=Mark

Recently I've been atempring to compile a listing of local establishments with a web presence. the result is the Monmouth County Online Restaurant Listing. Bear in mind that it is a work in progress and the only qualification to be listed is that an establishment has a website. This is in no way an endorsement of any particular place. Am up to nearly 90 restaurants now...

I don't think yuppies would be a problem at McSorelys on St. Patrick's Day. If you're not actively drinking, they toss you out. ← Yuppies and frat boys have been a problem at McSorelys for a decade, not only on St. Patricks day but every weekend. It's a neat place but I'm not going to stand behind police barricades for 2 hours waiting to get in the door to stand shoulder to shoulder while drinking only as much ale as I can hold at one time. Will only go there on weekdays, afternoons preferred. Give me PJs, Fanellis or Old Town Bar instead... Same day as photo above we patronize PJ Clarkes...

Only problem with McSorelys is that it's been overrun by yuppie tourons. You'd be better off leaving it to them on St Patricks day and going any winter weekday afternoon when the sun is shining through the windows (Gotta snag that front table!)

The last couple of times I tried to dine at Bistro Ole on a weekend, there was more than a 2 hour wait for a table. Now I've eaten there several times, mainly during the week, and found their meals to be enjoyable. That being said, there are few restaurants that are good enough in my estimation to devote a two hour wait, even in nice weather (BO's foyer is maybe double the size of an old phone booth). I'm sorry, the food is good, and I like being minced over by Rico as much as any other srraight guy, but the small, loud dining room and 2 hour wait for a table can not be justified. I'll still dine there but only during the week. On the weekend I'll wander over to Moonstruck instead...

Mediocre, the portions are huge and it's way too pricey ($27 for Chicken Rollaatine?) Carmines Website

Actually I like the food at Buona Sera much more than Petit France, but caveat that with the fact that I only do Buona Sera for lunch. Ever since they expanded the bar the dinners are just too loud... For the prices they are asking at Petit France I just was not impressed. Am always amazed at the fact they are still open as I almost never see anyone in there.

I get take-out from there like once a week. Richard's wife calls me "Mr. Spicy"

I know you said no Italian, but Buona Sera is the antithisis of the Mozz and Marinara style of many Italian American joints. Dish is good but they don't do lunch. Juanitos is decent Tex/Mex and Teak does good contemporary Asian/American cuisine. Two if by Sea does pretty good seafood. Siam Garden does pretty good Thai but I feel they are overpriced. I've been to Vong in Manhattan and Siam Garden is not Vong, though from the prices you would think so. You could actually save money by taking the train up to Woodbridge and eating at Mie Thai instead. Of couse there is always the Broadway Diner... Over in Little Silver there is the Village Bistro, Little Sezchuan and Turning Point Cafe. As for Pier Village in Long Branch, I feel McCloones Pier House is a typical seaside Touron Trap. Spectacular views with matching prices, mediocre food and crappy service. You might want to go to the Greek place or the other location for Turning point. This spring Sawa II, a local Sushi joint is opening a place in Pier Village. If you are willing to travel to Long Branch tho, I'd strongly recommend Pearl of the Sea Portugese restaurant. For a listing of Monmouth County restaurant websites you can check out a Collection I've been working on...

Although not strictly Chinese, Far East Taste in Eatontown (Bills itself as Chinese/Thai/Malaysian) is a local favorite. Chef Richard does some of the best Asian food in the area.His dumplings are light and flavorful, the Basil Shrimp is excellent and he does about the best Hot & Sour soup in the county. One of the best kept secrets in the area. Check out this Review.

Saigon II (732) 933-1964 650 Newman Springs Rd Lincroft, NJ 07738

I've recently been compiling a list of Monmouth County restaurants that have an online presence. Monmouth County online Restaurant Listing Bear in mind that I'm just starting this project. There is little info such as type of cuisine and locations yet. It is just listed alphabetically. Also, the only criterea for an establishment to be listed here is that they have a website. Inclusion in this listing does not imply that they are recommended.

Pittsburgh, Pa. Gateway to the Midwestern culinary wasteland...

Scoopstress?

Was quite a good meal! Some of the best food I've had the pleasure of eating in a while. Sorry I had to bug out early, and I'd like to thank all who made this an event worth travelling for...

My Kitchen Witch in Monmouth Beach is a great new breakfast and lunch place. More traditional local luncheonette would be North Beach Grille on Atlantic ave in Long Branch a couple blocks from the beach. Speaking of Delicious Orchards, there is an excellent spot for breakfast, lunch and dinner across Rt. 34 from D.O. in the shopping plaza there. It's called Christophers and we've never been dissapointed. If you luck out, Belle will wait on your table...

Globhal warming produces riper grapes? Hmm, I always thought vintners picked their grapes according to how ripe they were. This article implies that the harvest is done on the same day every year, and that in warm years the grapes will be riper on the designated "Harvest day." I don't believe that's how it works... Using one of the tenants of faith professed by followers of the Flying Spagetti Monster I'd have to say the increase in the alcohol of wines is inversely proportional to the number of living, swashbuckling pirates in the world...

Mmmm! (bass mustache on lip) That's great bass!

Yeah, when telling folks I know about some of the meals I've had they seem amazed at what I would spend (OK, $500+ per month). Yet when I point out that they could easily spend as much or more freezing their butt off on some snowy mountain during a ski weekend, they remain unimpressed. Hmmm, fine food and wine in a warm opulent setting while being attended to by the best in proffesional service staff, or risking breaking my butt on some slushy wet mountain... Let me think...

Not to mention headphone wearing folks walking on the boardwalk who cut through the dining room to both catch a momentary respit from the heat and to see what folks are eating. I certainly would never do this though...

I get good fried chicken from there location in Shrewsbury on Rt. 35. The Shop Rite in West Long Branch on the corner of Rts 36 and 71 also does it well. There are a lot of Mom & Pop outfits around here they have to compete with...

I'm curious, is there going to be roast pig this year?

A friend of mine on the Chilehead list emailed me this story that happened a few years ago to his oldest brother who is, well, slightly, shall we say eccentric (read paranoid--lot's of stuff), it does fit in with the thread on animals raiding the larder: "Anyways, my oldest brother has been staying at my grandma's 100 year-old house while grandma is in the nursing home. Now this brother is so nutty that we barely even will talk to him because he's so far out in paranoia-land to even be around him, you catch a bit of it--if you get my drift. So he's been telling grandma for a week someone's been sneaking into the house while he's asleep and he'll hear things crash around but by the time he gets downstairs, no one is there and the doors and windows are still locked and maybe the person is coming up through the old coal chute that leads down into the cellar under the house. Hmmm. Through that little biddy old coal chute? Even grandma is gettingready to write him off. But two nights ago he hears the noise and comes creeping down the stairs and in the hallway leading towards the living room is this black slimey trail. YIKES! So my brother grabs the only weapon at hand, a 4 or 5 gallon cast-iron pot grandma used to use for a flower pot and heads down the hall; bravely following the black-slime trail towards the living room to meet his doom, except when he hits the light switch, instead of braining a burglar, a big old buck raccoon rares back on his hind legs and *screams* at him. And my brother _flees_ the scene. I mean, hey, this is after all, in downtown Bloomington, Indiana and you can only be preapared for so much. But wait a minute, old bro thinks, this is _my_ home. I can't surrender my home to a wild animal, especially here in downtown Bloomington. So with a breathfull of courage my brother runs back into the living room shrieking and screeching the War-Cry of The Damned, and the danged raccoon turns to run, but he's cornered. KA-BLAM. The cast-iron pot goes right over the top of the raccoon and my brother immediately slams his butt downon the pot bottom for weight and the raccoon is captured, in the middle of my grandma's house, in the middle of a city, at 1:00AM And there my brother sat, wondering what he was supposed to do then. Andhe sat. And he sat. And finally, he ran out of cigarettes and knew the moment of reckoning was at hand. So he tilted a chair over on the pot to hold it down and got a towel and a laundry basket full of dirty clothes. Then he just sort of *edged* that towel underneath the pot until it had the entire opening covered, then he yanks up on the towel and pot and lifts the captured raccoon up and drops the whole upside-down shooting match, towel, pot, raccoon and all into this laundry basket. All of this time the raccoon's not saying a thing. So my bro, an environmentalist of the old school, decides it's cruel to keep the raccoon in the laundy-basket full of dirty clothes with a cast-iron pot on top ofit, so he takes it out and *wires*, mind you, the whole lash-up onto the handlebars and basket of this rickety old bicycle of his, and he takes off for a city park to dump the raccoon out--hoping of course that raccoons don't have a powerful homing instinct--at THREE O'CLOCK IN THEMORNING--RIDING A BICYCLE THROUGH DOWNTOWN BLOOMINGTON WITH A WILD RACCOON LASHED TO THE HANDLEBARS! "I didn't have anything illegal on me," he said. Well, about halfway to the park he says all of a sudden-like this raccoon goes berserk, screaming, thrashing around, snarling like a tiger, and this is all on the handlebars right in front of my brother's face in the laundry-basket under the cast-iron pot, so acting normal for once, my brother peddled harder. And then he said, the most god-awful screaming he'd ever heard emanated from beneath that pot over the laundry basket, and just like that; all got quiet. Yikes indeed. Yes, he admits it gave him the creeps, but onward he went with his mission and when he got to the park, he put down the kick stand, let loose of the bike for an instant, and the whole rig fell over on its side. He didn't say who was moving faster when the laundry-basket full of clothes and raccoon covered with a cast-iron pot hit the ground, but my guess is it was a draw. Well, the raccoon might have gone faster but it was tangled in all of my brother's dirty laundry, none of which was repairable because of the shredding that had taken place while the raccoon should have been enjoying the ride. But it took a while to chase the line of abandoned clothes through the park and recover it all, and my brother said it was daylight before he got back home. So why am I telling you all this? Because there's a moral hidden in here somewhere, I'm not sure what it is, but it certainly puts problems in the pepper patch in proper perspective; unless you are, of course, a lunatic. And why else am I telling you this? No lie. My older brother called my other brother , and told him he thought he heard a noise downstairs and wanted to know if he could come over and check it out--he said he had no desire to tangle with another raccoon and he was hunkered down up in the bedroom loft for the rest of eternity, if need be. So my brother called me since I lived closer and asked if I'd go help my loonier brother out. "Hey?" I said, "I'm getting my lung cut out on Monday. I don't *need* this." No lie again. My brother said "Yeah, but maybe you could just throw some of those habeneros you grew in there and if the 'coon eats one, he won't come back." "WHAT?" I said "IT WON'T COME BACK IF IT EATS HABENEROS? THE DAMN THING DOESN'T WANT HABENEROS. IT WANTS ANOTHER RIDE ON THAT F*****G BICYCLE!" And as of right now, I swear, that is where the matter stands."

Long article on emerging Cryovac Cooking techniques. NYT Registration required (free and painless)

To be fair, I was pleasantly surprised when I found that they would allow the hoi polloi to actually drive up to the boardwalk and actually extended the amount of parking within view of it. I agree with the assessment of Pier House though, they are squeezing the "Paying for the View" to it's ultimate. $30 crabcakes and $7 rice pudding while shoehorned into tiny tables populated with tourons dressed in tee shirts and cutoffs.

Yowsah! 10% discount on $6 beers!