Coming Soon: GYM Sports Bar 10 Year Anniversary Retrospective & interviews with several of this popular iconic night spots staff. Stay tuned.
Food & Drinks
All things food and drink. This is Including alcohol and non alcoholic beverages, whether it’s eating out or eating in, in NYC.
Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Toronto Photo Walk 2014 Continued…
When we arrived in front I was tempted to stop in and try a burger but brunch had already satisfied the appetite. We continued mosey on down the road. However, I vowed next time in Toronto it’s going to be a battle of the burger joints visit to find out which burger joint in Toronto offers the best burgers especially when the name of your place is called “Hero Certified!”
One would think a store with this name would be located in NYC.
Having recently been to a day spa back home this too looked like a place to stop in but it wasn’t to be. There was much more to see.
This building used to be a Hockey Arena but had been transformed into a Giant and I mean GIANT Mega Supermarket known as Loblaws. I mean, Good God!!! The sheer size of this place is enough to make you have several seats.
Inside Loblaws 
They have their own Sushi section. Tells me they are serious about Sushi in Loblaws.
The aisles in here extended as far as the eye could see.
Uh yessum!
I think I put on 5lbs just looking at the display case.
That little girl was mesmerized as was I.
They thought of everything didn’t they.
The Cakelets son!!!
We want cakes, we want cakes lol 😉 !!!
Now I don’t know what they were trying to say here with those two between the Gingerbread men. LMAO!!! 😀 Loblaws ya’ll got some splaining to do.
This is absolutely cake heaven.
At this point it was time to get out of this massive food tease and head for more sights and sounds of down town Toronto. We made our way out of the store and found an exit to the street.
Even in a city as clean as Toronto homelessness exists.
Crossing the street here in Toronto, you have to stick your finger in a hole in the light poles so that the signal will change. I’d really only ever seen this down south or in the mid-west back in the states. I think we need this in NYC.
Stay tuned for more of our Photo Walk through downtown Toronto. All images are the property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014.
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Harlem Tavern: A Quick Bite At The Tavern
Location: West 116th Street and Frederick Douglas Blvd
ETA: Afternoon
On an afternoon where we felt like a beer and a quick bite we stopped by the popular spot while it wasn’t crowded.
Sitting outside with this nice an unseasonably warm weather made all the sense in the world. And while In the festive mood of the season instead of having an ordinary beer, we went with the Pumpkin & Ginger Spiced Blue Moon on tap. This beer tastes really good!
For an appetizer oysters were in order.
In my opinion eating oysters with fresh lemon juice, a little salt, a little black pepper, & some tobasco sauce or hot sauce is the way to go.
Their flatbread pizza with steak and pepperoncinis. This was really good although I didn’t sample it personally. I mean how could it not taste really good, there’s steak and cheese and bread and pepperoncinis!
When I looked over the menu I settled on what else? Harlem Taverns Create your own Mac N Cheese. I wanted to think outside the box on this one. So looking at the list of options for creating one’s own Mac, N Cheese, I decided for spicy and meaty taste and texture. Jalapeños for the spice/heat and mushrooms for that meat like texture. This is definitely my new favorite Mac N Cheese variation. There was perfect melding of flavor and heat with not only the heat from the jalapeños but the mac n cheese itself. The mushrooms gave the mac n cheese another layer of depth that made my mouth sing and to be honest burn a little. ;).
Flatbread gets 5 out of 5 dinner plates
Create your own Mac N Cheese also gets a perfect 5 out of 5 dinner plates
Blue Moon Seasonal Beer gets 5 out of 5 Pint Glasses
Harlem Tavern is a great spot in West Harlem to stop in for a excellent bite to eat or for drinks. Price wise it’s worth the price of admission. Expect to spend $$$ Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: A Quick Bite At The Tavern
All images are the property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014.
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: BRUNCH AT AGAVE…LAST SUNDAY Feeling like the perfect day for brunch out. Agave was suggested as our landing spot. My baby and I got ready to head to Agave and the weather was absolutely perfect. A light breeze in the air with the sun shining strong made for memories of glorious Summer days gone by.
Arrival at Agave found us wanting to eat outside. And before it could be suggested our hostess took us to an outdoor table. Pretty f&*^%n cool!! Once outside we noticed the cute setup of Two giant umbrellas giving shade to the outdoor space.
Agave’s Pre Fixe menu for bottomless brunch drink special was the logical choice to select. We planned to be there for at least a couple of hours. As I scanned the page my selection sat glaring me in the face. I couldn’t believe it…
It said Hand Hacked…Three Beef Hash!!! Without a doubt I knew it was going to be about getting that Roast beef son!!! Mmmm mmmm!!! We sat in semi quiet moments waiting to be noticed by our server.
After what seemed like an eternity (10 minutes waiting) our server approached. We immediately selected the bottomless brunch and started off with a mimosa & frozen margarita to accompany a plate of calamari. It took a little while for our drinks to arrive but when they did arrive it wasn’t too much longer that our calamari came out of the kitchen.
Agave’s fried calamari!!! In a word… Uh yessuh!
Now that there is how you do fried calamari RIGHT!!!
I have to admit the frozen margarita at Agave is very good. However this is where the experience began to annoy me a bit. It is bottomless brunch for 2 hrs only and yet for literally half an hour from the time we were served our first round of drinks till second round our server was completely inattentive.
We couldn’t get his attention for anything. He had a tray of drinks and got them semi haphazardly correct to whom each drink belonged for fellow outdoor patrons in our section before turning and keeping his back to our table ruling out the possibility of us getting an opportunity to ask him anything.
It turns out he had been working there all of two weeks. And our table wasn’t the only one neglected it seemed as he was learning his industry.
A group of girls had no table paper to cover their table. And when an adjacent table full of girls orders came they had to ask the server how they were to eat their meals with out utensils.
Despite the miscues everyone seemed to be in good spirits and tolerant of the fact that our server was new. When our food arrived a sense of calm and patience began to permeate my dissatisfied with the service mind set.
The steak and eggs with potatoes.
The Hand Hacked Three Beef Hash with Scrambled Eggs. Just what I needed to see. By the time I finished my Three Beef Hash & Scrambled Eggs I began to feel thirsty. What I needed was another frozen Margarita but alas where was our server?
We ended up asking a busser if he could get us our next round of drinks which wasn’t his job but he appreciatively obliged us. From this point on our server actually got better and began to pay more attention to us. I know in part because he was told of our displeasure with the level of service we were getting.
We received our next round of drinks in record time almost whimsically overdone as our server would refill our glasses when they were barely half way done. To be honest I didn’t mind this at all after we had been ignored earlier.
It’s common knowledge that our moods tend to perk up once we’ve eaten a meal. I passed on desert but my baby ordered this.
It was a desert burrito filled with what looked like vanilla and chocolate custard/ice cream accompanied by a handsome dollop of vanilla bean ice cream and sliced strawberries in strawberry sauce.
Looking at it now I wish I had tasted this delectable desert. We had our final round of drinks before asking for our check.
In a nutshell Agave is a pretty good restaurant to eat at when the service is on par with the quality of fare that they serve. Service gets 3 out of 5 dinner plates. OOO
Ambience is OOOOO 5 out of 5 dinner plates thanks to to glorious weather out. Dining outdoor is always a plus when it’s sunny.
My Hand Hacked Three Beef Hash did the job. Roastbeef!!! The eggs I wasn’t too crazy about but the frozen Margarita left me with a more copacetic attitude.
My baby gave the desert a perfect 5 out 5 dinner plates OOOOO. Overall the experience was a good one. Agave we’ll be back. Till nex time this has been the THEJNSREPORT’S: Brunch At Agave.
All images are the property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014.
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: The Brick Lane Curry House Experience 2014!!
Location: Manhattan, NY
ETA: 1:30pm
I remember years ago watching one of my favorite Travel Channel Shows to watch “Man V Food” with host Adam Richman.
On one of the episodes Richman visited Brick Lane Curry House in Brooklyn, NY. The show showcased the Indian cuisine Brick Lane is known for.
Being a lover of Indian food I said to myself one day I’m going to eat at Brick Lane and see whether it delivers on the enthusiastic endorsement of its cuisine and the hottest curry on the planet known as Phaal.
Now, while I enjoy spicy food my threshold is far lower (not to mention wiser) than those who would try to eat Phaal. In my visit to Brick Lane there would be no thought of attempting the Phaal challenge.
Instead I went to my go to favorites when dining on Indian Cuisine. Chicken Tikka Masala, Naan bread, A biriyani, Basmati rice, and some Samosas.
Behold Brick Lanes Chicken Tikka Masala. This is very good I must say. The spices and flavor were pretty spot on. The last time I had really good Chicken Tikka Masala was in San Fransisco over a decade ago.
The Chicken Biriyani: To me this would have been perfect if they could have forgone the cilantro on top.
Naan: This bread is good and reminds me of pita bread with olive oil drizzled on it. However, I prefer Dhal Puri Roti skins to Naan.
Basmati Rice
Samosas: These yummy minced meat deliciosities were had in a few bites.
Yogurt dip for the naan bread.
I of course ate the chicken tikka masala with both rices before completely devouring my samosas. If you’ve never had indian samosas you’d definitely being doing yourself a favor by having this as an appetizer. Brick Lane offers both vegetable and meat samosas.
The decor of Brick Lane (Manhattan location): is not too shabby. Overall I enjoyed my stay and the afternoon atmosphere was quiet versus say a night dining out. The wait staff was very polite and attentive.
The rear of Brick Lane
Pricing $$$ is what you would expect for a Manhattan location but the food is worth the price in my opinion. Overall I give Brick Lane Curry House 4 out of 5 dinner plates OOOO. I’ll have to continue my search of good to great Indian Cuisine restaurants in the city. Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: Brick Lane Curry House Experience 2014!!
All images are the property of THEJNSREPORT.com (c) 2014.
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: When Greek Yogurt Giveaway Goes Right: Where a little curiosity, patience, and perseverance went a long way.
So several weeks ago while in Chinatown we happened upon a sight to be seen. We couldn’t understand it at first, when we saw one Asian woman after another running with what looked at a distance like a small child in their arms as they came up the street in our direction.
Then as they got closer we realized it wasn’t a child at all but two card board boxes containing something of great value and treasure the way it was being carried. I thought is this for a bank or business around here? As we neared the corner of the street we could see the back of a truck open with people lined up along the sidewalk for what the people on the truck were giving away.
It all became clear when I looked at the box and saw that it was in fact Dannons Oikos “Greek Yogurt” that was being given away free to the public. You know what had to happen next…that’s right folks we sucked it up in the heat to go and stand on line to get what we had coming. ;D
You could probably hear “Gimme da Yogurt, Gimme da Yogurt!!” LMAO!!!
On line for Greek Yogurt in the Hot Sun
Some of these women in line had partners waiting in line already and were greedily going back for third and fourth boxes. I just hoped there would be yogurt left by the time we reached the front of the line.
This crowd mobbed the sidewalk for that good yogurt.
Give us Yogurt!
That employee got photo evidence of the near riot they caused with their giveaway.
At the end of it all patience paid off as we ended up with 2 boxes of 24 containers of Oikos Greek Yogurt.
Yes we got our prize!
That right there is what we call when Greek Yogurt Goes Right aka a free months supply of Greek Yogurt. Yessum!!! 😉 Here’s to hoping we stumble upon more free giveaways this summer. Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: WHEN GREEK YOGURT GOES RIGHT.
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Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: STRAWBERRY TOPPED RICOTTA CHEESECAKE
I hadn’t baked in a bit when a coworker reminded me that he’d asked me to make a cheesecake for a get together he was having with some friends. Unfortunately I was unable to come thru due to schedule constraints. I vowed to make it up to him at a later date. When that later date came I made sure to make the time to get back to practice.
After purchasing the requisite ingredients I began the process.
I began with a large mixing bowl,
5 packages of cream cheese, 2 cups of heavy cream,
1 cup of whole milk,
1 pint of fresh Ricotta cheese,
4 whole eggs, 2 tablespoons of Almond Extract,
1 whole squeezed lemon
about a 1/2 cup of sugar or more as I regularly sample the taste of the batter always with a clean spoon and palate so that I have the perfect balance between the salty and the sweet. You can add more or less sugar according to your taste. Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees.
For the crust I cheated and used store-bought graham cracker crust as it just takes a lot less work in prepping the base when the graham crackers are already crushed.
All that’s required is to transplant the crust into the cake pan press in uniformly all the way round and voila. Not to mention it tastes amazing! I save just a bit of the graham cracker crust for decoration later.
Begin by mixing the wet ingredients with the softened packages of cream cheese before adding the eggs one at a time. Be careful not to get any egg-shell in your mix.
Add the Riccotta cheese into the mix before the eggs and then add the sugar and lemon juice from a fresh lemon careful to avoid seeds if any from falling into the mix. Mix everything on low-speed with an electric mixer if you have one. Don’t mix until completely smooth as I hear it leads to the cake cracking if over beaten.
Pour the cake batter into your 12 x 3 cake pan over the graham cracker crust. Place the cake pan on a rack raised one rung from the bottom of the oven in the center.
Place a cast iron skillet with water underneath the rack that the cake will bake on. This is to help prevent the cake from cracking. Close the door and let the cake bake away for 2 and a half hours.
When time is over turn off the oven and let the cake sit for at least an hour before transplanting to either the freezer or the fridge it’s your preference. I personally like to freeze my cakes as it makes decorating easier later on but the fridge will work fine if you don’t have space in the freezer.
For the topping, I washed fresh ripe strawberries and sliced them before layering on some cream cheese frosting on the top of the cake. Yes this cake is a decadent one as all cheesecakes should be.
Spread the frosting on the cooled cake evenly before adding the Strawberries and sifting the left over graham cracker crumbs on top. The syrup drizzled over the strawberries was an accident by an “assistant” who didn’t let the strawberries sit and reduce in the sauce long enough to give it that rich strawberry glaze color but it still came out quite nice.
For the syrup we used butter, sugar and a little water in a skillet over medium heat sliced some strawberries and tossed them into the butter and sugar as it cooked.
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