Rachel Perlow

I think you may be thinking of a different place. As far as I know, there's only one large dining room at Craft. You enter through a vestibule, no corridor before the hostess station, which is adjacent to the bar. Soba, I think you are thinking of the time we went to Babbo, when we went to Craft, it was us, you and Bond Girl.

Tenafly: Max's (Italian) and Sapphire (Turkish, kebabs & such, more kebab oriented than Samdam, which has great fish)

Today's lunch? Grilled meatball sandwiches! Made with yesterday's turkey meatballs (see Dinner thread).

I've been having a spaghetti craving recently, so yesterday Jason and I made meatballs. Yum. They were made with turkey, which was fine, especially seasoned with lots of fresh parsley, grated provelone and parmesean cheese, a little fresh basil and oregano, half a head of minced garlic, stale breadsticks whirled in the food processer (subsequently moistened with a little milk), and some dried thyme, oregano (has a different flavor from fresh, don't ya know), salt & black pepper, and one egg. Oh, and a little bacon grease to make up for the fact that I was using turkey and not pork or beef. Used a disher to make uniform balls, then rolled in my hands and baked in a hot oven for about 40 minutes, then simmered in a canned tomato based sauce for about a half hour. The provelone and thyme was a very nice addition to the meatballs, they added a unique flavor that worked with the turkey. We tasted a meatball after baking, before simmering (baking the balls was inspired by Jerry's Pizza in CT), and it was very good, but I prefer the tender texture that simmering them yields (Jerry's doesn't simmer the balls in sauce after baking). The baking was way easier and neater than frying the meatballs prior to simmering. They only had one flat side (as compared to when I shallow fry them and they sometimes get cube or pyramid shaped ), and I deglazed the browned bits from the sheet pan with a little of the tomato sauce. I suppose I could have also used wine, but I had already poured a cup of red wine into the sauce, the tomato sauce worked well enough -- didn't want to lose any of that browned flavor, yum. There's plenty of meatballs left. I think we'll make some grilled meatball sandwiches in our Toast-N-Serve Magic Bags for lunch.

The recently opened 44 Madison in Cresskill was decent, if not spectacular. For sushi, try Umeya in Cresskill, and across the street is Samdam, excellent Turkish (I think). I've heard some very good things about Chez Dominique in Bergenfield. And, we enjoy some of the more 'casual' (read dive) mexican joints in Bergenfield as well. You may be noticing a trend. There isn't a lot in Dumont of note. The only place I've heard about is Mulino's, says eGullet member Shugga: "Mulino's is in Dumont and it is very good. Owned by Cafe Italiano people in Englewood Cliffs." I haven't been to Mulino's, but we have enjoyed the Italian-American cuisine at Cafe Italiano, which is actually in Fort Lee, not EC. If you'd give us some more idea of the type of cuisine you are looking for and how far you are willing to travel, we'll help you source out the best places.

After several variations, the best result, IMO, came from Marshmallow Fluff rather than marshmallows themselves. Spread the fluff on both crackers, stick on a little chocolate, stick together and toasterbag just until the smoke starts. This avoided the burnt crackers, and the chocolate was mostly melted but still cool. Best to toast the marshmallows over the stove top or fireplace and make them traditionally.

I have used it for reheating left over french toast and there's a recipe for french toast on their website. I'm not sure about a hamburger, unless you like it really rare, I don't think it cooks long enough for a burger (but of course now you've piqued Jason's interest and I'm sure he'll have to try it). I think a hot dog would be fine, especially since it is already cooked. I'd recommend splitting it lengthwise for maximum surface area crisping, and not heating it with bun, not that a bun would fit.

After removing them from the toaster, I just let them sit on the counter, after about 30 second the bag is cool enough to slide out the sandwich.

Word.

Ellen. Seriously. Captions. Wow, that's a very high price for Fried-Dump Ling. Eek! Great vertigo inducing image of the Great Wall, though (the first one, not that the second one isn't good too.) So, how's starfish on a stick? These were actually to buy and eat? I can accept the chick/eggs, and the bugs & snails, but aren't starfish primarily exoskeleton?

Thanks.

If you could be any type of meat, what type of meat would you be?

Newark: Noo-work in NJ new-Ark in DE

Fink's Funky Chicken & Ribs in River Edge, NJ Very nice pulled pork, w/out too much sauce. Whole smoked chickens. He bought well used his Southern Pride smoker off eBay from a Piggly Wigglies I think. Easy drive out from NYC, PM us, we'll meat you there.

The Toast-N-Serve Magic Bag - click for discussion, it really works too.

Nah, that never works very well, sealing the edges I mean. And it is a PITA to clean if the cheese oozes out of the sandwich. From the Toast-N-Serve website: "Send us your favorite recipe for a snack or sandwich and if we publish it we will send you a free packet of Magic Bags." Now that sounds like a job for eGulleteers!

The main thing this is better than is one of those press & seal toaster sandwich things. We have one of those and it doesn't work as well, was more expensive and is harder to clean than these teflon bags.

BTW - that pizza was already a little burnt, the toaster didn't do that.

I only like the ones in Broadway theatres ladies rooms. I think of them more like prison matrons anyway. They keep the line moving. "One just opened up over here ladies, next!" Gets you back to your seat in time during intermission.

My perspective: I think you need to go a bit into WHY it's better. Does the bread taste different? Are the ingredients more evenly cooked? Is it simply neater? Also: Cool $7 toaster. I think eGullet should have a topic about the best cheap toasters. I mean why the hell should a toaster cost $60? All it does is heat bread. No, the bread doesn't taste different (but it was better than expected. I thought it was going to taste like a toasted cheese sandwich, but it did taste like grilled cheese). Although it is a little less squashed then when I usually make grilled cheese. The cheese was uniformly ooey-gooey, and I didn't have to pay attention as to when to flip it when perfectly browned. I suppose it is a little neater, but not much more than cleaning a pan & skillet. "Also": exactly. I didn't want to risk cheese oozing out of the bag if lain flat in the toaster oven, Jason found the cheap toaster & bought it. Works pretty well for a cheap toaster. Doesn't the cheese slide down to the bottom of the bag when you are making a "toaster" cheese sammich?Just a little. Do you press the two sides of bread together to stop the cheese from spreading?No. Do you have to use the $7 Target Toaster with this baggie thing? No, you may use any pop-up style toaster, although the manufacturer does recommend the wider slot kind that accepts bagels. Great pictures... like the bathrobe.Thank you. Got it on sale at Nordstrom's last year. It's reversable: satin on one side, terry on the other. Comfy. So how does it clean up? Did you have to turn it inside out?The PB sandwich left less residue in the bag and cleaned up very easily. There was some cheese seepage in the other bag, and required a little more effort to clean up, but not much. And how is PB, banana and bacon anyways?I prefer the grilled cheese, but it was good. But once you head down the bacon road you are already commited to a greasy pan, aren't you? Or do you use leftover bacon from breakfast? When we get bacon, I cook the entire package at once on sheet pans in the oven. Leftover bacon gets rolled up in paper towels and stored in a plastic bag in the fridge. Used sparingly to flavor salads, omelets, and to accent sandwiches, it lasts for a couple weeks that way. The question everyone wants answered: Is it truly the most revolutionary new product this century? No, but it's fun and not inconvenient. The real question here is: Are these things worth buying a toaster so you can use them? Only if you love grilled cheese, but just can't stand the (oh the headaches) mess and inconvenience of using a pan and spatula and possibly burning the bread (such stress!). [i'm trying to make fun of infomercials here.] I suppose it was worth the $7 toaster. [still, being that you can buy a $7 toaster at Target its no big deal if you can't. Ah, but I would have to get rid of the Cuisinart to make room for it in my tiny kitchen! Store the cheapy toaster in a closet when not in use. Do you think it would be good for reheating pizza? Jason is checking on that right now. Are the magic bags only available from the Toast-N-Serve website? I checked the site and couldn't find links to buying them elsewhere. Primarily, but you can also call an 800 number. I just spoke with the vendor on the phone, here's the price: 2 for $14.95 on the internet, but if you call from the "as seen on TV" way to order or for customer service (1-800-241-7708) you get a 3rd bag free. I suggested to him that they should be sold in groups of 4, since you could have two sandwiches toasting while prepping the next two.

1. lol 2. I recommend using a cannister instead of the bag; same loss of oxygen without the smooshing.

Also, next time, use less barley.

Because people will buy it. To expand on that, people expect to see salmon in the fish department, if it's not there they will be asked why it's not, constantly, probably dozens of times a day.

We have several bottles of Riesling Sekt in our BYOB collection, as well as Prosecco and Cava. They are such nice nearly all-purpose wines, and people are always surprised by their low cost (that is, if you tell them).

I've been to a Melting Pot in Florida. It was a fun time for a bunch of girls on a pre-wedding trip. I could also see it being a romantic night out for two.