10 edible reasons to visit the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area

What is the best part about visiting the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area? Of course it’s definitely all about the food.

Since making the move to Colorado, Melissa absolutely HATES making the trip back to New Jersey, even though we still maintain a home there. I am more sentimental so “hate” is not the emotion I would use to describe my feelings, but I don’t yearn for the periodic trips back either.

We absolutely love Colorado and don’t regret making the move. What we have had a problem finding, though, are the kind of foods we have come to love over our lifetimes growing up in the NYC area. We both were born in Brooklyn, made a quick stop in Staten Island, and grew up in the New Jersey suburbs. And I guess we both took for granted all of the great food choices that were afforded to us. Because now it’s unavailable to us. And they say you don’t appreciate something until you no longer have it. But at least we can appreciate it when we visit. And we certainly do appreciate it and make the most of our visits.

And so here are 10 edible reasons to visit the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area:

1) It’s hard to find a good bagel anywhere outside of the NYC area.

A bagel isn’t simply a piece of dough with a hole in it. There is a texture, a taste, a feel. What’s the saying? IYKYK – If you know, you know.

Especially in Colorado, anything that has to rise must be altered because of the altitude. And no matter where you go, the water makes all the difference.

Bagel Express in Milltown, New Jersey is our favorite stop to get bagels.

You will find a lot of locals sitting there and it is hard to get a table and you might just have to eat in the car. But while it’s not exactly easiest place to find, the journey is worth it when you are craving a great bagel.

Ess-A-Bagel has become an iconic place in NYC with cooky commercials featuring the entire family. But they really don’t need the promotion because the product promotes itself. They even have a place in the new Terminal A in Newark Airport so you can grab a bite as you are leaving the area.

2) Pizza anywhere other than the New York/New Jersey region is not pizza.

We are spoiled. We were born and Brooklyn and it is really where REAL pizza was born. Anywhere you go in Brooklyn, you can find pizza. Good pizza. New Jersey is known for the abundance of strip malls. And you can’t pull into a strip mall without finding a pizza joint.

There is an entire Facebook page is dedicated to Jersey Pizza Joints. And you can find daily arguments about the best pizza places in the State of New Jersey and over the border into New York. And regardless of your preferences, nobody is really “wrong” as the pizza is all good.

Colorado doesn’t know what good pizza is. And let’s just say that pizza should not be cooked on a conveyor belt.

I may be a little biased here, but the square pie from L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn will forever be my favorite pizza since I was a child. And you meander into just about any strip mall in New Jersey and order a slice and get satisfaction.

Not much of that in Colorado…the individual slice is pretty much non-existent.

3) The Italian food is an absolute joke.

We went to an Italian deli and it was laughable. They didn’t have any eggplant. But, then, neither did some of the dinner establishments we visited. When you grew up going to Little Italy in either Manhattan or The Bronx, or even if you visited some of those establishments in the New Jersey strip malls, there is menu with classic offerings and a sauce that reminds you of your Italian grandmother slaving on a Sunday making “gravy.”

Well, the menus have been odd and the sauces can’t even match up against Ragu.

Little Italy is a favorite and while I was raised going to a number of places in the vicinity of Mulberry Street, like Umberto’s (same family but different location and different menu offerings) and Little Charlie’s (now long gone from Kenmare Street), Vincent’s is the place we frequent the most.

Original Vincent’s is known for its iconic sauce that they gladly ship anywhere. But nothing beats sitting and eating the shrimp over linguini in the dining room that hasn’t changed since the 1970’s.

4) The bakeries. Oh, the bakeries. Anywhere you go in New York City, or in New Jersey, every neighborhood has a bakery. At least that is the way it seems. Baked goods that make you instantly gain weight just being in the place.

Sometimes you just want a piece of cake…a cookie…a Danish. However, it seems outside of the NY/NJ area, that can become a treasure hunt. If you want dessert, good luck.

The local bakeries are always our favorites because each has their own specialties that they are known for…but while it COULD be considered a “tourist destination,” Ferrara Bakery and Café in Little Italy has an amazing about of baked goods as well as some of the best gelato that you have ever tasted.

No trip to Little Italy is ever complete without finishing a meal off with dessert at Ferrara on Grand Street.

5) The coffee out west hasn’t been all that great. Yes, we have found a few places that make a good cup of coffee. But there are more pop-up coffee shops trying to emulate Starbucks than there are good-old-fashioned coffee places. New Yorkers will remember Chockful-o-Nuts and the counters throughout the city.

Anyone in New Jersey would know that the best place to get coffee is Wawa.

They may be a convenience store that serves up gasoline but they just happen to have THE BEST coffee anywhere. And, yes, they are making their way into other parts of the country, but they haven’t yet made their way out to the West.

6) Much like this pizza, there is a Chinese food take-out establishment in just about every strip mall in New Jersey.

There are a few eat-in restaurants in New Jersey, but most places cater to the take-out crowd. Some are better than others, but for the most part, Chinese take-out is hard to muck up. But in Colorado, well, there aren’t many places to go and the ones we have tried, ended up being tossed before getting past the first forkful or two.

NYC’s Chinatown has, obviously an abundance of places. Some of the iconic places like the Mandarin Inn and Hunan House are now long gone. But still operating are the Wo Hop and Great NY Noodletown and Peking Duck House.

They are all a real throwback to the past, the food is great, but the wait is always long to get a table. So be prepared to wait but also to eat well.

7) The Jewish delis are common in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area. But leave the area and you’d be hard-pressed to find one…a REAL one. Oh….and don’t even think about knishes because not only don’t they have them anywhere, they don’t even know what they are.

The Pickled Herring , formerly known to the locals as Jerry and Harvey’s, has been a Central Jersey staple for decades. No visit back to the area would be complete without a visit to this classic Jewish deli. You KNOW it’s the place to go when you walk in and see so many people above the age of 70 all decked out for an outing and the line is almost out the door waiting on a table.

The conversations going on around you are a bit cringy and violate every HIPAA law in creation, but it’s somewhat comical and definitely worth it for the turkey, corned beef, pastrami, nova lox and good ‘ole chicken noodle soup. Oh, and, of course, the square knish!

Use the word “knish” in these parts of Colorado and nobody knows what the hell you’re talking about…it’s like you’re making up a fake word.

Square knishes are the Coney Island favorite which is why they are referred to as Coney Island knishes. But if you want a really honest to goodness traditional knish, there is place in NYC that has the best knishes in the world.

Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery https://www.originalvincents.nyc/  on Houston Street has a multitude of flavors of knishes, not just the potato that you MIGHT find someplace in your travels.

8) A Nathan’s hot dog is unlike any other hot dog. There may be places that have good hot dogs, like in Chicago they have the “Chicago hot dog” which is pretty unique. But there is something truly famous about a Nathan’s hot dog.

Nathan’s in Coney Island is a must stop for any visitor to NYC. What other hot dog do they have annual contests on Independence Day? It has to mean something, right?

I am not one to eat hot dog because, as I have said so many times, I don’t eat meat. But Melissa loves the Nathan’s hot dogs so I will go with that. As for me, the Nathan’s French fries are the best anywhere. So there’s still that.

9) A lobster roll. Nothing better than a good lobster roll.

Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough in Noank, Connecticut has the best lobster and it’s right on the Mystic River.

I would go into NYC to grab a bite in Chinatown or Little Italy…just for the hell of it. Maybe an hour each way with the traffic. But Abbott’s is three hours door to door. And you know what? It’s worth every minute of that drive.

Abbott’s lobster rolls are the absolute best. I once did a New England lobster roll tour for my birthday weekend. I ate lobster rolls in 10 different places in Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Abbott’s is clearly by FAR the best.

10) Vegan food. That’s the biggest surprise and disappointment moving away from the Metropolis.

We honestly thought that, given the culture in Colorado, we would find a multitude of vegan restaurants. Alas, it’s been the exact opposite…we haven’t found one.

True, there are restaurants that offer “vegan dishes” but that is not the same as a vegan restaurant.

I am the one who loves the vegan places, whereas Melissa will find something she likes on the menu and be satisfied with it. But the places we frequented back East she really actually liked…I didn’t have to coerce her into going. And that is something.

It was actually Melissa who found Red Leaf Café in Metuchen. It is a bit off the beaten path and away from the downtown area, but it is a family-owned and operated place with absolutely great vegan meals. And just ask Melissa, you don’t have to be a vegan to truly enjoy a meal.

So while we enjoy our life in Colorado, we are accepting care packages until we get home. Please, we are withering away.