Turtle Club...

When planning our week last week, my boyfriend asked if I wanted to do dinner on Monday, because he would already be in Hoboken. Of course I accepted his invitation, and on a whim invited his sister and her boyfriend along to make it a double date. Joe picked the place, the Turtle Club, which is right down the block from my house. We had been talking about going there for ages, because the bar restaurant has a different special every day, and Mondays is half off all food!

Joe and I both ordered cocktails off of the special drink menu, and I am just going to say, they were not that special. Maybe it is just me and I do not have the refined palette of a drinker, but I was not a fan. The balance in both mine and his drink was completely off, creating a kind of mayhem in my mouth (and not the good kind).

The four of us shared two appetizers. I was starving and if I had my way, we would have tried them all (kidding… almost). I was bent on getting the crab dip, which turned out to be delicious. Warm, chunky, perhaps a bit too lemony, but all the same delicious. The crab pieces were meaty and were the star of the dip. I opted not to really eat it with the accompanying pita bread, because I wanted to immerse myself in the crab. Our other appetizer was a hummus platter, which olives and carrots and pita for dipping. The hummus was pretty good, creamy and fresh, but it deffo would not have been my first choice.

For an entrée, I stepped out of my fairly small “dining out” box, and ordered the very exotic (to me) fish tacos: one, because I was intrigued, two, because of my all time favorite movie, I Love You, Man. I was really unsure what to expect because, until that moment, I never had fish tacos before, but in the end I was quite happy I tried something new. The fried fish went nicely with the shredded lettuce, chunky corn salsa and the kind of sauce drizzled on top, nestled in corn tortillas. The only problem I had was that the lack of flavor of the corn tortilla, the monotone dryness, threw off the moist flavorful insides, reducing the flavor. Also I kind of wish there was a little more sauce to counter the dry tortilla. I deffo think that these would have been amazing, though perhaps less authentic (as authentic as they could be), with flour tortillas.

Joe got a churrasco style steak accompanied by a few asparagus and potatoes, which to me was odd. Every time I have had that style steak (like here), it came with rice and beans, not rustic potatoes and sautéed asparagus. All that said, it was delicious. He and I have experienced too much ill seasoned, and poorly prepared meat in our recent dining out history, and this steak was bursting with flavor and texture was just perfect. All a cut of steak really needs to be delicious is a little seasoning (mainly, some salt and pepper, garlic to be bold), and the correct cooking time (we prefer medium rare, but a good piece of meat will not get too dry any way cooked). I can’t say much about the dish’s accoutrements, but they faded into the background.

 The four of us also shared four desserts, we each wanted something different, but at the same time wanted to try them all. We decided on the nutella Panini (crunchy, warm and chocolately sweet); the chocolate cake (dense, dry and bitterly chocolate); a sampler of vanilla, hazelnut, and chocolate gelati (cold, decadent and somewhat rich); and the pumpkin cheesecake (smooth, creamy with a subtle hint of crunch). I was deffo partial to the pumpkin cheesecake, as it was the dessert I wanted to try the most, and it was worth it. The top layer of pumpkin puree, reminiscent of pumpkin pie, was subtle, but made the already pretty good cheesecake a little more unique and exotic.

I had a lot of fun at the Turtle Club, and the food was much better than expected. I really do want to go there again to try some more of the many appetizers and even some of the entrees. A Monday night, at half the price is definitely worth it!

 xx