I swear that Chelsea Papaya has been part of this neighborhood since the 1970’s. I have passed this place a million times and never stopped in to eat. Recently when I was walking around the rim of Manhattan for ‘The Great Saunter” walk, I needed an early start, and this place opens at 5:00am (please check their website for the changing hours).
Chelsea Papaya at 171 West 23rd Street specials
For breakfast that morning I knew I would need to load up on carbohydrates so I ordered a Breakfast platter. I had two very large pancakes with a side of bacon and two scrambled eggs ($7.95) with a medium Papaya drink. It was the best breakfast on this rare cool summer morning.
The pancakes had a nice malted taste to them and were crisp and fluffy. The eggs were sizzling hot off the grill with the flavor of clarified butter. It was quite a large breakfast and it lasted me for most of the morning and afternoon.
The breakfast here is excellent
The only problem that I had with breakfast was that you could not eat inside and I had to eat at one of the filthy outdoor tables that were available. They looked like the homeless had slept at them all night.
Chelsea Papaya is open all night
Recently I was in the neighborhood and stopped in for dinner. I had a hamburger platter with French Fries and a Mango drink ($8.95). This was a hearty meal. The burger was freshly cooked with a rich caramelized outside and a juicy inside. The tomato slices were good but the shredded lettuce there could have been less of and could have been fresher.
I tried the Fried Chicken Sandwich and it was much better. The Fries had just come out the fryer along with the Chicken Cutlet. Even though it had the shredded lettuce and tomato on top, they seemed much fresher on the second trip. I really enjoyed the meal. It had been after class and I really needed a good dinner.
The Chicken Sandwich and fries are cooked to order here
The Chicken Sandwich #4 Special at Chelsea Papaya
It was delicious!
The fries were a standard steak fry but they were cooked to order and crisp and hot when I bit into them. The hamburger was also topped with ketchup and mayo and the whole burger was a flavorful gloppy mess that tasted so delicious with each bite.
The Papaya and Mango drinks are sweet and flavorful and traditional in these Papaya chain restaurants. They will really cool you down on a hot day.
The breakfasts at Chelsea Papaya are excellent
The service is very nice and both the men who work the counter have been so friendly and welcoming to me. It is one of those typical New York restaurants that we are slowly losing to the bigger chains. These small restaurant institutions are what make up the Manhattan neighborhoods.
Sometime you just pass by a restaurant many many times and never stop in. This was the case with Stage Star Deli. It was one of those restaurants that I just ‘passed by’ on my way to another one until someone put out a sandwich board with specials on it and that piqued my interest. There were all sorts of wonderful specials all priced around $8.50. That made me walk in to see what was on the full menu.
Stage Star Deli at 105 West 55th Street Hot Food Section and Specials.
The restaurant is a small deli with about four tables now due to COVID. Pre-COVID there were about seven small tables around the deli. One one side there are all the cold foods, salads and sodas and then on the other side there is the hot food and breakfast assortment. They have things like grilled chicken, roasted potatoes, mixed vegetables and Spanish rice. Chicken Parmesan and pastas are some of the other hot food specials.
The first time I ate here I had stopped for lunch when walking the streets of Central Park South for my blog, ‘MywalkinManhattan.com’:
I needed to have a late lunch before I continued walking the rest of the neighborhood and really wanted a burger. When I asked for one and saw the cook putting a precooked burger on the grill, I stopped the order and changed my mind.
I saw that they had a Chicken Parmesan special for $9.95 and I ordered that instead. It was excellent. I had a large chicken breast that was fried out and topped with their flavorful tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese with a large portion of spaghetti with more sauce on top.
It was a gooey delight of flavors and so fresh tasting. The portion size could have fed two people easily. Their tomato sauce has the right combination of spices and is very flavorful.
The Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti special is really good
I made another trip to West 55th Street when visiting the neighborhood again when I was walking Midtown West/Hell’s Kitchen and made a detour into the neighborhood again for lunch. I did not want something too heavy as I had a lot of walking to do that afternoon.
I decided on the Pesto Chicken Salad sandwich special with a soda and a bag of chips for $8.95. The Chicken Salad here is excellent. They toasted a hero roll and then warmed it up while mixing a nice sized scoop of chicken salad . The sandwich was finished with more mayo, shredded lettuce and tomatoes and you got a bag of chips and a soda to finish off the special.
The chicken salad had nice sized chunks of chicken mixed with mayo and pesto sauce and was well spiced. You could really taste the garlic and olive oil in the pesto sauce. It was also a nice sized sandwich that could have been two meals.
The Chicken Salad sandwich with pesto
On a recent post-Christmas visit, I stopped in for a quick lunch and decided on a Texas Toast Grilled Cheese sandwich with a side of French Fries special on the lunch menu. Everything was delicious.
The Texas Toast was the perfect bread for the sandwich which these large slices were cooked in butter and were crisp and caramelized on the outside which had a distinct crunch when you bit into it. It was crunchy on the outside and gooey on the inside with the several slices of American Cheese. The French Fries that were served with it were perfectly cooked and right out of the fryer. It was the perfect comfort food on a cool December day.
Upon returning again recently, I decided on the Turkey Club Sandwich, and it was excellent. The sandwich was lined with fresh Roasted Turkey and fresh vegetables. It was accompanied by a bag of Potato Chips and a drink. It made the perfect lunch before I left for the MoMA around the corner for the movies.
The Turkey Club Special
The Turkey Club Sandwich was delicious.
The service I have found to be really friendly and welcoming. The guys that work here do a nice job and the food and hospitality to be excellent.
I have been coming to Rutt’s Hut since I was 12 years old and I swear that the place has not changed since then. It is a somewhat run down roadside restaurant that has been around since 1928. Today you still have the bar, the sit down restaurant and the walk up stand for hot dogs and fries.
The dining room here is very interesting
The hot dogs here are amazing! They deep fry their pork hot dogs in hot oil and they come out of the fryer all shriveled and crackly. When you bit into them, they snap and crackle with each bite. They also make their own homemade mustard-relish that you can put on top and it is delicious. You can taste the spicy pork in every bit.
The deep fried hot dogs
The French fries and onion rings are also cooked to perfection in the fryer and come out golden brown. They snap when you bite into them. For an extra fee, you have them topped with gravy or melted cheese sauce.
The French Fries here are so crisp
I have to admit in the forty years I have been coming here I have never had anything outside the hot dogs, hamburgers, French Fries and Onion rings and that is okay with me. Maybe one day I will venture further on the menu but for right now a hot dog for $2.35, French Fries for $2.20, hamburgers for $2.00 and Onion Rings for $2.85 (2020 prices) is okay with me.
On my travels to the Turtle Bay neighborhood, I came across a little gem of a restaurant tucked into the office buildings that line the border of Turtle Bay and Midtown East. Hop Won Chinese Noodle Shop is located in a series of small mom and pop restaurants in what is left of the brownstone section of the neighborhood. The rest of the street had been leveled for new office towers and this small strip of restaurants is what remains.
Hop Won appears small from the outside but the restaurant is rather large in the back with lots of nice seating to enjoy your meal. The front section of the restaurant is where you do your ordering and during the lunch rush most entrees are prepared ahead of time and ready for office workers to dash in and out. If you have the time, try to eat in the back of the restaurant and sit in one of the cushioned chairs. On a hot day, the air conditioning works so nicely, and the restaurant is such a pleasure to dine in.
The inside of Hop Won Chinese Noodle Soup
The food is terrific. I had lunch here a couple of times and the restaurant is less Cantonese ‘take-out’ food and concentrates more on barbecued meats, noodle soups and dishes accompanied with rice. It is more of a Chinatown restaurant in the middle of Midtown. The smells of the roasted meats make them mouthwatering, and you really want to concentrate on them when you first visit the restaurant.
The Roasted Duck and Roast Pork at Hop Won are delicious
The Roasted Meat combination platter makes a good lunch/dinner combination.
My first trip to the restaurant, I had the Boneless Roast Pork Combination platter with Fried Rice and an egg roll ($10.75) with a Coke. The roast pork was delicious with a smoky flavor due to the red soy marinade and a finishing of honey. Each piece was perfectly roasted and had a nice, lacquered color to it.
The Boneless Roast Pork is so succulent here.
I had to admit that they were very generous with the portion size as well and it must have been about a half pound of meat on the plate. The Vegetarian Fried Rice was perfectly cooked with slivers or small pieces of vegetables studded in the dish. The egg roll was pretty standard but still good.
The egg rolls are delicious.
On my second trip to the restaurant, I concentrated on the roasted meats again and had the Roast Pork and Roast Duck combination platter with White Rice ($10.00) with a Coke and a side of Wonton Soup ($3.00). Again the roasted meats were perfect marinated and lacquered.
The roast pork had a succulent red color to it, and you could taste the salty soy sauce in it. The roasted duck had that lacquered crisp skin on the outside and moist sweet duck meat on the inside. It was a nice contrast in flavors with the white rice. Again the portion sizes were very fair and filling. It was so good that I had it a second time on a recent visit.
The Boneless Roast Pork with Pork Fried Rice and an Egg Roll
My most recent trip for dinner, I had the Boneless Roast Pork with Pork Fried Rice and an Egg Roll. The portion size was extremely generous and the roast pork had a nice rich flavor to it accompanied by more chopped roast pork both in the egg roll and in the fried rice.
The Wonton Soup is rich but a bit salty. It has a deep meat flavor as you can taste the boiled and long simmering chicken in the broth. You got two Wontons in the small portion, and they were very generous in size and had a nice filling of ground pork.
They have a wonderful Wonton Soup.
On my most recent trip while walking the Avenues of Midtown East, I had the Sweet & Sour Shrimp Combination lunch with a Coke ($11.00). The Shrimp was very fresh, and they gave me about eight pieces of these lightly tempura battered shrimp in a pungent sauce that was not sweet. Their fried rice is very good, and the egg rolls here are pretty standard. The one thing I like about their combination lunches is the generous portions at a fair price.
The Sweet & Sour Shrimp with Pork Fried Rice
I wanted to try something different on my recent trip to the restaurant and was disappointed by the Chicken and String Beans combination platter ($11.00). It just looked off. The chicken was cooked in a black bean sauce which explained the weird color of the dish and the strange dark things in the food. The string beans were so over-cooked that they were dead. They were so mushy. The fried rice was listless. It tasted okay but this is not the quality I had had on previous trips. I know a restaurant can have an off day, but this was strange.
On another trip months later, I ordered the same dish, and it was delicious. The chicken was so tender and juicy and there was a lot of it in the dish. The string beans were perfectly cooked and snapped when you bit into them. It was served with a brown rice with small pieces of egg and vegetables. The egg roll that was part of the combination plate for lunch ($10.00) was fried crisp and filled with shredded vegetables. I thought any restaurant can have a bad day and this trip made up for the other.
The Chicken and String beans was good
They made up for it on a recent trip I made to the restaurant when walking Central Park South my main blog, MywalkinManhattan.com. I had the Beef and Broccoli with Fried Rice and an egg roll combination platter ($10.00). It was wonderful.
On a cold day, the dish came out steaming hot and loaded with pieces of tender beef and chunks of well-cooked broccoli in a combination of Soy and Hunan sauce. It had a nice pinch to it. The egg rolls this time was a little better than the last few trips in. It had some pork in it.
The tender Beef and Broccoli with an egg roll.
The prices have gone up in late 2022 and the combination platters for lunch and dinner have gone up to $11.00 (in 2024 to $12.00) and the soups have gone up a dollar. On a cool November night, I had the Cantonese Wonton Soup with Noodles, Wontons and Roast Pork with an egg roll on the side and a Coke. Talk about delicious.
The Cantonese Soups are a meal onto themselves
The Chicken broth was rich and flavorful and was loaded with ingredients. The large bowl of the Cantonese soup was loaded with chopped Roast Pork, thin egg noodles and five large wontons that looked freshly made. It really warmed me up and helped me get over a cold. At $15.00 is was a bit more with the add ons but was well worth it.
I recently had to make a quick trip into the City and stopped by the restaurant for a quick lunch/dinner and the food is always great. I had the Beef and String beans with an egg roll and it was delicious. Thin slices of beef with lots of freshly cooked string beans with a side of fried rice makes the perfect meal on a cool day. The combination of the black bean sauce with the soy sauce made for a good combination.
The Beef and String beans were delicious and hit the spot.
The service here is very quick especially at lunch where they seem to have it down as a science to get customers in and out. The family still eyes you as a new customer and I can tell they are trying to figure out if you are going to be a repeat customer. Still, they have been very pleasant on my trips to eat here.
The egg rolls here are really good.
The prices have gone up again to $12.00 for the combination plates in 2024. It still is a good bargain and the portion sizes are generous.
I came across G’s Coffee Shop (Steve & Gus Coffee Shop as the sign says) when I was taking a tour of the nearby Cloisters Museum in Fort Tryon Park and then explored the park. After I finished at the museum and walking the park, I was starved and explored around the neighborhood to find a place to eat.
Having walked the neighborhood for my blog, “MywalkinManhattan.com” a few years earlier, I had passed many restaurants on 207th Street that had opened and closed over the years and I came to G’s Coffee Shop which I had not noticed on my last few trips to the neighborhood.
G’s Coffee Shop menu is extensive and very reasonable
Sitting down to eat at this small hole in the wall diner, I found that it was a mixture of hipsters, yuppie types and Dominican residents all lined up for breakfast and lunch. There are all sorts of snacks and ice cream along the shelves and cases but the real draw is the warming container in the window where freshly fried ‘pastelitos’ are held.
G’s Coffee Shop Grill. The food is made right in front of you
There were two types available, chicken and beef, ($1.25) and they were perfectly fried out and not a bit greasy. I munched on them while I was paying and looked at the menu where nothing was above $10.00 and after I paid for my snack, I walked around the neighborhood.
The chicken soft tacos everyone seems to order there
Heading back for a larger lunch, I tried the Triple Decker Sandwich Turkey Club that was served with French Fries and a pickle ($8.50). I got this large sandwich on toasted bread loaded with fries that was freshly made with sliced turkey breast and bacon and that really brought out the flavor of the sandwich. It was enough for lunch and dinner.
When I returned the next week for another tour of the Cloisters, I stopped in for breakfast and had a Cheese Omelette with sausage and home fries and toast ($8.25). The quality and the flavor was wonderful and the portion size was quite large. The eggs were fluffy and filled with gooey Cheddar Cheese. The restaurant gives you a nice size portion of well spiced home fries with peppers and onions and with a little hot sauce brings out the flavor of everything.
The Cheese Omelet is delicious
When visiting the Cloisters again for a walking tour, I stopped by G’s again for lunch and had the Bacon Cheeseburger Deluxe that I saw everyone ordering on the last two trips to the restaurant I had made and it was worth the trip.
The Bacon Cheeseburger was perfectly cooked with a nice amount of caramelization on the meat and was loaded with freshly cooked bacon and topped with a few pieces of cheese, chopped lettuce and tomatoes. The French Fries were cooked to order and were the small shoestring type that were crisp and plentiful on the plate. The burger had a nice complexity to it and the meat had a lot of flavor to it as it was a fresh patty not frozen. For less than $10.00, it made a nice lunch.
The Bacon Cheeseburger lunch at G’s Coffee Shop.
The service is very nice and the orders come out quick. It is a Hodge Podge of neighborhood types but that’s what I think makes this G’s Coffee Shop special, it really is a neighborhood restaurant catering to everyone. It is a restaurant that every neighborhood should have.
The bacon cheese burger that people were ordering when I was eating there.
On a recent walk down the entire length of Broadway, I stopped here again for a second breakfast. I had a Bacon, Egg and Cheese on a toasted roll and it was excellent as usual. The eggs were cooked in clarified butter and you could taste this in the folds of the scrambled eggs. The bacon was crisp and made the flavor of the sandwich.
The bacon, egg and cheese here are excellent.
I made another trip to the Cloisters for a Christmas themed “Holiday Decoration” tour and stopped in for a late breakfast because I was starving. They had a wonderful all day breakfast special, a Breakfast Burrito ($7.95), filled with eggs, chorizo sausage, salsa, avocado and hashbrowns wrapped in a soft burrito shell. It was very large and delicious. The flavors were really brought out by the salsa, hot sauce and the sausage. With a cool Lime Soda is really made the meal.
The Breakfast Burrito with Chorizo sausage was excellent
I love coming to the Country Pancake House & Restaurant when visiting Ridgewood, NJ. The portion sizes are huge, the dishes are creative and the food is delicious. The service is really nice and very patient when you come in with a big group.
I have been here several times over the years and the food has always been consistent and the quality is excellent. The one thing that does stand out with them is that their prices are very fair for the amount of food you are served. The breakfasts I have had here have lasted at least two other meals.
The first two times I had eaten here, I had ordered the over-sized pancakes. I thought they were kidding when people who had eaten here before had commented that they are the size of large plates. They are larger than that as they fall off the plate. One of these large pancakes is more than enough for one meal. The first time visit I ordered the ‘Do it again’ pancakes ($9.95) with pancakes and blueberries. I could barely finish one of these huge pancakes! They were fluffy, well-caramelized on the outside with the rich flavor of butter and loaded with fresh fruit.
The corn bread that comes with the meal.
The second time I visited, kept the complimentary chocolate chunk and plain cornbread that they bring to the table at a minimum so that I could enjoy the meal. I had the ‘Apple Cinnamon Pancakes’ ($9.95) with a side of sausage. This even was too much. The pancakes were light and fluffy with a rich cinnamon flavor accented by the mashed apple in the pancake batter. It tasted almost like a turnover. The sausage ($3.50) was a pork sausage with the nice flavor of sage. These were over-sized and reminded me of the sausage we used to get from the Amish markets.
The most recent time I visited I had a Sausage Omelette with sausage with cheese ($9.95) which came with a side of hash browns and a side of pancakes. The omelette contained about five eggs and was loaded with grilled sausage and cheese. It was fluffy and well seasoned. It filled most of the plate and I could barely finish it. I ended up bringing part of the omelette home which was finished when I got home.
The pancakes were breakfast the next morning. Just 250 degrees for five minutes on each side and they were just as good the next day. The restaurant gives you two nicely sized buttermilk pancakes on the side and the platter is enough to feed two people comfortably for breakfast.
Everything I have tried here has been delicious.
The service is always been very friendly and welcoming every time I have visited here. The breakfast menu also includes selections of waffles and French Toast and egg Frittatas. The selection of dishes for both lunch and dinner are extensive. The menu is loaded with gourmet salads, crepes, over-stuffed country sandwiches, steaks and chops and chicken dishes.
The best part is most entrees are not priced over $12.00. This is a nice deal for an excellent meal.
Author’s note: The long time owner of the Country Pancake House just passed away.
The Bergen Room Bistro is the student run dining room that is part of the Hotel Management Program. The dining room is open depending on the semester. The restaurant is serves both lunch and dinner depending on the semester. The restaurant is open on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the school year.
The Hotel Management Program at Bergen Community College
(*Blogger note: The price has gone from $9.00 in 2018 to $12.00 in 2021)
For $12.00 you get a four-course meal cooked and served by the students. You are served a soup or a salad to begin with freshly baked breads that are made by the Baking students.
The Hotel & Restaurant Students
The Bergen Room Dining Room at Christmas 2023.
The table set for Christmas dinner
You are next served an appetizer, a choice of two entrees, one a meat and the other a fish dish. There is also a carving station to also choose from with a beef, chicken or pork. The desserts are self-served on the sideboard table. There is usually a choice of two. There is a choice of coffee/tea/water.
Some of the dinners I have experienced have been a Thanksgiving dinner buffet with turkey and ham carved on the table with stuffing and roasted vegetables, clear soups and creamy bisque’s, Caesar and wild green salads and freshly baked pies and cookies. Some semesters it is an a la carte meal with four courses that include things like Filet Mignon, Salmon, salad and soup to start and a fresh baked dessert for dessert all served one after another.
The Bergen Room, now named the Bergen Bistro since its reopening in 2021 (the student dining room was closed all through 2020 because of COVID) and now has a four-course menu for $12.00.
We started lunch with a Butternut Squash Soup with Dried Cranberries, which was rich and savory and had a nice, caramelized color. You could taste the sweetness of the fruit in each spoonful.
For dessert, we were treated to a Pumpkin Pie in a small pastry shell with Fresh Whipped Cream. A nice dessert to welcome us into the Fall. It was an impressive meal that the students whipped up and the instructors of the class could not have been nicer and more welcoming.
For the Thanksgiving themed dinner in 2021, we were served a mixed green salad with baby greens and mini tomatoes in a light vinaigrette dressing, the entree was Turkey Shanks (I think from the leg of the Turkey) that were roasted golden brown with a side of Potatoes au Gratin and boiled asparagus with a butter sauce. The turkey was moist and tender when the skin was peeled away. The potatoes had a nice crunchy consistency with cream and butter baked in their golden-brown crust and then topped with more cheese.
For dessert, we had a Pumpkin Pie in a buttery shell with a dollop of freshly whipped cream. A nice way to end a Thanksgiving meal with a modern spin.
For the last lunch in 2021, we were treated to a holiday feast of a four-course meal fit for a king. We started the meal with a hearty Winter Green Pea Soup, a mint and pea medley submerged in a vegetarian herb broth and accented with cumin to give a spicy kick.
The second course salad was a Winter Kale salad with endive, pomegranate seeds, blueberries, radicchio, feta and pear poppy seed vinaigrette. This refreshing salad of crisp greens and tart pomegranate seeds made for an interesting mix of complex flavors.
For the entree, I enjoyed Beef Medallions with a Sweet Corn Risotto with a side of Garlic Butter Sauteed Asparagus. The beef was on the Medium Well side and as tender as can be with rich sauce to the side and mixed with the risotto was a delicious combination of the juiciness of the beef and the richness of the cheese and cream.
The Beef Medallions with Sweet Corn Risotto was delicious
For dessert, we had a sweet Cheesecake with a gram cracker bottom topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries.
For a recently themed “Mardi Gras/Black History Month Dinner”, the Bergen Room had a buffet dinner with a Southern theme. The student servers and cooks did a nice job on the lunch.
We started with a Lentil Soup which had a nice spicy kick to it accented by white pepper and Cajun spices and mashed to a thick consistency.
The Mixed Lentil Soup had a spicy consistency
The Second Course was a Cold Brussel Sprout had an inconsistent flavor as it was trying to be sweet and savory at the same time and the mixing of some of the greens made it bitter. It had a nice plate presentation, but the flavors were all over the place.
The Cold Mixed Brussel Sprout Salad looked nice but was bitter
We got to choose from a list of items from the buffet that because of COVID was plated at the buffet line for us and served by the students. My aunt and I chose the Cajun Short Ribs, the Smoked Turkey, Dirty Rice and Candied Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows. Everything was delicious.
The plate presentation was inviting and colorful
The entree items were delicious. The Smoked Turkey was juicy and flavorful, and you could taste the gaminess in the fresh turkey. Its time in the smoker gave it a rich consistency. The Short Ribs had a nice kick to them with what tasted like a honey-bourbon-Cajun sauce that delighted the senses.
The side dishes were equally well spiced. The Dirty Rice had the taste of white pepper and the spiciness of the Andouille Sausage that was crumbled throughout it. The mixture of tastes was fiery. The Sweet Potatoes were loaded with a cinnamon-bourbon-brown sugar sauce that was both sweet and savory.
For dessert, we had a Vanilla Pound Cake with fresh whipped cream that was the baker who also made the biscuits, grandmother’s recipe. It followed the traditional recipe of what a pound cake is: a pound of butter, a pound of eggs, a pound of flour and a pound of sugar. There was more to it but its thick and sweet consistency produced a dense and sweet cake that was a delight in every bite.
For Thanksgiving 2023, the Bergen Room had a very engaging and very busy Thanksgiving Buffet. The menu was extensive and offered a lot of selections of sides:
The Bergen Room Thanksgiving Menu
The Smoked Turkey’s were not out yet for service when we got there but we got on line and feasted on Black-eye Pea Soup and a wonderful array of sides to accompany the meal. This was all served by members of the Student Culinary Team.
The Student Culinary Team for the Thanksgiving Dinner
Our student Culinarians engaging with all of us.
The wonderful selection of sides for Thanksgiving Dinner in the Bergen Room. We also had a choice of Meatloaf/Meatballs in gravy and Turkey. I had both and they were wonderful. The students did a great job.
This delicious Turkey Dinner was $12.00!
The freshly baked desserts were wonderful. We had a choice of freshly baked Pecan Pie with a rich custardy inside and a Pear Tart with freshly whipped cream. With a little nudging to one of my former students, I got to taste both.
The Fresh Pear Tart that was more like a Pear Shortcake.
The Freshly baked Pecan Pie was still warm when it was served.
It was a wonderful afternoon of good food and service and a nice start to the Thanksgiving holidays. The students did a wonderful job with hospitality and my counterparts both did a great job teaching these future members of the Hotel and Restaurant industry.
For a recent Christmas dinner that was held in the Bergen Room in December of 2022, we had a four course feast of French Onion Soup with a crouton, Caesar Salad, Short Ribs with Polenta and Fall Vegetables and then for dessert a fresh tart with raspberries. Everything was delicious.
The menu in December 2022
The Caesar Salad with Fresh Greens
The Short Ribs with Polenta and Fall Vegetables
The tart was a Creme Brulee with fresh raspberries
It was nice to just sit back and talk with the other professors about the semester and what was going on in our classes.
The next week was the last lunch of the semester and the same group of us sat down for a Christmas lunch with a special menu. This was even nicer than the previous week with Lobster Ravioli on the menu.
The Christmas menu at the Bergen Room December 15th, 2022
First we started with a Tomato Basil Soup that was rich and creamy and had a hint of hot pepper in it. It was served with a dollop of cream and a fresh couton.
The Tomato Basil Soup
The soup really hit the spot on a cold rainy December day. We moved onto next the Winter Arugula Salad with a Lemon Vinaigrette. The greens were cool and crisp and really hit the spot. It was a nice contrast to the soup.
Winter Arugula Salad with a lemon Vinaigrette
We moved onto the popular Lobster Ravioli. Personally I would not have served it with Broccoli Rabe as I think it is really bitter but some people at the table liked it.
The Lobster Ravioli was freshly made that morning from fresh lobsters
Dessert was really interesting in that it was called ‘Cookies & Cream’ which was freshly baked cookies crumbled next to freshly made vanilla ice cream. Yum!
The “Cookies & Cream” dessert for Christmas lunch
We had such a nice time conversing and relaxing over lunch. The food and the service was really nice. We were just missing the bread again.
The menu for Black History Month 2023
Our Beverage of choice was a Half and Half and Cornbread dipped with honey
The theme dinners continued in 2023 with the opening of Black History Month. we had a Southern Dinner of Black-eyed Pea Soup, Homemade Potato Salad, Fried Chicken with Mac & Cheese, Sweet Potato and Collard Greens cooked in bacon and for dessert, Sweet Potato Pie. The food was excellent.
Black-eyed Pea Soup
The Potato Salad was still be bit warm when it was served with what tasted like homemade mayo and the Fried Chicken had been brined, breaded and deep fried. Every bite with the Mac & Cheese was like heaven. Right back to Pitty Pat’s Porch in Atlanta.
The warm Potato Salad
The Entree Fried Chicken with Mac & Cheese and Collard Greens cooked in bacon
The Fried Chicken was amazing. Still sizzling from the deep fryer you could taste the brine and cornmeal in the skin and coating. It had a deep rich flavor.
The Sweet Potato Pie was buttery, flaky and you could taste the cinnamon in the pie
For “Women’s History Month”, they created a special Buffet.
The Bergen Room had not done a buffet in a long time and it was wildly popular with the guests who had come in for the lecture in Gallery Bergen and joined us for lunch. The meal was wonderful.
The lunch was delicious, very well displayed and we could serve ourselves. Everyone had a nice time in lunch.
The Buffet Line:
Vegetables and Eggplant Parmesan
Roast Herbed Chicken
The Baked Ziti
The Fried Fish
The Beverage Station:
The Dessert Station:
The Bergen Room set up:
Dining at the Bergen Room is always a pleasure
For our last lunch in the Bergen Room before the summer break was a Cinco de Mayo theme and we had a soft taco bar buffet. We could create our own soft tacos and everyone had a lot of fun doing this. We just served ourselves and there was plenty for everyone.
The “Cinco de Mayo” buffet with Soft Tacos and all the toppings
The toppings bar
We had a choice of beef or chicken or both on our tacos
The sides of beans
The Veggies and Rice
The soft tacos to start the feast and dessert of fruit and cookies
The soft tacos were delicious!
We were very content at lunch
It was a nice way for the guests of the Bergen Room to celebrate Cinco de Mayo and get together in the midst of finals week. We were able to relax and talk to one another about classes and our summer plans. This was the last lunch for the end of the Spring 2023 semester.
The holiday season rolled around again at the Bergen Room and I stopped in for lunch in early December. We had a wonderful early Christmas dinner with soft Christmas music and wonderful food and service.
The menu for Christmas
The Potato Leek Soup to start the meal.
The bread helped sop up the sauces.
The Greek Rice Salad
I chose the Shrimp Scampi which was perfectly cooked and seasoned. It was the perfect holiday meal for lunch and I really enjoyed it. Everything was delicious that afternoon.
The Shrimp Scampi with Tricolor pasta and String Beans
The Dessert selection that afternoon.
The Strawberry Shortcake was delicious.
The last meal for the 2023 school year was a wonderful holiday buffet served on December 20th, 2023 and the Culinary Team and Chef Aaron served a packed dining room a holiday feast. The food was excellent and it was an afternoon of good food and conversation at the end of a very long semester.
The holiday menu
The table set up
The table display was really festive and there was a debate on who was going to take it at the end of the meal.
The student culinary team that afternoon serving lunch buffet style.
The Smashed Potato Soup with fresh bacon bits.
The Tossed Green Salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette
The Honey Dijon Chicken was our entree
The Sauteed String Beans
The Pasta Primavera
My Christmas lunch that afternoon.
Lunch was delicious and the portions were generous. We could go back for seconds.
The delicious dessert, Vanilla Ice Cream with Oreo cookies crushed on them.
It was a great holiday meal and once again the student culinarians did an excellent job on the meal. What a way to end the 2023 semester! Kudos to everyone.
The Bergen Room recently created a Pasta Lunch with pastas cooked in fresh sauces with addons to them like sausage, bacon and fish. The meal was accompanied by a delicious Caprese Salad, Minestrone Soup, garlic bread that was loaded with chopped garlic and olive oil and for dessert, Tiramisu.
The menu at the Prefix menu for the Pasta Lunch.
The table set-up.
Mocktails always start the meal and this Peach Bellini was delicious and they always let me have more than one.
The Minestrone Soup
The Caprese Salad on the buffet was delicious.
The start of lunch.
The Pastas were cooked to order with red sauce and alfredo sauce and then I could request it the way I liked it.
The Pasta set up
My pasta dish being made for me.
The dish completed for me with grated cheese.
The Garlic Bread was loaded with crushed garlic and oil olive.
I had seconds with Alfredo sauce and bacon. It was rich and creamy and with grated cheese.
The Tiramisu for dessert was rich and creamy and not at all sweet.
The Pasta dinner was wonderful lunch and the group of Professors that sat with me had a wonderful lunch with great conversation.
The artwork on the wall is supplied by the Art Department and the floral arrangements are created for the tables by the campus’s Horticulture Department. Both add a touch of elegance to the room.
The old room set up for lunch.
The students take turns cooking and serving in alternate times in the class so that they get both experiences. The students are very welcoming and friendly. Remember, this is a class so be easy on them.
Our most recent Themed Lunch in 2024 was for Valentine’s Day. Students of the Event Planning class helped created the Valentine’s Day lunch in the Bergen Room with the theme of everything red and white.
The Valentine’s Decorations
The Table decorations:
The food for the Valentine’s Day Buffet was excellent. The Vegetable soup hit the spot on a cold day. The main courses of the Crab Cakes, the Chicken Fried Chicken Steaks with Cream Gravy and the Pork Ribs with the Spicy/Tangy Barbecue Sauce were melt in your mouth good. With the sides of Wild Rice and Sauteed String Beans completed our lunch.
The Valentine’s Day Buffet Lunch:
The Vegetable Soup:
The Crab Cakes
The Chicken:
The String Beans:
The homemade biscuits served at the table:
My lunch from the buffet:
My buffet lunch for Valentine’s Day.
For Dessert, we had a Red Velvet Cake with a thick white icing that could satisfy any sweet tooth.
The Red Velvet Cake with White icing.
The whole room was decked out for Valentine’s Day with all sorts of rose petals, balloons and on each table were glass jars filled with chocolate kisses and Hershey bars.
The “Bergen Room Bistro” commercial for the “It’s Cultural on Campus” project in English.
The “Bergen Room Bistro” commercial for the “It’s Cultural on Campus” project in Spanish.
The “Bergen Room Bistro” commercial for the “It’s Cultural on Campus” project in German.
It is a wonderful experience where the students are learning, and you get a nice meal. For $10.00, its nice evening or afternoon out.
I have been to Uncle Bill’s a few times for breakfast and breakfast here makes you want to visit the Jersey Shore towns more often. Uncle Bill’s is one of those restaurants that is a throwback to family vacations to the Jersey Shore in the 70’s and 80’s when families went for a week vacation and going out for breakfast was a real treat. It still is when you dine at their establishment.
It looks like 1970’s Jersey Shore
The Cape May restaurant was open later than usual into the Winter season being open after Christmas. It was very busy in Cape May this year as the weather was in the 50’s during and after Christmas in 2018. The restaurant has a real homey feel to it and their hosts make you feel so welcome when you enter that you feel like an honored guest. From their waiters to their bus boys they are so friendly and really want you you to enjoy your meal.
A very welcoming restaurant
I was seated promptly on my recent trip to Cape May and knew exactly what I wanted, the pancakes and a side of scrambled eggs ($10.25) with a side of orange juice ($2.75). The meal was delicious and the portion sizes were large. I got two scrambled eggs with three large pancakes on the side. It was a lot of food and I did not need lunch that afternoon.
The pancakes had that nice, caramelized outside from the clarified butter they were cooked in and were crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. The scrambled eggs were light and fluffy with the taste of the clarified butter cooked into them. It was more than enough for breakfast.
I also had gone to the restaurant back in September when I was visiting Cape May and had the special plate ($10.25) which was one scrambled egg, bacon on the side and three pancakes. Everything was so well prepared and the plate presentation was nice too. It just wasn’t thrown on the plate.
The pancakes and eggs here are wonderful
On my third trip back to the restaurant (because I enjoyed it so much), I had the pancakes again with two scrambled eggs and two pork sausage ($12.25) and everything was just as delicious. There has been a price increase in their food as of August of 2019 but only by a dollar or so but it is well worth it for the quality of the food and service.
I returned to Cape May again for Christmas in 2021 and had my traditional post-Christmas breakfast here and it surprised me how quiet the restaurant was the day after Christmas. Usually, the place is packed but I figured that most of the hotels were adding breakfast packages to their reservations and that’s why the place was so quiet.
The Uncle Bill’s logo on their restaurants
For breakfast this morning, I had the French Texas Toast with a side of scrambled eggs and sausage. Since they did not have a special on this, I had to order everything separately but the whole breakfast cost about the same at $14.95 for the whole meal when adding the hot tea and orange juice to it.
The French Texas Toast was loaded with cinnamon and dipped in an egg batter and sauteed until golden brown. It had a caramelized crust to it and a nice, sweet flavor. The eggs had the taste of the clarified butter that they were cooked in and they served the meal with the Pennsylvania Dutch pork sausage. It was one great ‘Jersey Shore’ breakfast.
Most everything on their menu runs between $8.75 to $12.25 making a nice meal for the family on a budget who enjoys a quality meal.
The service at the Cape May branch could not be nicer. The staff is always smiling not matter how busy they are and they make their customers feel relaxed. You can just sit back and enjoy your meal and I never felt rushed even when it came time for paying the bill. The menu is really reasonable for the amount of food you receive.
I have only been to the Cape May branch but I am sure the same standards apply to their other eight restaurants as well.
The sign that welcomes you at the Cape May restaurant
History of Uncle Bill’s Pancake House:
About us:
Established in 1962 in Stone Harbor, NJ, Uncle Bill’s Pancake House has become an annual tradition for many families visiting the Jersey Shore. Based on the principles of good quality food, great service and a clean family-friendly atmosphere, Uncle Bill’s serves up thousands of pancakes per day in the summer. We believe quality starts from the ground up, using only the finest ingredients and the freshest produce from local farmers. Breakfast is served all day with over 15 different types of pancakes, waffles, French Toast, fabulous omelettes, farm fresh eggs and meats. Several locations also serve lunch and dinner.
Uncle Bill’s staff and customers return year after year, a testament to our continued success as being the Best Breakfast at the Jersey Shore. Please visit one of our eight locations spanning the South Jersey shoreline. We would love to serve you on your next visit to the shore!
Uncle Bill’s Pancake House in Cape May Christmas 2022
Disclaimer: This information on the company history and philosophy was taken directly from their website and I give them full credit for it.
Koronet Pizza was established in 1981 and is located right on the border of the Columbia Campus in Morningside Heights and is known best for having ‘New York’s Biggest Slice’. I have to admit that the slice is huge.
The pizza cases with the giant pizzas.
I stumbled across Koronet Pizza when I was walking around the Columbia campus for my “MyWalkinManhattan.com” project and needed a quick lunch. The giant slice is part of their 32 inch pizza that they sell for $38.00.
The pizzas are really that big.
An individual slice of their delicious pizza is $6.00 and is about the size of two normal slices. You only need one to fill you up. When I ate there, customers got a big kick out of downing one of these slices.
The slice size is worth the money.
The pizza is excellent. Their sauce has a spicy tomato taste to it and is full of flavor. They load on the cheese so every bite is delightful. It is so big that you have to eat it in stages and its fun to watch the other customers do the same.
This is how big the pizzas here are
Their prices across the board are very reasonable. The 18 inch pie is $18.00 and $3.00 per slice and the 16 inch pie is $16.00 and $3.00 a slice. Other items include their beef patties at $3.00, chicken and sausage rolls at $6.50 and a cheese calzone at $6.50. With a can of soda at $1.50, it makes the perfect lunch for a hungry college student or a starving alumni.
The slices are huge!
The service is friendly and be expected to wait as the whole neighborhood has discovered this restaurant. Being right near the One subway line, it tends to get busy. The service is very quick though and you will receive your food with a big smile. I think the owners and cooks get a kick out of watching the customers tackle that giant slice.
The pizza selection sign.
*Authors Note: because of COVID-19 there are now tables outside the restaurant as well as inside the Morningside Heights location. This continues on into 2024.
Dining on a Shoestring in the New York City area and beyond. 