albie manzo

When it comes to sequels, you want to make sure that the 2nd time around lives up to how great the first one was. For Albie & Chris Manzo, stars of “Manzo’d With Children” on Bravo, it ultimately comes down to a take two in their journey to create the perfect restaurant all in the same location it began in- Hoboken, New Jersey. This particular restaurant I am referring to is the brand new Little Town Social, which just opened up a mere three weeks ago in the heart of Hoboken, New Jersey.

I was privy and very excited when I reviewed their first restaurant in this area, Little Town, a little over a year ago. After giving the original location fantastic reviews, I was equally as excited to try this particular restaurant as the first one lived up to its name when it came to decor, customer service and of course taste. I took myself and my friend Jessica, who went with me to the first review, there a couple of nights ago and to be quite honest we had just as great of a time as we did last year with Little Town.

Manhattan Digest, Little Town Social — Credit to: Thomas Ling

Little Town Social is smaller in size compared to its original location and bit darker in my opinion. That might be due to the fact that the original Little Town overlooked the beautiful water in Hoboken so you had that added shine, however I didn’t mind that this location felt a little homier and had a bit more of a bar feeling to it than the first one. The restaurant specializes in farm to table fare and source ingredients locally as well as surrounding states. The culinary experience is led by Executive Chef Sarah Sproule, who also founded Urban Sproule– the first sea salt ever produced in a salthouse on a Midtown rooftop. As a salt fiend myself, i was delighted to see that the majority of the menu was pro-salt, and the way that Sarah made each dish really exemplified showcasing that particular ingredient in the best way possible.

The food itself I described as elevated bar food that has a ton of quality and doesn’t have that “turnaround, rushed” taste and feel to it. They have a fabulous raw bar that you can start out with featuring delectables from the ocean ranging in shrimp, oysters, clams and more. For their snacks, I would recommend the Soft Pretzel with Everything Sea Salt and Duck Fat Popcorn with rooftop cheddar sea salt. Please focus on the following words- Duck Fat, and Soft Pretzel. I don’t need to say more here.

So for the main courses, Little Town Social really recommends sharable plates as the atmosphere itself inside calls for a community type feel. That being said, this is what I would recommend you trying when heading there. If you are staying on the healthy side, a great dish would be the Social Salad, with rooftop salt and farmers market & rooftop source ingredients. I am not the biggest fan on a lot of greenery, however the variety of ingredients in it made the salad taste quite delicious. Other great options were the Fish Tacos (catch of the day, Avocado, red cabbage-pineapple slaw, cotija, crema) and Lobster Rolls with Apple-Fennel Slaw as both are great and light options to enjoy now that the warmer weather is here. The Kimchee Buns were my star standout, with brisket and kewpie mayo stuffed inside the warm bun. Big fan of Kimchee and Sarah did it justice here. Hands down though, the best thing both me and my friend had on the menu was their #yamwich. Containing Roasted Yams, Feta, Cilantro, Pickled Red Onion, Aioli, and Tomato, the Yamwich really is a freaking explosion of flavor in your mouth and I would never imagine Yam on a sandwich to be this colorful or diverse. Definitely if there is one dish you should get while at Little Town Social, it is this.

Try their homemade chocolate chip cookies as a great end for the dessert. The salt inside really sticks out on top of the ooey gooey chocolate chips and the cookie overall is baked to perfection. Sarah and the team really did a great job here, and I hope the next time you are in Hoboken you give Little Town Social a shot.

For more information on Little Town Social, check out their official site. Happy eating everyone!

Little Town, Hoboken, Manhattan Digest — Credit to: Examiner

As great as the endless variety of restaurants are in Manhattan and the five boroughs, sometimes you have go to outside the grain and see what else is out there in the foodie world that I love so much. I have spent quite a bit of time recently in Hoboken, New Jersey for a multitude of reasons. My best friend from college lives there now and I find it to be very up and coming when it comes to the food and bar scene, and wanted to experiment a bit more and see what was out there. Luckily for me, I found the gold mine in terms of taste & hospitality in the restaurant Little Town, which is located right on the water in Hoboken. When I was granted access to cover it with my best friend, we purposefully starved ourselves that morning just so we had our game faces on when it came to what we were about to eat. Touchdown indeed.

Little Town, a restaurant that has only been opened for a short period of time, is actually known a bit more on a national scale due to its exposure on Bravo’s wildly successful “The Real Housewives Of New Jersey” which chronicles part owners Albie & Chris Manzo opening up the restaurant with the advice from matriarch Caroline. Since those episodes aired Little Town has done a complete 180 and is now fully furnished, spacious and a wonderful atmosphere.

As mentioned earlier, part of what makes a great dining experience that much better is the hospitality, and it shows in executive chef Jordan Andino. I got to know him throughout the meal and developed such an appreciation for his hard work getting to where he is now. He was raised on Toronto, Canada and began a love for cooking at a young age and kept that tenacity going throughout his adulthood by training himself with world renowned chefs from Wolfgang Puck and Thomas Keller. After graduating from Cornell University’s Hotel School of Administration, he developed himself as a star in the culinary world by running a multitude of restaurants and even recently appearing on The Food Network’s “Chopped” where he made it all the way to the dessert round. Now he runs both the New Jersey Little Town location as well as the one in Union Square as well as another restaurant called Side Bar. Something that I respect more than anything is that just like my mother with her culinary career he wasn’t classically trained and got himself where he needed to be on his own. Also, my friend enjoyed how cute he was which is always a plus 🙂

Now onto the freaking food, which was amazing. Jordan gave us quite the variety of food that he makes, from appetizers to brunch to lunch to quite possibly the most filling and delicious dessert I have ever had. Some of the standouts to me were the “Manzo Balls” (tee hee), which came with a couple of Crostini’s for dipping in the warm and flavorful tomato sauce that accompanied said balls. Great flavor on both and a delicious way to start things off. Another appetizer that he presented us that me and my friend really enjoyed were the Little Town Rice Balls, which were stuffed with New Jersey Taylor Ham and Cheese and was complimented with a yummy hollandaise sauce.

You can’t go wrong with wings, you really freaking can’t! So hands down my favorite meal of all that Jordan presented at Little Town was their “Garbage Wings” which are flavored with a homemade hot sauce, barbeque sauce and fresh garlic with blue cheese crumbles. Had just the perfect mix of sweet and spicy that worked well with both mine and my friends palate. He also unveiled two burgers, one that is very popular at Little Town already which is the “Boss Burger” and a new addition to the spring menu which is their “Salmon Burger”. I had a preference for the Boss Burger, which had melted fontina cheese and caramelized onions where my friend preferred the Salmon due to its flavor and texture.

We finished off with quite the decadent dessert, Fried Oreo Neapolitan. Basically a Fried Oreo sandwich that had three different ice creams in the middle (Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry). I mean the Fried Oreo alone was just scrumptious but when you add the cooling flavors of ice cream on top of it made it that much better. Honestly, it was a 10/10 experience for me and my friend and I cannot wait to hop on the PATH again soon to try out more of his delicious creations.

Next time you are in the Hoboken area please stop by Little Town and try it for yourself. I guarantee you will not be disappointed. For more information on Little Town and Chef Jordan Andino, check out their sites. Happy Eating.

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