Rachel Perlow

I've only been to Emeril's once, but apparently I did it right. I went there alone and therefore got the advantage of sitting at the corner counter overlooking the display kitchen. The cooks give you little tastes of things and chat you up, but it doesn't inspire a repeat visit when there are so many other places to try.

Rachel..... Rib bones are a no-no for dogs. Like chicken or turkey bones, they can splinter and perforate a gut. I understand about the bones. My standard with this is to let them have them for a couple hours until they are clean and then take them away. Fortunately, my dogs listen to me when I tell them to drop things, even something as engrosing as a bone - or a mouse.

Steven had told me that Sammy's would be like going to a bad Bar Mitzvah. Well the B'nai Mitzvot I went to as a kid were usually at fancy catering halls, so last night may have reminded my father of a Bar Mitzvah, but for me it was more of a Jewish surrealist experiment. Foodwise the highlight for me was the chopped liver. They appear to start with normal chopped liver (ground broiled chicken liver, chopped hard boiled eggs, raw onion, schmaltz) but then toss it tableside with an obscene amount of carmelized (a hair's breadth away from burnt) onions, shredded radish (daikon???) and a liberal dose of golden liquid schmaltz innocently sitting atop every table like pancake syrup at an IHOP. I mostly made a meal of the chopped liver and plan to make it similarly for our next family holiday meal. Most of my hanger steak was left over and I think it will make a decent substitute for lardons of bacon in some salads this week. The poodles will be ignoring me for several hours once I give them the bones from AHR & Jason's ribsteaks. I had a great time singing along with the ultra-kitchy "piano" man and Stefany B. We mostly knew all the Hebrew songs; I'm impressed with our hostess for the evening, Nina, for knowing all the Yiddish ones too. I was also so glad to catch up with the eGullet friends I'd already met (Stefany, Nina, AHR, Cabrales, Wilfrid, Fat Guy) and the new faces (Simon Majumdar, scamhi, and Bourdain (not exactly a new face, it felt like I already knew him)), as well as a few new faces I hope will post soon, including Nina's handsome beau and her friends, Eric and Abby. Ending the evening by getting a few kisses from Momo made even the fried kreplach worth it.

It definitely needs to default to Any Date.

I searched for "bottled water" (without the quotes), any category, any forum, titles only, any date. Here's a link to the results: http://forums.egullet.org/ibf/index.php?s=...e=bottled+water. Four threads showed up, including this one (i.e. no time delay to compile a database to search). Everything that is posted is available to be searched immediately, our search engine kicks ass! What did you search for that it didn't come up? Also, what was the significance of using Chowhound as a sentence?

Re: Iberia - I know there are two of them, but I assume she means Peninsula because that is the one on Ferry & Prospect, the other one is about a block down from there.

Time to bring up the Roasted Cauliflower discussion again! Here's Jim Dixon's post from the middle of page 1 of that link. We were quite obsessed with this cauliflower for a while there. Mmm, was it good, now I'm thinking about it again and will have to make it soon.

So, Friday night Jason, jhlurie and myself went to Campino. It was Jason's choice as he heard they have really good chorizo. We got a little lost getting there, so thank heaven's for our Magellan GPS unit. But I'm sure if you are familiar with Newark or have a good map you'll have no problem finding the place. Actually, it is very close to Spanish Sangria, another restaurant we frequent. There was plenty of street parking when we arrived around 7:45 PM, but I think I spied a parking lot around the corner. The restaurant is very large, with a dining room to the right and a bar to the left of the entrance. The dining room was very sparsely populated but, by the time we left a couple hours later, the street and restaurant were much more crowded. At the entrance you are confronted by a display counter showing various cuts of meat and fish - all separate and on ice. We were seated right away as the dining room was only about 10% full. After perusing the menu for quite a while, nibbling on the olives and cubes of cheese placed on the table we ordered appetizers of the Portuguese Sausage and Garlic Shrimp ($8.50 each), a pitcher of red sangria ($14.95). J&J also had a cocktail of Amarguinha, an almond liqueur. Since Jay had to drive home, I made it my mission to spare him from drinking too much of their delicious, not too sweet, sangria - by drinking a lot of it myself. The chorizo came to the table aflame. The waiter bathed it in the flaming liquid and then carved it into huge chunks. It was the kind of sausage made up of large pieces of meat and fat rather than being ground. I found it quite tough, but it did have excellent flavor and J&J both loved it. The Garlic Shrimp were very good examples of this dish. Tender, not too small, with lots of lemon and garlicy oil in which to sop bread. The Portuguese selections on the menu were very limited. I would say that it is more of a steak/chop/seafood house than a Portuguese restaurant. (However, it was clearly a Portuguese restaurant as opposed to a Spanish one, because the Fish section of the menu was title Peixe.) To that end, Jason ordered the Grilled Pork Chops ($14.95) and Jon had the Black Angus Steak ($13.95 per lb., the bill was $15, he didn't specify a size but I suppose that you can order a smaller or larger steak since they price it that way.) I ordered the Arroz Marisco ($16.95) rather than my usual Mariscada or Paella. What came was sort of a combination of the two. It was a seafood and rice dish, but had a lot of sauce. Lots of perfectly cooked shrimp, clams, mussels and scallops. There was one extra large shrimp in the pot (langosta?), but no lobster. It was a very good dish though. I'll let Jon & Jason comment on their dishes. I tasted the steak and it was very good and perfectly cooked medium rare. But I didn't taste the pork chops (yet - there's one in our fridge right now). We were very full and brought home leftovers, but wanted to sample one of their homemade desserts, which included a variety of fruit filled crepes (they also have the standard Bindi selections). We ordered the Flambe Fruta, assorted berries, flambed in the kitchen not tableside with vanilla ice cream. One dessert split three ways was plenty. It was a delicious warm and liquor-filled end to a very good evening. Oh, I do want to comment on pretty much the only negative of the evening. What is with having Mexican mariachi musicians strolling around a Portuguese restaurant? They were definitely Mexican because Jason spoke to them in Spanish and they had difficulty coming up with a Spanish song to play for us (as opposed to a Mexican song). We heard Happy Birthday, La Cucaracha and the Mexican Hat Dance more than once. Ay Caramba! Is there a polite way to shoo these guys away without tipping them?

Could you provide an address? Is this the same place we are planning to go to eventually?

A while back I had quoted an email from a former co-worker. Marta grew up in Newark and is Portuguese-American. These are her and her family's favorite places: We've decided to try them all - taking our time of course. Just to make this easier for future reference, here are all the details on each of the above, according to Marta's directions above and clarified by yp.yahoo: Iberia Peninsula Restaurant 67 Ferry St, Newark, NJ 07105 (973) 344-5611 Sol-Mar Restaurant 267 Ferry St, Newark, NJ 07105 Phone: (973) 344-3041 Campino Restaurant 70 Jabez St, Newark, NJ 07105 Phone: (973) 589-4004 Da Caneca Restaurant 72 Elm Rd, Newark, NJ 07105 Phone: (973) 589-6882 Taste Of Portugal 148 Delancey St, Newark, NJ 07105 Phone: (973) 274-0600 If you have been to any of these restaurants please feel free to add your comments. However, if you would like to discuss other Newark restaurants, please start a new thread or post in one of the following threads: 1) Spanish in Newark, started as a discussion about The Galicia Spain Restaurant and moved on to discussing the Portuguese Festival 2) Authentic Portuguese Restaurants in Newark, started with a list similar to Marta's: But we mostly discussed Brazilian rodizio.3) Casa Vasca/Newark - Rosie's and my favorite Spanish restaurant, so far.

That would be the most convenient thing. Not a gourmet experience but they have decent food. We had my dad's surprise 60th birthday party at Rascal's. It was a really fun evening.

I think Sinclairs has closed. Rosie?

JIC I haven't discussed it yet, here's how the decisions regarding the different materials went. We knew we wanted wood cabinetry and stainless steel appliances. To go with the contemporary styling of the house, we went with very contemporary and simple styling on the doors - that is, no embellishment. We chose maple for the smooth look and fine grain. The stain is only one shade darker than natural. To contrast the sharp edges and modern look of the cabinets and appliances we went with ceramic tile with a natural hue and uneven edges. Here’s a picture to show you how it is like when you tear a piece of paper vs. cutting it. I liked the look of the tile medallion accents on display that the store - but they are very expensive. They would about double the cost of the tile. Instead the designer created a rug of tile by turning the field tile on the diagonal and using tumbled marble “River Rock” as the border. I really liked the River Rock design and was looking for a way to fit it in to the kitchen. But using it on the walls in addition to the floor was overkill, so we went with 2” x 2” faux tumbled marble in a similar color range for the backsplash. I’m obsessed with the little details. For example, the River Rock comes in 6” x 13” mats (small pieces of tile attached to a mesh for easier installation). You could see the edges of the mats on the sample in the store because of the straight lines interrupting the irregular stones. So, the morning before Jose was to install the boarder, I sat on the floor and moved individual tiles from the edges so that no seams show in the finished border. Here is a close-up of the border: “Look Ma, no seams!” Finally, here’s how we decided on the countertop. We originally considered steel, but thought it would be too industrial looking. We were going to go with a natural stone, but were sold on Silestone due to its durability, stain resistance and ease of maintenance. We had selected another color, which had more brown in it (on the left below, Kala Hari). However, when we held up the various samples of tile and cabinets to that and the Rose Grey (on the right) field tile really brought out the pale peachy-pink bits in the Rosa Grey, while the grey background was a nice contrast to the cabinets vs. the washed out way the Kala Hari blended with them.

Opinions needed re: Garbage Disposal. Yes, I have one - it's sitting in its box in the kitchen right now. Question is which sink in which to install it? The larger and deeper sink on the left hand side or the right hand, smaller and shallower side? Kim I just love the hunt to find those things on the internet. My theory is that in this day and age there's a website that'll answer any question, you just have to find it. Re: real estate - I have my license with Weichert Referral. I originally worked at Weichert in Short Hills, NJ, but that was shortly after college and it was hard to get those million dollar listings from retirees at that age. My mom is a Realtor too, so I grew up looking at all sorts of houses. So, if anyone needs a Realtor anywhere I can refer you to a great one. Of course, we'll have Kim work on those in the Princeton area. Re: Having everything complement each other - Like I said earlier, we walked samples all over Expo. Holding tile and countertop samples up to cabinet doors and appliances. That is definitely one of the benefits of working with a large store like Expo: everything is right there in one place, you don't have to lug samples all over to various stores.

Pete has been here everyday since Tuesday working on the cabinets. He is working alone and is a perfectionist, so the progress seems slow, but I know the work is being done right. The correct peninsula base has been installed and finished on the back, the microwave hutch and adjoining bookcase have been installed next to the pantry, cabinets have been installed above the dishwasher area, etc. Today I believe he is going to be working on the scribe molding to make the finished cabinets look flush to the ceiling. There are a few new pictures on the Kitchen Construction Album.

Uh, it's still at #3.

There's a Mt. Fuji in West Orange, NJ, that does this too. I wonder if they are a chain?

You are welcome. Talk to me about becoming a monster when you've posted more than a thousand times.

Saigon Republic was reviewed by the Star Ledger on September 6, 2002. Once again a three star rating. Re: Reservations. Yes, they are pretty much required nowadays. However, they are not that hard to get. Generally for a weeknight we just try to call some time in the afternoon. For Friday or Saturday a day or two in advance is usually enough, unless you are a large party. Phone to call for reservations, 201-871-4777. We were there last night and noticed that Joe did seat a few couples without a reservation, but a party of four would have been impossible. We have been there on other nights when they were unable to seat any walk-ins. Re: Hours. They have adjusted their hours to give a break between lunch and dinner service, previously they were open 11:30 - 9:30 PM and usually had some customers in there all day. Here are the current hours: Lunch: Tues - Friday 11:30 - 3:00 PM, Saturday 11:30 - 4:30 Dinner: Tues - Thurs 5:00 - 9:00 PM, Friday - Sat until 10 PM Sunday Dinner Only: 4:30 - 9:00 PM Closed Monday, BYOB

As I said before, I wouldn't hint. I'd add the gratuity for large parties automatically, clearly labeled on the check. For the really large party you described (sounds like they had the whole restaurant), you should have made it part of the discussion when they booked. For regular large parties of 6-8 guests, handwrite on the bill, "For your convenience, a __% service charge has been added to your check." Or get a stamp made that says something to that effect. You have a nice place and this is a common practice here in the states, is it an uncommon practice in your area of the world? Hints are much harder. Let's see... If you spy them leaving and have noticed a lack of tip, quietly and to the side* ask of the person that paid the bill, "Was everything to your satisfaction?" If they say yes, you could say "OK, it's just that we do not automatically add a service charge, instead it is customary to leave a gratuity for the server, perhaps you are not familiar with this custom?" * Important to do this quietly, perhaps asking them to step away from the table or the group of people leaving the establishment, "Excuse me sir, may I speak with you a moment?" They will assume there was an issue with the credit card or something else to that effect and will be glad you did it away from their guests.

What would you prefer they request if they desire a cocktail composed of Cranberry Juice and Vodka?

I can't believe no one has said this one: I hate it when the server offers the pepper (or cheese) before I have even had a chance to taste my food. The other day, I actually said to the guy, "can I taste my food first please?" Needless to say I never did get the peppermill guy back. Basildog - Add the gratuity for large parties, or at least hint it to them if they leave it off. Finally, I think we'll name our next dog Peeve. That way I can say to guests, "this is our pet, Peeve."

I didn't like how sweet "sweet tea" is when I visited Georgia. I usually asked for half-and-half, that is half sweet tea, half unsweetened. In the north it is never served sweet unless it is from a mix, ask if it is brewed tea. Sometimes I like it mixed with lemonade - takes care of the sweetness and the lemonyness and covers the bitter taste that a lot of iced tea in restaurants have.

A friend is moving there because of a decent job opportunity for her husband and we are all curious about the food scene there. I did a search here and couldn't find any mention of Jacksonville. Any restaurant and/or shopping recommendations?

What they said. OK, fine, my impressions: Interesting variation on the Fried Clam Belly - the problem was they were Littleneck clams, not Ipswitch. Excellent Veal Oscar, although I missed the asparagus, Suzanne is right in pointing out it is better for the kitchen to go with something else when they are out season and the spinach was just right. The She-Crab soup should be renamed Cream of Cream soup. It was an appetizer sized portion of the Oyster Pan Roast, that's why there was only one oyster for each of us. I last had a version of this dish in New Orleans. Hard to tell which was better. G&A's was certainly very very good. If Brooklyn were my neighborhood I would stop in there just for the Apple Crisp. So Good.