Rachel Perlow

I agree with Suzanne on everything. I'm curious the reasons why someone would order bottled sparkling water in an area where the tap water is good? If you want sparkling water, just order club soda or seltzer. If there is any charge, it would be the price of a glass of coke.

Oops, all I did was remove the (sp?) thing. Now it should be right.

As Jason said, he always orders sparkling water, actually he usually asks for Pellegrino and then gets that or whatever other brand they offer. I have to stop the servers from giving it to me and specifically ask for regular ice water, as I don't like seltzer. The small bottle (8 oz?) is a complete waste of time, except for maybe at a bar. But in NYC if someone asks for club soda they usually get it from the soda spigot, right? The medium size is acceptable, but usually he orders the large bottle, and mostly finishes it by the end of the meal. I, on the other hand, insist on tap water unless I am in an area where that would be unwise and will then want bottled still water. Locally, if the water tastes bad it will negatively affect my opinion of the restaurant. If a restauranteur knows his water tastes bad they should install a filter or only offer bottled water, complimentarily. There is a Chinese restaurant in our town that automatically pours carbonated water with a slice of lemon in the glass. I have to remember to ask for still water there, it's annoying. My other drink of choice in restaurants is iced tea, but if the tap water doesn't taste good I don't want to order that or even soda since they are made with the local tap water. In those situations juice is a good choice of beverage for me, or hopefully they offer cans or bottles of water, soda or tea. Also, I know that large bottle of Pellegrino only costs about $1.50 in a supermarket (i.e. retail), so I really resent it when they charge over $5 for it in a restaurant. That's a higher markup than the wine list. We do not ask the price at the table, and rarely see it on the menu, but I usually check the bill because I'm curious about what they charged for it.

I corrected it. Sorry it had to wait for Monday, I had to teach Jason's grandfather how to use a cell phone yesterday.

When you say "high priced restaurant" what do you mean? Are you comparing it to other restaurants on the island or other restaurants from wherever your home is? Approximately what did you actually spend per diner and did that include wine or alcohol? Thanks.

From your August 11th diary: Recently you wrote about making Kung Pao Chicken and this week it was Pad Thai. I suppose I'd be the troublemaker in class and bring up his comment about only teaching "classic French" at the school. Has anyone else inquired about why you are learning to make Chinese and Thai dishes? Not that I think it is bad for you to learn it, it just seems contradictory to the school's raison d'être.

How do you select restaurants to review? Do people call or write to the Times or to you personally, saying "you should check out ___"? Or, do you rely on PR announcements or your own research? Or is it a combination or something else?

Sometimes we talk about eGullet, sometimes we don't. Usually we don't. We do tend to talk about and critique the food, to the server or host, and if they appear as if they really want to listen we may get into it. This hostess/waitress/server, was clearly not interested. Jason asked her about the pho broth, I thought it tasted like chicken broth, but she says it's beef broth and is cooked for hours and then strained several times. She was surprised I didn't taste any anise. I mean, it's not like it's a subtle flavor! But all in all she wasn't interested in talking about the food. She was pleased that we enjoyed the custard so much, but to her it was no big deal, it's what her mom's made a hundred times. To me, this indicates that she isn't experienced at eating other people's food if she can't appreciate her mom's little gems. Anyway, back to talking about eGullet. We will frequently mention it to another patron, perhaps the people at the next table, if we start talking to each other and they are clearly into good food. We'll start recommending places and they will back to us, then we say, "hey you should really check out eGullet, blah blah blah." We don't always reveal our affiliation with the website, just write down the url (I keep postits in my purse) and tell them to send us a note (if I give them our names too) if they log on. Next time you (or anyone else reading along) are in there, why don't you say you heard about the place on eGullet? Let them come on and read, we've nothing to hide and would love to have a response from them. I'm curious if the difference in the pho has anything to do with maybe being from a different area of Vietnam than the owners of other Vietnamese restaurants. Or, if it has something to do with the length of time they've been in this country.

If you go (with your baggie of mint) I presume you will mention that you were told they didn't have any mint, so ask them for us, won't you?

Uh, who's tommy supposed to be? My angry cousin? They have met Jason. Really, Anthony is planning to personally deliver the cabinets as soon as they come in from the manufacturer, and the countertop people are coming to measure the day after they are installed. I don't think any amount of squeaking will get them from the manufacturer to the warehouse any faster.

Jason and I had dinner at TC's Little Taste of Saigon last night. Overall impression? The food is good, not great (one exception noted below), not worth a long drive out of your way, but if you're in the area you aren't wasting a meal. The pricing is more in line with most of the Vietnamese places I'd been to in the past (i.e. inexpensive). The fried Spring rolls appear to be (egad!) vegetarian. The up side was that they are tasty and plentiful, 8 to an order for ~$5, served with lettuce, cilantro and nuoc mam. The Summer rolls (I think they call them fresh spring rolls, I don't have a take-out menu, they were out of them - so all prices are from memory and are approximate) were also cheap (4 for $5), with fresh shrimp and a nice slice of pork, but they seemed bland - the noodles showed a lack of salt in the cooking water and there didn't seem to be any mint in the restaurant, let alone in my summer roll or condiment plate. The nuoc leo (peanut sauce) was a very tasty rendition, I think it was made from scratch. We also shared a Pho Tai (rare beef noodle soup), Happy Pancake (shrimp and chicken crepe) and Chicken Curry Bahn Mi (coconut based curry served with bread or noodles). The soups come in two sizes, small and large. The small ($5) is the size of a bowl of soup you'd get in any other restaurant; we got the large ($7.50) which is about half the size of a bowl of pho served in most other Vietnamese restaurants. It was a very tasty bowl of soup but did not have the anise and other herbal notes that mean Pho to me. In addition, it was not served with the traditional condiments of fresh bean sprouts, herbs and lime, although we were given both hoisin and hot sauces. I suggest that if you are in the mood for soup to order the small bowl as a first course and not expect the large bowl to suffice as your meal. The Chicken Curry Bahn Mi ($8) was a disappointment. Since it was made clear to us that it was a stew-like curry not a sandwich despite being called Bahn Mi, we ordered it with noodles. This turned out to be a small plate of white rice noodles. The chicken in the curry was overcooked, tough and dry. The curry flavor was the tinned generic variety and the sweet potato being the main vegetal component seemed to serve as an excuse to make the sauce as a whole quite sweet. The Happy Pancake ($10) was a pleasant surprise. An excellent version of the traditional crepe, usually filled with shrimp or chicken. TC’s version has both in addition to bean sprouts and other vegetables. It is served with lettuce for wrapping and nuac mam for dipping. At most restaurants the crepe is huge, overflowing the plate. TC’s solves that problem by serving two smaller crepes. Or, perhaps they don’t have a large griddle and are using a skillet to make them. Either way, it was quite tasty, the crispy crepe a delicious wrapping for the fresh filling. The highlight of the meal, however, was dessert. Asking our waitress (who despite having her mother and aunt in the kitchen, didn’t know the names of the Vietnamese dishes and asked us to order by number!?) what was the best dessert available we were told to order the custard. This was simply the best rendition of crème caramel either of us had ever had. This alone may make a return trip worth it (maybe to try the “American” side of the menu?). It was rich and creamy, not at all too firm or overcooked or eggy, which are frequent problems with this confection. The liquid caramel sauce had that savory burnt sugar edge. Thank heavens we shared a piece, there’s no way I could have eaten an entire piece of that rich custard myself.

We're probably going to check this place out tonight. Will report back later.

My Hero! Perhaps you'd rather have lunch at Syd's in Millburn or Texas Weiner across the street? The Expo I'm using is the one in Union. The one in Paramus didn't exist when we started this project!

Tommy - I think we should go into selling hot dogs!

I can't help thinking I've done most of this already. You should have seen my mom go when I brought her with me the time I was at Expo to correct all the little problems that occurred a while ago. I think I'll revert back to my zen state except for daily calls. Thanks for all your encouragement. I think being able to get the frustration out here online really helps.

I know it wasn't a criticism from you, but it was a criticism coming from my father - you know how that can be. I agree I've been too patient because of not wanting to be a pest, but now that's over. I'm tired of being patient. I spoke to my super twice today and told him to get on the ball with regard to the cabinet manufacturer. I now have dates that the things are supposed to be in, but I'm not satisfied with those dates and I've told him that. Thanks for the encouragement!

Question: Am I being too forgiving? And, if so, what should I be doing about it? It has been mentioned elsewhere on this site that I am "very forgiving (Home Expo-wise)." In addition, my father thinks that I should be furious and shouldn't have allowed the problems that occured to have occured (or something like that), Jason is very frustrated in the delays, etc. Meanwhile, I figure every major remodel has its own set of problems. When I really feel the need to cook, I manage between the outdoor grill with its one burner, the convection/toaster oven, and the microwave; otherwise we have been enjoying going out and have discovered many inexpensive restaurants in our area. I suppose I'm being very zen about it (forgive me if I'm using the term wrongly), but I just let it go, except to make the occasional reminder calls to the project super, while trying not to badger them too much. What would you be doing? I mean what can I do? It's not like I'm going to go to the cabinet manufacturer and say "make my cabinets now!!!" I did get a little annoyed with my super yesterday. He said he's called the warehouse and told them to call him as soon as the cabinets come in and he will pick them up himself instead of waiting for their regular delivery. I said, have you called the manufacturer to make sure they have been made yet? He hadn't, so I asked him to call and do that. Well, that was a little frustrating, I thought it was a no brainer to call the actual people making the things and say, "where are they?" Am I wrong to be calm and forgiving or am I a sucker? If you've been reading this thread from the beginning, you know that we've officially paid for the project in full - however half of it is still on our Expo credit card with no payments or interest until June 2003, so have only laid out half the cash. I have called the credit card customer service and there are remedies available if the project isn't finished by the time payment is due. There is 0 chance of the project still going on next June so I doubt that will be an issue. OK - let me have it - you're all so smart, what would you do now (not what could I have done differently in the past) about project delays?

I am speechless with shock and dismay. This is sad. I used to live in that area and cannot believe that there are that many vegetarians to be able to enforce an entire school menu must be vegetarian. I think a lot of the kids are going to be bringing in lunch, assuming they are allowed to contaminate the cafeteria with bologna. I also think you are going to be selling a lot of PB&J.

A friend made us baked ziti, that was so dry and was nothing but overcooked ziti and sauce, mixed together and baked. No ricottas or mozzerella, why even bake it? She offered us extra sauce, thankfully. Apparently she is under the impression this is the way her husband liked it. I've been so tempted to make a proper cheesy baked ziti for them.

Play nice children.

I could have sworn we had a mention of a Vietnamese restaurant in Ridgewood a few weeks back, but I can't find the thread. Oh well, good to see there's actual confirmation of its existence. What did you actually sample?

Not on the website. I'll have to take some. It's got a few nice features but nothing outrageous. The one I replaced was actually fancier, digital temp readouts and slanted soda can door shelves, etc. But this one fits and gets cold. Big pluses!

Get the F off our NJ forum! ™

I didn't say it sucks, in fact I thought it should be in the Media forum. With regards to linking the whole south, our theory for opening new forums is when there is significant activity that warrants it we will. We don't want this to be NYC centric, it just is. But if we see a significant rise in Florida postings we may consider giving it its own board.

New fridge arrived today and it works!