New Jersey Beer Co. – North Bergen, NJ

It is beyond fitting that this brewery is right in our back yard. This hidden gem is conveniently located within arm’s reach of our jobs and our home. The reason it is fitting is because while visiting this brewery, you immediately feel as if you are hanging out in a friend’s basement or garage where they brew their own beer.

NJBC are constantly perfecting their brews and are currently distributing across the entire state of New Jersey. You can find their suds in most local bars and the price tag is usually welcoming to say the least.

The vibe here is beyond laid back. There’s no pretentious “off limits” feel here. Ask any of the employees working and they will gladly set you up with a tour of the facilities. The brew masters here are not only passionate, but anxious to share their knowledge and experience in establishing this brew haven.

It doesn’t take state of the art equipment to churn out quality beer – it takes hard work and passion for this hoppy treat. Both C and B leaned toward the Hudson Pale Ale, but we didn’t find a brew we didn’t like on our sampling of the brewery’s offerings. 

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You can find more info about NJBC on their website – you can find out where you’re able to purchase and see if there are any upcoming events worth checking out.

We tried looking for negative reviews on Yelp to debunk, but they are overwhelmingly positive – plus, we got drunk before we could read them all. But see for yourself if you don’t want to take our word for it.

Stingray Lounge – Hoboken, NJ

You pretty much have to know it’s there… Now that we know, we won’t forget

Sometimes you find a hidden gem. Then sometimes you find a hidden diamond mine – that’s exactly what we found with Stingray lounge in Hoboken. The way we found this spot was very scientific – we searched for “oysters” on Yelp. It was a few blocks away, so we went. Maybe it wasn’t that scientific, but we aren’t scientists, we are people who love to eat and drink. 

The Moonlight Mile – Greenpoint Brooklyn

If you’re looking for a spot to eat in Greenpoint, refer to our post about Esme – but if you are looking for a spot for some amazing whiskey cocktails, you’re in the right place!

Esme – Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY

Word of mouth, including a direct recommendation from a friend who lives in the area resulted in our visit to Esme (pronounced Esmah, not Esmay as we were informed upon arriving). This place was up our alley off the bat – rustic, cozy and best of all, open seats at the bar!

Schwartz’s – Montréal Canada

House of Shwartz; smoked meat mecca

Amidst our travels to Montréal we accumulated some great stories, met some awesome people, drank some stellar drinks and through it all there seems to be one thing everyone agrees on – come for the smoked meat. Montréal smoked meat is made by salting and curing brisket with spices and using some sort of delicious wizardry. We had heard that Schwartz’s was an institution in Montréal and the frequent line down the street solidifies this claim. We were lucky enough to drive by on our way out of town and when we saw there was no line we decided to go for it.

Smoked meat piled a mile high (that’s 1.60934 km high for you Canadian readers)

We picked up a few sandwiches for the ride home and because of this we were able to skip dinner. This was our second encounter with this awesome creation; after having it under eggs and hollandaise at Restaurant l’avenue, we had to give it a shot in its most famous incarnation – on rye bread with house-made mustard. We are glad we were able to squeeze this into our trip and our mouths are watering thinking about it, so check ’em out!

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If you check out Scwartz’s on Yelp, you’ll find the main complaints to be about long lines and limited space. So if you’re impatient and/or claustrophobic, don’t try to go during lunch hours and get your grub to go!

You can also check out Scwartz’s website, though there really is no need – get the smoked meat, the menu is irrelevant.

If you think smoked meat sounds similar to pastrami, we have no idea what the difference is – but the guy who wrote this article does, so read it if you’re curious!

Black Bear Bar & Grill – Hoboken, NJ

Glaring at Bloody Mary headquarters

It may seem like all we do is eat and drink and that’s fair. But we justify it by being active. Today we ran our second 5k of the month in Hoboken. After we were finished, of course we were thirsty and wanted to grab a quick bite. We weren’t planning to write a post today, but Black Bear really won us over.

Randolph Pub Ludique – Montréal Canada

Two floors; full of fun

Literally translated to the playful pub, this spot could not be more aptly named. We can’t take credit for finding this spot, we were lead here by our travel companions from Ottawa who had caught wind of it before arriving in Montréal. It didn’t take much to convince us – we were interested when they said there were games and completely sold when we heard it was a pub. 

Paloma Negra – Edgewater, NJ

A festive interior usually means a party inside

This is another one of our local go-to spots – when we are craving margaritas and amazing tacos (let’s face it, that’s an undying craving), the “black dove” is always near the top of our list here in north Jersey.

Restaurant l’avenue – Montréal Canada

We are not advocates of waiting in line to get anywhere. If you know us, we are just as happy in a dive bar having burgers as we are in a fancy steak house, so lines are not our thing. That being said, we are certainly glad we decided to wait in line at Restaurant l’avenue in Montréal. It wasn’t quite spring yet, so it was cold outside, but the restaurant graciously supplies free hot tea to potential patrons.

Brasserie t – Montréal, Canada

It’s exactly what it looks like – this restaurant is built in the middle of the sidewalk with windows on either side – très unique!

This spot was not part of our original agenda in Montréal… well, we didn’t really have an agenda to begin with, but in any case we are happy that we stumbled (quite literally) upon this spot. This restaurant was recommended to us by the friend we made at Benelux Brewpub. Luckily it was down-hill.