Christmas Cookies for a Cookie Party

Mexican Chocolate Cherry Cookies... just a little cayenne :)

Apple / Pear Linzer Cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Stars

Cookie Tray Set to Go!

A Quick Bite at Hoboken's Newest BBQ: House of 'Cue

This used to be the 3 Forty Grill.  The House of 'Cue opened last weekend with a huge party with sky trackers and fireworks.  Tonight when we drove past, there was a parking space right in front, and the place was empty.

They serve cafeteria style, with an interesting double billing system.  We sat at a table, and had a waitress.  She was responsible for drinks and you pay her only for those.  For the food, we were given a meal ticket, which might be clearer in purpose if the food line were busier.

The meal ticket.

You turn in your ticket at the start of the line and choose your sides.

The Cafeteria Line

As you proceed down the line, you order your meats, they continue to mark up your card.  Look at the great well done crispy surfaces on the brisket!

Slicing the Smoked Beef Brisket 

At the end of the line, you pay for the food portion.  Look at the nice crispy edges, the pink smoked edges on the smoked brisket.

Sliced Brisket Sandwich

The same butcher picked up a hunk of  pork and chopped it for the pulled pork sandwich, then topped with coleslaw.

Pulled Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw

At the table is the sweet Texas 2-Step and the slightly hotter 512 Sauce [it tastes a lot like Thai sweet chili sauce].  Good thing there is Tabasco so there is a source of real heat.

The Sauce choices [pickles and corn pudding]

At 5, the place was pretty empty.  As with most BBQ places, the kitchen to table time is very short, so we were in and out in less thank half an hour.

The Dining Room with the Bar at the end.

This new addition to the waterfront dining in Hoboken is a pretty good barbecue restaurant. We had a pulled pork sandwich and a BBQ brisket sandwich. Both were good. The meat was well prepared with beautiful pink smoke rings and tasty crunchy burnt ends. The variety of side dishes is extensive. They offer cafeteria style food service, while providing waitress service for beverages. This allows for you to end up with multiple checks by the end of the meal. Each trip to the cafeteria line generates a food ticket that you have to pay there. And then the check from the beverage service comes to the table. This seems a bit complicated to me as a customer. Their choice of barbecue sauce is limited . The hotter of the two choices, remind me of Thai sweet chilli sauce, just in a smoother more traditional barbecue presentation. The only option to make it hotter is to use the bottle of Tabasco to add the familiar vinegar heat. Admittedly I was not sitting at the end of the restaurant where the bar is, but I wonder if they have a selection of bar food. I did not see one. If you're sitting at the bar watching the game on their multiple sports screens, do you go to the cafeteria line each time to pick up side dishes to snack on? A nice basket of Hush Puppies would be perfect for that type of snacking, but I did not see that as a choice.

Thanksgiving Dinner 2015 #2 at Montauk

We smoked this turkey for 8 hours then finished it in the oven for 45 minutes more.

Peas and a decorative Thanksgiving serving dish

Great Sweet Potatoes - Amy got the recipe from the Chef at NYU:  Easy, boil the potatoes, slice them, top with butter and sugar, then brulee - DELISH!

Basic bread stuffing... a little too basic for our taste.

Campbell's Green Bean Casserole.  I use frozen sliced beans and NOT canned beans.  Once we made it with fresh mushrooms and it did not take too much more time.

Salt and Vinegar baked shredded potatoes.  Very easy.  Boil two pounds of pealed potatoes for 15-20 minutes.  Meanwhile, thinly slice a medium onion, toss with 2 T white vinegar and a teaspoon salt.  Chill and grate the potatoes, then mix with the pickled onions.  Press into an 8" round cake pan, that has been oiled and lined with parchment. 

Thanksgiving with Family and Friends

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Amy's Cousin's Family at their new new home in Bellmore NY.  In their new home for less than two weeks, and they hosted 15 for THANKSGIVING : brave!

A delicious roasted turkey broken down and ready to eat.

Bruschetta with ricotta cheese, roasted butternut squash, dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg.

Brussel Sprouts with Cauliflower 

Mashed Potatoes

The classic Campbell's green bean casserole

Carrots and mushrooms

Bread stuffing

Dressing with nuts

Carrot Cake!

Pumpkin Cheese Cake

Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

4pm Opening The Point Bar and Grill in Montauk

Baked Clam Appetizers 

THE POINT is a great year round place here in Montauk to stop in and enjoy the appetizer and draft beer happy hour.  As it is the day before Thanksgiving, they did not open until 4, but the bartender and the kitchen were ready to roll!

The Baked Clams are packed with big pieces of clams, as well as well seasoned bread crumbs to make a wonderful hearty app.











The nachos are served hot and are plentiful.

Nachos with chili, cheese, jalapenos, red onion, guacamole, and sour cream

This is the blue cheese burger, good meat, juicy, and cooked perfectly.

Blue Cheese Burger with big pickles, big onion ring, salad, and fries.

Burgers at Murry's Cheese Bar - Somms and Sliders Event

Napa Valley Somms & Sliders in NYC, Nov 9-23

Murray’s Cheese Bar, the dine-in offshoot of iconic Greenwich Village cheesemonger Murray’s, serves up the Murray’s Cheese Bar Goat Burger. (Yep, and this one is really a goat burger.) “Goat is a delicate, flavorful, nutritious, and lean meat, so it’s a perfect pairing for a Napa Valley Pinot Noir,” says beverage director Rachel Freier. “It has hints of strawberry and cherry, plus a little caramel note that melts wonderfully with the sweet and vegetal notes of the goat burger.” It is, Freier promises, a very bright and juicy bite, and it will be served at lunch and dinner, for $25, for two weeks.

Fried Artichoke with Alici Aioli App

Goat Burger and fries

Ottomanellli's Grassfed Burger with Rarebit Cheddar Sauce and fries

A Mano for Happy Hour

Mussels with red sauce

Meatball as an appetizer

Crab meat and shrimp pasta

Ear pasta with veal sausage

We stop by the North Fork on the way home from Montauk this weekend. We'd love to this restaurant when we were here in the spring and decided to give it another try. We came for happy hour with half price cocktails and wine. It seems our recollection of happy hour food specials was incorrect: Thursday is the day for half price pizza.

While we're here we discovered they're participating with Long Island Restaurant Week. So we ordered our three-course dinners and had happy hour wines at the bar.

We were not disappointed with the fare. And we took the desserts to go as we planned on going to the Magic Fountain for ice cream just down the road.