Cherry Blossoms and a trip to the Ironbound

Saturday I met up with Brian and Ron at Newark's Penn Station. From there it was a short trip on the light rail and we were transported to the middle of Branch Brook Park's Cherry Blossom Festival. The trees were in full bloom and the park was filled with parents putting their kids up in trees and snapping away on their digital cameras. We didn't have any children to toss up on a branch so we just walked around the park a bit and enjoyed the beauty.

All that nature can sure work up an appetite, so to top off the day, we headed back into Newark's Ironbound section where we met up with Brian's family for some Portuguese food at Casa Vasca. After starting the meal off right with quite a few pitchers of sangria, we were seated and the feast began!

We started with a few appetizers: clams in green sauce, mushrooms in garlic, grilled chorizo and the mother of all apps, shrimp in garlic sauce. This was my first time having the mushrooms and they were garlicky and delicious with just enough parsley to elevate the dish.

And I have extolled the virtues of shrimp and garlic in previous posts and this (double) order certainly did not disappoint. After I scooped up as much shrimp as I possibly could without being rude and gluttonous to my dining companions, I sopped up most of the remaining red garlicky oil with a few crusty Portuguese rolls!

For my main course, I couldn't resist my all-time favorite, Paella Marinera. Of course there were many stand out dishes on the menu (including roast suckling pig and octopus) but I knew that if I didn't go for the paella I'd feel I was missing out. The paella was delicious and it was like seeing an old friend...lots of nostalgia for the good times we've shared over previous meals.

The lobster was chewy and the clams, mussels and shrimp were fresh. Fresh tomatoes and peas rounded out the dish and there was plenty to share. Spanish and Portuguese restaurants in the city just cannot come close to what you can find in Newark... and having been to both Spain and Portugal, I can tell you it's pretty authentic too!

For dessert, I tried the orange cake which was two thin slices of pound cake soaked in an orange and sugar sauce. Moist and quite tasty, especially with my 10 year old ruby port!

As the three of us ran to make our train back, I almost forgot my tin of leftovers and ran back into the restaurant in a frenzy to retrieve my package. I think you can guess what's for dinner tonight!