Tony’s Italian Kitchen: Our Favorite Pizza

Watch out, it’s another stop on our New Jersey Easter Vacation! And of course, yes, it’s another food stop… And this time, it’s PIZZA! Who doesn’t love pizza? (Awkward for lactose intolerants…) So if you read our About section, you know I hail from California. Before I went to New York, I thought we Californians had pretty good pizza. Boy, was I wrong! Not that Californian pizza is horrible, but it just doesn’t compare to New York or New Jersey pizza. Especially, Tony’s Italian Kitchen.

Us driving around Chris’ hometown

It’s easy to pass up Tony’s, it’s in a tiny strip mall along with some other offices like Chris’ chiropractor and other little places. But once you discover it, it’s a gem! Luckily, Chris and his family had been getting Tony’s pizza for years, so all I had to do was tag along. The first bite I had, I was able to declare this the best pizza I’ve ever had, and trust me, I’ve had a lot of pizza. More specifically, it has the best cheese pizza. His family very often gets it to bring it home. And then I always eat too much.

So during this New Jersey Easter trip, it was our second food stop after having bagels for breakfast. We had two of our friends with us and split a large cheese pie between us. The wait was tantalizing. And then it came out to us, sizzling and hot. We always let it cool a little so the cheese can settle. And you should always have a Peach Snapple with it too. That first bite into that pizza was awesome. We hadn’t had it for six months or so, so it was that much better!

Drool-worthy

What really makes Tony’s the best is the amazing sauce. I don’t know what they do to it, but it is so fresh. It was really difficult not to scarf it down way completely fast. The crust is scrumptious and dusted to perfection. If you think you’ve had good pizza, come to Tony’s Italian Kitchen and see if you’ve really had the BEST. Cheers!

BONUS KITTY PIC

Cute Sajah

Mar052013

Restaurant Rave: Mediterranean Market

This place is one of our most favorite places to go. It’s cheap, it’s filling, it’s delicious. Chris frequents it constantly during the work week and we usually hit it up every weekend or every other weekend. It’s just too good for just too cheap! And the guy who runs it is great. He knows us by now because we’re in there all the time. We’re still trying to figure out his nationality, we think Syrian. It is as its title suggests: a Mediterranean Market. It has everything you would need from out East, from Turkish Delights to Baklava to Pita to Middle Eastern Flour, they’ve got it all. Seriously, it ALL. And with the market comes a delicious eatery.

It has a great relaxed atmosphere. You enter in with the market in front of you, four aisles or so of different Mediterranean goodies (I’ve wanted to buy this huge cheap thing of dates for a long time). Some regulars come in and get their groceries here. Others come for a special ingredient or treat. We usually always end up watching college basketball, because that’s what’s almost always on his television. There’s a pinball machine that captures the quarters of kids and enough treats, frozen dinners, and fresh ingredients to make anyone’s mouth water. All the money I spend there is absolutely worth it.

I typically get the #4 for $7 which includes…a platter of baba ghanoush, hummus, pita, and a wonderful salad with olives, tomatoes, feta, cucumbers, and a delicious dressing. Oh and those are just the sides, the main dish is a huge falafel sandwich, stuffed to the brim with hot, fresh falafel, lettuce, tomato, hummus, and onions. Oops, I’m drooling (and we literally went there for dinner tonight, couldn’t resist). At least it’s healthy and full of great protein!

Chris gets the same #4 for $7 but instead of baba ghanoush, he gets dolmas (and otherwise the same sides). And instead of a falafel sandwich, he gets a gyro sandwich. This sandwich, too, is stuffed to the brim with meat. And you can always sop anything up in the huge serving of hummus he gives us. We usually get a Xing tea to accompany our meals. And don’t forget dessert! We don’t always get it, but when we do, we either get baklava or kadaifi (or both). So delicious.

It’s truly authentic, and we enjoy it thoroughly. For us, it really feels comfort food. I’m not sure why, we’re weird like that. We always have huge smiles on our faces and full bellies when we’re done. it’s truly a place to relax and enjoy the food. And it’s healthy! It’s always on the list of choices of where we want to eat a certain night of the week.

If you’re in Boulder, you have to hit up the Mediterranean Market, you will not regret it! It’s a wonderful meal that will fill you up without emptying your wallet. Truly excellent food.

Feb062013

Restaurant Review: Chez Thuy

We had heard good things about this place. We are all about Vietnamese food and it was a nice Saturday to have a good lunch. So here we show up at Chez Thuy, one of Boulder’s Vietnamese cuisines. It was a sunny day, a little windy, but we were all game for our one-restaurant-out-a-week (attempted).

The atmosphere was wonderful. Ethnic music in the background, loud enough to hear, but not overpowering our conversation. The place is beautifully decorated, we were loving it. Beautiful paintings and traditional decorations all around. The only thing hurting the atmosphere were two obnoxious loud Boulder moms a few tables away.

I had a difficult time deciding between the Blended Boba drinks and Thai Iced Tea, but eventually decided on the latter since I like my Boba on ice, not blended. We order our dishes and they bring out two complimentary hot and sour soups. I’m delighted–Chris can’t exactly eat spice. So I get two! And am then full a lot quicker. The soup was delicious and warming and I ate both bowls.

hot + sour soup

For appetizer, we order steamed vegetable dumplings served with a side of peanut sauce. I was delighted with this. The dumplings were light and fresh, and the peanut sauce was the perfect heaviness to compliment it. I wish there were more of them to gobble up!

Then we wait for our meals. It’s a pretty busy time for them, but we don’t mind waiting, taking, and making fun of the two moms near us. Chris orders a Pad Thai and I order a Yellow Curry with Calamari. Eventually, they come out. Now I’m almost full at this point (way to go, Alana), but we dig in anyhow.

yellow curry

pad thai

Now…the dishes didn’t quite cut it for us. I actually enjoyed Chris’ Pad Thai a lot more than mine. Mine was too fishy, and not enough of that peanut-taste that you get in most yellow curries. I really didn’t eat much of mine. It wasn’t something I was very excited about, and I usually love Vietnamese food. Chris was not a big fan of his Pad Thai. It didn’t seem like it was prepared with a lot of care and love, the noodles really stuck together in one large mass, thus not allowing the dish to mix well.

Overall, we wouldn’t come back here for a main meal again. It just wasn’t impressive or very tasty. However, we would come back for appetizers.

Cheers! (Sorry for the lack of posts, we have been sick and busy)

Jan202013

Restaurant Review: Pastavino

Even though we are trying to limit ourselves to one food outing a week, we still treated ourselves to a nice Italian restaurant on Pearl Street. We actually tried to get to three other restaurants before landing here–all closed until dinner for some reason. So it was pretty much by accident that we found this lovely Italian place. And we were very happy that we did.

It was beautiful and sunny out–a nice change to the 10 degree weather we’ve been having. We briefly looked at the outside menu before marking their prices reasonable and dishes appetizing. The place was pretty empty, with a big bar in the front and a brick-oven in the back. It was adorned modernly, and the lighting was pleasant as it was coming mostly from the sun outdoors. We were seated at a semi-small table and waited by Isabelle, a nice 20s something girl who deserved a good tip by the end.

(ONTO THE FOOD!) I know, I know, just setting up the scene. So I immediately spot Penne Arrabiata, which is my go-to dish if places have it. It’s a penne pasta with nice hot spicy tomato sauce poured on top. But I also have a craving for cheese…so my eyes hover over the Mozzarella Caprese. Chris decides on another appetizer: antipasto misto (which included a various assortment of cheese, meats, olives, and veggies). So we start by ordering those two appetizers. We throw a loaf of bread in there too to get us started (we are very hungry at this point). Meanwhile, as we are chugging down the water we realize how delicious it is. I know that’s weird to see, but it was so refreshing.

The bread comes, nice and hot. It’s delicious, crispy on the outside, and warm on the inside–with a hint of rosemary. We douse our small plates with oil and vinegar and mop it all up eagerly with the bread. The other appetizers come sometime later, we’re enjoying our time slowly so we don’t really notice, and she brings out the wrong one for Chris (though we share). Chris breaks the news to her and she starts taking it away but Chris asks, “Are you going to throw that out?” She says yes and he asks if there’s any way to avoid that. She let us keep it without charging us for it and brought us our other appetizer. The wrong appetizer was fritto misto by the way, lots of calamari, scallops and such.

So we do try to take pictures of all food. But…we ate the caprese too fast–oops

Fritto Misto

It was all as it looks. We ate the caprese so fast that we didn’t snap a shot of it–each part of it (basil, tomato, and mozzarella) was just so fresh. The fritto misto was also delicious, and I got to eat the calamari because they’re wild caught! The antipasta misto was good as well, though I would rate the others higher. We didn’t really like the olives and eggplant of the antipasta misto.

Rejected

Taking our time, feeling thoroughly relaxed and not so starving anymore, we order our main dishes. Chris gets the Pizza Salametto which is a big pizza with salami, mozzarella cheese, and basil. I, of course, order the Penne Arrabiata, even though, by this point, I’m starting to feel full. Sigh. We snack on what’s left on our appetizers until the main dishes come out. I was happy with my pasta, but it wasn’t anything special. Chris’ pizza, however, was delicious. Although, I was “full,” I kept snagging pieces from his. It was a little oily, and had poor structural integrity, but the taste was there and the ingredients fresh. Chris also got a good deal with the lunch special and got a big thing of Minestrone Soup on the side.

By this point, I am full. Like, feeling a food baby coming on full. I am seated back in my chair, enjoying the tastes while Chris finishes up his soup. Once we slow down, and she notices, she pops over and asks about dessert. I shrug, saying I’m full, and Chris says, might as well look at it. So we do. Aaaaand, we end up getting dessert (of course). Chris spots a fruit tart–Sfogliatina alle Fragole. He had way too much fun trying to say it to the waitress. It comes out and it is a tower of glory. Just look at it.

Despite our being “full,” we finish every last bite. We reasoned afterwards that we were probably not just full, but sometimes you get bored of the same taste. That’s why, we decided, people tend to get dessert even though they’re “stuffed.” So we get the check, taking our time, and give our waitress a nice tip for being so good with not charging us with the wrong appetizer and being great.

Overall, we really liked this place. The only downfall was that the tables were small and they put so much stuff on the table. However, that’s not a big factor at all. The atmosphere was great, beautiful sunlight with calming music served us with a happy mood to go along with our flavorful filling dishes. We would definitely go again to get an enormous amount of food for a good price.

Small table

Nov192012

Restaurant Rave: Kho’s Asian Bistro

After our workouts (usually legs) at the Longmont YMCA, we typically go out to eat. It’s our eating-out treat day. And for the past two Fridays, we’ve gone to Kho’s Asian Bistro. You can guess if this is going to be a positive review or not. WE LOVE IT HERE. It’s not just the food, which is obviously made with love, but the incredible atmosphere and service.

So this place is tucked away, literally you have to go down No Name Road to get there. No, seriously, it exists. Once you get there, it’s in a complex with other shops. As soon as we walk in, we’re blasted to Malaysia, with fountains and beautiful sculptures and ethnic items on the wall. The sushi chef is the first to say hello and wave us to a table.

After being seated, we are soon approached by a waitress (all three we’ve interacted with have been absolutely great) and offered drinks. I almost without fail can never resist a Thai Iced Tea. Chris gets his green tea which comes in a huge pot and fills us up plenty.

We’re also pretty settled upon what we want at this point and we order our appetizer (Chris gets white rice, I get Hot n Sour Soup). The thing I love about this place is that everyone here is earnest and really wants to make you happy. We’re smiling as soon as we walk in the door.

We gobble down that quickly and we order our dishes. The first time, I got a Malaysian Curry and it was delicious (I could barely make a dent in it). Chris got the Una-Don which is his favorite. This time, I got the Buddhist Delight and he got Shrimp Ramen. I can never finish the dishes here, they’re so huge and decently priced. Packed with flavor but none of the heavy sauces that always hurt my tummy.

You can just tell: IT LOOKS DELICIOUS. BECAUSE IT IS. And that’s not all. This is the second time we’ve been here and the second time we’ve received a little special something on the house. This time it was two veggie pieces of sushi. Needless to say, we were happy.

Speaking of sushi, they have the best white tuna I’ve tasted so far. Haven’t loved it (because we’re spoiled from the coasts), but I definitely ate all my pieces last time I had some. The only negative about this restaurant is that they don’t have ethnic music on…it’s current music which we dislike. All in all, this is a fantastic joint and we will be coming back every Friday. We feel so welcomed, wanted, and happy that we’d be fools to go elsewhere. Thanks Kho’s Asian Cuisine! And where else can you find such great fortune cookie fortunes…