The Russian

I can't believe it's already Thursday! Tomorrow starts my new adventure of new restaurants! This time it will be in New York- which is obviously the place to be.

I was thinking that readers from New Jersey would get mad at my posts and say that I wasn't giving New Jersey a real chance, and that I'm a stuck up New Yorker. Well, I am a stuck up New Yorker. And theres good reason for it too, at least when it comes to food and excitement. Come on, even my friends from New Jersey agree that it sucks here!

This past weekend Eric and I decided to go visit a native New Jersian (Ok, he's a native Russian) and ask of his opinion about this great state. He whole heartedly agreed that this place is boring and really has nothing to do! We were thinking about going to Six Flags (to spice things up a little during our mundane weekend) but the Russian was scared of rollercoasters (lame). Eric and I drove to the Russian's house, passed through security gates (haha) and decided to spend some good ol' quality time together.

We reminisced on 'back when the house was good' (and boy, was it really good) and talked about fast black things that I can't really talk about online for the fear of being shot (or least I would've gotten shot... back when the house was good :)). Can you guess who this Russian is? I bet you can't? Ok.. it's Yulian, it was pretty obvious- was there even another Russian in the house, ever? haha.

So after visiting Yulian's house, we decided to get some dinner in the town nearby. Living in Jackson,NJ (which is right next to Six Flags) we drove to Freehold Township to grab a nice dinner at Metropolian Cafe. I was a bit surprised entering the neighborhood as it actually had some activity, and I guess New Jersey isn't too bad, just as long as you know where to look.

The meal at Metropolitan Cafe was surprisingly good (afterall, I shouldn't have doubted Yulian). I was a bit skeptical at first since the menu had both sushi and american food, but in the end Metropolitan Cafe turned out to be something like a Cheesecake Factory- where there are foods ranging from all different parts of the world on the menu! Yum!

Yulian and Eric both started out with a salad- which we later found out could have fed a small country and wasn't a starter salad at all. Yulian had the Warm Autum Salad, with blue cheese and candied pecans... but really they put cashews instead (go figure). Eric had the Walnut Goat Cheese Salad with apples and huge blocks of crusted goat cheese. Both salads were good (and very large) and I was surprised that either of them had room for their main entrees to be honest.

As for our main entrees, Eric got the Australian Rack of Lamb, Yulian got the New York Strip steak while I got the Shrimp Ravioli. Eric's lamb was good, but a bit charred- he said he's had better. Yulian's strip steak looked good- any comments on this Yulian? While my shrimp ravioli was actually amazing!

I was very pleasantly surprised with my dish! Well first, the ravioli was really a dumpling, and there were only 4 huge dumplings on my plate. But there was an abundant amount of seafood in this light and creamy Champagne bisque- it was to die for. Not too heavy or rich, I was able to finish my entree although I was still stuffed from Morimoto the night before and Teresa Cafe a few hours before hand. Although I did wish they had more dumplings, I really enjoyed the dish- it was delicious! I highly recommend it.

Moving onto dessert, we got the Godiva Chocolate Cake and Ice Cream Sandwich to share. The ice cream sandwich came with coffee ice cream, and was very strong and rich (although a bit melted). The chocolate cake was EXTREMELY rich and decadent, I was surprised Yulian was able to eat it all actually. Both desserts were good, nothing too special but still, very tasty.

What a night! We actually spent over 3 hours at the restaurant catching up and enjoying our meal. I really liked this place although there were a few things about it that weren't as good as it should be. First off, the server is great but the runner and busboy were not. The hostesses seemed easily confused and their menu did not reflect what was given to us (cashews instead of pecans.. huge ass dumplings instead of the traditional ravioli). The flavors were great, but I sometimes got confused by the presentation. Haha.

In the end, all those things didn't matter- I had a nice meal and enjoyed my time. I would definitely return again (although it is a bit far from the Princeton area) and hope to try more things on the menu. I had such a great time regardless of the strange presentation-but then again, maybe it didn't matter because I was with the Russian.

Price: $$$$

Ambiance: A-

Service: B+

Food: A