New Jersey

Trips to suburbia are always interesting when it comes to dining out. Not that fabulous dining experience only exist in cities, but when you head out to the burbs, there are definitely more opportunities for mediocre chains and bland, disappointing meals.

Luckily, hip, tasty suburban places like Delicious Heights exist. I visited my family in NJ this weekend, and we had dinner at Delicious Heights in Berkeley Heights, NJ. As always, I checked out the menu in advance and was seriously impressed with the choices available, both food and beverages.

The actual menus light up, very helpful for those of us with bad eyesight. The dining area at Delicious Heights is comfy but modern, with stone walls and a fireplace. The noise level was low enough that we could chat, but busy enough that our chatty one year old wasn’t a nuisance to fellow diners.

Because Delicious Heights had such a fun cocktail menu, I decided to stick to cocktails for the night. I started with the mango martini, a dangerously delicious mix of mango vodka and fresh mango juice and I think Midori. It came perfectly layered, and it was very fruity with lots of mango pulp. Yum.

My sister had a wild berry drink that contained Sprite and some berry vodka, along with a bunch of berries to garnish. It was also dangerously delicious. Delicious Heights cocktails? A+

Their homemade ketchup was pretty amazing too. My sister recommended that we share an order of sweet potato fries, and they were not shy with the ketchup on the side.

These were crispy with a hint of sweetness, just the way I like sweet potato fries.

I had a really hard time deciding what to order for dinner, but the grilled vegetable platter kept speaking to me. It came with a salad, and since I love a good wedge salad, went with that. This one was nothing special; I really love a tangy, flavorful blue cheese, and the dressing was kind of bland. But the lettuce was nice and crunchy, and the bacon a nice, salty addition.

Before my dinner arrived, I ordered a pomegranate martini. It was good, but tasted very alcohol-y, a big switch from my mango martini. I would stick with the mango the next time.

My grilled vegetable platter was just what I wanted. It contained pita bread, brined olives, brown rice, and grilled mushrooms, carrots, asparagus, squash, and zucchini., topped with feta On the side were cups of tzatziki, hummus, and guacamole. I really ordered this meal because of those three. I ate as much as I could and brought the rest home. Sadly, they didn’t include the dips with my leftovers. Don’t they know the dips are the best part?!

Overall, our dining experience at Delicious Heights was a good one. Next time I might order my second choice, a crab cake grilled cheese with avocado, but the grilled veggie platter really did the trick on this particular night.

We followed dinner by funfetti cupcakes with buttercream icing. Yum!

Sadly while eating our cupcakes and watching a Valentine’s cartoon with the kids, we learned of Whitney Houston’s death. I am much sadder about her death than I would have imagined, From dance recitals to college bars, I feel like there are so many Whitney songs that remind me of certain memories. I always liked I Wanna Dance with Somebody when I was younger, and It’s Not Right reminds me of a college weekend away. She was such a talented woman, and it’s sad to see such talent go to waste. Hopefully someday we will better be able to understand and care for addictions, whether they happen to a celebrity or just your average person.

Do you have a favorite Whitney Houston song?