Fettucini Alfredo

Pre dinner snack

My newest musical obsession

Cool Dogs

It’s always exciting to find a restaurant in the South Jersey area that caters to vegetarians and doesn’t just sport the typical meat filled menu with a veggie wrap and an underwhelming cheese pizza. The Cool Dog Cafe in Cherry Hill has a pretty simple fast-casual concept consisting of an array of sliders and dogs with a twist; they also boast veggie dogs and veggie sliders which according to Becky, are both house made. In a second detour from the norm for lunch today I opted to skip the sides and dive right into the main course; one veggie dog with American cheese, mustard, jalapenos and spicy red pepper relish and two veggie sliders with BBQ sauce, onions and cheddar cheese...Great combo if I do say so myself. The sliders were a bit on the mushy side but nice and light with no overpowering flavors that in all likelihood would’ve been masked by the deliciously sweet BBQ sauce anyway. Overall they were a decent size and quite filling without being too heavy, plus the fact that you get two sliders with each order is a nice bonus. With that said lets be honest, the dog is where the true challenge lies. Most of the prepackaged veggie dogs I’ve tried are not exactly stellar but Cool Dog somehow managed to get it right. Nice consistency, good texture, not too “fake” looking with a nice smoky taste, wrapped in a soft roll and smothered with toppings just like you would get at a family Fourth of July cookout, minus the crispy, crusty burn marks of course…. Delicious!! All in all I’m actually looking forward to the inevitable morning where I wake up late with no time to pack my lunchbox so I can hit up the Cool Dog again where next time I may also add a side order of Belgian Frites. For now though it’s a slice of spearmint gum to quell the onion breath and back to investigating ATM fraud.

Lunch with Mort

Normally im a die hard pack my lunch kind of guy but today ill be taking a lunchtime adventure. My friend Bill scored a coupon, through Groupon, for him and his girlfriend to use at The Cool Dog Cafe. Well, since the demise of that relationship im reaping the rewards and getting $10 worth of food for $5.. I just hope he doesnt try to hold my hand on the way in. A review of my veggie dogs and mac and cheese to come.

First post

Welcome to Balsamic Reduction, a slice of my existence in this six billion humans and counting rat race that we call life.