Restaurant Reviews

A recap of the Princeton haute cuisine samples so far:

Triumph Brewery: Though the "Triumph Burger" might not live up to its $10.95 price tag, it still packs an acceptable amount of juicy beef onto a tasty bun. The fries were nothing to write home about. Thankfully, that was not necessary, given that my family was sitting next to me at the time.

The Bent Spoon: Is gelato the new cupcake? Or is the other way around? Take a straightforward dessert, wave the magic wand of trendiness over it, and then add $2 to the price. Yet my outrage over high prices loses to my sweet tooth. The gelato is excellent; I sampled the blood orange sorbet and the cookie coffee, the latter of which featured chunks of Oreo embedded in a powerful java gelato.

Hoagie Haven: Here's a restaurant to put the fear of God in your heart. Only replace "fear of God" with "lifespan-shortening cholesterol." The Haven dishes Louisville Slugger-sized hoagies in an atmosphere of controlled chaos. The Philly cheesesteak is the real thing; you know it's real because you feel your chest tighten around your heart with each bite.

Olive's: If I had a time machine, the first thing I would do--after going back to kill Steve Miller's father, of course--would be to travel back to my younger self and force him to try hummus. I have twenty years of hummus-free living to make up for. Olive's is a good place to start. Their pita sandwich, smeared thick with garlicky hummus, is a compact snack attack of lethal proportions.

Panera: Decent.