Afternoon everyone…..
I missed posting yesterday. There was just no free time to get a proper post done. I left my shop at 5:30am with a truck full of cabinets for a custom walk in closet that was being installed in a town named Avalon, New Jersey. It’s a shore town nearly all the way at the bottom of New Jersey. It’s part of Cape May County. Cape May is the furthest south you can go in New Jersey. Avalon is exit 13 off of the Garden State Parkway.
I left that early because I had no intention of hitting the shore traffic heading down. With the kids now out of school and it being Father’s Day weekend, there will be tons of traffic heading south. Leaving at 5:30am circumvented that.
The ride down was just over two hours with no traffic. I had half of the cabinets pre assembled for the job, the rest had to be final cuts on site due to unsquare walls. Which meant a lot more time on site to complete the job correctly.
I finished up around four thirty, did the final walk through with the homeowner got the check and headed back north.
I immediately called my girlfriend and asked if she wanted to do a late dinner with me. She agreed, so I headed to her house instead of my shop. Took a quick shower and we headed out to a place I had on my list to try.
The place is in a very old historic town named Dover. It is listed as being around since 1722, a huge mining town back then. It’s a fairly large town/city, with most buildings in the center of town being around two hundred years old.
There is a fairly large population on the Latin community that lives there and there are tons of great bakeries and small eateries all over the center of town. If you enjoy empanadas, you can’t beat Dover. They have numerous versions of empanadas Mexican, Colombian, Cuban and Puerto Rican styles. All are handmade daily and most places sell out before 3pm.
***But that’s not what we went for….***
There is a place that opened just under a year ago that has been on my radar now for several months. It’s called One11 Bar and Kitchen. It is named after its address 111 Blackwell Street, but they got creative with the One11 instead.
Above is what the building looks like. It’s a 150 plus year old place with lots of character.
It’s a husband and wife chef team. The husband is an award winning chef, and the wife is an award winning pastry chef. What a great combination for a restaurant. Being a culinary school graduate myself, I had high expectations for this place before entering.
The menu is not huge, which to me is a major plus. It means to me that they are focused on making a finite number of dishes perfectly instead of just making everything.
There are about seven or eight items in several categories. Appetizers, salads, pasta, meats, and fish/seafood. Some of the items have a Latin flair to them. Both chefs are of Latin descent.
Jennifer and I decided to split an appetizer. We decided to get a scratch made Mac and cheese with smoked bacon. It was phenomenal, great flavor and great texture.
For our entrees, Jennifer chose chicken balsamico. Chicken breast with peppers, onions, mushrooms in a pan sauce reduction. She killed it, so it must have been good…..
I had a dry aged skirt steak that was cooked to perfection a spot on medium rare. It was like cutting through butter. It was also perfectly seasoned. It was served with a side of garlic pesto.
Normally neither of us order dessert , but with the co-owner being an award winning pastry chef and the fact that both of our favorite desserts were on the menu. We sucked it up and I without asking Jennifer ordered them for us when the server returned.
Jennifer’s favorite dessert is crème brûlée. It’s a favorite of mine as well, but I have a few that beat it personally. Here is what it looked like before being devoured. Jennifer said it was amazing. Yes she did offer me some but I declined.
I ordered pretty much the only pie that I enjoy, which is Key Lime pie. It is per the pastry chefs words a family recipe with a minor twist. I have been to many places in my life, many extremely high end restaurants and mom and pop places as well. This is without a doubt the best and most flavorful Key Lime pie I’ve ever eaten. My exact words to Jennifer were “I would drive here just for this pie alone!” That’s his good it was.
If for some reason you happen to be in northern New Jersey. This is the type of place that you seek out to eat at. They have a very bright future ahead of them with this place if they keep the current standards in tact.
