Smash Burger

Smash Burger
989 Bloomfield Ave.
Montclair, New Jersey 07042
973-433-7343
10 AM - 10 PM Daily

Grabbed a bite at a new burger joint in Montclair.  The burgers were good and I enjoyed the french fries tossed in rosemary, olive oil and garlic.  Overall, I am a Five Guys Fan.

Before grabbing a bite at Smash, we had quite an interesting day helping a friend put up some drywall.  We picked up some sheetrock, spackle, and other goodies. Loaded everything in my friend's truck then drove to his house. The rear door latch/lock to the truck broke so there was no way to access the sheetrock.  We fiddled around for an hour trying to open the lock to no avail. We drove to a locksmith and even he said he couldn't help us and that we might need to go to the car dealer to have it fixed.  After all that, the lock was still broke, we couldn't open the door, and we ended cutting all the sheetrock in the truck and taking it out through the truck's sunroof.  Oh yeah, did I mention that my friend's plexi glass window on his front door broke as we were bringing sheetrock into the house? SMASH THAT!

Brookdale Park Dog Run

Under furs:

Brookdale Dog Run
Bloomfield & Montclair, NJ

Whew! Lenape Trail just gets so packed at times, we can't find any parking! Today we headed to the doggie run at Brookdale Park.

Brookdale Park is a pretty big park in the Bloomfield and Montclair Townships. It always has a lot going on, from soccer and archery practice, to kiddie playgrounds and free summer concerts. The doggie run opened sometime around 2007 with great hoopla, as doggie parks in the North Jersey area are very rare (because everybody has a backyard?). Every time we go here, it tends to be crowded.

Doggies this way!

The doggie run has a big dawg (right) and a little dawg (left) area.

Bad dawgs go here for time out.

Brookdale Dog Park gets points for their doggie fountains, on-site pick-up baggies and their little training courses.

Chibby says: "I'm not sure why everybody's following me!"

Doggie pipe.

Doggie hurdle. This is for the birds... look how low it is!

I don't know why Chibby and Babams just get into the pack mentality and start harassing other dawgs. Specially the younger ones. No biting, of course, but they just go bark-bark-bark like it's a full-on brawl goin' on. So we get dirty looks from the good people of Montclair/Bloomfield about this (thanks a lot, furs). But hey, they're just doing what doggies do.

We next headed off to the meadow outside for more running around.

Brookdale Dog Park never made it to our rotation ever, mainly because we find it too crowded. Personally, we find the doggie owners here are not as laid back as those from the other spots we frequent. If you have a very docile low-energy dawg, this might be the place for you.

Bistro 18

Under food:

Bistro 18
Montclair, NJ

Moms was in town last Christmas, so we had my (second? third?) belated birthday dinner. With the holiday traffic, we decided to stay close to home. Pickin's were slim, but I found that Bistro 18 was open Christmas Eve.

Our party of five was still short by two, but we got seated at 7pm with no problem (we had reservations). The place was not even half-full that night, probably because it was wet and cold outside.

Moms was hungry, so we mentioned to our host that we were ready to order. To which the host, in a Seinfeldian-Soup-Nazi huff replied, "I don't like my staff to take orders when the table is still incomplete, it confuses the staff in the kitchen." (WTF*?!!!) I have never encountered such a brusque response, which was odd given that (a) the place bills itself as a bisto; (b) it was not exactly bustling that night, and (c) they seemed to have a sufficient number of staff.
* what the fur

It was certainly bizarre to say the least. The host did grudgingly send a waiter to take our appetizer orders. The waiter seemed to have no problem whatsoever with taking our orders.

Bread basket.

Mozzarella, prosciutto and roasted peppers with balsamic sauce. The peppers were sweet, but the mozzarella was dry and bland. Couldn't even tell if it was buffalo mozzarella.

Potato and celery root soup. Nice starter, very light.

Herb-crusted snails with garlic demi-glace. We were impressed by this, it was really tasty. Chewy, buttery and well-seasoned. It came with a basil sauce and a pepper sauce, I think.

Washed down the apps with the '05 Mondavi merlot that Brother D got last Thanksgiving. It was not bad, fruity but with enough weight, balanced, eminently quaffable.

Yay, Brother F and his friend made it! Of course being the good sister, I immediately dispatched him to the local wine store for more vin. This is what he got.

Frei Brothers Reserve merlot, Sonoma. What a good pick... it was a tad sweeter than the Mondavi we just had, and also worked well with the food. Brother F remembered our sojourns in Sonoma county last Thanksgiving, so he figured that the wines would sorta taste the same. Can't argue with that logic.

I was not able to go and take pictures of everybody's plates. I ordered the tuna. Brother F got the veal, I think, and his friend ordered the seafood pasta. Moms got full from the soup and bread.

Wasabi crusted yellowfin tuna. With brown gaze (soy-based?), yellow rice, steamed bok choy and wasabi on the side. I liked the tuna, which was very generous serving. I also liked the crunchy wasabi crust on the outside, kinda like a spin on your typical pepper-crusted tuna. The sauce was super-sweet and I was not fond of it. The bok choy was alright, a bit on the limp side. The rice did not work well with the fish; too many flavors going on.



Capellini (angel hair pasta) with shrimp, lobster, scallops, arugula and fresh plum tomatoes. The friend said it was pretty good.


I think this was veal scallopini with sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke. The picture does not really match the description on their online menu, so I could be wrong.

Bistro 18 has a nice selection of desserts.

Creme brulee. I think the sauce was raspberry. This was textbook-perfect: brittle crunch of the caramelized sugar and creamy, silky custard. There was also a syrupy sweet sorbet (raspberry? strawberry?) that went untouched.

I think this was ice cream in a crepe cone, but not sure.

Could not get this picture to come out clearly. This was an apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream.

Everybody finished their plates, which said something for the food. We even got to meet the executive chef, Ricky, that night. Very young-looking Filipino dude, and he sounded pretty serious when he mentioned his training and experience. I wonder if he was curious about the crazy table that dared to order apps without their party being complete.

Bistro18 is BYOB.

Cafe Cianci

Under food:

Cafe Cianci
Montclair, NJ

Cafe Cianci is a convenient spot in Montclair for whiling away some time before your movie at Claridge Cinemas plays. After some hearty fare at Tinga, we were in the mood for some dessert.

DJKung and I went for the crepes with Nutella and bananas. It wasn't bad, but the banana slice were unripe and quite hard.



















Ozzie Wan and The Faschiester are big tiramisu fans. They found the tiramisu to taste suspiciously like Whole Foods', which they said made the best tiramisiu. Last I heard, they did a taste test but remained undecided.

Tiltillate Your Tastebuds at Tinga's

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Tinga Taqueria
215 Bellevue Avenue
Montclair, NJ 07043
(973) 509-8226
(other NJ locations available)
www.tingausa.com

Ozzie Wan and The Faschiester recommended Tinga for an early dinner while we waited for Slumdog Millionaire's next showing in Montclair. They've been regulars of this joint over the last two years, and it's easy to see why. The portions are reasonably priced, huge and tasty. It sure hit the spot.

Tinga in Montclair is a tiny restaurant that seats maybe twenty, at most. I love how warm and cozy the interior is. Their setup requires you to place and pay for your order at the counter, although they do bring the food to your table. Try not to fill up on the complimentary tortilla chips, because you won't finish your food!

Orange soda.

Veggie tacos. Their taco entrees come in a soft shell inside a hard shell. You get a sauce on the side with this (remoulade?) which was lovely. Ozzie Wan realllly likes this sauce.

Left: veggie nachos. This was a pretty hefty serving with lots of cheese and beans. Right: veggie burrito with rice and beans.

Right: we also ordered the catfish tacos. The fish is pan-cooked, and not deep-fried as with your typical fish tacos. This comes with a tomato salsa, rice, black beans and a smoky chile ancho (mayo-based?) sauce.

DJKung also ordered some ribs. (Blogger keeps posting it sideways---whyyyy?!) This came with a side of yellow rice and black beans (not pictured) I tried a bit of the sauce and it was pretty smoky, like mole. DJKung said the meat was on the lean side, but still fallling-off-the-bone tender. Later at home, Chibby remarked that the ribs were excellent.

DJKung and I left Tinga nice and full, with plenty of doggie bags for the furs and for work. Wish it was closer to us so we can stop by more often!

Leapin' Furs at Lenape Trail

Under furs:

Lenape Trail
Montclair, New Jersey

I know that we've been rather remiss in the "furs" section of this blog. We've wanted to post Lenape Trail since we started the Ultimate Fun Club. It has our unanimous approval.

Lenape has lots of nice trails and some prime viewing spots. It has a wide, graveled central trail which most of the hikers stick to, and a lot of single-track, meandering trails that are kept well-blazed.

This was taken during the summertime. Chibby and Babams can't wait to be off!

These pictures were taken last week. Without the foliage and the underbrush, you can see more of the layout of the trails.

Left: fungus growing on a dead tree trunk. Right: unknown black growths (nests?) on some branches.

Being rather well-trod by people and furs alike, and pretty much because it is right next to several backyards, Lenape does not have an overabundance of unusual critters. We've seen chipmunks, birds (hawks, woodpeckers and little black birds), and the rare squirrel. I don't even think there are deer in the area.

These boys sure like dippin' their paws in the cold mountain water!

Depending on how you like your hike, Lenape Trail gets jam-packed on weekends, with all the furs out socializing. There are some bikers on the little trails, sometimes. The main trail takes maybe 30 to 45 minutes, depending how briskly you walk. The outermost trails take an hour, is more rugged, and more scenic.

Raves for Raymond's

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Raymond's

28 Church St.

Montclair, NJ 07042

(973) 744-9263

www.raymondsnj.com





It was a lovely fall day yesterday, with a bit of summer warmth lingering in the air. DJKung, our friend Ozzie-Wan-Kennozie and I had a nice al fresco lunch at Raymond's in Montclair. Typically, this place is jam-packed on Sundays, but there was a minimal wait last Thursday for an outside table.



The menu emphasizes breakfast fare, but nothing too hearty. For lunch, it seemed that sandwiches and burgers were the way to go. We ordered some items from their seasonal menu.

Egg salad sandwich with sun-dried tomatoes.

Ozzie-wan got an egg salad sandwich. It came with some sliced cukes and olives, which she pronounced as "very European." Ozzie-wan'll give a more detailed assessment in the comments below.

DJKung ordered an omelet with basil pesto (below, left), which he said was very good. I was particularly taken by their fries, which are nicely browned, skinny and crispy. I got the spinach and goat cheese sandwich (below,right), which was excellent. There's a layer of sauteed spinach, another of sauteed onions, and tangy goat cheese. Mine also came with the cukes and olives.








































Butternut squash soup with chives, I think. Doesn't it look so pretty?

I thought the butternut squash soup could have been more squash-y and more nutty in flavor. It was a bit bland and pasty.

Raymond's is a nice place to linger. It is BYOB and their items are generally solid. DJKung highly recommends their burgers.