After Lunch and Belly’s, we headed to the Montauk Bike Shop to rent bikes and head to Montauk Point. We figured we’d take a leisurely bike ride through the town and then bike to the lighthouse at the very end of the island (how difficult is that, right?) Well, it wouldn’t be difficult if you’re in good shape, but apparently Josh and I are in really bad shape because we were struggling the entire bike ride. Josh and I would sing to each other to try to make the bike ride more bearable, but we would eventually end up walking up hills because it was way too difficult. Here are some pictures from our bike ride:
When we got to the sign for Montauk Point’s State Park, we spent half an hour trying to take jumping pictures. Probably not a good idea if we were already out of breath from biking:
As you can see, I am a huge fan of jumping in pictures:
We didn’t go into the lighthouse because the weather was really iffy (it would be nice and sunny for 10 minutes and then really cold and foggy for the next 20). We walked around the lighthouse and managed to take some pictures:
And finally, the sun came back:
After returning our bikes to the Montauk Bike Shop, we drove to Ditch Plains to play in the water (I have never been so happy to see a rental car. Seriously, we plopped into the car and told each other how happy we were that we didn’t have to pedal a bike for the rest of our vacation). Josh did a really good job of jumping in the water:
The water was freezing cold, but a lot of people were surfing and in the water (I realize that there aren’t any people in this picture…I just wanted to show you a picture of the water!):
And me and Josh enjoying the late afternoon sun:
After hanging out at the beach (and actually passing out in the shade because we were so tired, we went to the hotel, washed up, and headed to dinner. More on that tomorrow!
After lunch at Lunch, Josh and I headed back to Montauk to start our day. On the way, we headed to the local grocery store (IGA) to pick up some waters for our bike ride to Montauk point. Since we were in that area, we decided to also get sno-balls at Belly’s:
Last summer when I went, I was a huge fan of their sno-balls; the ice is a lot softer and not crunchy like most sno-balls you purchase from convenience stores. A family started the company a couple of years ago and they alternate between Montauk and East Hampton. I went at least three times last summer, so I thought Josh would like the sno-balls as well.
I ordered a peach and mango sno-ball:
And a close-up of the sno-ball:
Belly’s has a lot of different flavorings (some of the flavors use agave instead of regular sugar) and they also make Belly Bombs (sno-balls that have a condensed milk center). The mango and peach were a little sweet for Josh and I have to admit that it did seem a little sweet. We ended up throwing away the sno-ball, but maybe we weren’t fans of the sno-ball because we picked the wrong flavors. Or maybe I’m too old to be eating a sno-ball.
I’m so very sorry for not announcing the Pirate’s Booty winner at 5pm today! The winner of the Pirate’s Booty treasure chest is…
Commenter number 3, Maria! Congratulations, Maria – please contact me at gracenotesnyc@gmail.com so I can send you your booty!
My friend from college, Josh, came to visit me in NYC a couple weekends ago. Since he’s been to New York City a couple of times, we decided to take a little weekend trip to Montauk. Last year, Chris and I went for Labor Day and had a really fun time (we went fishing, ate the fish we caught, went surfing, did a little horseback riding, and had a very fun and relaxing vacation). We found a great restaurant between Montauk and East Hampton, Lunch, and liked their food last year, so I took Josh to try it out:
The trip to Montauk almost didn’t happen this year; Josh was flying in from Columbus and I was meeting him at the airport to pick up the rental car and drive out on Friday night. Well, Josh’s flight ended up being re-routed to Philadelphia and the flight from Philadelphia to New York was canceled (thank you, US Airways). I was already waiting for him at the Avis rental car location at the airport and it looked like Josh wasn’t going to come in until Saturday morning, so I went back to my apartment and found out that Josh got on the last flight from Philadelphia to New York (arriving around midnight). Well, I had to go to the airport AGAIN (and I live all the way downtown so it’s not like it’s a 10 minute ride away) and we finally met up around 1am. Josh drove the entire way to Montauk and we ended up getting there around 3:30 in the morning, so our original plan of going fishing was definitely out of the picture. We woke up around noon and headed to Lunch for some food before we started our day. Anyhow, we got to Lunch and sat outside since it was such a beautiful day.
The waitress took our order – we ordered one lobster roll:
The lobster roll didn’t have enough mayo and the hot dog bun wasn’t tasty at all – I was pretty disappointed with the lobster roll. There was also too much celery and not enough lobster, which made me feel like I was getting gypped (even though their lobster roll was $19 compared to POB’s $26+ lobster roll, it was still expensive!)
We also ordered puffers, a mild fish that is served breaded, fried, and boneless:
The puffers were a favorite of mine last year, but when I went with Josh, they added too much breading and it took away from my overall enjoyment of the dish. The tartar sauce and lemon juice, however, were nice accompaniments.
Here’s Josh and I semi-enjoying our lunch:
Lunch makes all of their desserts from scratch, but we weren’t in the mood for dessert, especially after the heavy lunch we just ate. Instead, we paid our bill and drove back to Montauk to find Belly’s, the New Orleans style sno-balls that I liked a lot last summer. I’ll post that review tomorrow!
A couple weeks ago, a marketing company contacted me regarding a new steakhouse, Ben and Jack’s, that recently opened. I was slightly intrigued because I love steak (see my reviews of Peter Luger’s, Dylan Prime, The Capital Grille, Del Frisco’s and Striphouse) and the two owners, Ben and Jack, used to work at Peter Luger’s. I didn’t do anything with the e-mail, but a week later, I received an invitiation to dine at the steakhouse (from the same marketing firm), so I rounded up the troops (David and Joe) and arranged for a dinner at the restaurant:
The restaurant is walking distance from Madison Square Park and is quite large (it’s two floors and 10,000 square feet) – quite different from Peter Luger’s, but kind of similar to Del Frisco’s. I knew exactly what I wanted to order (for all three of us, actually). The waiter started our meal off with some onion rolls:
The onion rolls were served with cold butter – I wasn’t that big of a fan, but I think it’s because there weren’t enough pieces of onion in the bread (something Luger’s has mastered). Well, I didn’t want to fill myself with bread, anyway, because our appetizers came out really quickly. What did we order, you wonder? Sizzling Canadian bacon:
I absolutely LOVE bacon (who in their right mind doesn’t?) and the pieces at Ben and Jack’s were AMAZING. I mean, MUCH better than the pieces I’ve eaten at Peter Luger’s. The bacon was leaner, juicier, and had a great smokey flavor. We all wanted to order more pieces (at $2.95 a piece, it’s kind of hard not to over-indulge, but I had to remind everyone that we were getting a lot of dishes so we should save room for the awesome food to come).
For our main courses, David and I shared the steak for two (although in all seriousness, I probably could’ve eaten the majority of the steak myself):
and Joe ordered the Strip steak (although we all shared everything so it wasn’t a big deal):
I also ordered two sides – the creamed spinach:
and the German potatoes:
A photograph of the three of us with all of our dishes:
The steak for two was served on a hot plate with sizzling butter and was tender, juicy, and cooked very well (medium rare for all the steaks we ordered). The meat was marbled very well and dry aged (in house). The waiter served us our first portions for everything and was very attentive – I felt like my plate just refreshed itself with steak, creamed spinach, and potatoes! The strip steak was also juicy (I almost think it was better than the steak for two!). Here’s a picture of David enjoying his meal:
David wanted me to mention that he really liked how the beer was served in super chilled glasses so the beer stayed cold the entire time. Here’s a pic of Joe using some of the signature sauce from Ben and Jack’s (similar to a cocktail sauce and I really disliked it the first time I had the sauce at Peter Luger’s, but for some reason, it just tastes right):
And me with a huge plate of food (the first plate of many):
A close-up of my plate:
The creamed spinach was also really delicious because it tasted more like spinach than heavy cream and butter (I didn’t OD on it this time like when I ate so much of it at Striphouse that I ended up violently ill). Our other side dish, the German potatoes, was another good choice – the dish is almost like and order of hash browns with onions and great pieces of slightly crisped potatoes.
After we finished our steaks, spinach, and German potatoes, David and I were still in the mood for something sweet. How did we fit so much food in our stomachs? I have no idea, but I was seriously in the mood for dessert, so we decided to share the chocolate mousse cake:
The mousse was very soft and fluffy and even though Joe said he didn’t have enough room for dessert, he probably ate the most.
Overall, we had a really enjoyable meal at Ben and Jack’s Steakhouse – the food was excellent and the service was attentive and not overbearing (and, to show that the owners have really put a lot of effort into the opening of their new steakhouse, Ben and Jack were both at the restaurant).
