if you play your carbs right

I honestly struggled with what to focus on in this blog post. I was blown away with all of the food that I ate at Calandra’s Italian Village in Bloomfield, NJ. The visit to this literal village was definitely unexpected. I never planned and definitely did not expect this delicious of a meal on this particular night. Originally, I was just planning to go with my really good friend and her mom to their dress fitting for her upcoming wedding. I have to say it really was so fun and exciting because they both looked so beautiful in their dresses. I was so caught up in it all that I totally didn’t even think I was hungry.

Then we got into the car…and I was hungry! My friend said we could go to Calandra’s bakery and although I am typically down for bakery visits, I really felt like I needed to eat real food. Who knew that Calandra’s was not only a bakery but an Italian restaurant directly connected to it.

Because it was so late, we had to pick up out baked goods first. The place is HUGE!! I didn’t know where to start. So many displays, so many options. I could have purchased the entire store. and I really wanted to for my dad but I held back.

These are just a few of the displays. The cupcakes looked so amazing and there were so many options. Although the cookie case does technically look “empty”, it was about 9:00 at night which tells me that their cookies are an absolute HIT! I decided to buy a few mini treats. I had a mini vanilla cupcake, mini lemon cupcake, mini raspberry cupcake, an eclair, a cream puff, and a mini fruit tart. All so cute and adorable. The cupcakes were my favorite though. Not too sweet and freshly baked for the perfect fluffy texture. Just the perfect amount of frosting on the top with so much flavor! I want more!

Once finally making a decision and packaging up all of our treats into little white boxes, we headed to the restaurant portion of the building. Which was beautiful by the way. The tables were beautifully set and huge windows lined the walls.

As soon as we sat down this was put on our table…

Oh my God. A whole ramekin filled with grated parmesan cheese- YES! And right next to it…

breaking bread

What better way to spend the holidays than by breaking bread with the ones you love? Breaking bread is an easy way to make peace, show kindness, build friendships, and share stories with others. It’s simple but thoughtful.

So where should you go in order to put such positivity into the universe?

Take a ride to Mediterraneo Bakery in Bound Brook, NJ. This bakery is top notch when it comes to bread and pastries. I’ve had their bread twice in the past week and it’s just one of those things you cannot say “no” too. It’s always baked fresh and there are MANY varieties to choose from. (Literally an entire wall of bread to choose from.)

circa chow

This may be my all time favorite restaurant.

Circa is located in the quaint town of High Bridge just outside of Clinton. It is small but nicely decorated with white lights and small candles on the tables. The staff is extremely friendly and it is very obvious that they really don’t mind being there on a Saturday night. The atmosphere is overall very welcoming and comforting. It’s the exact place I wanted to be (and still want to be quite frankly).

Then there’s the menu…

There are many traditional dishes with a slight flair to choose from. I honestly wanted to try everything. While debating what to actually order, fresh french bread and hummus was placed on the table. HUMMUS! No, not bread and butter. No, not bread and olive olive. Delicious, grainy, garlicy, hummus.

After going back and forth with deciding what to eat and devouring the bread and hummus on the table, I finally placed an order for the sweet and sour cauliflower, goat cheese tart, and a small plate of salmon with green bean tempura.

The sweet and sour cauliflower was just that- sweet and sour. (Little bit spicy too). The cauliflower was crunchy and filled with delicious sauce in all its crevices. It tasted like sweet and sour chicken without the fried chicken and replaced with a vegetable that leaves you full but not feeling heavy. I’ve never had anything like it and I don’t think I will have anything like it any place else. It may have been my favorite part of the meal. At least, so far.

Look how pretty this plate is. There’s nothing I didn’t love about this crispy, pastry tart filled with goat cheese topped with mixed greens and honey. The smooth, creaminess of the goat cheese was a great complement to the crunchy, buttery crust. The mixed greens and honey brought the dish to the next level of flavor-with freshness and sweetness. It all mixed together to be heaven in your mouth.

My main dish was pan roasted salmon with green bean tempura and spicy aioli. Do you see that picture? The salmon was crunchy and perfectly seasoned about a quarter inch deep into the salmon. I’ve never had salmon cooked so perfectly. The green beans were fresh and bright green on the inside. They were evenly coated in panko breadcrumbs and fried. The outside was very crunchy and slightly salty. One bite of salmon, green bean tempura, dipped in the spicy aioli sauce is all anyone can really ask for in life. It’s amazing.

How could I forget? (I really didn’t forget). Mac and cheese was ordered.

And boy did I enjoy it. Cheese delicately enveloped each of the chewy, but soft elbow noodles as if it was giving it a generous hug. A hug that I would have loved to be a part of. Bread crumbs were not only on the top of the mac and cheese but all throughout the cheesy noodles so it wasn’t just that top layer baked to perfection but the entire dish.

Moment of silence for how good this meal was.

I honestly cannot think of the perfect words to describe how much I loved this food and atmosphere. I tried my best but I know it does not suffice. I cannot wait to go back and try something else! My mouth is watering right now. Is yours? Now is the time to try something new! Circa is definitely the place to chow down.

For more information visit: Circa Restaurant

a sandwich in the rough

July 20, 2015

Sometimes you just want a good sandwich. Yes, you could go to your local grocer and get whatever ingredients you want and build your own masterpiece but what’s the fun in the that? There’s plenty of good sub spots in New Jersey but what about a different kind of sandwich; something creative, something different, something tasty. You could go to a plethora of places and get your basic italian or turkey and cheese sub and you could definitely go to Legends Deli in Milltown, NJ and get the same thing, or you could get something a little bit different.

122 N Main St
Milltown, NJ 08850