Luce in Caldwell

I love going down Bloomfield Ave from the Caldwells all the way down to the Belmont! Ooo the Belmont is another story for another time! But anyway, I am slowly trying to eat my way through this long street. It has everything from different coffee shops, Japanese places, Thai, Ethiopian, Greek, and of course Italian! I mean its just endless! And of course there are all these awesome boutique like shops in between, its just one of my favorite places in Jersey.

Since driving down to Eclectic Cafe in high school I have been passing what is now known as Luce. Its this restaurant that juts out onto the corner across from Caldwell College. I don't know what it was about this place that made want to try it. Maybe because I passed it a million times! But this weekend I FINALLY got to see what the packed parking lot was all about. I have to admit I do fall prey to trendy looking restaurants even if I know the best places are usually the hole in the wall!

In walking in you see the woman with the big guido hair keeping charge of the door. Not with a computer but the old fashioned notebook. I see the place lined with what looks like the Sopranos cast and woman with lots of gold and glitter on thier shirts. This place might have some real potential after all! It took us 45 minutes to be seated even though we made reservations. Not so cool! They did seat some of the old timers that walked in before us. We sense they have have the pull of being "regulars." But honestly it was worth it!

Our server was quick and friendly. And we didn't have to wait forever for our food. Which almost everything was great! They bring out bread and a version of eggplant componata which was really good. Its always nice to see a place bring out something you don't expect (for free!). We were all overwhelmed by the array of great choices on the menu and to make the decision harder, there was a whole list of equally appetizing specials.For appetizers we had rice balls, rock shrimp arrabiatta, and an exotic mushroom saute over polenta. The rice balls were crispy on the outside and had a great flavor of Parmesan and prosciutto, the red sauce they were in was also very good! The rock shrimp were spicy but not so much so that you couldn't taste the dish. The mushrooms were sauteed in garlic and truffle oil served over mascarpone polenta.

For my en tree I had a short rib ragu. I love short ribs when done right and they were! It was pieces of melt in your mouth soft meat in a fantastic red sauce with fresh ricotta cheese ontop of pappardelle thats homemade. Everything about this dish was great! Then there was Brian who opted for Black Linguine Sauteed with Maryland crab meat, gulf shrimp, chopped tomatoes, and julienne baby spinach in a light garlic broth. I love black linguine and it was very well made but the light garlic broth was exactly that. It was just a little too watery and tasteless for us. But some people might like that, but for us it made the dish fall flat.

Luce is definitely a place to be checked out and not mention a nice date place. It is bring your own, and be prepared to wait for your table!

Fabio, my top Italian Stallion!

I have had a very tough day going in and out of the city and contimplating my life...As usual...

And I turn on the TV watch a re-run of Top Chef and I laugh for the first time in like 3 days. I realize now that I love Fabio! My friend Mike loves Ariane and has made that very public. So much so that shes now checkin him out! I love his comments mixed with his accent, it totally cracks me up! The ravioli show makes me laugh and also makes me cry because I feel so bad that he messes up his ravioli!!! Like he says hes Italian and he can make pasta "wit man tied to my back." I don't know why when he says "Oh Jamie all she knows how to cook is scallops, come on this is Top Chef not Top Scallop!"...Okay most people don't think thats funny for some reason that made me laugh, and I needed it...I always do!

Hey Mike can you hook me up with Fabio?!?!

PS- I can't believe he cooks for William Shatner?!?! So weird!

WHY,WHY,WHYYYYYYYYYYY! Why did the Giants have to lose for the Eagles. After renewing my spirits last year with probably the best football game I will ever see in my life this is what they do to me.

So since football season is over for me I might as well pass on a great game-day snack to others who still have a reason to live on Sundays and superbowl to look forward too!

Cheesy Bread Recipe
Ingredients
8 oz shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 lb shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 to 1 cup chopped green onion (to taste)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp sour cream (optional)
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 stick unsalted butter (1/2 cup, 4 ounces), softened to the point of being slightly melted
1 to 2 loaves of French or Italian bread (I used Ciabatta), depending on the size of the loaves
Method
1 In a large bowl, mix together the cheeses and the green onion. Stir in the mayonnaise and sour cream. In a separate small bowl blend the butter and garlic until smooth. Add the butter mixture to the cheese mixture.
2 Preheat broiler. Slice loaf of bread in half horizontally, lay crust side down. Spread cheese mixture over the bread. Place under the broiler until nicely browned, about 3 to 5 minutes.
3 Remove from broiler and let sit for 5 minutes until cool enough to handle. Slice the bread with a bread knife. Serve.
Makes 30 to 40 slices.

Good Recipe

So this recipe is a little on the difficult side. But I have used it over the holidays for two years now and its a hit. Once you do it once its easier the second or third time around and well worth learning! I got it from the best food blog ever besides iateitmyway, its from Elise.com's Simply Recipes. She doesn't know it but shes my go-to!

Apple Cranberry Stuffed Pork Roast Recipe

Ingredients
Filling
1 cup apple cider
1/2 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large shallot, peeled, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups dried apples (packed)
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 Tbsp grated fresh ginger
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Pork Roast
2 1/2 pound boneless center-cut pork loin roast (short and wide - about 7-8 inches long and 4-5 inches wide)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Before starting on the pork, put the pork roast in the freezer for 30 minutes to make it easier to cut. While the pork is chilling, you can make the filling.
2 Bring all the filling ingredients to simmer in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook until apples are very soft, about 20 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve, reserving the liquid. Use a rubber spatula to press against the apple mixture in the sieve to extract as much liquid out as possible. Return liquid to saucepan and simmer over medium-high heat until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside and reserve this liquid for use as a glaze. Pulse apple mixture in food processor, about fifteen 1-second pulses. Set aside.

2 Preheat oven to 350°F or prepare your grill for indirect heat. You will be "double-butterflying" the pork roast. Lay the roast down, fat side up. Insert the knife into the roast 1/2-inch horizontally from the bottom of the roast, along the long side of the roast. Make a long cut along the bottom of the roast, stopping 1/2 inch before the edge of the roast. You might find it easier to handle by starting at a corner of the roast.

Open up the roast and continue to cut through the thicker half of the roast, again keeping 1/2 inch from the bottom. Repeat until the roast is an even 1/2-inch thickness all over when laid out.
If necessary, pound the roast to an even thickness with a meat pounder.

3 Season the inside of the roast well with salt and pepper. Spread out the filling on the roast, leaving a 1/2-inch border from the edges. Starting with the short side of the roast, roll it up very tightly. Secure with kitchen twine at 1-inch intervals. Season the outside of the roast generously with salt and pepper.
4 Place roast on a rack in a roasting pan, place in oven, on the middle rack.
You can also grill the roast, using indirect heat either gas or charcoal. If you are using charcoal, use about 5 pounds of coals, bank them to one side. Preheat the grill, covered. Wipe the grates with olive oil. Place roast, fat side up, on the side of the grill that has no coals underneath. Place the lid on the grill, with the vent directly over the roast. If you are grilling with gas, place all the burners on high for 15 minutes to heat the grates, brush grates with olive oil, turn off the middle burner, place roast fat-side up on middle burner. If you are grilling, turn roast half way through the cooking.
Cook for 45 to 60 minutes, until the internal temperature of the roast is 130 to 135 degrees. Brush with half of the glaze and cook for 5 minutes longer. Remove the roast from the oven or grill. Place it on a cutting board. Tent it with foil to rest and keep warm for 15 minutes before slicing.


*Tried this recipe, everyone really liked it! But its time consuming!

Restaurant Week

Yes thats right, 2009 Restaurant Week! Its your chance to discover your new favorites and well not-so-favorites, without blowing your budget. And if it is budget 40 bucks to get there because its not often you eat for 40 bucks in the city...Unless you go to Papya Dog...Which is TOTALLY worth the 3 bucks, especially if you are getting a Mango shake!

LUPA

Yes, its been a long time but whatever people get busy, or depressed and withdraw from life. Whatever the case I have some good news, I went to LUPA! And I loved it!!! And I didn't go broke eating there, which is even better!

Its very rustic inside the front dining room. Its a smaller more intimate place, especially compared to one of its sister restaurants Del Posto. Its got that amber lit, stone and wood look. Plus you can see the counter where they are working on slicing the meats and making the pasta. Which to me is a total bonus.

But we were seated in the back which is very quite and a little bit more of a sleek look. With leather seats and dim lighting. Our waiter was very friendly and knowledgeable. We started out with Prusciutto de Parma which came out about 10 wonderful thin slices that melted in your mouth which is the greatest! They take butcher paper put it over a wood board and drape the pieces over it, really cool presentation. We also tried the Octopus appetizer which was also very good. Then moved onto a salad that they had as a special. It has crispy pancetta and pears in it. There was something about the seasoning that I loved. Probably because it seemed like it was done with a heavy hand, which some people do not prefer however I do. I think the pancetta added an extra saltiness that I found fantastic.

For dinner I chose the Bucatini All' Amatriciana, I know its standard but I could not resist the possibility of a good bucatini dish! Which it was! Although I think they could have gone a little easier on the red pepper because my nose was running from it haha yuck! Brian tried the Carbonara which usually doesn't excited me however I do like once in awhile. However, when I go back to Lupa thats definitely going to be my next order! It was fantastic, but very peppery (thats not a word right?). But very tasty as was everything. NOTHING was bland. I wish I could remember the white wine we had but I cannot remember the name...Maybe Brian can..It was out of this world!