Fort Lee Is The Best Place Ever... Sort Of

After walking down main street (there's really not anything worth showing), we stopped inside Parisienne Bakery just before we left. And then the most amazing thing happened! There was a Beard Papa's counter inside! What? For real? Are you kidding me? Yes, it happened. It was a real Beard Papa's! Here's the crazy thing. Outside this bakery, there isn't even a sign that it is a bakery and that it is Parisienne Bakery. There's some writing on the windows, but it's barely legible. And there's no obvious indication that there is a glorious Beard Papa's inside. Gah, I was so shocked!
Who could resist anything from this adorable little bearded man? "Buy my cream puffs!" he said. And I obliged. 6 times over.
Since we had just gorged ourselves after being starved and stuck in a car, I didn't actually have room to eat these right away. And there's a sign that says that these cream puffs should be enjoyed as soon as possible. So when we got home a few hours later, I realized there was no way I was going to be able to eat all these quickly. As much as I wanted to eat 6 giant cream puffs, I knew it wasn't a good idea. So I did what any full-blooded cream puff loving american would do - I played cream puff fairy. I called up a few friends and just dropped some cream puffs off. I wanted others to enjoy them while they were still good!
But here's the sad part. When I eventually tried one, I realized that the cream filling was too eggy. Yes, it wasn't that good. It wasn't bad at all, but it wasn't the beard papa's I'm used to. I was so disappointed. And after hyping it up, my friends probably think I'm crazy. I've eaten beard papa's enough to know that this filling batch wasn't up to par. Normally, it' just creamy, dreamy, and vanilla-y. But this one just tasted way too much of egg. So excited about this discovery, yet so disappointed at the same time. Maybe next time!

Best. Pho. Restaurant. Name. Ever.

While on Fort Lee's Main Street, I passed by this place. Mo' Pho. Hands down, the best damn name for a pho spot, ever. So bravo to you. If I'm ever in Fort Lee again, I'll stop in, just because the name is so good.

Fort Lee Late Lunch - Picnic

Driving back home was just about the worst thing ever. I was starving, I had to pee, and we were stuck before the GW for about two hours. It's just horrific when cars are not moving, there's nothing you can do about it, and you're physically uncomfortable. Ugh. But as soon as we got over the bridge, it was just fine. And we stopped at Fort Lee so I could cram food into my gullet. A had told us to stop in Fort Lee at this little takeout spot. She raved about it. She didn't know what it was called, but it was on Main Street and right across from Parisienne bakery. After a few hiccups, we eventually found it. It's called Picnic. It's mainly a takeout spot, but there are a couple of tables and some counter space. It's korean, chinese, and japanese bento type fare. There's tons to choose from. There are a variety of different bento boxes that you can customize. Tons of sushi and rolls and such, as well as some korean dishes. My mom went with the spicy stir fried squid bento box. It also came with tangsuyuk (korean sweet and sour pork), seaweed salad, a bit of pickled radish, and of course, rice. Now normally, this stir fried squid dish is one of my most favorite of all korean dishes, but here, not so much. They put perilla leaves in it. And perilla leaves are just one of those things that I cannot stand. At all. It's like how my mom hates cilantro. So it absolutely ruined this dish. Perilla leaves aren't something that is normally used in this dish, so it puzzled me so as to why they would ruin this perfectly fine dish. Boo to picnic for taking something great and bastardizing it to nastiness. A had mentioned that the dukpoki was very good here. It's one of my favorite korean dishes, so I had to get it. It turned out to be only ok. In fact, A has made me dukpoki before, and hers is far superior to this one. She should go into business and hawk her dukpoki! I would totally buy it. The picnic one I can take it or leave it. I mean since I was starving, I wolfed it down, but otherwise, I would not have really bothered. It was just missing something. All in all, this place did the job of filling our bellies, but neither of us was very impressed. I've had much better korean elsewhere.

Picnic
239 Main St
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
(201) 363-188