Nanuet Hotel & Restaurant

Where:
The Nanuet Hotel & Restaurant
132 Main St, Nanuet, NY 10954-2803
(845)-623-9600
https://www.facebook.com/Nanuet-Hotel-Restaurant-342567669615

What:
Bar Pizza

Build:
Homemade crust topped with half cheese, half pepperoni and cheese.

Comments:
Established in 1944, The Nanuet Hotel offers an excellent, albeit non-conventional pizza with regards to a typical NY-NJ bar pie. The pie also closely resembles its rival, The Nanuet Restaurant, which is just up the block and across the street. These two Rockland County establishments are as renowned as they are old.
Side note: From what I can gather from Internet research, The Nanuet Restaurant, located a little further up Main Street, was founded by Bob Lampone and Frankie De Lucia who originally worked at the hotel and later opened the restaurant in February of 1952. They’ve been there ever since.

That explains it – two pizzas, each a very distinct style, yet very similar. The taste difference I'll leave up to you.

The visual comparison...

The Nanuet Hotel & Pizza

The Nanuet Restaurant & Pizza

                        

On to the pie... 

Seeing and tasting this style of pizza reminded me to always stay humble and open-minded when trying new foods, especially pizza. We are often quick to judge a pizza based on our own personal favorites which are usually located within a 2 mile radius of where we grew up. If you can put aside the taste buds you grew up on and taste this pie with complete impartiality, you'll be able to appreciate these pies for what they are – delicious. 

If you approach this pie with a predetermined expectation of what it "should" taste like you will most likely turn your nose up to this pizza for the simple fact that is doesn't conform.

Much like that of their adversary, the crust of the Nanuet Hotel pizza is more like pastry dough than pizza dough, yet it's impossible to be disappointed. The amount of cheese was perfect, the tomatoes were great and that crust… I just keep thinking of that crust... it had a flaky, buttery taste to it, which I thought was a nice diversion from standard New Jersey, Italian bread style crust. 

I loved the cozy retro ambiance of the seating in the bar area as much as I did the pizza…the whole experience worked for me and I can't wait to get back. Next time it'll be a plain pie because in my opinion, less is definitely more with this bar pie.

Bill's Rant:
One major con for the NH – the pizza took waaaaaaaaaaay too long to be served, especially for a lunch hour. Our pie took every bit of 40 minutes. Not good for business folks, I guess that's why there were only retirees eating lunch (except for us, we’re not there yet!). Shame, because it would be a killer lunch spot if they could knock out pies in 10 minutes.

With the exception of the serve time, kudos to the Nanuet Hotel people, who did an excellent job.




Melf

"Last night I fell asleep at the wheel

and smashed all my pottery"

Plaza 23 Diner, Pompton Plains, NJ

Where:

Plaza 23 Diner

411 NJ-23, Pompton Plains, NJ

07444(973) 835-1952
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Plaza-23-Diner/146328842056001

What:
Cheeseburger

Build:This is your typical 8-oz. New Jersey diner burger patty (seemed more like a 6-oz. patty to me) with cheddar cheese, raw white onion, two breaded onion rings, horseradish sauce, sesame seed bun.

Comments: 

If you are ever in the Wayne/Pompton Plains area, The Plaza 23 Diner is a nice, clean place to grab a quick bite. Overall I'd rate this diner "average,” but with New Jersey's stiff diner competition, average isn't a bad thing. 

With that said, I'm happy to report that on this day I enjoyed an above-average burger.

My burger was cooked according to my medium-rare request, which was a huge plus considering some of my recent reviews, and the toppings I chose that day were just what my taste buds were calling for. The burger had a nice char-grill flavor, and I went home a happy camper.

My one gripe – for a NJ diner, the portions are smaller than other diners.

All in all a good day considering getting a burger at a diner is usually hit or miss.

In the past, my wife and I have ordered other items at this diner including dinner entrees which we were never quite happy with. As I said, this diner is average, which is quite common. 

Just a few tweaks in the kitchen, a few new techniques by the chef, a tad more attention to detail by the cooks and so many of these diners could be standouts. So close, yet so far... 

Overall, a "decent" experience.

This Plaza 23 Diner burger lands an 8.8\10 on the BC rating scale. 

Hardee's, Fort Pierce, Florida

Where:

Hardee's200 S Kings Hwy,

Fort Pierce, FL 34945
(772) 489-2184

What:
Hardee's Classic Double Cheeseburger

Build:

Double meat, double cheese, grilled onions, Thousand Island, lettuce, & tomato on seeded bun.

Comments: 

It seems that my reviews are the shortest when the burgers I'm reviewing are either so horrible that I just don't want to take the time to say anything about them, or, the burger is so damn good, it's hard to find words that properly do it justice.

This is one of those exceedingly short reviews.

I stopped at the Hardee's in Fort Pierce Florida not far off route 95 en route from NJ to FL with my father-in-law.
The crowd in and about the restaurant resembled ex-convicts which made for an interesting atmosphere. Needless to say, we ordered with the intention of eating as fast as we could and leaving with the contents of our wallets intact.

The food was crap. In fact, the burger patties did not taste like burgers, but some other soy-filler product which is on par with livestock feed.

With that said, please keep in mind this was not our first visit to Hardee's. In fact, we used to love eating Hardee's burgers and the little known, but delicious, hot ham and cheese sandwich.

But after the last few attempts at eating a Hardee's burger with the false hope that it would actually resemble a burger, we have given up.

I’m not sure how Hardee's plans on keeping their books in the black based on their poor management that is "okay" with serving burgers like the ones in the photos I took.

Hardee's, you took our money for something that you call "food"... wrong, so very wrong. See for yourself in the photos that follow...

A BC Burger Blog First:

Hardee's burger is not worthy of receiving a rating on this blog.

This was an Epic-Crap-Fail.

Welcome to Florida.

And the stink of it is, I wanted to buy this cool clown shirt after we ate from the store in the adjoining building, but I was too pissed to remember to go back and buy it.

Even the ever-reliable hot ham & cheese was bad....

Culver's Jupiter, FL

Where:
Culver’s1108 Military Trail,Jupiter, FL 33458
561-529-3772
https://www.culvers.com/restaurants/jupiter-fl-military-trl

What:
Butterburger Cheese

Build:
"Never frozen" Midwest-raised beef, American cheese made in Wisconsin on a lightly buttered, toasted bun.

Comments: 

45…count'em…45 minutes it took to receive our order.... and it was cold.

Yep, Culver’s of Jupiter Florida wins the prize for the worst-managed burger chain I've ever come across.

Ever since Culver's recently opened some time in December of 2016 (approximately), my father-in-law and I have been waiting for the novelty of "the new burger joint in town" to wear off. We wanted to go once the staff was fully trained and running like a fine-tuned machine.

Perhaps we should've waited until the summer months? Of 2024?

Sidebar: This is my 270th review on this blog. I do not get a thrill from knocking anyone, however, if you are willing to take my money in exchange for services and/or product, then I'd like to think we mutually agree on the value of the deal. That is to say, you make the percent margin you are entitled to and charge me a fair price for it. Deal.

This was no fair deal. This deal was heavily weighted in Culver's favor. 45 minutes waiting for our food (a burger for heaven's sake!), 20 minutes of which were spent standing hovering over tables like vultures until one was free.

Who needs this? I can go to so many eateries in the Jupiter area and God knows there are thousands of them where we can sit and eat in comfort in a timely fashion.

On the pro side, we could tell the meat was tasty and I would probably enjoy a Culver's burger that is cooked correctly and served in a reasonable amount of time, as well as served hot. And with a butter flavor that actually exists beyond the words on the menu.

Also, there is a sign on the entrance door which reads:

PROUDLY OWNED AND OPERATED:

 DEBBIE NAYLON

Ms. Naylon, I'm here to tell you, you may want to drop the word "proudly" from the sign because there was nothing to be proud of on January 15, 2017.

The number of staff members was not the issue, in fact there seemed to be a dozen kids in blue shirts and hats, most of them bumping into each other looking for their destination tables. The issue lies in the food not being prepared fast enough.

This particular Culver's gets a 3.5\10 on the BC rating scale.

We can't express our disappointment enough after all our anticipation... such a shame. I hope other Culver's are managed better, it'd be a shame if they are all like this one.

The burgers weren't warm enough to melt the cheese...

Real life photo of Culver's Butterburger Cheeseburger.

Glamour shot of Culver's Butterburger Cheeseburger.