A Really Good Day For Food

This past Sunday, we had a really awesome food day. And, in the process, we got to explore a new place a little bit. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Not only was our friend Jeff in town this weekend, but his girlfriend Jaime had also come to the city with her brother Josh for a little sister/brother bonding time. On Sunday morning we all met up at our apartment and then walked down to the 39th Street Ferry Terminal (stopping for H&H Bagels on the way, which was Good Eating #1). We took the ferry from there across the Hudson to exotic Hoboken, New Jersey.

On the ferry

Eric, Jeff, Jaime and Josh in Hoboken

When we got to Hoboken, we set off for our destination: Carlo's Bakery, the subject of the TLC show Cake Boss! I love that show, and Jeff and Jaime are big fans, too. So, when I mentioned that we could have taken Jeff over to Hoboken to the bakery on Saturday, he jumped on that idea as something to do with Jaime and Josh on Sunday.

The walk to Carlo's was so nice. We stayed along the water, walking along Frank Sinatra Drive. The views of the Manhattan skyline were fabulous, of course, and the whole Hoboken area was beautiful, too. There were gorgeous parks, tree-lined streets and restaurants and bars with outdoor dining along the drive. It was really a lovely area! New Jersey doesn't exactly have a reputation for being beautiful, you know, so we were pleasantly surprised.

Hoboken mural along Frank Sinatra Drive

Hoboken World War II Memorial

Pretty park benches with great Manhattan views

Walking along Frank Sinatra Drive with Jeff, Josh and Jaime (apparently, I am a lone wolf over there all by myself)

After our very enjoyable walk, we finally came upon our destination - Carlo's! We made it! I had expected crowds, of course, but the line for the bakery stretched down the block and across the street. We took some pictures then got in line.

We found it! It looks just like on TV!

Jeff and Jaime in front of Carlo's

The line to get in to the bakery. That sign you see on the end of the barricade says "The line for Carlo's Bakery begins across the street!"

The line across the street!

Although the line was long, it moved quickly and before we knew it, we were approaching the front!

Yay! We made it back across the street! We're almost there!

Beautiful wedding cakes in the front window

When you get to the front of the line, they give you a number and then send you inside to the MADHOUSE. You try to push through the crowds to peek into the cases around the room to decide what you want, then wait for your number to be called to place your order.

YUM. Cakes, tiramisu, pastries and tarts, and eclairs and cream puffs. Drool.

Crowds in the bake shop

Waiting to pay for our treats

While we were in there we also caught sight of Buddy's "consultation desk" and a woman who I think was his sister Lisa (although I'm kind of bad at remembering the names of all the family members on that show).

Buddy's consultation desk

Buddy's sister Lisa? I think?

We ended up with two cupcakes (red velvet for me and yellow cake with chocolate frosting for Eric), an eclair and a cannoli. We were amazed at how reasonably priced it was, too - it was only $8.75 for all that! Not too bad. As soon as we all got back outside the bake shop, we dug right in to our purchases. Eric ate his cupcake and loved it, and I had the best cannoli I've ever had in my life. I saved my eclair and red velvet cupcake for later, and was not disappointed in either of those, either! (Yes, three of the four things we bought were for me. Don't judge.)

The proud owner of some Carlo's Bakery deliciousness

Ready to devour a cupcake and cannoli

After eating our sweets, we decided to track down some lunch. As you may recall, I've written many times about our love of Grimaldi's in Brooklyn. Well, it turns out Grimaldi's has another location just blocks from Carlo's Bakery! So basically, Hoboken is an amazing place to live if you like pizza and baked goods. Jeff and Jaime had not yet had Grimaldi's, so we went there for lunch. We got there a little before it opened so we had to wait, but we're used to waiting in line for over an hour for their pizza in Brooklyn, anyway. This location was nice because there wasn't a huge line and they take credit cards! I thought the pizza was just as tasty as at the Brooklyn location, but Eric liked Brooklyn better. Jeff, Jaime and Josh all seemed to enjoy the pizza, too, so it was a good lunch decision overall.

A large pepperoni and small cheese. SO DELICIOUS.

Jaime and Jeff enjoying some pizza

From there, Jaime and Josh parted ways from the rest of us so they could take the PATH train down to the World Trade Center site and do some lower Manhattan sightseeing. Jeff, Eric and I made our way back to the ferry and came back over to NYC.

One last shot of us and the skyline from Hoboken!

We went back to our apartment for a bit to watch the rest of the World Cup, then Jeff had to leave to catch his bus back to DC. It was a fun weekend!