Home Fries with Onion, Spinach, Cheese, and Egg

Inspired by the Veggie skillet from National Mechanics. I made a veggie skillet for myself. Below is the recipe.

Home Fries with Onion, Spinach, Cheese, and Egg

Ingredients:
2 medium potatoes, diced
a handful of spinach
1/4 onion, diced
1 egg
pepper to taste
salt to taste
cheddar and mozzarella cheese, optional

Instructions:
1) Heat pan over high heat for 5 minutes. Pat dry diced potatoes and add to the pan. Cook until golden brown. Occasionally, turn the potatoes. 
 2) When the potatoes are golden brown, added onions and spinach. Cook until onions and spinach are tender. Add pepper and and salt to taste.
3) Transfer potatoes, onions, and spinach to a plate.
4) Crack an egg on the pan. Without moving the egg, cook until egg whites are not translucent . There you go...You have a sunny side egg. 
5) Place the egg on top of the potatoes. Top potatoes with tiny diced cheddar and mozzarella. Serve with ketchup if desired.

Overall, I think I did a good job. The potatoes were well cooked and tendered. I really liked the spinach and onions. I also like how the egg yolk complement the potatoes. I thought the potato dish tasted better with the mozzarella cheese in it than the cheddar cheese. Also, I thought it would be better if I added sliced mushrooms.

So Crepe- Sweet Crepe

I went back to the So Crepe (1506 South Street) for a sweet crepe. I got the So Chocolate. I have to admit it was so good. The So Chocolate came with homemade dark chocolate sauce with my choice of fresh fruit and whipped cream. The fruits I chose was strawberry and banana. The ingredients seem so simple, but it was so delicious. The chocolate was sweet and rich in chocolate taste. The fruits were thinly sliced and fresh. Not to mention the display was pretty. I actually prefer this sweet crepe more than the savory crepe.

So Chocolate

Philadelphia Center City Cheesecake Factory- Eggplant Parmesan

Cheesecake Factory (1430 Walnut Street) take two. This time it was at the relatively new one in Center City Philadelphia. When you enter, the host greets you and you have to take the escalator to the second floor. The layout is similar to their other stores. 

I went with a party of nine so the wait was quite long- 45 minutes to be exact. By the time we got a table, we were starving. The food didn't take crazy long to come out, but since we were hungry, we filled ourselves with the complimentary bread and butter.

Eggplant Parmesan

I ordered the Eggplant Parmesan. The Eggplant Parmesan came with four eggplants coated with parmesan and breadcrumbs. They were topped with mozzarella cheese, fontina cheese, and marinara sauce and served with Pesto Pasta. The Eggplant Parmesan was cooked well. The eggplant was tender. It was well coated with the cheese and sauce. I enjoyed the texture and layers; however, the seasoning was a little too salty for me which actually ruin the experience for me. In regards to the pesto, the pasta was tender and pesto was good, but it was a little too greasy. Overall, I thought the dish was okay. It could have been better if some changes were made. I think chances of getting better pasta would be at a non chain restaurant.

Hip City Veg- Philly Seitan Steak

Here's another review of Hip City Veg (127 S. 18th Street). This time I got the Philly Steak and Carrot Ginger Lemonade. The portion side of the steak was huge.  The Philly Steak came with pulled steak, grilled onions, mushroom, lettuce, tomato, and organic ketchup on a long roll. The pieces of seitan were a little on the chunkier side for me which made it hard for me to chew. There were alot of liquids coming from the sandwich.  Not sure, if the seitan was frozen and defrosted to cook which in turn produced alot of liquid or if the liquids were coming from the vegetables. The seasoning was good, though. The texture was also good. It was firm and tender.Overall, I thought the steak was okay. I think the excessive amount of liquid dripping from my sandwich made it less appealing. To be honest, I prefer the "chicken" at Hig City Veg more. I also think other places' "steaks" are better such as one from The Abbaye. As for the Carrot Ginger Juice, it was similar to the Green Lemonade in that it was was fresh and refreshing. You can taste the lemon, ginger, and carrot.

Philly Steak

New York City Smith's Bar and Grill

Before a Broadway show, my friends and I decided to get lunch nearby. We randomly chose Smith's Bar and Grill (708 8th Street, New York, NY 10036) which was actually across the street from the theater. There are so many restaurants in New York City- good and bad. Without doing the research, it is actually risky to just walk into a restaurant and expect to be satisfied. Before going into to Smith's, we did check out the menu which appeared okay. There also was quite a number of people inside eating lunch so we decided to go ahead with it. Luckily, the food was decent. I didn't get anything fancy, though. I just a got a veggie burger with fries and coffee.

Veggie Burger

The veggie burger was pretty plain, but nonetheless it was good. The veggie burger was supposedly made with a potato base with assorted shredded vegetables. It came on a bun with spicy mayo sauce. The fries were somewhat crispy and good. Overall, the burger was nothing amazing, but it was good.

New York City Friedman's

Based on Friedman's website, they have 4 locations in New York. My friends and I visited the Friedman's (450 10th Avenue, New York NY 10018) at Hell's Kitchen during our day stay in New York. From the outside through the windows, the restaurant appeared small with only a few seating and a small counter/bar area; however, passed the bar area, there were more seating in the back. The establishment was quite modern looking, nice, and cozy. 

Arnold Palmer

My friends and I ordered some appetizers to share since we were still full from lunch. We got the mac 'n' cheese, grill asparagus, sweet potato fries with bleu cheese aoili, and bowl of beets. I also got the Arnold Palmer. I actually never heard of Arnold Palmer until my visit to Friedman's. It was nothing special. It was just a combination drink of ice tea with lemonade. In honor of discovering what Arnold Palmer was and also since I like ice tea and lemonade, I ordered one. Above is a picture of the "fancy" drink.

Bowl of Beets

The Bowl of Beets was a large of portion of beets with goodies which included whipped goat cheese, candied pecans, arugula, and balsamic reduction sauce. I love beets and I love this dish. The beets were mildly cold and tender. It was a light and refreshing appetizer. The whipped goat cheese and the balsamic reduction, in addition to complementing the beets, did really elevate the quality of the beets. I enjoyed the starter a lot.

Sweet Potato Fries, Asparagus, Mac 'n' Cheese, and Bleu Cheese Aioli

The other three appetizers came together on one plate. The mac 'n' cheese was good. The sauce was mildly creamy light and had the right amount of cheesiness. The macaroni was tender. The asparagus was thin; hence, easy to chew. It was charcoal grilled and you can really taste the char. The sweet potato fries were not crispy or soggy. The texture was in between. They were somewhat plain and not too sweet but with the bleu cheese aioli sauce, they were wonderful. The bleu cheese sauce was creamy and tasted like sour cream with seasonings in it. 

Carrot Cake

As girls, of course, we had to get dessert. They did not have a dessert menu. Their sweets change daily. From the three options the server provided us, we choose the carrot cake. It was delicious. It was huge and came in three layers which was perfect- one layer for each person. The cake was very moist. I can taste the fresh shredded carrots inside the cake. The cake wasn't too sweet nor was any of the spices in the cake were overpowering. The cream cheese frosting was sweet and creamy and went great with the carrot cake. Hands up. This is one the best carrot cake I ever had. 

I was quite pleased with our meal. If I happen to be in town, I would definitely not oppose going to Friedman's for food. In addition, the customer service was great. The waitress was always checking up on us, but it wasn't excessive.