellent food.  First we had red sangria which was tasty & carbonated (a little more than usual) but I liked it. No fruit in it, but still delicious. Then we ordered, a must have, Guacamole, Mexican Sauce and Totopo Chips. 
One of the best guacamoles I have ever had. Not too garlicky, just enough lime. The salsa, which they call Mexican sauce, the best I have ever had.. MUY BUENO.

I then had the Sierra Madre Salad which consisted of Organic lettuce, arugula, Apple, blue cheese, Walnut and avocado, Dressing made with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, Salt and pepper. A perfect blending of flavors with the crunchy apple, tart blue cheese, smooth avocado & crunchy nutty flavor made this a hit. 

My cousin ordered the Tortilla Soup, which is a big thing in Mexico. This one was good but not great. Basically it has tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, adobo, shredded chicken and chipotle.. they usually add avocado, sour cream and monterey jack cheese.. 

And for my entree... drum roll please... I ordered, and not because I wanted to deal with a whole fish, but i was assured by everyone in my group that it would be easy to eat.... whole grilled red snapper. This thing was huge. And it was simple to eat too. But the lusciousness of this tender, moist, juicy yet solid fish was exceptional. This snapper was by far the best I have ever had anywhere, on any island, in any restaurant. It must have been caught an hour before it was on my plate cause it was THAT FRESH! It was served with a small amount of rice & black beans, which worked for me, cause I was really trying to eat clean. 
I also tried the steak fajitas which was just delicious. The meat was tender & yummy. It came with a side of their fabulous guacamole and yet more chips. The steak had peppers, onions and tomatoes with a sauce on the side. 

The Office is a fun night out. It is located on the beach, so you're sitting with your feet in the sand and a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean. They have music, a tequila guy who goes around pouring tequila shots right down your throat, if you so desire and even vendors selling their wares off the beachfront. It's pretty, lively and has a great fun vibe.


http://theofficeonthebeach.com/
The Office On The Beach Cabo San Lucas, Baja, Mexico.