It feels nice to be back writing my blog. I have a few reasons for not writing lately. My wedding is approximately a year away and this has me watching my weight (Don't want to sound like Regina George but I want to lose five pounds), watching my spending, and has kept me close to home. When I have gone out it's been to the same old places. Now I did go somewhere recently that was terrible, but I can't seem to remember where it was. I remember commenting on it when I was in the car getting ready to leave but cannot remember. If I was with you, please leave a comment and share where we were. In this blog, I will discuss a few things including- carnitas, Reno's, Pop's, and Thanksgiving. Let's start with Reno's.
I don't believe I've blogged about Reno's before but if I did, oh well. I had a delicious sandwich from Reno's last night. I loved Reno's when it was located at the former site of Clark's Dairy and I still love it now in the plaza with Hawley Lane in Orange. DJ and I were just driving up the Post Road looking for a place to eat. We approached Reno's and I noticed no one was sitting inside the restaurant. Their seating is limited, especially in comparison to their former location. I was surprised that no one was dining inside. It did worry me a bit but I was hungry and wanted to go somewhere I didn't have to wait for a table, so Reno's fit the bill. Plenty of people were coming in and out to pick up to-go orders and the delivery man looked a bit ragged, so I figured we were safe. We were free to pick whichever table and chose a nice booth/table. I wasn't sure what I was in the mood for when I first sat down. Reno's has a little bit of everything. They have great pizza, a few dinners, sandwiches, salads, soups, and apps. I'm not sure if they still do this, but I know they used to have all-you-can-eat pizza on Tuesday. I think it was like 9 dollars and the waitress just brings out random topping pizzas and offers you a slice. I love pizza so this is a perfect thing in my eyes. It's great when you can sample other types of pizza. For example, I never would have ordered a spaghetti and meatball pizza on my own. Now I know I like it, so I may in the future. Back to our order. We decided to order fried dough bites for an appetizer. Fabulous. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Perfectly cooked fried dough balls, a cup of marinara, and some grated cheese. My recommended way of eating is to pour some grated cheese on your plate. Dip the ball in the sauce and then dip into the grated cheese. Perfetto! (Kissing my fingers) It reminded me of Dom in "Fatso" when he's upset at Sal's wake. Then we decided we would get subs this time. I went with Mark's special- a chicken cutlet, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a toasted sub. FANTASTIC! I know that sounds simple, but that was the most fresh chicken cutlet I've ever ordered from a restaurant. It tasted like I just took it out of the pan. I've been losing my taste for chicken lately. It always seems that I get that chewy, fatty, gross piece that just turns you off from your whole meal. Now I know the chicken from Reno's is safe and delicious.
DJ ordered the Philly Steak sub. Steak, onions, cheese wiz. We shared the subs half and half. I love doing that because I'm so indecisive. I'm happy I went with Mark's Special. The steak sub was okay. The wiz was good. I would've liked mushrooms on it too, but we won't go there. It might have been that the steak sub was good but the Mark was so much better that the steak only tasted mezza-mezz. The owner and waitress were very nice and friendly. I felt bad because the delivery guy apparently spilled an entire catering tray of chicken marsala all over the car so needless to say, the owner was pissed. He came over and joked with us about it and went really easy on the delivery kid. Reno's is great. I wish it was closer to West Haven because that's where I'd go every night. Is it just me or did WH pizza die out? I usually go to Tom's and Pat's for convenience, Mike's is delicious but I hate parking on Campbell Ave., and Zuppardi's you need to be in the mood for and let's face it, near a bathroom. But then I feel like that's it. Lorenzo's has a terrible parking lot and is located in the hood. Domenic's I don't like. Where else is there? That's it, right? Maybe I should go into the pizza business... So to sum up, Reno's is great. Go there if you haven't. And if anyone knows if they still do the all you can eat Tuesday, let me know!!!
Moving on.... tonight I made pork fajitas, which some may refer to as carnitas. Absolutely delicious. I love pork. Especially when it is seasoned well and slow cooked. Although I don't like "pulled pork." It's not the pork. It's the bbq sauce. It is probably my least favorite sauce in the world. But I do love the bbq sauce from Bao's. I could fill up a stein of that stuff and go to town. Back to the carnitas. I used a pork butt, rinsed it off, liberally added salt and pepper, oregano, rubbed a little bit of olive oil, freshly squeezed orange juice and the orange halves, a dash of cumin, onion slices, 4 garlic cloves, and a little bit of the fajita seasoning pack. I added a small amount of water because I was afraid there wouldn't be enough liquid for the crock pot, but there was plenty. I let that cook in the crock pot on low for about 8 hours. After the 8 hours, I put the pork in a dish and shredded it with two forks. Then I put a little bit of vegetable oil in a pan, let it get hot, and then added the pork, pressed it down and let it get crispy on one side. Then it was time to eat. We had tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, peppers, onions, black beans, and Spanish rice. It was delicious!! I love pork! Next time I might add some beer because I think Cubans add beer but then what do I know? I liked it. We wanted to have something that did not resemble Thanksgiving dinner, and I think we succeeded. I was going to comment on Thanksgiving and Pop's but I think I'll save that for another blog. It has been a while since my last bite but I promise it won't be that long since my next bite...
