The Big Apple

I haven't written in a while because I've been in NJ/NYC. While I've been here I've been to quite a few restuarants, so lets get right to it!
Last week I went over to Cranberry Station, a bar/restuarant on Route 130 near Dayton, NJ. It seems this is a hot place for happy hour for people from south brunswick, west windsor and north brunswick and there is a karaoke night on Thursdays at 8 PM. We had some calamari as an appetizer. The breaded outside was crisp and fresh out of the oven, but the squid was a little rubbery. All in all it was good. I had a penne with vodka sauce w/chicken strips which was amazing. The sauce was so good, and the chicken was fresh. There was a seafood salad which was just 3 lumps (1 tuna, 1 seafood salad and another lump of I am not even sure what) that didn't look that great, but my dad seemed to still eat a bit of it. My mom and uncle both got stuffed shells; my uncle got the Italian Feast which included meatballs. The shells seemed a bit hard, but it looked pretty good. There were mixed reviews.
Then the next night we went to McCormick and Schmick's at 400 Commons Way in Bridgewater, NJ; it's right outside the Bridgewater Commons Mall. The calamari there is unbelievable!!! It is so fresh, so soft and crispy; it comes with a sweet marmalade sauce, a tartar sauce and a tangy mayo. I ordered a catfish with jambalaya which was amazing!!! The catfish was a bit salty, but I like my food a bit blander than the norm. The jambalaya included puffy white rice which was ok, chunks of tomatoes, strips of peppers and best of all medium sized round sausage puffs which were tasty. I really enjoyed it. I was able to try bits of the shrimp alfredo. It was probably too bland for most people (a dash of pepper could do the trick), the halibut which was a bit fishy; but I don't eat much Halibut, so I'm not sure how good it really was (it came with some rice pilaf that was a bit hard, but still good), and the steamers which included clams and mussels which were DELICIOUS!!!!! We had an upside down apple pie with cinnamon ice cream and the triple creme brulee (orange, vanilla and choco CB's) both of which were really good.
Finally I made it to Park Blue, a lounge/bar on 57th and 7th in the city. They only serve one entree which was not impressive; a New York Strip that was a bit tasteless, but served with fries which were a bit sweet, crispy and very good! We also had a quarter leg of duck, and a tuna roll; both were pretty good. The great tastes were the shrimp skewers served with a tangy gaucemole which was amazing and the mini cheeseburgers!!! The burgers came with swiss and cheddar which made the delicious beef (the manager said it was not ground beef) taste like it was dipped in a chipotle mayo. They are a bit expensive at $8 a piece, but they are definitely worth trying. The restaurant plays jazz at a nice higher than normal volume; you can have a normal conversation because jazz is soft to begin with. They have a beautiful bar that looks like it's marble white.
Hope you get to try!