Papermoon...Again

We couldn't help ourselves!! After our experience on Friday, we had to make a return trip to Papermoon ASAP.  In addition to our Bananas Foster French Toast, here's what we ordered:

This is the Vanilla Custard French Toast, and to be honest, it was somewhat underwhelming. The custard was under the french toast, and I thought there definitely could have been more of it. Don't get me wrong, they tasted delicious! The bread was soft and perfectly seasoned, but it was not mind-blowing. I probably wouldn't order them again only because I probably could have made similar french toast at home (minus the custard...but there wasn't much of that anyway, so...) Granted, I did eat it all (it was still yummy!), but this required the use of syrup whereas the Bananas Foster French toast was perfection on its own.

Our second new item was an order of the potato cakes.

These babies were awesome! They were thin and super crispy and honestly some of the best potato cakes I've had. I have no idea how they're seasoned, but they whatever it was, was perfect! I especially liked them with the added sour cream and apple sauce. (I usually would just use the sour cream, but I felt adventurous and decided to try both.) Mom and I would definitely order these again. The next thing I really want to try, though, are the grits. They have red pepper, sweet corn, cheddar cheese and onions in them and sound amazing! Maybe next time....

Did I mention that we spotted a local TV personality while we were there? Yeah, this place is awesome.

I took a few more photos of the building, too.

Papermoon Diner

I am addicted to finding new, cool places to eat. Ever since Mom and I started our Friday dinner traditions, I have been completely enthralled by the idea of eating at a new place every week. This week, the destination was left completely up to me. I was unsure at first, but once I stumbled across this place, I knew we were set.

The place we went this week is called Papermoon Diner, and is sort of close to the John's Hopkins campus. We had some navigational problems right out of the gate. You see, we thought that 83 was going to be backed up, so we went a back way but we didn't have directions for how to go that way. (I know, sounds like a fool-proof plan: driving to a new place without real directions!)  It was just the two of us, but we still managed to get ourselves into a bit of trouble. Nothing we couldn't handle, though! Once we got on the right track, it was surprisingly easy to find. And Mom recognized the area too, so that was good.

The building is crazy. You could spend hours looking at it and you still wouldn't take notice of everything going on.

This is not even the half of it!

See what I mean? It's insane. The number of items on the menu is also pretty insane. There was something on almost every page of the menu that I wanted to try. Literally. I wanted it all. Unfortunately, I only have one stomach (though lately I've been wishing I had a spare) so I couldn't order everything on the menu. Mom and I decided to split a breakfast and a dinner item. This way we would be able to diversify our tasting. :)

We ordered the Banana Fosters French Toast and the Smarty Pants Burger with Onion Rings. There are really no words to describe how awesome they were.

Have you mopped up your drool yet? Aren't they beautiful? The french toast was stuffed with caramelized bananas and cream cheese filling. It was just sublime. The toast itself had absorbed the perfect amount of egg mixture before hitting the grill. It was warm and soft and so darn good I could have licked off my plate at the end. And that filling was just about the best thing ever. It tasted of fresh bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg, love, bananas....I could go on. There was no need for syrup. I don't think either of us used it. I saved a piece of this for my last bite. That's how good it was.

The burger was also delicious! I thought it was kind of overshadowed by the french toast, but it wasn't the burger's fault that french toast was a little pushy! The garden burger tasted homemade. I wonder if they make their own. ( I meant to ask, but it slipped my mind.) And the bread on this burger was so fresh tasting- it practically melted in my mouth! I have no idea where they buy their bread from, but I have not had bread that fresh for a very long time. The whole sandwich was light and scrumptious. I was lovin the caramelized onions  (they do make everything better). And the goat cheese was a perfect subtle flavor to pull everything together. And the onion rings!!! They were the crispy and crunchy without being greasy at all. It was amazing how perfectly fried they were. I was impressed. Actually, I was impressed with the whole meal. I am pretty sure the people sitting behind us must have thought I was crazy because I kept repeating,"Oh my gosh, this is so good."

When the woman beside us asked how the french toast was, we were quick to sell her on them. I was dead serious about their deliciousness, too. She could not go wrong by getting them. I wish we'd been able to stay long enough to see hers come out because she ordered one that Mom and I had been looking at before we placed our order. But alas, we'll just have to get them next time. And there is most definitely going to be a next time. 

Both Mom and I were stuffed when we finished our meals. And though we were tempted by dessert, and I was tempted by a milkshake, we took the high road and opted not to gorge ourselves more than necessary. Skipping dessert did give us a reason to go back, though. (Which we will...very soon.....) Literally, the moment I got in the car, I turned to Mom and said, "When can we go back?" I don't think I've ever done that before. 

Papermoon Diner rocks! I can't believe there isn't more buzz about it. (At least no buzz that I've heard.) It's fantastic. You will not be disappointed here. As an added bonus, they're relatively inexpensive. We paid twenty two dollars for our entire meal. That was a bargain, especially since it was dinner time. (Some of the places we've been to for dinner with our Friday dinner tradition have really added up!) I'd recommend going with two to four people (one of whom would preferably be me! haha), at a non-peak hour, all order something different and split everything. There's just so much to try. I know I'll be going back for a long time. 

Joe Squared

I had been looking at the clipping from the Food Network Magazine for a couple of months. Ever since Food Network rated pizzas across the country, naming Joe Squared as Maryland's best, I knew that I had to make a visit. But somehow I got busy and the clipping remained on the fridge.

The recent motivation to visit came from one of my teachers, who raved about her dinner at Joe Squared one day in class. If she loved it, I thought, I would have  to go. So my mom and I planned to visit one Friday afternoon. We had to look up directions and then had to figure out exactly where to park. (There was a parking lot across the street, but, being unfamiliar with the area, we took a few, erm, detours on our way to said parking lot before finally figuring it out.) After a quick jaunt across the street, we arrived at our destination, eagerly awaiting the food we would order inside.

I'll be honest, Joe Squared is a quirky place. The location we visited was right by MICA, so the clientele ranged from young, hip, art students, to elderly couples. Truly a weird mix. It wasn't busy when we arrived, so Mom and I picked a table in the back and waited to be served.

Joe's dark walls are lined with eclectic paintings of different menu items and T-shirts boasting those same eclectic paintings. The menu is quite substantial, and if I hadn't come on a mission I probably would have struggled to pick what I wanted. But alas, I had been waiting for the Flag Pizza for months, and I was not about to pass up the opportunity to order it.

But before we could enjoy an entree, we opted to get an appetizer. We selected the fried cheese ravioli. These are little raviolis that are breaded, fried and served with marinara sauce.

What makes these the most awesome fried raviolis ever is the cheese. I think they must use some very, very fresh ricotta cheese in these babies. When you bite into them, the cheese is all warm and melty and drips out over your fingers a little. It was divine. I honestly could have made a meal off of them. The outside was just so crispy and then the inside was so...cheesy. I knew good things were in our future.

As we were waiting on our pizza, we noticed a guy hand cutting potatoes in the back. When we saw that we immediately thought that their fries must be amazing. I mean, you usually can't watch someone cut the potato to make your fries when you're at a restaurant, right?

We went with the western fries to spice things up a little bit. Unfortunately, we were a little disappointed. 

The fries themselves were beautiful but they were lacking the kick of spice my mom and I were expecting. I thought the batter weighed the fries down a little bit, and, when combined with the lack of "western" flavor, they were just kind of meh. We set them aside, however, and shook it off as a good experience as we awaited our pizza.

At last, it came. 

You'll have to excuse my desire to drool as I gaze at this picture. Honestly, one of the best pizzas I've ever had. The crust is super thin and crispy, probably because they have a super hot oven in the back that churns out all of these beauties. This particular pizza is split up into three stripes. The stripe closest to the front was pesto with fresh mozzarella cheese. This was really tasty, but the pesto was a little oily, so you'll probably need to make use of your napkin. The middle stripe was THE BEST. It was a white sauce with ricotta, cheddar and mozzarella cheese. I'm sorry, but who has ever thought to put cheddar cheese on a pizza?!? Not me. But now I am definitely going to try out that combo on my own. I could have eaten three pizzas made of the ricotta-cheddar combo. Really. It was that good. The last stripe was mozzarella, provolone, romano, parmigiano, and asiago cheese with red tomato sauce. But just because it was a classic does not mean it was average. Oh, no. It definitely held it's own, and rivaled the pesto stripe for second-best, in my opinion.

I should also mention that the pizzas come in a couple different sizes. We asked our waitress which size would be best for two people, so if you're feeding more (or you just want more for yourself), you can get a bigger pizza. Ours was a pretty good size, though, and we ended up taking half home to savor later.

Our meal was so awesome. We talked about it for days afterwards, and I am trying to figure out when we can go back. There are just so many delicious options! I would recommend taking a couple people and splitting everything so you can get the most variety. Their pizzas have some outrageous toppings, their risottos are apparently really good, and the vibe is most certainly one you will not find anywhere else.

Go to Joe Squared. Your stomach will not be disappointed.