Hightstown, Allentown

Basil's Legends at the Days Inn on NJ 33 has a scrumptions eggplant parmesan that they call stuffed eggplant. It is available as an appetizer or an entree. The entree comes with salad and pasta. The serving of eggplant seems identical in size and both appetiser and entree have wonderful tomato/basil flavor. What makes it special to me, is that the tomato sauce has an extraordinary complex herb filled rich flavor. The sauce is on the sweet side, but doesn't seem sugary. I attribute the sweetness to the quality of the tomatoes, but I am not sure. I do like the the combination of the sweet and savory.

In late April we decided to go once again for the Stuffed Eggplant. We were initially disappointed to find that Basil's regular menu was tempoarily displaced by a special prix fixe menu. It was Greek Cuisine Week. It was very enjoyable, although an enourmous quantity of food. Include were mageiritsa soup [Easter Sunday soup]; a cold appetizer platter composed of Dolmadakia [rice stuffed grape leaves], Revithosalata [chick-pea dip], Melitzanosalata [eggplant dip], Kafteri [a spread of feta with red spicy pepper], Tzatziki [cucumber, garlic, & yoghurt dip], and served with pita toasted on the grill; a hot appetizer platter composed of Kotopoulo Me Amygdala [chicken breast with almonds in feta sauce], Garides Skaras Me Dendrolivano [grilled shrimp on rosemary skewers], Kalamari Gemisto Me Elies Ke Feta [stuffed calamari with olives and feta]; Salata Horiatiki [salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers, olives, and feta]; the entrees were a choice of Paidakia Ala Polita [char grilled lamb chops with artichokes, peas carrots and roasted oven potatoes] or Gourounaki Me Manitaria Mavrodaphne Me Patates Fournou [grilled loin of pork with mushroom "mavrodaphne wine sauce roasted oven potatoes, and artichokes, peas, and carrots]; an a choice of two desserts, honey yoghurt souffle or Galaktoboureko [described as a custard in a phyllo dough -- it had a honey cinnamon sauce and the custard was dense, almost like a cheese cake texture]. The two of us ordered a different entree and dessert. We shared. The dinner was delicious. Some of the flavorings were new to us -- at least not common experiences for us. Dill and lemon seemed to be used frequently. We wondered why we had never mated shrimp and rosemary. Not being fans of lamb, we were amazed by how much we loved the chops. The only disappointment was that the pork loin was a little overcooked for our taste, but most would not consider it to be. Even the pork had a wonderful flavor because of the seasonings and the good mushrooms. The touch of lemon on the oven roasted potatoes was a tasty surprise. You may correctly guess that we are not very familiar with greek cuisine. My partner shared the desserts, despite normally avoiding cinnamon [cause her headaches], but it was so lightly applied that no problems resulted. We had a bottle of Coppola Claret with the meal rather than the Greek Moschofilero with rowsewater and petals. The Claret complimented the lamb and pork nicely.

We used to frequent the Americana Diner for Sunday breakfast. We liked their eggs and their rye toast. Over the last two years, the Americana Sunday breakfast rush has seemed busier than the Turnpike at 5:00 pm on a weekday. If you can take the crowds, try the BTO omelette if the ingredients appeal at all.

We like the water ice and "gelatos" at Rita's Water Ice in Hightstown among many other locations.

Black Forest Inn
Pork shanks with sauerkraut, Beef Goulash with buttered noodles, sides of cole slaw and mashed potatoes, Cherry Chocolate Torte. Good bread with cinnamon butter, but plain butter also was served.

The Inn is in an old mill building on a stream that cuts through Allentown. The building is charming, but needs some maintenance.

The food was plain but good. The sauerkraut was rinsed and thus allowed the pork flavor to assert itself in the dish. The goulash was a good beef stew, flavored with paprika. The noodles had no special flavor, but were nicely buttery. The cole slaw was served with a clear sweet and sour dressing rather than a mayonaisse base. The potatoes were pureed and buttered. The torte was sweet and moist, with a pronounced chocolate and cherry flavor. The Black Forest Inn has good tasty comfort food that is vaguely eastern european with an emphasis on german style cooking. I suspect that german-american is the appropriate label. I liked a couple of the hungarian restaurants in New Brunswick in the 1970s much better. I am looking forward to trying the Blue Danube in Trenton.