Night Out: Jimmy Hays Steakhouse - Island Park, Long Island, Wednesday 10/1/2014

His Take: Happy birthday to my cousin Frankie!  Love ya cuz! Ok so Frankie and his girlfriend Jennifer set up a birthday dinner at a steak house called Jimmy Hays, located in Island Park, Long Island, NY.  I never heard of this place but Ariana and I have been dying to try a steak house and I would not miss Frankie's birthday.  9 of us set out to Jimmy Hayes to celebrate.

The decor in Jimmy Hayes was very nice and elegant.  Before I get to the food, let me tell you, the service in Jimmy Hayes was impeccable.  The waiters, yes plural because we had 2, were probably the 2 best waiters I have ever had.  Great job guys!  They did not come over too much or too little, provided a few laughs, served our food in our dishes for us, and gave us tips on what to order and how much to order for the group.  All their suggestions were spot on!

Now onto the food!  For appetizers the group split, baked clams, slabs of bacon, mac and cheese, and garlic bread in a creamy garlic sauce.  EVERYTHING was delicious.  The clams were really good, the bacon was nice and juicy, the mac and cheese were creamy.  Notice I left off the garlic bread, that is because it gets it's own sentence.  The garlic bread was so good and the creamy garlic sauce was great.  I loved it.

The main course was pretty straight forward, I ordered a steak and it was delicious.  I like my steak medium rare and it was cooked to perfection.  A few friends order the cowboy steak and this piece was huge, my brother order the filet mignon with crab meat and he loved it.  Ariana ordered the beef wellington, which looked amazing, and she really liked it.  A lot of left over meat was taken home.  For sides we ordered mushrooms, no thanks for me but the group ate it, plus garlic mashed potatoes.  The mashed potatoes were very good as well.  We skipped dessert but the waiters had heard us say it was Frankie's birthday so they brought us a few things to share and sang happy birthday to him.  Great job guys!

All in all, Jimmy Hayes was amazing from start to finish.  I have to warn you, steak houses are normally expensive and this was nothing that was not expected.  But it was worth it.  From the food to the service Jimmy Hayes gets an A+ in my book.  I cannot say I would go back for sure, only for the sheer fact that it is about a 45 minute drive from where I live, but if it was closer, it is definitely worth enjoying the meal!

Her Take: It was Frankie's birthday! So Jenn organized this dinner for 9 of us to attend at Jimmy Hays Steakhouse. The reservations were for 8 and we left at 7 because it was a bit out of the way, we arrived at 7:55. We were seated in a private room for just the 9 of us and I didn't expect it to be so fancy! It was beautiful in there and very romantic and elegant. We started off with some wine and ordered our apps, Garlic Bread, Baked Clams, Mac & Cheese and Bacon. Let me tell you they were DELICIOUS, I was blown away by the garlic bread because it had a cheese sauce and omggg drooling.
For dinner I ordered one of the specials, Beef Wellington. I have always wanted to try Beef Wellington! It sounded delicious: filet mignon, fontina cheese and sautéed onions all wrapped in phillo dough. and believe me it was as good as it sounded! it came with a side of asparagus which I didn't even taste because I was unbelievably full/satisfied. For sides we had ordered mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, mushrooms and
everything was yummy and the service was incredible; I have no complaints! Except maybe for the Pinot Noir, which I didn't like. But its ok, it was made up for.
Since it was Frankie's birthday they set up two nice plates of cheesecake, chocolate mousse, brownie, ice cream and other goodies and gave it to us on the house! Even the desserts were amazing.
Great place, really! If you are in the area, definitely give it a try. It is about an hour away, so I don't know if or when we'll be going back, but it was definitely a great meal with impeccable service!!
disclaimer: it is a bit pricey, but what else would you expect from a steakhouse?? :)

Beef Wellington

Date Night: Madison Square Eats - Flatiron, NY, Wednesday 9/17/2014

Her Take: I had heard about Mad Sq. Eats from two fellow classmates and I've also seen tons of Instagram posts about it, so I KNEW we had to go. Mad Sq Eats takes place in Madison Square Park in Flatiron and there are a BUNCH of food vendors there so you can basically have it all! Finally on a Wednesday, we didn't know what to do so I suggested Mad Sq. Eats after work. It was really a great time; Nicky and I met up around 7:30 and we walked together to Madison Square Park, we saw lights and a bunch of stands and we walked right in. First stand I saw was Roberta's Pizza. PIZZA! I WANTED. so we got that first, a small margherita pie split between the two of us. Then we moved to the next stand, we got Korean tacos. I got the pork taco and Nicky the beef taco. Next I got a pork bun and then a mini rice ball. Yes, I ate more than Nicky.. Then we both got tortas from a Mexican stand, torta means sandwich by the way. Then we walked around and stopped to buy some chocolate to take home and then we saw an empanada stand. WE HAD TO GET THEM. I got the pulled pork empanada and Nicky the Queso empanada. Both were very good but mine was the best ;)
We went around again and decided to spilt a crepe- nutella and banana crepe! it was reallyyyy good. And then I got a Thai Iced Tea Bubble Tea. Afterwards, Nicky got a cinnamon pretzel and we left and sat on a park bench and chatted.
Yea, so I ate like a fat. But I thought it was a fun time! I have to say the best thing I ate was my Pulled Pork Empanada. All the food was different and fun to try and taste! I highly recommend going to Mad Sq Eats! Unfortunately the Mad Sq Eats location was only until October 2nd :(! (sorry it too k so long to get this post up) But Urban Space, the company that runs these park food vendor events, has different locations as well that you should try out! The Garment District Market is running until October 17th!! CHECK IT OUT
It was something different! A different take on date night, and I loved it!

His Take: If you do not know by now, Ariana and I love to eat.  Seriously, we blogged about plenty of food places, so food is our expertise.  Ariana and I were looking for something different, something to really quench our appetites, just one thing would not cut it!  I believe it was Instagram and classmates that led Ariana to Madison Square Eats, and am I glad it did!

So Madison Square Eats, to sum up, was a group of different food vendors kind enough to assemble in Madison Square Park for your eating pleasure!  Perfect thing to satisfy our appetites, all different things!

We started with a personal pie from Roberta's, as expected it was delicious.  Pizza is Ariana's favorite food so we had to start there!  Next up, Korean Tacos, from Soul Lee Korean BBQ.  I got a beef taco and Ariana a pork taco.  The beef itself was good, but the soft taco shell was bluish-purple and was falling apart, a little disappointing but solid.  Ariana's pork taco seemed the same.  On to another Korean place, were we order just a pork bun, which is, you guessed it a slab of park in a bun. Really disappointed in this pork bun, because our last korean pork bun, from Bann (see blog) was amazing, this one could not shine the other bun's shoes!  Next stop, Mexicue, which sounds like heaven, a combination of Mexican and BBQ food.  Ordered 1 of each, the chicken sandwich and the braised beef.  These things were really messy and like sloppy joes, but they were good.  Not great, but good.  Arincini Brother's glad you were up next.  We grabbed an original rice ball, small of course, which I regret, and it was amazing.  Very good.  Finally we reached around the bend, walk passed some stands and found an empanada stand.  I wish I could remember what the name of this stand was because it was by far the best stand we tried.  We got a cheese empanada which wass great but pretty simple, and a spicy pulled pork empanada which was the best thing we had all night.  This pulled pork empanada was absolutely delicious.  We walked around some more and ended up at a Crepe place.  After much debate on which crepe to order, we settled on a nutella bananas, an excellent choice.  Good dessert after the rest of the food.  Next I got a a cinnamon pretzel, glad I did, great pretzel.  We tried to see what else we wanted to try, but ultimately we ended up taking some chocolate babka home and some home made chocolate.  Babka was ok, I tried a bit we brought to my parents, the choclate was really rich and dark.  Oh and they shorted us on some flavors!!!!  Ohh and Ariana got a Thai Iced Tea Bubble Tea, which I do not like, because I do not like those little taro balls.

Madison Square Eats, great job!  The food was all good to great, and I loved the desserts!  Ariana gets the credit for this date, great choice.  Next "pop up" food mart that comes up, I would definitely like to attend, why not try a bunch of different restaurants!

Roberta's Pizza Oven

Korean Tacos

Mexicue Tortas

Arancini Bros

Empandas

Fat

Nutella & Banana Crepe

Thai Iced Tea Bubble Tea & Nicky

Greatest City in the World