Park Ave Bistro - the NJ one (not the NYC one)

Yesterday my family came over to our house to spend the afternoon and evening with my husband and myself.  They came to see our Christmas decorations (we bought our first tree this year and put up outside lights for the first time too... a feat I'm proud to say we accomplished not with grace but still with success).  My Dad also helped us put in a dimmer for our new dining room chandelier.  I tried to get him to come over and not do any handy man work for once, but he can't help himself and I definitely don't say no too forcefully.  He has definitely been our savior with our new house projects.  

I also made my second batch of cupcakes from my sister's Christmas present to me - the Martha Stewart Cupcake book.  This second batch was just as good if not better than the first.  The other week my husband and I went to brunch at his grandparent's, and I brought my first batch - Gingerbread cupcakes.  This time I made vanilla cupcakes with dark chocolate icing which are so yummy.  The cake is moist and bouncy for lack of a better word.  The dark chocolate frosting is to die for.  I highly recommend these.  

For dinner, we ventured out into the snow to Park Ave Bistro in Freehold as while I can bake, cooking is not my forte.  I can boil water for pasta or saute meat for tacos, but anything more intense still scares me.  I am gearing myself up though to try more complex meat dishes.  I even got a roasting pan for Christmas to ready myself for this quest.  The telling sign though is that I have already broken out the gingerbread man spatula and cupcake cookbook but the roasting pan is still in its box.  

So the first thing I have to admit too is that I pulled my first ever table move at a restaurant.  My in-laws are notorious for not keeping the first table they are seated at a restaurant.  At first, it bothered me but now I completely understand.  There is no reason for not being happy and settling when out to eat.  If a better table is available, I think you should ask to be moved.  Why not?  You deserve it.  The first table we were seated at was in direct line with the front door and whenever it opened it was freezing, so I went and ask the hostess to push the two tables in the middle of the room together and seat us there.  She was gracious and obliged.  I greatly appreciated it.  It made our dining experience so much more enjoyable.

I mentioned in an earlier post that to me, a good restaurant is defined by the food.  Our meal at Park Ave Bistro exemplified that.  The food was very tasty.  Around the table, we had many different starters that were all shared - mozzarella and tomato, fried mozzarella sticks, buffalo chicken tenders, house salad and bacon wrapped scallops.  Everybody enjoyed.  For dinner, we had bruschetta chicken with french fries, ribs with onion strings, hamburgers and cajun chicken linguini.  For drinks, there were a couple beers, a couple glasses of house white and red wine and two very yummy strawberry martinis.  At the end of the night, everyone agreed that it was definitely worth a return trip.  One thing to note, definitely go hungry if you plan to eat the ribs.  They looked as if they came from a couple different animals and as if they were designed for an army.  Tasty but overwhelming.

Dinner with my family is always a great time and when it's surrounded with good food, it's even better.  Last night definitely fit the bill.