ghostrider
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First flush Darjeelings generally have a freshness & pungency that you don't find in other pickings. I tend to prefer them too. Castleton is one of my favorite gardens.
Second flushes can develop a richness & complex character that will never happen with a first flush. They'll make mellower, less pungent cup. Sometimes I'm just in the mood for that particular taste. Margaret's Hope usually has an excellent second flush.
Then there's Golden Nepal, which is like a Darjeeling but subtly different.....
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Gotta echo Carrot Top, Holly, that post was a joy to read.
There are plenty of options for better quality hamburgers and fries, with better service and cleaner dining rooms, but people simply don't want to pay that much for a fast food hamburger. I see restaurants such as the one you described go out of business every day in my city.McDonald's is exactly the way it is because that's what the public dictates. They want a $1 McValue menu, and they are willing to sacrifice good service, cleanliness and even health codes to get it.
I tend to agree with this analysis, but then how do we explain the continued thriving of the Steak & Shake chain in the St. Louis area, where I grew up? Last time I was there (3 years ago) they still seemed to be doing what Ray Kroc set out to do, and yes, charging more than McD's these days, and still you had to wait for a table at dinnertime.
Maybe it's a peculiar combination of local brand-name recognition + the tastes + character of the local population: there are still enough people in that area who are willing to pay a bit extra for freshly cooked, tasty food, and wait the extra few minutes it takes to get that.
I wonder if there are other such chains in other regions of the country. I've heard folks talk about Whattaburgers in Texas, if I remember it right.
Ah I now see that Holly has anticipated me - missed this last paragraph first time through - Steak & Shake seems to be living proof of this point:
As I've said before here, I'm still not convinced that the Wheel of Retailing doesn't hold true for McDonald's. That someone could open of a 1960's style McDonald's today, and find the market that McDonald's and all the others have lost. -
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Yep, I never gave up butter either, because I was always suspicious of margarine.
I don't eat that much butter anyway, except during corn season, & I'll be darned if I'll put anything else on my corn.
Eggs, I never ate that often, just not a big appeal. Since my heart attack I have them even less frequently. I'll still make an omelette once in a while & not worry about it. As always, I think moderation is the key.
Smoking & drinking I can understand, but wild wild women don't help? Please explain further!
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For my money Upton Teas has a wide selection and consistently excellent quality. I've been ordering from them for several years now.
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According to their menu, I have to be Committed to "culinary excellence" and personal attention if I want to order anything from them.
Lucky for me that I qualify on both counts.
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Is garlic a flavoring or a vegetable in this context? Someone listed onion above, same question. I can't live w/o either but am considering them vegetables, hence:
dried chili peppers
rosemary
thyme
marjoram
oregano
This is one of the few times I can say unequivocally that I'm glad to be on a low-salt diet!
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HOW TO GET TO RUTT'S HUT FROM THE NJ PIKE
Actually, considering where you're coming from, I found a slightly better way to get there on Mapquest. Do a directions search from Ridge Rd & State Hwy 3, Rutherford, NJ 07070 US, to 467 River Road, Clifton NJ.
Ridge Road is just one of the exits off of Route 3, I'm using it only as a landmark. To get to that point, hop off the Pike at exit 16W (this is the west spur of the turnpike, the one that leads to the GW Bridge). After the tolls, stay in the middle lane - the right lane will put you onto Rt 3 East, which is the wrong direction; the middle lane crosses Rt 3 & curls around to the right to put you on Rt 3 West. Get into the next lane to your left ASAP, you don't have much space there before you curl right back around onto the Pike access ramp.
You'll drive past Giants Stadium & over a 4-lane bridge (the Berry's Creek Bridge). Stay out of the right-hand lane which becomes an exit-only lane at the bottom of the far side of the bridge. (It's not a very big bridge.) You'll go up a hill & see a sign for the Ridge Rd exit. Rt. 3 then goes underneath Ridge Rd.
Follow the MapQuest directions from this point, they seem clear & accurate. The exit for Rt 21 N, on the far side of the bridge over the Passaic, is well marked (unlike many of our NJ exits!).
I'd have taken you on a route that'd have taken you a mile or two out of your way, using exit 10B instead of 10A; MapQuest knows its stuff.
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Rutt's is legendary, it was featured on that PBS documentary "Best sandwiches in America."
The place can be hard to find if you aren't a local. I can tell you exactly how to get there from exit 16W on the pike. It's about 10 minutes from the exit, assuming there isn't a football game at Giants Stadium when you're trying to navigate the area. If there is a game, it's more like 1/2 hour, traffic gets nasty.
dscott, if you're interested, please post & I'll type out some directions.
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there's that korean place in rutherford. i'm not sure of the name, but it's not bad and a bit different than other options in the area. it comes complete with cold, dismissive, rude service just as any good korean place should.
LOL!!!!
Only been there once. Service seemed OK but they'd just opened, probably hadn't hit their stride yet.
Is your friend staying on the Rutherford campus? If so, all of the above are an easy walk away.
There's also Trattoria Corrado, right on Station Square; After Athens, a decent Greek place a little before that on Park Ave (cafe upstairs is cheaper than the full restaurant downstairs, has some good hot sandwiches & a fine Greek salad); and Cafe New York, a little before THAT on Park Ave, which to my palate has the best pizza in town.
All your friend has to do is make an initial choice of Daruma or Matisse vs. all the rest. For the former, turn right on Park Ave. at the post office; for all the rest, turn left.
P.S. If your friend is staying in Lodi, none of the above is easily accessible w/o a car, and we're back to square one. Lodi is 7-8 miles north of here.
P.P.S. If Rutherford, your friend will quickly find that it's a great walking town, lots of folks out & about strolling or exercise-walking. One of the charms of living here.
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I like the pork chops.
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I'd certainly be up for this - it's my town after all, & it'd be nice to meet some of you folks - as long as you all won't kick me away from the table if I don't order beef.
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Yup, it's safely within the Rutherford borderlines, so BYO it be.
I saw several big buckets of ice on other diners' tables which, on closer inspection, each contained several bottles of beer. I think 1 table may have had wine, but beer clearly was the beverage of choice at that moment.
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We decided to try Spring Grill last night in spite of the caveats above. Heck, it's my town, gotta keep tabs on what's happening!
We got there rather late, a little after 9:00. Judging what I could from the expressions on the faces of the 4 other couples dining there, the service problems mentioned above seem to have been worked out, everyone looked very happy & seemed to be enjoying the experience. I took that as a good sign.
They immediately brought out a generous plate of crispy shrimp chips and a curry/peanut dipping sauce that was totally addictive.
My options from the menu were limited, thanks to my low-sodium diet, which means no soy sauce, which rules out a huge range of dishes. I spoke with our waitress about that & asked about the "Currie Noodle (Egg noodles with chicken, red onion, mustard greens in a yellow curry coconut sauce)." She checked with the chef & came back out to say that the curry sauce was already made and did have some salt in it. I decided to try it anyway.
Sheila went with the "Shrimp and mixed vegetable in a garlic soy sauce over crispy egg noodle."
We started by sharing a "Green Papaya Salad - Green papaya, tomato, string bean, garlic and peanut in a spicy lime vinaigrette dressing side of sticky rice." Our waitress asked if we would like that as an appetizer, we said yes, & she followed through. It was crisp, fiery, & thoroughly refreshing. A dash of fish sauce in the dressing almost overwhelmed the lime flavor, but we both felt it was a very successful dish.
The Curry Noodle arrived in a large bowl, swimming in an aromatic sauce. I found green onion & bean sprouts rather than red onion & mustard greens. That's probably a fault but I didn't really care, the textures were still complementary, the dish was very flavorful & not obviously salty. It was a very mild curry, particularly after the spicy salad. They thoughtfully provided a spoon so that you could scoop up as much of the almost soup-like sauce as you wanted. I consumed most of it, couldn't quite make it to the bottom off the bowl.
I took two bites of the crispy egg noodle dish and just sighed, the sauce was delicious, the vegetables perfectly cooked. I miss the days when I could eat a dish full of soy sauce and not worry about it.
We didn't have room for dessert.
After the meal, I could tell by the aftertaste of salt that I'd gotten more than I get in cooking at home, but not an excessive amount (compared with a disastrous experience at an NYC Thai place last month, which is a story that doesn't belong here).
Service was very friendly & pleasant, the owner? manager? stopped by to converse a couple of times, assured us that they served only the freshest food, with daily seafood deliveries.
We still need to get ourselves moving earlier to get up to Wondee's one of these nights so that I'll have a current local standard for comparison.
Is this "destination dining"? Your call. If you're coming from up north, you may not have a reason to go past Hackensack. If you see something on their on-line menu that looks appealing & you're in the area, you'll probably enjoy it. I could wish for a larger selection of non-soy-sauce-based dishes, needless to say. But I'm glad that they're in my town, they're a nice change. I'd say that they compare favorably with Toon's on Bleeker St. in the West Village in NYC (not sure if they're still there), where we ate Thai food happily for many years before moving to Jersey. We'll be back.
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Congrats! I look forward to seeing this on line.
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My fantasy birthday, as long as we're talking pure fantasy here, would be to be able to forget about my low-salt diet and just eat whatever the hell I want again.
Sorry, I guess that's a bit off topic, after reading the post up top, but that was my immediate thought on seeing the thread title.
The only actual advice I could offer here would be for Italy so that's out.
Good luck, hope you can make it a memorable birthday celebration.
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Have you thought of the Bear Mountain Inn?
Maybe that's not really in the same territory. But they have lots of space as I recall.
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Garlic.
Nothing's more essential.
Of course, what do I do when it runs out or dries out & I'm still shipwrecked in this wretched place....
Hopefully I've brought enough to plant.
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Italy
Venice
Actually I like the food in Umbria & Tuscany better, but I'd put up with that (and a lot more) for a month in Venice with no worries about the $$.
I know a couple of good fish places, a couple of good pizza places, & the best gelato places in town. I know the butchers, bakers, cheese shops & fruitsellers from whom you can assemble a wonderful lunch. Don't need much else there.
I would continue to avoid the fritto misto as I still don't much like small whole crunchy fish. (Crunchy frog!
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At Costco this morning, I spied a a sliced ham imported from Italy -- Rosmarino? Ham flavored with rosemary.
It looked VERY good, but as I had no idea what I 'd use it for...I left it behind.
Sandwiches. With some Italian fontina cheese. Fabulous.
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Kam Man - are they a branch of a place in NYC's Chinatown? That's a familiar name.
Well, just answered my own question via Google - Kam Man was indeed one of the places I used to shop when I lived in NYC.
I wonder if they're becoming a chain, there's one in Quincy MA too.
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Thanks for the add'l details on Castine.
To me, it still sounds like the kind of place that'd make a nice base for several days of day trips. But then I tend to gravitate towards the out-of-the-way places. Sometimes they make for a splendid experience, sometimes not.
Of course, once you're in that area, why not go all the way to Bar Harbor? Tough call, depending on time of year.
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Not sure where Northern NJ ends & Central NJ begins, but....
en route to a show at the Starland Ballroom last week, I passed what looked like a large Pakistani grocery. (Judging from crescent & star on sign.)
Store was on Rt. 615 South, on the left-hand side of the road, probably no more than 2 miles southwest of exit 123 on the GSP.
I didn't note its name, unfortunately, & have no idea if it's worth a drive.
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Edited to remove bad joke. Please carry on.
How to make McDonald's work
in Restaurant Life
Posted
Thanks for the update on Steak & Shake. I guess my view of them was colored by nostalgia. I hadn't been to one in a long time, c. 20 years, before our last visit to StL. The service did pretty much suck (& if they really do treat their employees that badly that may be their downfall) but was at least pleasant. However the cheeseburger & the fries were a couple of notches above McD's, at least to my taste. Yes, I've had better elsewhere, but I thought they delivered a good value (don't recall the specific prices at this point) & were worth what was then a pretty small price differential. My impression was that they'd found a niche between McD's & a good bar burger (I'm thinking Blueberry Hill in StL), where you'd expect to pay even more & are still satisfied with what you get.