I’m not that basic. I promise. I’m not just any other teenage girl standing over her table of food in a restaurant to get the perfect view and the right amount of lighting. I may be guilty of asking my friends to keep from diving into their food so I can snap a photo, and asking my sister to shine her phone’s flashlight on my dessert in a dark restaurant. But, instead of keeping my phone’s camera roll filled with 20 different views of the same deli sandwich in the air (#FoodInTheAir), I decide to publish my #eats and share it with you. So, be my date as I look back on some of my favorite meals from the past few weeks. Welcome back to SimoneSaysFood!
Let’s roll it back to my latest trip to Englewood, New Jersey’s Daruma, the finest Japanese stop and easily my favorite go-to restaurant. I was with a large group of people, so we ordered quite a lineup of food; three things that stood out to me, and also three things I’ve never gotten before, were the Wicked Daruma appetizer, the Naruto Maki appetizer and a big platter of 2 orders of the Sweet Heat roll and a Rainbow roll (a classic).
Since this was around Halloween, the Wicked Daruma special appetizer had spicy tuna, cucumbers, avocado and seaweed salad to top it off. Super good, super interesting, and certainly something you can’t get all year around.
The Naruto Maki appetizer was a rice-free maki roll, with tuna, salmon, crab and avocado wrapped in cucumber(!!!), which added a slight crunch and fresh ~vibe~.
For our meal, we had two Sweet Heat rolls and a Rainbow roll. The Sweet Heat roll has crunchy spicy yellowtail topped with avocado, tuna and salmon with sweet tobiko sauce. The Rainbow roll has tuna, salmon, yellowtail & avocado over a California roll. Yum!
For my family, we have had a lot to celebrate recently! Between my sister’s birthday, MY birthday (!!!) and my mom’s birthday the day after mine, October (and September for my sister) was filled with good #eats, candles to blow out, brunches and more amazing foodie experiences. Throwing it back to September, my sister, her friends, my family and I went to Bread and Tulips in Manhattan to celebrate my sister’s 25th birthday! Having had the table in a private room, incredible service, and great wine, our dinner was amazing. For my entrée, I had the Tagliatello Nero, or the squid ink pasta. My inspiration to be adventurous and get the pasta was from the restaurant’s Instagram account that I looked through that day. My thoughts on this dish? Incredible. The squid ink pasta came in a shrimp & cuttlefish ragu and garnished with Calabrian peppers. It was so good that I would go back to Bread and Tulips just for this meal.
For dessert, we got the Crostata Di Pere, which was a pear and almond tart topped with passionfruit sorbet. Here’s a snap:
The restaurant was amazing, except that the lighting wasn’t too great for my pictures. Nevertheless, this was GOOD.
For the next birthday dinner in my family, we went to City Perch in Fort Lee, New Jersey for my 17th birthday! Having had gone to City Perch for my birthday the previous year, I knew exactly what I wanted. I got the Herb Roasted Chicken, which comes on top of charred cauliflower, arugula and cilantro purée with spiced citrus vinaigrette. It’s always a super good dinner, with it being a nice portion for a hungry birthday girl.
If you know me, you know that I LOVE mac and cheese. So, it wasn’t not much of a surprise when I got the farmstead artisanal mac and cheese on the side.
Another perk of October (besides my birthday) was the great weather and the numerous trips I took to The City (what northern New Jersians call New York City). To mark the beginning of the month, my mom and I, accompanied by my sister, went to the Dare to Bare Body Positive Festival to raise money for Movemeant, an organization that encourages young girls to get moving and active. This festival offered Zumba and other fast-moving exercise classes in the center of Union Square Park! After our classes, we got cute mini juice samples, and then went out to Sweetgreen (my favorite salad place!) for lunch. This was super hydrating after exercising on this hot and sunny October morning.
At Sweetgreen, I got the peach and goat cheese salad with a light vinaigrette. It was fresh and green for my post-workout lunch.
Talking about the city, a week later, I went to SoHo for lunch and a shopping spree. Being my favorite kind of day, with perfect weather and generally being in SoHo, my parents and I went to my favorite SoHo food stop, Jack’s Wife Freda. This small restaurant focuses on eggs and other breakfast favorites, but with a twist. I got the INCREDIBLE Breakfast Bowl with poached eggs, red quinoa, kale, spaghetti squash, grilled tomato and avocado. Considering that I love everything in this bowl, this was incredible. Notice the orange drink. What is it? Cantaloupe juice! I would call this game-changing.
Continuing with the city trend, I was in Philadelphia a few days ago as I took my driver’s test in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. I took the day off from school, took my driver’s test and, with my mom, went to Philly for lunch and met up with my sister who works there during the week. We went to a Sweetgreen-like salad joint, Honeygrow, where I had the choice of a custom stir-fry or a salad. I opted for a salad, and I got wheat berries, fresh mozzarella cheese, dried cranberries, spicy roasted tofu and a few other extras to create my perfect lunch.
To end this post, here are my two favorite sandwiches from the past few days. The first photo has a picture of my lunch from Tenafly’s Celebrity Bagels: a toasted whole-wheat bagel with tuna salad. The crunch of the tuna and the toasty bagel keep me full and satisfied until dinner. The second photo is the harvest chicken salad on a roll with lettuce and tomato from The Farm in Closter, New Jersey. With dill, almonds and celery in the chicken salad, this sandwich was filling and enjoyable on a crisp Autumn day.
When I mentioned #FoodInTheAir, this is what I mean… literal food in the air. (There’s an Instagram account for this!)
Again, #FoodInTheAir! (Also known as FITA.)
As I fall in love with Fall, I tend to enjoy the crisp leaves on the ground and look forward to apple pie in a few weeks during my family’s Thanksgiving meal. In the meantime, I’m traveling to Florida for the weekend, so I hope to have some fun down south. Stay tuned for future posts… big things are coming up during my senior year in high school!
xo
P.S.
Here’s a snap of me and my sister at the Storm King Art Center in Cornwall, New York last weekend. We enjoyed the sunny Autumn day walking around the outdoor art exhibit!
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