Rachel Perlow

Is that the place off of River Rd just down from Rebecca's? Looks kind of like it was sculpted? We've been curious about it but have not gone in yet.

We enjoyed this place when it was Mexico Linda. Hope the new owners do as good a job.

I completely empathize. I posted a while back about doing something similar. Breaking a molar in half, vertically. Ow. Actually, the break itself didn't hurt that much, but all the trips to the dentist did, including a very complicated (I'm told - due to upper jaw tooth location) root canal. Several months later I still don't have a crown there, the dentist wanted to wait for a gum infection to completely heal before doing that. I think I'm nearly ready for that procedure. Of course, I've bitten my tounge and fingers on occasion too.

I just checked the box of "Fran" we have in the cupboard, the English translation label just says shortening, I have no clue what the Japanese writing says.

The last time I bought a jar of marshmellow fluff was when this thread first got me craving it, months ago. We just packed up the kitchen yesterday for the renovation and I threw that half empty jar out. Now I'm going to have to go out and get some more! (and smooth peanut butter & white bread).

Jason and I had dinner at Craft last night. This was a last minute thing (escaped a dreadful party, don't ask), we called at 7:30 and were told they could seat us at 9. "But we can be there at 8," says us, "Come and we'll do the best we can, maybe you'll be seated by 8:30" was the reply. Gramercy Tavern was no dice, so off to Craft we drove. (BTW - I feel a need to gloat. We got legal, on-street, parking spaces very near both of our NYC destinations last night, miraculous!) We arrived at 8 and were seated immediately. The restaurant was only about 2/3 full. I guess they don't want to indicate over the phone the possibility of their ever not being completely booked? Anyway, it is a beautiful restaurant. For some reason I had the impression that it would have very tight, typical NYC, seating. This was not the case in the least. In fact our table itself was very large. At first it seemed uncomfortably large (we were too far apart to hold hands) but then when all the dishes are served you understand why they need the room. Frankly, we ordered way too much food (and have the bill to show it ), but we don't get to go to such high quality places very often, so we explored the menu and splurged. Items ordered: Appetizers: One each of the oysters: Fisher's Island, Hog Island and Glidden Point. Jason had these, said they were fabulous, very fresh as expected, but he isn't such an oyster connoisseur that he was able to differentiate between the varieties. Artichoke salad: combination of braised then marinated baby artichokes, celery and onion with shaved raw artichokes on top. Beet salad: The roasted baby beets, ruby, golden and chiogga (striped) were marinated with a vinaigrette, salt* & pepper. I was starting to get the point. The best quality ingredients prepared simply to accentuate the essence of the main ingredient. Main Courses: Roasted Sirloin of Beef Roasted Loin of Lamb These were both just excellent, prime meats. The sirloin arrived carved and sliced but still with the bone. We would have brought the bone home for the doggies, but it was way too salty.* Unfortunately, the lamb came out barely cooked (both meats were ordered medium-rare). The sommelier noticed me asking the food deliverer (not our waitress) if this was medium-rare and she came over. One glance and she agreed, whisking the plate away. It returned cooked medium, still quite pink inside but brown on the outside. Both meats were tender and delicious. *The only true negative of the evening was the over-salting. Our waitress explained that they use Fleur de Sel and that it is saltier than regular salt. I wasn’t going to argue with her that, if it is actually saltier, which I don’t think it is, than the kitchen should use less of it. However, she did point out that you can order your food “light on the salt” or ask for it to be omitted completely (which is what she does). However, IMHO, unless a customer has a specific health issue, they shouldn’t have to ask to not have their food over-salted. Anyway, be advised to, at minimum, ask for your food to be lightly salted (unless you really love your food salty). Side Dishes: here is where we went overboard Roasted Carrots Sautéed Lamb’s Quarters* (a kale-like green) Braised Baby Zucchini with Fried Blossoms Spring Vegetable & Saffron Risotto* Mushroom Trio: - Marinated Chanterelles (my favorite of the three) - Roasted Bluefoots (slightly funky) - Braised Morels (funkiest ) – I’d never had morels before, they were delicious and reminded me, in a good way, of blue cheese. BTW – the braising medium appeared to be butter, they were saturated with it. Potatoes Boulangères – fingerlings sautéed with pancetta and onions, they were almost caramelized The side dishes were so good. Some were extremely simple but likewise delicious, like the roasted carrots and zucchini; others were revelatory, like the mushrooms; others I could have done without, I’ve had better risotto elsewhere; others just interesting to try, but I but I wouldn’t order again, like the potatoes. For dessert we shared one “side dish” of Apricot Sorbet. We were just too full (and I took home leftovers) to get anything more. This was perfect sorbet. Soft, but not melty, with a dollop of apricot compote (?) underneath and a simple shortbread cookie accompaniment. This was followed by simple mint cream filled chocolates and strawberry jellies. Oh, Jason had two glasses of wine, a Pinot Gris with the appetizers and a Chianti with the mains. I stayed with NYC tap, refilled without asking.  All in all we had a lovely evening, enjoying a restaurant Jason has been bugging me to go to for nearly a year. I can’t imagine making it a regular place for us though, but I would return again someday. PS – I desperately wanted the Chef’s Tasting Menu. Everything on it appealed to me, but none of it to Jason. Now I understand the lament of those who are deprived of a tasting menu due to restaurant policy. I think I can understand when it is a large table. But it was just the two of us and we would have been perfectly satisfied if dishes came out scattered between us, due to the different number of courses. That’s my question for Tom Colicchio if we ever get him to do an eGullet Q&A!

We tried the new mexican place in Fort Lee (on Lemoine just north of the 7-11) called Cinco de Mayo. The food was pretty good, and the service was friendly. They've only been open a couple weeks and we were planning on trying it again before writing about it, but I figured, since you brought it up, why not? For Cal-Mex/Tacos we like Badlands Tacos in Oradell.

Checked in the garden yesterday, I'm starting to get little green tomatoes. Yeah!

My grandma's chicken soup, passover rolls filled with tuna salad (practically every day during Passover), kishka from a deli. My dad's grilled chicken or lamb chops (big ones not the baby ones you get at restaurants, more like the size of pork shops), basted with "duck sauce" (kind of like loose apricot jam). Corn on the cob that tasted like corn and not sugar. Sunday night dinners at the local Chinese restaurant (roast pork fried rice, shrimp with lobster sauce, egg foo yung, chicken chow mein) and giggling in the back seat of the car on the ride home with my Mom and brothers, and my dad asking, "what's so funny?"

This page is cool http://www.alde.com/anime/pocky1.html. It has pictures of all (I think) the different flavors of Pocky. We shop at Asian stores frequently and occasionally will buy Pocky. My favorite flavor is the Chocolate Almond Crush.

We went to the Festival this afternoon. It was fun, loud and delicious. It reminded us a lot of the NYC 9th Ave Festival, but while there was a similar number of food vendors, there seemed to be less variety. They were all variations on a grilled meat theme. But that is not to say it wasn't good. We parked near Penn Station, where Raymond Blvd and Market Street converge, then walked up Union Street towards the noise and smokey smell. This was a pretty good place to start, as the Festival begins about a city block from Penn Station (so mass transit is a convenient way to go, just ask a cop in the station to point you in the right direction). Ferry Street at Union I hadn't had any breakfast and right between Union & McWhorter was a juice vendor. This one had Mango and Passionfruit juices. Other drink vendors had big glass barrels full of icy coconut, tamarind, lime/lemonade, and fruit punch. The juice was a nice and refreshing way to start. Right across the street was a pulled pork stand, I only had a little sample, but it was good. Pulling Pork from the whole roasted pig A block down just off Ferry on a side street is this big grill area. They had whole butterflied chickens, pork steak, chorizo, and these small whole fish. We tried everything but the fish, the meats were a little dry, but tasty, and they were served with good bread. My favorite was the chicken. The same vendor also had shrimp cocktail and steamed lobsters available. Everything ranged from $5-10 if I remember correctly. Grilling area Sardines Chorizo Up the next block and across the street was the Iberia Restaurant parking lot. This was set up, if you'll excuse the expression, like a huge beergarten. Lots of picnic tables, similar food offered as from those barbecues, and quart sized sangria (see below). They also had a stage and a bands playing, the entertainment seemed much better than it was at the 9th Ave festival. Later on there was a parade of drummers down Ferry. Iberia's Beer Garden in the parking lot Speaking of sangria, this brings us to the main difference between this Feast and the one in NYC is the alcohol. In NYC there was some beer available, but it seemed few and far between and they wanted you to sit at their bar while you drank it. That is not the case at the Portuguese Feast. There was plenty of alcohol, be it beer, wine, sangria or hard liquor. I picked up my sangria at the Iberia parking lot, where there was a big stage set up. It came in a quart sized deli container (or like what you get soup in from a chinese take out). The lid had a hole burned out to insert the straw. It was quite strong, but as the ice melted and stirred around with the fruit it was a pleasant drink to carry with me. Other alcoholic drinks available included Caipirinhas, pina colada served in hollowed out pineapples, and we also had a round of jello shots. Jason's comment? "I can't taste the alcohol!" That's the point, silly. Caipirinhas!!! Some other food we sampled included Ecuadorian Carne Asada and Hanger Steak. See Jason's post above for a link to more pictures. My favorite is of the little dog in sunglasses. Stay cool man!

Here's the latest email from my coworker responding to my request for more details: We are leaving the house in a few minutes, along with jhlurie and another couple. Will report back later.

This started on another thread, but I thought it deserves its own... I contacted a former office mate who lives in Newark. Here's her response to my email (I asked her to post on eGullet, but I guess she hasn't had the time yet.): Well what I got from my coworker is what I quoted above. I don't know anything more than that. I suppose there must be an article in The Star Ledger or something. I'll have to do some more research... More research: OK - there are some pictures from last year's Portuguese Festival here: http://www.gonewark.com/photos_sub_9.htm For example: Looks like some good grilling going on. Actually it looks a lot like the 9th Ave Food Festival in NYC. I think I saw this guy there. And finally, from GoNewark.com: That's all I know. I think we'll probably go tomorrow. But I don't know about meeting up with anyone else. We'll have some friends with us and I have no idea where we'll end up parking. As for public transportation, check with NJ Transit.

Well what I got from my coworker is what I quoted above. I don't know anything more than that. I suppose there must be an article in The Star Ledger or something. I'll have to do some more research. OK - there are some pictures from last year's Portuguese Festival here: http://www.gonewark.com/photos_sub_9.htm Here we go, from GoNewark.com

This sounds great. I think I want to go on Saturday night. Anyone want to join us?

I haven't been to Scalini Fideli in years, but I remember it being as you described. I believe Il Mondo Vecchio is owned by the same people as SF.

How do you like the new East (1405 Teaneck Rd, Teaneck, (201) 837-1260) with the kaitan sushi conveyor belt? I find it good for when you are with friends who aren't foodies and you just want to relax & have fun. But when it is just the two of us we don't go there. Here are our current places to go for sushi, but we still haven't found a real regular place for us yet: By far the best quality is at Fukada, 3 S Summit St, Tenafly, (201) 227-2020. This is a very small place with three sushi bar seats and one larger communal table. It is mostly take-out. They have a small cooked food and sushi menu. Their selection of fish is limited, but it is very fresh and expertly prepared. However, the size of the place and early hours (they close at 7:30 PM on the dot) restricts when we go there. We've been to Wild Ginger once, and it is excellent, however the cramped seating and price make this a place for rare visits from us. We used to go to Kaname, 783 Palisade Ave,Cliffside Park, (201) 886-0080, all the time when we were dating and Jason lived around the corner, and when we lived in Fort Lee. We haven't been there since we moved back to the area, but have heard from others that it is still good. We should go back and check it out. We've tried Kuma (both the Englewood and Paramus locations) and found them OK, but better for Chinese than Japanese food, as seems to be the case with most fusions. Oh, I nearly forgot Yamaguchi, 2165 Rt 4 East, Fort Lee, (201) 947-3456. Excellent sushi, slow service, relatively expensive (half-price Sushi happy hour from around 5-7 PM on Fri-Sun). In fact the service is so slow that last time we were there we determined to only sit at their sushi bar from now on. When we go to Ichiban or Kiku (both in Paramus) it is usually for Hibachi rather than sushi. We have had good sushi at Tawaraya, Forest Ave & E Bergen St (near the Bergen Mall by Chuck E Cheese), Paramus (201) 843-0944, but there's been a lot of discussion about it on eGullet, along the lines of "it usually seems so empty how can their ingredients be fresh?" Tawaraya near Bergen Mall/NJ forum. Also, a lot of the Korean and Chinese places in the area also have sushi, so we may get some as an appetizer when we go to those places. And there are several Japanese restaurants in Fort Lee, Cresskill and Dumont that we have not been to yet.

Scalini Fideli is BYOB? I did not know that. Il Mondo Vecchio is excellent.

Halfway between Somerville & Bergen County would probably be the Morristown area. There are several good BYOB places in that vicinity. Morristown itself is right off of Rt 287 and Rt 10 is nearby. Let us know your opinion if you've already been to any of these places. Bella Rosa, 360 Rt 10 West, East Hanover, Phone: (973) 428-8611, fun Italian. Trattoria Toscana, 554 Rt 10 West, Whippany, Phone: (973) 386-0303, traditional (not red sauce) Italian, great Osso Buco. Tim Schafer's Cuisine, 82 Speedwell Ave, Morristown, Phone: (973) 538-3330. Highly recommended, CIA chef. Galicia Of Spain, 141 Speedwell Ave, Morristown, Phone: (973) 682-8828. More South American than Spanish. Sirin Thai, 3 Pine St, Morristown, Phone: (973) 993-9122. Family run Thai restaurant. Garlic Rose, 41 Main St, Madison, Phone: (973) 822-1178. Got to like garlic to go there, but it is one of our favorites in the area.

I contacted a former office mate who lives in Newark. Here's her response to my email (I asked her to post on eGullet, but I guess she hasn't had the time yet.): While I'm at it, here's her response to my query about her favorite Newark restaurants:

That nugget time frame sounds right. But when I say kid, I mean little kid, like my three year old nephew whose entire diet seems to consists of plain pasta with butter, bread, chicken nuggets and cheese (not the fancy stuff). I don't buy the "you don't have kids so you don't understand" argument. It may be hard for a few days/weeks to say, "eat what is on the table or go hungry," but eventually they'll have to try the food, right?

Definitely. I just don't understand why parents make such concessions for their children, like always making them chicken nuggets or plain pasta. Chicken nuggets didn't even exist when I was a kid! We would eat what we were given, I don't think my mom ever made separate meals for the adults versus the kids. She wasn't that adventurous a cook though, it was frequently a meatloaf or baked fish or grilled or baked chicken, but we weren't picky eaters. Michelle Urvater (sp?) had a show on TVFN a few years ago and she'd always showed how to make something palatable for the kids, then do something more interesting with the adult portion. Why not just do the more interesting thing for everyone at the table? I remember going to catered events where'd they'd have different food for the kids (hot dogs or something) and I'd go to my parents' table and ask for some of the "adult" food. I know several really picky kids. It seems to me they get their attitude from their parents. If mom is always on a diet and barely picking at her food, then how do they expect a toddler to learn to eat? Same goes for making the dumbed down kid food. How will they ever learn to appreciate vegetables if the parents are always giving in to the child's demand for plain food or junk? If the kid goes hungry for a meal or two, they will eventually learn to eat what is on their plate. Whew! What a diatribe. But I have some strong feelings on this subject.

Oops. Frankly, it's not for the food, although there are a lot of great restaurants. We just loved being there during our honeymoon and thought it would be great to live there. Still dream about it, maybe someday.

We had some of the original sorbet I made (checking...) three weeks ago. This was stored in a no-frost freezer*. Still fine, although there were some ice crystals on the cover of the container. * We had discussed that storing the sorbet in a non-frostfree freezer (chest deep freeze) probably helped mainstain the texture of the sorbet. I'm sure the quantities you all took home (containers ranged from 1/2 pint to about a quart) will be fine for a week or two. Oh yeah, unlike the first batch, which I put through a food mill, the batch I brought on Sunday was simply blended in a blender. Much easier and I didn't even have to strain it (when I tried, it all went through the strainer anyway). Other than mango pulp (about 24 Mexican mangos (the yellow ones)), there was about 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of water, the juice from about 5 sour oranges and 2 limes (or just use lime juice, I happened to have some oranges that were too sour to eat). This made A LOT of sorbet. I think around 3 quarts? B Edulis: you still have that container I left? It was about 3/4 full of sorbet, how much is that?

If you want a magazine that isn't on the store shelves anymore they do!