New Jersey

Not too often you can say that New Jersey is a vacation destination. For this trip, I was celebrating a friend's birthday. A transplant from Brooklyn, my friend's family lives near Clifton. Remarkably inexpensive, I did not realize it could exist within the tristate area. I headed out on United to Newark Liberty International Airport. Since it was a quick weekend trip, I opted to stay at the Hampton Inn Newark Airport. I've stayed at the Hilton next door and didn't think it was worth the extra money. The Hampton has a recent renovation feel and I thought the facilities was fine.
Hampton Inn Newark King Room

I also rented a car from Thrifty. It was snowing the weekend I was in town and the rental attendant wanted to make sure I was ok to drive. Luckily, there wasn't much snow on the ground and I was able to navigate the streets of New Jersey and New York. Since I wasn't going into Manhattan, I did decide to go into the city to grab some pastries from Dough and Breads Bakery. The doughnuts from Dough were ok. It was closer to bread than doughnut. Breads Bakery was good, I grabbed an assortment of pastries as well as a babka. They are supposed to be known for their babkas. I enjoyed them but I wouldn't go out of my way.
Dough Doughnuts

After resting from my red eye flight, I had lunch at Bonds Tavern. I tried the shredded beef sandwich (under the Grilled Cheese sandwich - Kansas) and a chicken burger. The chicken was better than the beef. I also had a spiked milkshake which took the edge off. The party was at The Barrow House. I didn't have many of the h'ors d'ouvres but it was filling enough. The drinks were good, a little strong for my taste.

Before taking off for home, I had lunch at Kilkenny Alehouse. I ordered the thai salmon and it wasn't very Thai to me. It was closer to a sweet and fried salmon. At least, the flavor profile was closer to Hawaiian than Thai. Big portions and I ended up taking half home (and promptly forgot it in the hotel room fridge).  

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