Getting a Taste of Hoboken

What a great weekend we had! We did all kinds of fun things together, including eating some yummy BBQ and doing some successful celebrity-watching. And, the icing on the cake was seeing the Dallas Mavericks beat the Heat in the NBA Championship last night. As a supporter of the "Cavs For Mavs" movement, that was a glorious sight to see!

I'll tell you about the rest of our fun weekend as the week goes on, but for now, I just want to talk restaurants. Eric and I realized last week that since moving to Hoboken in February, we had yet to go out to eat in our new hometown. We are surrounded by tons of restaurants on all sides of us, yet all we had done so far was pick up something quick (Five Guys burgers, tacos, etc.) or order in. Shame! Why are we not taking full advantage of all the deliciousness in our neighborhood?

So, a resolution to eat out more regularly was born. We already have a short list of places that are the first we want to try, largely because they are always ridiculously crowded. In our experience, that is a great sign that the restaurant is serving up something tasty.

This weekend we got started on our restaurant-ing with a vengeance. Friday night we were supposed to go out to Queens for a friend's birthday party, but Eric got out of work too late and we had to scrap that plan. We decided instead to take advantage of the beautiful night in Hoboken, and stopped for an al fresco dinner of burgers, amazing potatoes and wine at Arthur's Steaks on Washington Street. We had a lovely meal together as we sat at our little table on the sidewalk, chatting and watching people go by. People watching is great entertainment! And I love me some al fresco dining. It is one of my favorite signs of spring when all the restaurants start putting tables out on the sidewalks again!

Arthur's Steaks

Saturday morning, the dining-out trend continued with a late breakfast at a local pancake joint called Stacks. Obviously, their specialty is fancy pancakes, and they have all kinds of options, many of which are named after Hoboken streets. I am in a breakfast rut, so I just ended up with a Western omelette, silver dollar pancakes and potatoes. Eric got chocolate milk and chocolate chip French toast. Yes, my husband is five years old, but I can't blame him - I tasted his meal and it was delicious. I will definitely have to go back there and be a bit more adventurous with my breakfast.

L to R: Inside Stacks; "Cheers!" with tea and chocolate milk; and our yummy breakfasts

After breakfast Eric went to Chelsea Piers for some driving range fun, and that night we had a great dinner at home. After dinner, however, we went out for ice cream at Rita's, another place I have been wanting to try. They have tons of Italian Ice flavors, custard, gelati, etc. Eric and I each Blendinis (Italian Ice blended with custard and a mix-in). Yummy!

Rita's

Even though we've only gotten started on our restaurant tour of Hoboken, we've enjoyed it all so far. I'm already thinking about what restaurant to try next!

Have you tried any great new restaurants lately?