I’m of the belief that you can never have enough local places to eat. Wether it’s a little luncheonette, a hoagie shop, a cafeteria style place or a straight up cafe style restaurant, it’s all good.

A few weeks ago I went to Hinge Cafe with my friend Mary Kate, her baby Lucy and her friend Carol. Hinge is a great place in Port Richmond on Somerset Street, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and they have some really kick ass desserts (well, they look kick ass, I’ve always been too stuffed to order). As of then, I have only been there for lunch and I didn’t have time to hit up the menu on the website so I was hoping for an awesome surprise.

And I was rewarded.

When we got there, the place was empty, and considering we had a baby with us, that was awesome! Our waiter was super nice and attentive, the music wasn’t annoying and we got down to brass tacks. Let’s eat!

We ordered a bunch of apps first. I forgot to take a picture of the Crispy Beef Dumplings. They come with a sweet duck sauce like dipping sauce. They were so delicious, I could have eaten an entire table full of them, and we quickly decided to order more but then remembered we ordered a ton more stuff.

Next was the Prosciutto and Cheese.

Prosciutto and Cheese

Mouthwateringly good. They used buffalo mozzarella and the freshest bread toasted up with buttery olive oil.

Mary Kate also got the Hinge Dinner Salad. When you think of dinner salad, you think of a regular salad on steroids, or a salad in a smaller plate piled a little higher. This salad was ridiculous with spring mix, canneloni beans, roasted red peppers and a raspberry vinagrette dressing.

Hinge Dinner Salad

I ordered the Thai Chili Filet Mignon. Since I am a Libra, I always have trouble ordering but I saw “thai” and “filet mignon” and WASABI MASHED POTATOES and I was sold. Sold, I tell ya!

Thai Chili Filet Mignon

It also came with Bok Choy, and I wasn’t sure how I’d like that, but it was suateed with garlic and delicious! The wasabi mashed potatoes were hot and creamy. I want to make them all the time!

I cannot oversell the filet. It cut like butter, cooked perfectly. It was just spicy enough, so that it didn’t overpower the meat and yet left an impression on the tastebuds. I could have eaten ten of them.

Carol got the Chicken Grand Marnier.

Chicken Grand Marnier

It is breast of chicken with jumbo lump crabmeat, mandarin oranges and dried cranberries finished with a Grand Marnier and sweet basil cream sauce served over white rice. The description is a mouthful and so was the dish. The sauce was sweet and creamy and deliciously melty. The chicken was buttery goodness as well.

Needless to say, there was little chatting during the main courses.

I love this place and you really should too. If you are in the area, stop on in and try the fantastic stuff on the menu. By the time we finished eating, Lucy let us know it was time to go:

Lucy is ready for bed

So, full and happy, we took Lucy home so she could work on getting bigger. Soon she can eat at there as well!