Euro-Argentine Style- Jezabel's Cafe

For lunch one day at work, a sales rep bought in goodies from Jezabel's Cafe. located on 2536 Pine Street. It is an Euro-Argentine restaurant. I like trying new things and I am glad the rep bought Argentinian food. I have limited exposure to Argentinian food. The only thing I have really eaten that can be considered Argentinian are empandas.

Goodies from Gavin's Cafe

Above is picture of the lunch I plated together for myself from the the different options. I got the spinach and mushroom empanda, corn & sauteed scallions quiche, mixed green salad, and a cookie. The spinach and mushroom empanda was pretty looking, but unfortunately it wasn't as good as it looked. I thought it was dry. The corn quiche was delicious and moist. I really like the texture the corn gave the quiche; however, it was a little on the salty side. The mixed green salad came with cranberries, blue berries, walnuts, diced fresh mozzarella, feta cheese, and a light vinaigrette. The salad was very fresh and delicious. This could well be one of the best salads I have ever eaten. I like it when salads come with savory and sweet components. I think the cookies are a speciality in Argentina. They are called Alfajores De Maicena. They are basically shortbread cookie sandwiches with Dulce de Lece in the middle and their sides rolled in coconut shaving. It was tasty and not overly sweet. The cookie was somewhat crumby which I don't mind. This cookie would be a good company to tea or coffee.

This place was formerly known as Gavin's Cafe. When I did the review, it was known as Gavin's Cafe. 

A La Mousse

Replacing Audubon, the dessert place that offered brick toast and was featured on this blog, is a new dessert establishment called A La Mousse (145 N. 11th Street). The decor of the place was very cozy and they had wooden chairs and tables. We ordered the Greentea Tiramisu and Green Tea Mousse cake to share among three people.

Green Tea Tiramisu

The Green Tea tiramisu was okay. The cream didn't really have a memorable taste to it. It wasn't really sweet and it didn't taste special. I felt like there was no secret ingredient to bring out any flavor. It was just green matcha tea mixed in with heavy whip cream presumably. I did like the coffee cake layer. The coffee was somewhat strong and tasty. But the coffee layer cake was not good enough to make up for the lacking Green Tea tiramisu cream.

Green Tea Mousse Cake

The Green Tea mousse cake had a nice consistency, but like the tiramisu I didn't think it had a very distinct taste. It came with Green Tea ice cream and crush cookie/crackers. The Green Tea ice cream could had been store bought or homemade. I couldn't really tell because it didn't taste particularly unique. The crush cookies reminded me of the cheap plain wafers that they sell at the Asian supermarket which I am not very fond of. I don't think I will going back to this place. It was just average. I prefer the Audubon dessert place that closed down over this new joint.

Fancying it up at Garces Trading Company

My friend and I decided to go to Garces Trading Company (1111 Locust Street) for dinner one evening. That particular week it was the 10 year anniversary of one of its sister restaurant, Amada, so  the restaurant was offering a special tasting menu for the week. Of course, we took up the opportunity and got the tasting menu. I think the tasting menu was based on the chef preferences because I saw tables around us who ordered the tasting menu but got some different things (eg. the table next to us go macaroon for dessert and we got creme brulee). Below are the foods we got.

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper

For appetizers, they served us Fresh Mozzarella Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper. The mozzarella was fresh and tender. The olive oil as well as the salt and pepper that accompanied the mozzarella bought out its fresh taste. The red peppers were sweet and tendered but they had some kind of salty pickled fish on top of them which I did not like ( I think the fish might have been anchovy or sardine, but I really don't know). Out of the two, the mozzarella tasted the best. 

Fig with Cheese, Bacon Bits, and Pistachio

Next, one of waitresses bought this very small glass cup of what I recall her saying was some kind of cheese with fig, bacon bits, and crush pistachios. Since it had bacon bits, I did not taste it. Per my friend, it tasted weird. The fig was good but it didn't really go well with the other components in the cup.

Pizza

On the tasting menu, it said margarita pizza would be served, but like I mentioned earlier I don't think the chef went by the menu. Margarita pizza as I know comes with red sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil leaves. Well, this pizza came with some other cheese, pepperonis, and some kind of green herb. I had to pick out the pepperonis.  The crust was thick and somewhat chewy and the cheese in some parts was crispy. I usually like my crust crispy and thick and my cheese gooey so this pizza was just okay for me.

Steak and Frites

Steak and frites were next. Of course, I didn't eat the steak but my friend ordered medium done and it appears to cook that way. Per my friend, the steak was good. The fries were made of duck fat. I ate some of it and I thought it was okay. I think some of fries got burned. And just thinking the fries were made of duck fat didn't really make it appetizing for me. Usually, when I eat fries, I get additive to them but just the thought of duck fat turned me off.

Mini Creme Brulee

The last picture I have are the mini Creme Brulee for dessert. They were delicious. They were creamy and not too salt. It was topped with what I think are diced pouched pears and dried cranberries. The topping complemented and added another layer texture to the creamy creme brulee. I wish that gave us a large bowl of the creme brulee instead  mini glass cup of just a mini glass cup with about 2-3 bites in it.

Food that we also had not featured in this post were the usual bread the restaurant starts customers with during dinner time, the sangrias drinks part of the tasting menu, and the green salad with light vinaigrette. Unfortunately, it just slipped my mind to take pictures of the sangria. And I forgot to take pictures of the bread and salad because my hunger took over. My favorites of the night was the fresh mozzarella, salad, and creme brulee. Overall, I thought the food was good, but not worth price I paid.

Fitzwater Cafe- A Taste of Heaven

I have been wanting to try Fitzwater Cafe (728 S. Fitzwater Street) with my friend, but on the one Sunday afternoon we went, there was a ridiculous 40 minute wait for 2. That was not acceptable for growling stomaches at that time so we eventually just picked a boring place and got a boring meal. Luckily, when I went again on a Saturday and at an earlier time, the wait wasn't as long. It was only about 20 to 25 minutes wait for 2. I am glad we waited because what I got was totally worth it. The cafe was small but cozy. It had a diner feel to it. 

Creme Brulee French Toast

I got the Creme Brulee French Toast, Vanilla Sauce, and Fresh berries. The vanilla sauce reminded me of condense milk, but the consistency was thinner and the taste was much more refined. It was heavenly and really made this plate phenomenal. The bread was thick, fluffy, and delicious. The berries were fresh. The only thing I could do without was the whipped cream. I am not a huge fan of whipped cream. For me, the toast, vanilla sauce, and berries were enough. I savored each mouth full of the toast with vanilla sauce and berries. I sincerely recommend this French toast for all the French toast lovers out there as well as the sweet tooth lovers. 

Something else I like about this place is that it uses fresh ingredients. The fruits were fresh. They offer fresh orange juice. The potatoes that came with my friend's breakfast burrito looked homemade. It did not look like the frozen packaged potatoes. I will definitely be coming back here to get the the French toast again and also to try other things on the menu.  

Zinburger

Hello. I took a month break from blogging but I am back now:) Hopefully, this month I will able to post more to make up for October.

One day, I ended up visiting friends in New Jeresy and they wanted to go Zinburger Wine and Burger Bar for lunch.  Zinburger, a gourmet burger joint that serves alcohol, is located on 923 Haddonfield Road, Cherry Hill, NJ 08002. This isn't the most vegetarian friendly place, but they did have salads and one veggie burger which you can actually get as vegan too.

Clint's "Almost Famous" Veggie Burger

I got the veggie burger as known as Clint's "Almost Famous" Veggie Burger. The manager actually came up to our table to tell us it was going take a little longer because they had to prepare/make it. This could of meant that not alot of people order the veggie burger so there weren't enough prepared or it could mean this burger was pretty popular. Either way, I was very satisfied with the burger. The burger came with mozzarella cheese, avocado, sprouts, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It was delicious. The avocado really added to the burger. Not sure what the veggie pattie was made of  but it was tasty. The texture of the burger was actually on the softer side which i don't mind. Usually veggie patties are soft anyway. I would definitely consider coming here again for another veggie burger.