Why the heck was I having lunch in Media? Because of jury duty, of course! Otherwise, it wouldn’t make much logistical sense for me to be hauling my ass all the way over to those parts. But you know, civic duty doesn’t wait! I decided to go classy and lunch at Azie on my first day. It’s very attractive and fancy. I felt like a big grub hanging out there.
The miso soup was quite tasty. The scallions were chopped super fine, which I totally dug.
One of their lunch specials is a sushi roll set with soup, side salad, and two rolls.I picked the spicy tuna roll and the shrimp tempura roll. These weren’t bad or anything, they just weren’t particularly good. They were just totally middle of the road. Really, when you’re surrounded by all the shiny sparkling prettiness, you expect the food to be worthy. But I was so not impressed with it. I don’t know, it was just blah. The salad had a zippy little dressing but the soup and salad really shouldn’t be the highlights of my meal, which they were. Service was fine.

Did you know there was a riverboat that cruises the Delaware and you can eat and drink on it? Yeah, me either! I got invited to take a ride on the Philadelphia Belle and sample its cuisine! Who’s going to refuse a ride on a boat, with food? There’s multiple floors, and each has tables and a dance floor. It’s a big boat, and a smooth ride, so don’t worry about getting seasick. I felt great!
It was a beautiful and romantic table setting. Much less romantic is the live band. Ok, basically, it’s a party boat. But not a booze cruise or anything. It’s more like a wedding reception on the water.
And there’s tons to drink! And folks, these drinks are no joke. Despite being on water, nothing is watered down at all. In fact, their drinks are extra strong! Knock back a few of these and you might think there’s waves undulating in that river.
The starter plate was a sampler of sorts. The italian market sampler was a little skewer of roasted tomatoes, mozzarella with basil, olives, and dry sausage. The best part was definitely the mozzarella. The red pepper hummus was good, but the pita it came with was hard and crunchy, and not in a good way. The cute and adorable philly cheesesteak spring roll was good! It was served with a spicy ketchup.Here is the crisp oysters rockefeller with a touch of cream spinach and topped with chipotle cream. These were big and tasty.
The lobster bisque! It was served with a light swirl of tarragon creme fraiche. This was a very respectable bisque.
Let’s move on to the entrees! Here’s the atlantic salmon with roasted vegetable orzo and a tomato-coriander vinaigrette. The salmon was cooked nicely and was a nice and fresh piece of fish, but the sauce was a bit too sweet. And I’m someone that loves sweet!
This is the center-cut filet of beef with asparagus, potato gratin, and a red wine demi-glace. Ooh y’all, this was really good. I mean, I rarely ever just eat a big hunt of steak, but this was so good! The meat was super tender and the sauce went with it perfectly. I could have eaten another one!
Dessert was a little piece of cheesecake and a brownie. So the cheesecake was pretty soft and so-so, but the brownie was great! And you know, I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate or brownies. There’s a live band that plays throughout the evening and you are free to go out and take a look at the view from the boat. On a clear night, the views are quite tremendous. And you’re on a boat! The night I was there, there were a couple of sweet sixteen birthday parties as well as an older birthday. Towards the end, people started dancing, and that’s when it got a little surreal for me. I felt like I was crashing some sweet sixteen parties! But it was a great time and I feel very lucky to have been invited for the ride. Special thanks to H/A for being my event photographer.

I had to go on a client visit to some people who make little hard shelled candy chocolates, so I ended up in Hackettstown, NJ. Yep, Hackettstown. Downtown Hackettstown actually has a few restaurants, so after some research, I decided to check out Stella G’s.
I started with the cream of potato soup. It was good. There wasn’t anything special about this, but it was solid. There were hunks of bacon in it and delicious bits of chive. The little piece of bread was also good.
I had spied this sandwich that intrigued me, so I was excited to get it. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work for me at all. This was the Stella G’s chicken sandwich with granny smith apples and avocados on moe’s apple bread crowned with provolone and caramel cider sauce. So there was thinly sliced chicken breast which was rather bland. Then the cooked apples were also bland. And the avocados weren’t very ripe, so they were just not buttery and bland. The sauce was interesting and the best part was the bread, but there was only one piece of it. So in all, not my thing at all. But the wafflecut chips were good and so was the random slightly asian-y slaw that came as a side. I think if everything hadn’t been so disappointingly bland, it could have been a good sandwich. Just shows how important good ingredients are!