Breakfast With Pug! (and A Not Wordless Reminder To Suoport Local Bussinesses)

One of the best parts about living in the city is the plethora of dog friendly outdoor dining options.  Sadly until recently there has been none in our neighborhood, we live in Jersey City a suburb of Manhattan and our section is not the most glamorous or trendy to say the least.  Happily, a restaurant opened about a year ago that is very tasty and dog friendly.  Honey Bakery, its just a few blocks from our house and sells delicious Russian food and some Korean treats as well. Here is a link to an article about the restaurant. We first discovered it during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy when they were one of the few places able to make coffee.  They were so nice about giving us a cup on the house.  I've decided to make a commitment to go more often as its so important to support local businesses.  Who wants all the neighborhood eateries, doggie boutiques, and book stores swallowed up by faceless conglomerate mega-chains not me (and those places are rarely dog friendly!).

Puggies Who Brunch-Tubby's Trip to Bar at 10th Willow

Since we come from such a big family mom and dad are big on giving us one on one time on the weekends.  So after this mornings family walk it was Tubby's turn for some extra attention from the pawrents.   Tubby got to go with mom and dad to Hoboken.   His first stop was Patricias Yarns.
 

While mom bought some yarn for new projects Tubby got to play with Riley, 



the Yorkie belonging to the store owner.   He reminded us of our blog friend Pip.


Then we went to Beowoof Provisions for Pets



 where we bought some doggie toothpaste and  a bowl for our new brother Weasley, 19 days until he comes home!  We can't wait.


Then we headed to Bar at 10th and Willow for brunch.

Tubby looked pretty cute in his Muttrosexual shirt.

He waited eagerly for a taste.

"Come on Ma, I'm starving!"

Finally, mom relented and decided to give Tubby a taste of her cheese fries (the cheese fries at Tenth and Willow are very good, they are dusted in ranch dressing powder and served with hot sauce and the cheese, Yum!, and especially good with a Bloody Mary)

"OMP-These are Good!  To bad mom won't let me try that Bloody Mary"

One on one time is always great!

Dining with Dogs Take 6-Tubby's Review of Satis

So for labor day weekend, mom and dad wanted to do something special.  Mom starts work teaching on Tuesday, sniff, and Dad's one week summer vacation is over.  So they decided to do something special with their favorite child, i.e. me, (don't tell the mothers).

Ever since Satis 

 


opened in Jersey City mom has wanted to try their brunch.  It's described as a bistro, cafe, and gelateria (fancy name for ice cream shop), so it met my exacting standards and I approve the outing.  

They had a nice comfortable patio with plenty of room for a puggie to be comfortable while their parents dined:

Always remember water for your canine companion

Everything smells good!

You might be admiring my gorgeous bow tie, mom got it for me from Tux and Tule

 on Etsy

Where is that waiter?

Anyway mom had multigrain waffles with blueberry compote and honey Greek yogurt, very yummy, she gave me a taste.  Dad had an omelet with ham and manchego cheese and a side of pommes frittes (fancy word for french fries).   He was a bit of a piggie and didn't give me even one little taste the nerve!  He said it was good though.  Satis doesn't have a liquor license but you can BYOB (that means bring your own bottle, I was afraid it meant bring your own bulldog and that mom and dad would bring Bob instead of me) if you want.   Mom had orange juice and dad had coffee.  The best part of the meal was that the waiter gave me a piece of fancy imported Salami, yum!  All in all I highly recommend Satis (mom and dad liked it too).

Can we come again some time dad?

Happy Bastille Day! (Plus Doggie Dining Take 6 Madame Claude's in Jersey City)

We are really more of an Anglophile bunch as is befitting the family of the world's cutest English Bulldog (as proven by his baby picture below):

See the cutest English Bulldog ever!

Even so whats not to love about France great food, great fashion, great culture all around. Plus Tubby does have this shirt:

Its a little hard to read but it says: "I'm Not French But I Kiss That Way" and boy is is it true!

Anyway even though we live in New Jersey miles from France, and even though mom and dad will never get to go to Paris (too many vet bills, and they wouldn't want to leave us behind anyway) we are all lucky that there are some nice french restaurants in the area.  A few weeks ago mom and dad took Ping too one for of them for breakfast: Madame Claude's.  Here are some pictures of Ping with mom at the restaurant:

The food was very yummy.  Mom had a crepe with lamb sausage and cream fraiche

and dad had eggs benedict.

Ping enjoyed tasting the lamb sausage and the ham from the benedict, but she wasn't too crazy about the mesclun salad:



 



more ham and sausage please!

Since we can't all fit at Madame Claude's mom decided to make us a special Beef Buorginon (minus the Bourginon since we can't have wine) kibble topper for dinner.   Here is the recipe:

Beef Bourginon Kibble Topper

Ingedients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1b ground beef
• 1 zucchini chopped or sliced
• 1 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 cup broccoli florets

Heat the olive oil in  a large pot over medium heat.  Add the ground beef and stir until it is browned.  Add the zucchini and stir and cook for about 2 minutes.  Add the plum tomatoes, broth, and broccoli and stir well.  Cook the stew for about 30 minutes, cool and use as a kibble topper. Bon Appetit!









Dining with Dogs-Take 4 Bertucci's Resteraunt

Image from New Times Palm Beach link

As I said before, one of my favorite things about living in the city is the profusion of sidewalk cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating providing the opportunity, at least in the warmer months, to dine out with your canine companion.   Not only do you get to hang out with your dog  you have an excellent venue to work on basic manners such as: 

1. Rewarding your dog for lying down or sitting (you don't want a hungry hound leaping on the table), 
2. Being calm (no one wants to listen to non-stop barking as they eat)
3. Ignoring other dogs passing by (I once saw an unfortunate women at an outdoor cafe who had her chair pulled over onto the side walk when her bulldog lunged after a yorkie).
4. Sitting politely to be be petted by strangers. 

Its also an excellent opportunity to work on socialization, particularly with a puppy or young dog, but you do have to make sure your dog is comfortable and enjoying themselves.  A dog that is nervous around strangers is not a good candidate for dining out, no one will have a good time, this is one reason we rarely eat out with  Dr. Zira, unless the restaurant or cafe is totally empty. I admit my dogs are not always perfectly behaved (they are perfect of course!) but other then the shy Dr. Z who would rather stay home on they couch, they have all gotten pretty good at dining out and I make sure to reward their good behavior with some dog treats (or maybe even a nibble of restaurant food, if they sit politely for it) and a nice walk at the end of the meal.

So far this spring and summer Ive taken one or two of the dogs (more would be too difficult to manage and I get an opportunity to spend one on one time with them) to Shake Shack, Tommy Two Scoops, and Soul Flavors.  Last night we decided to take Bob to Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizzeria in Pavonia Newport. 

Bob and his dad outside the restaurant.

A view of the restaurant Patio

Another view of the restaurant patio and the finished Mozzarella Frito (yummy)

One reason I like Bertucci's for dining with dogs is they have a outdoor section which is sort of fenced and semi surrounded with canvas advertisements for the restaurant.  The canvas advertisements act as blinders to sidewalk views and this is is perfect for Bob who can be a little reactive to strange dogs.  It makes it easier for me to distract him when a dog walks by and we can sit in the corner and have more space then at most restaurants (a plus with big guys like Bob or his brother Norbert.)   The food isn't spectacular, but it's certainly not bad and the Mozzarello Frito is very good (but then how can fried cheese be bad). I was very proud of Bob he was perfectly behaved (of course I was armed with beef burger treats from Zoomies NYC), and Bob certainly enjoyed the piece of bread I offered him.

More bread please!, I am being so good!

And of course since Bob is a bulldog and prone to overheating even though it was a cool night we didn't forget the water: (sorry its blurry it was dusk so the exposure took a long time)

Water for me, Wine for mom

After dinner we walked around the Pavonia Newport walkway which has amazing views of Manhattan across the Hudson River.  It was dark so my lousy camera definitely could not do the view justice, hears a google image similar to what we saw

 link

Hope everyone else had a good start to the weekend.

Doggie Dining-Shake Shack



Ping at Shake Shack



I am the Queen of Staycations because I wont go anywhere without my fur kids.   So for the week and a half I have off I will be hanging out in the city with my hounds.   One of the nice things about spring and summer in the city for dog lovers is all of the dog friendly outdoor restaurants.   Today, I took Ping to Shake Shack in Madison Square Park.   Ping traveled on the Path Train in her Pet Trex Doggie Stroller.  Its a nice way to take a larger small dog like  a pug around and pretty comfortable for her.   Shake Shack always has a huge line but it wasn't to bad on a Monday afternoon.   Ping had a great time enjoying her Shake Shack Pooch-ini treat


She also had a good time hanging out with my friend Pat.

Pat took this picture of me and Ping

Shake Shack is a terrific place to take dogs if you can stand the long lines because its very dog friendly and the food is delicious and for the city very inexpensive.  

We are also very excited today because are friends Archie and Melissa at Life is Art..Art is Life featured the littler urban hounds (Tubby, Ping, and Dr. Zira) in their Pug Note sweaters on their blog today.  Melissa makes the best small dog sweaters and sells them in her Etsy shop Pug Notes.

Today we also got accepted into the Pets Blogroll a great place to find some wonderful pet blogs.  We hope all of our friends are enjoying as wonderful a week as we are!