Every review we read and every person we knew who had been to Enzo's mentioned the 'button bread'. Where the wacky name comes from, I do not know, but it gets a lot of buzz. Described on the menu as a little round loaf of bread topped with butter, garlic, leeks, tarragon, and parmesan cheese, it sounds too good to be true, right? It kind of is... while it was delicious at first, steamy hot and jam packed with flavor, as soon as it cooled down a bit I began to notice just how saturated the bread was. It was downright oily...seriously sitting in a pool of grease. When I took a bite and heard the 'squish' of the oil flooding in to my mouth, I knew it would be my last bite. If we were splitting the whole loaf with a table of 4-6 people it may make sense, but for two it got too cold and too slimy too fast. Ugh. Thinking back on it now it makes me feel heavy.
Matt ordered the home made papparadelle in Bolognese. It was not so good. The sauce was actually pretty well done, but there was not nearly enough of it to compensate for the watery noodles. While I love to see home made pastas on a menu, it really only works if they're done right... these were not. Completely overcooked, the pasta was mushy and clumped together. It also held wayyy too much cooking liquid, which diluted the otherwise tasty sauce. It was a bummer, but the bites he got at the very begining (before the whole plate got watery) were yummy, at least.
I ordered the veal Nicolo, which was listed as veal in a vermouth cream sauce, topped with spinach and sun dried tomatoes. The first few bites tasted pretty good, despite the fact that it was so heavily sauced... but there was something a bit off that I couldn't put my finger on. When I offered a bite to Matt he immediately declared 'that tastes like fish!' He was totally right... there was a clamminess in the sauce that was very odd. The sauce also got a bit 'congealy' as cream sauces can (if they're not done correctly) which made the whole thing even less appetizing.
Look, the thing is this place gets rave reviews. On Yelp they have 4.5 stars, which is absurd! We must have been there on a really off night, or when they were trying out a new chef, or... I dont know what. Long story short, the experience was off putting enough that it will be a while before we give the place a second chance, as deserving as they may be. Let me know if you've been there.... tell me if I'm crazy, people!
Enzo's La Piccola Cucina
1906 Princeton Avenue
Lawrenceville- 08648
609 396 9868
LP is a creature of habit, at least when it comes to Ria Mar. She is simply in love with the shrimp in Spanish rice and told me that she doesn't remember the last time she ordered anything else. The huge pot (seriously, its like a pasta pot!) is filled to the top with aromatic safron rice and sweet, garlicky shrimp. It's classic, delicious, and a great deal... the giant portions easily ensure lunch for the next day, if not dinner, too.
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Bim was crazy hungry so he also ordered the onion soup. When you order onion soup you expect a mini crock (usually those brown ones? you know what I mean). Soooo not the case here. What was placed in front of him was nothing short of absurd. I mean, look at it. It's fair to say it was a practical volcano of soup. What was really impresive, though, was that the soup was real, honest to goodness onion soup... not that light brown watery nonsense. This had a crazy deep dark color which means that the onions must have been cooked wayyyy down, the fond scraped, the cheese bruleed. Presentation of this dish was also fun. Yay.
I started my meal with one of the items off of the 'small plates' menu. It was listed as Manchego cheese with fig puree, and I figured since it was indeed a 'small plate' there would just be a tiny taste, enough for me to enjoy, but still have plenty of room left for my meal. I was instead presented with 6 crostini with 6 large wedges of cheese and a baseball sized dome of fig puree. I'd hate to see what their big plates look like....Long story short I'd probably order differently the next time as A) this was a lot of cheese for a small plate and B) the crostini were not done particularly well.
Bim ordered the full rack of Saint Louis style ribs for dinner. These were delicious! The meat literally fell off of the bone, and the sauce was awesome... dare I say it was saucesome. Bahaha. Hysterical. But seriously, it was the exact kind of sauce that I adore and associate with barbeque. Thick and sweet, with a heavy hit of smoke and dare I say a bit of spiciness. I loved these (stole two from him over the course of the night) and so did he... Matt's a fan of sauceless ribs, but what does he know? Even with Matt and I helping him out, Bim was still able to take home an entire half rack. Portions = HUGE
Matt ordered the bone- in New York strip. It was cooked exactly right (as you would hope from a steakhouse, afterall). The sear on the meat left it with a nice, seasoned crust and the inside was pink but not dripping blood, a perfect medium. The cool thing about On The Bone is that every single piece of steak that comes out of their kitchen is aged for at least 21 days. Also fun to note, every piece of steak that comes out is bone- in, including the filet mignon. Fun, right? Anyway, Matt's steak was served with a trio of sauces... a bleu cheese sauce, a bernaise, and a glace de viande. These were all eh. They didn't add a lot of flavor, they were totally unnecessary to the meat eating experience, and they weren't particularly good. Luckily they were on the side and easy to ignore. The onion rings were exceptional.... crunchy, salty, not greasy just freaking perfect.
I ordered a burger, which is odd for me, but hey, it's what I was craving. Another bonus about On The Bone? You can pile your burger high with bonus toppings (mushrrom, bacon, sauteed onions, fancy cheeses) for not extra cost. Bonus! I decided to top my angus beef bad boy with smoked gouda cheese, mushrooms and onions. The burger was good... really beefy and flavorful, but not too fatty and greasy. The gouda (which I have never before used on a burger) was a treat... the smoke brought serious flavor. It was great. It was also huge. I ate about 1/3 of it and packed the rest in to come home. Who can eat this much!? Sad note about the fries, though. They were too greasy, big bummer. 
All of the rolls at Hon Suhsi are impressive. Colorful and tastefully arranged, I have had several of the specialty house rolls. If I had to complain about anything, I would say it seems that spicy sauce makes an appearance in the majority of their offerings, which is silly. The fish is very fresh and can stand on its own (or paired with other fish or veggies that will compliment it). Sauce drowns flavor. Other than that, though, this place is all aces for me.