Trenton Social - Trenton, NJ

It's not often that a new restaurant or bar opens in Trenton, let alone one that opens and gets the town excited.  But times are a changin'!

With the Trenton Steel now making their new home at the Sun Bank Arena, Trenton Social could not be located in a better place!  And to top it off, the Trenton Steel corporate office shares the walkway and courtyard, so the team and their players are already discovering where to get a great bite to eat and a drink after the game.

Trenton Social opened up for business on St. Patrick's Day after several months of renovations!  During that time, owners TC Nelson and Chef Milton Lee transformed an old, stale space, into a swanky space with class.  As you walk in the door, the first thing you notice is the soft lighting, warm colored walls, stone floor, and granite top on the gorgeous 3 sided bar.  Through the archway is the dining room, with more swanky lighting, exposed brick walls, and large areas that will soon be adorned with local art, that will be changing on a regular basis.  As a matter of fact, their first show, "Orange You Glad?" by Melissa Malinauskas, will open tomorrow.  More information can be found on their Facebook page.

We sat at the bar and noticed the 7 beers on tap.  Owner TC was working the bar today, and knew that we wanted a glass of wine.  Let me say that they do indeed have a great wine list, and hands down one of the best lists in the area.  They have several wines by the glass, and they aren't your average by the glass wines.  These are easily more "reserve styled" wines, with the most expensive being $9 a glass.  We both opted for a Chilean cabernet from Ventisquero, and this was one of their Queulat wines!  Needless to say, it was a great cab for the price!

TC started us with the Social appetizer, that came with two fritters of sort, breaded and deep friend with a Spanish influenced meat concoction inside.  Needless to say, the spices were great, and they were deliciously fried to golden brown.

This also came with two of their take on fish tacos, served in a flour tortilla.  These were absolutely delicious, and something I would usually not order.  Regardless, I am glad that TC suggested it, as the flavors from the fish, with the freshness of the salsa were incredible.

For entrees, Zelda picked the Curried Chicken sandwich, which is one of TC's specialties.  I think he perfected this item back in the day at his old restaurant in town, and this was delicious.  As Zelda stated, this was the best curried chicken sandwich she had ever had, and she has had a lot of them.  This had a nice crunch for the almonds, and nice flavors from the raisins.  All in all, this was delicious, and I am sure she would order this again, and order it often.  This has got to be a big seller at lunch!

For my entree tonight, I went the burger route!  Being the burger connoisseur that I am, I could not pass it up, and I had heard that it was great!

Needless to say, it was!  The beef in this burger was delicious, and it was simply seasoned and had great flavor.  I ordered mine with Swiss cheese, bacon, and sauteed onions, and it was delicious!  Definitely one of the best burgers in the area!  Both sandwiches were served with fries.

Half way through our sandwiches we both needed a refill, and we were both looking for something a little lighter, and we both decided on Malbec.  Zelda had the house malbec, which I think was an Astica, while I had their reserve list Malbec from Sottano.  Both malbec were good, but the Sottano was definitely a few steps ahead.

After dinner, we were both pretty stuffed, but TC insisted we tried their homemade family recipe flan.  That said, we did, and it was delicious.  You can tell that this is someone's grandma's recipe, made with love, and absolutely delicious.  It was rich and flavorful, and I would order it again in a heartbeat.

That said, Trenton Social is nice breath of fresh air and another part of the Trenton rebuilding process!  It's great to have te option in town, and once word gets out, I think it is going to be the place to hang out in Trenton.

It is just a matter of time and the menu will be expanding!  They have just a few items on the menu for now, but this is guaranteed to grow!  In talking o Chef Lee, he has a ton of ideas, and a lot of "China-Rican" influence as he likes to say, coming from his heritage!  I truly cannot wait to see what he adds to the menu next.

The dining room could use a bit of pizzaz, but some of that pizzaz will be coming tomorrow night as the walls get covered in art.  I know that they are also working on new tables and chairs for the dining room, but for now, there is nothing wrong with that is in there.  The wood floors look great, and run front to back of the entire dining room, into the meeting space they have.

Overall, I was very impressed with our first visit, and I can see many of nights here enjoing a bottle of vino, of good quality, at gret prices!  I think there were only 2 wines over $30, so there are definitely some good values there!

In short, we've found a new place to eat, drink, and be social!  Check it out soon!  I know that we'll be back on Sunday after we go to the Trenton Steel game!  Maybe we'll even catch "Salsa Sunday" as they teach dance lessons there!  Cheers!

Trenton Social
449 South Broad Street
Trenton, NJ, 08611
Phone:  (609)989-7777

Sundays-Wednesdays: 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m. (food served until 10 p.m.)

Thursdays-Saturdays: 11:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. (food served until midnight)
http://www.trentonsocial.com/
http://www.facebook.com/trentonsocial

Zinc Bistro and Wine Bar - San Antonio, TX

Well, here I am out of town on business in San Antonio once again, and after a little lunch at a local fast food Italian chain, one of my fellow Air Force members, "Budda," was in the mood for some good vino tonight.  That being said, I busted out my iPad when I got back to my hotel, and looked to see where we could go tonight to enjoy a nice bottle, and grab a bite to eat.

In doing my research, the place that came up over and over again was Zinc.  In looking at their wine list, they definitely had some nice wines, and the ambiance looked nice.  That said, we also invited two of our other folks with us, and headed downtown to Zinc!

Once we got down there, it took me a minute to find it.  I knew it was near the USO and the parking garage near the USO but I couldn't remember where.  We then rounded the corner though, and there it was in it's glory.  Zinc is actually situated on a pretty quiet street, and I think that most of the traffic it sees is traffic coming out of the parking garage.


Upon walking in we were greeted by the bartender.  To the right is a gorgeous, dark wood bar that seems to be fully stocked with all the high end hard liquor you could ask for.  Behind the wall of the bar was the dining room where we were seated. On the other side of this dining room is another dining room as well.

We sat and our server came over and took drink orders.  Meanwhile, I looked at the winelist, and we ordered a few different bottles of wine!  "Budda" is indeed "The Rainmaker," and told me to pick out a couple wines under $120.  That said, I picked out a pinot noir, as well as an Italian wine, and I will talk about those in another post.  Their wine list however can be seen HERE.

Their "Bistro Menu" however was very intriguing, and there were quite a few things that I was interested in.  One thing that caught my eye was the "Boudro's Tableside Guacamole" that Zelda and I had at Boudro's, which makes me think that these two restaurants are somehow tied together.  Regardless, it was great when we were a Boudro's!

Out came out wine, and upon first sip, I asked to have the pinot noir decanted.  Moments later our server came ak with a decanter and a funnel, and decanted the wine for us.  This was a nice touch, and I wish that more restaurants in New Jersey offered this service.

For entrees tonight, we all opted for something different.  You all know me and my love for a good burger, so I opted for the Zinc Burger - with smokey cheddar, parmesan tuiles, spicy tomato aioli, bibb lettuce, and home fries.  At $9, it was an absolute bargain, with juicy flavors, and great ingredients.  The tomato aioli was a great addition, and overall the flavors rocked.  This was by far the best burger I've had in San Antonio!  It looked so good as a matter of fact that Duane ended up ordering one, even though he had already eaten dinner!

Budda had the Grilled Ham, Cheese, and Tomato - served on brioche with vegetable chips and our soup of the day or salad for $9.  He ended up opting for a Tai noodle soup of some sort that he said was delicious.  Blanche had a salad of soe sort, but in all honesty, I forget what it was.
All in all, we had a great night at Zinc,with great food, outstanding wine, and great service.  I would definitely go back there my next visit to town.  Cheers!
Zinc Bistro and Wine Bar
207 N. Presa St.
San Antonio, TX 78205-2635
Bar:     (210) 224-2900
Office: (210) 224-1313
http://zincwine.com/zinc/

Marsha Brown Restaurant - New Hope, PA

I can't tell you how many times we have walked past Marsha Browns and not even though about walking in here for dinner and lunch, but I would have to guess it has been at least3-4 dozen times.  You never really hear anyone talk about this restaurant, and I really don't see anything on any of the different foodie boards or blogs that I visit.

So today, as we walked by, we looked at the menu, and both of u were curious.  Their sign out on the sidewalk said that they had the best burger, which had me a little intrigued, and actually sounded good as I saw Sandra Lee making sliders on her show as I was getting into the shower this morning.  Our other option was to head down to Mother's Wine Bar, and grab a sandwich there.  But we ended up wanting to see what Marsha Browns was all about, and I am actually glad that we did.

We walked and in and were given the option to sit in the dining room, or at the bar.  It looked like most everyone was in the bar, and it seemed like they were kind of pushing the bar, so that is where we went.

The bar is large, with big murals painted on the back wall. The bar is 4 sided, and there are tables along the right hand wall of the bar. Very cozy, and they have a few tv's to watch sports or whatever might be on.


The bartender came over and asked us what we wanted for drinks. Zelda went for a belini, and in looking around the bar, I saw a woman to my right that had a Mojito that looked delicious. Needless to say, the drinks came back, and were indeed tasty.

In looking at the menu, it's nice to see a Creole inspired restaurant in the area. I had no idea that this was a Creole restaurant, but you can definitely spot the New Orleans influence in the menu. What drew me in today however, was the burger. The sign out front stated that they had the best burger, which is a very bold statement when directed towards me, as I love a burger more than most. So that said, I have to see for myself.

Zelda had quite a few items of interest, and she was having a hard time decide on what to order. In the end she decided on the Mamere's Crab Cheese Cake, which is something that I actually considered for my next visit here, if we decided to come back.

For starters, I wasn't craving anything, but Zelda wanted to try a cup of their "Real Gumbo Ya Ya." This came out, and had chicken, andouille sausage, rice, and okra in it, and was very tasty. It had a nice spice to it, and the heat from the spice hit ya in the back of the palate. All in all, this was a tasty cup of soup, and better than most of the gumbo I've tried in this area.

A little while later out came the entrees, and they both looked gorgeous. You can tell that Zelda's is premade ahead of time, and is sliced almost like a piece of quiche. The top had a nice golden brown crust to it, and it was served with a side salad. Let me say that the crab in this dish was great, and paired with the gouda cheese, you really have a winner here. As you can see in the picture, there is a green onion coulis on the side, that is drizzled with a remoulade sauce. This had incredible, fresh, and vibrant flavors. All in all, the elements of this dish went together very well, and it was absolutely tasty. I would definitely order this again, and my only gripe, which Zelda disagreed with, was the fact that I thought it could have been warmed up a little hotter.

As for my burger, this came out and was a good sized portion. This was served on an onion roll that looked absolutely delicious! The cheese was melted on top, and the fries looked nicely seasoned. Upon first bite, the flavors were delectable, and the grill had a nice flavor to it. The burger itself really reminded me of the burger from Braddock's Tavern, and that is not a bad thing in the least. The beef had good flavor, and it was just all around an enjoyable burger.

That said, regardless of the negative press I've heard about Marsha Brown's, I have to say that we had a great experience. If I had to gripe about one thing, it would simply be the prices on the drinks. 2 drinks at $10 a pop is a bit ridiculous to me. We're not in Manhattan people, we're in po-dunk Pennsylvania, well out of Philadelphia, but I'll take it as a lesson learned. We'll definitely be back in the future! Cheers!

Marsha Brown Creole Kitchen and Lounge

15 South Main Street

New Hope, PA 18938

t: 215.862.7044

f: 215.862.7077

http://marshabrownrestaurant.com/

Rossi's Bar & Grill - Trenton, NJ

After a long day, nothing says love to a Midwestern boy like me like a good burger! That being said, I took a ride over to Trenton to visit the world famous Rossi's Bar & Grill, for what many call the best burger in NJ. I'll say that it has been years since I have been to Rossi's, but Zelda took me there when we first started dating way back when. I remember the burger being fantastic back then, and there is really no excuse that we haven't been back in such a long time. That said, tonight was the night! I walked in and grabbed a seat at the bar, and the place looked just as I remembered. Sat down and ordered a beer from Bob behind the bar, got a menu, and opted for the burger with Swiss cheese, and fried onions, cooked medium. It couldn't have been much more than 5 minutes, and out came my burger and fries. The burger looked just as I remembered, but was bigger than I remembered them being. Upon cutting it in half to make it easier to eat, the burger was cooked perfectly. Unfortunately, the Blackberry doesn't do the burger justice, but you get the idea! The onions had very light coloring to them, but were nice and tender, and the swill cheese was melted and oozing all over the place!

I added a bit of Heinze ketchup to the burger, put some on my plate for my fries, and in I dove! The first bite was heaven, and I had to ask why it has been so long since I have been back to Rossi's. This is just such a good burger! No frills to it whatsoever! Just good meat, and minimal seasoning. If I had to guess, it's just a little bit of salt and pepper. Do you really need to add anything else? Obviously not! The meat itself was tender, and had really nice flavor. It was simple, and just down and dirty good. It wasn't greasy in the least, but you can tell there is a little fat in their ground beef to give it that good flavor. The Swiss cheese added a nice element, as did the onions. The onions actually had a bit of a sherry taste to them, which I am assuming is from flying on the flat top. All in all, what can I say other than awesome! $13 for a burger and a Yuengling. That's cheaper than just a burger at some of the establishments we have in town, and their burger doesn't compare to a Rossi burger! If you're looking for one of the best burgers in NJ, Rossi's is a must hit! I look forward to comparing this burger to a burger from Boom in Belmar, as well as Barnacle Bill's in Rumson. Stay tuned for the latest and greatest to find the best burger in NJ! For now, Rossi's is in the lead! Cheers! Rossi's Bar & Grill 501 Morris Avenue Trenton NJ 08611 Phone: (609)394-9089 http://www.rossiburger.com/