=Mark

If you like Fish Tacos you ought to check out The Shack in Sea Bright (Across from Harrys Lobster House). They do great Baja Tacos and their guacamole is killer. Another bonus is their burritos totally lack rice stuffing...

Was in NYC over the holidays, and frequented a number of favorite old bars like PJ Clarks, McSorleys and Old Town Bar. Was pleasantly surprised and greatly enjoyed the fact that there was no smoking. The difficulty in getting a decent spot at the bars belies the claims about business being hurt...

There was a gentleman who used to post thai recipes to the Chileheads list. He passed away many years ago but there are still collections of his recipes online. Check out Colonel Ian's recipes at: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/2425/colian.html

Eat Bertha's Mussels!

Red Chile enchiladas at Los Dos Molinos

What I don't understand is the BF practice of serving burritos stuffed with among other things, rice. A rice stuffed burrito? Could they pehapse serve it also with a side of mashed potatoes or stuff it with pasta? Maybe they could make it a sandwich, Rice stuffed burrito with mashed potatoes on a hoagie roll?

There's a new Thai/Vietnamese down in Bradley Beach called Bamboo Leaf. The food is good but they're a bit pricey like Siam Garden in Red Bank.

Just read the Village Voice review and noticed this comment: "bombard their meat with thick wood smoke, running through hardwood by the cord (128 cubic feet) every day". Anyone who even just dabbles in smoking meat knows that the last thing you want is "thick wood smoke." All this will get you is bitter tasting creosote stained leather. What you need is just a light whisp of thin blue smoke (Hence the name of the "other" place). This alone suggests to me that the reviewer had some sort of agenda...

The evil flavor of StarBurnt's coffee is a common topic here, not to mention being charged $$$ and required to use embarrassing language to purchase it. "I'll have a Mucho Grande Frappa Zombie with Mocha Blondie please!"

Chicken parts grilling over open coals. Outdoors. When you catch that first whiff while rounding the house into the back yard. And I mean whole chicken parts with skin and bones. None of that dry tasteless boneless, skinless crap.

Despite Bobby Flay's annoyance factor, I've enjoyed Mesa Grill since before there was a food network. His bold use of chiles and spices never ceases to impress me. Though the floor can get kind of cacaphonous, I still have to respect the cuisine.

The article's title is The Special? A Bit of Everything, and it does not purport to be a 10 best list but rather a summary of those restaurants rated excellent, very good and good by the critics. So, it's the title of this thread that is misleading. For a top 10 list, here are the choices from nj.com's Artful Diner: http://www.nj.com/dining/reviews_artfuldin...2004?topten2004 I like this list because it includes more central/southern NJ restaurants, providing balance to the Times' decidedly northern NJ tilt. ← Glad to see Art has finally shelved the thesaurus in his reviews...

I was shopping a local bookstore before Christmas and came across and end of aisle display featuring like six different cookbooks by Racheal Ray. Was sort of frightening as they all featured the same cheesy smile.

Service issues aside, all of the dishes served were very good to excellent! Really liked the crab soup that also contained corn and quail egg. I didn't know at that point that the meal ettiquitte would be to share everything, had I known then, more folks than just Rosie would have had a share... That would soon be rectified. The crepe was excellent as were the fried rolls. Lowell kept exclaiming how good the buttered frogs legs were. Enjoyed my first taste of "Eau de Turnpike Refinery" that comprised the Durian shake. All in all a fun meal, in typical eGullet fashion we pretty much outlasted most all of the other diners for what ended up in excess of a three hour meal.

I went to a Cake concert at the Starland Ballroom a couple weeks ago using the self printed ticketmaster tickets. What frosts my pumkin is the $12 or so various "handling fees" for an item that is essentially totally automated. I can understand the need to make a few bucks off the process, but 50% of the cost of the actual tickets borders on extortion. Of course when pressed, I have no doubt that the reaason for the excessive fees charged will ultimately be "Because they Can."

Well, yeah. I guess to take that argument to its logical conclusion would take us to the time before human beings learned how to harness fire for cooking. Most of us don't want that kind of "authenticity." ← Picture grimacing cave men holding meat over fire with bare hands, looking at innovative guy at the next fire over. Their leader states authoritatively: "I don't care what he's doing, sticks are not authentic."

My mom used to dip her pizza crust into beer.

The hell with beef altogether, a true fall from vegetarianism requires bacon. Lots of bacon.

I'd make a little lobster pie/casserole to go along w/the filets. Just chop the lobster meat into good sized chunks. If you have a pound of lobster, we use the following amounts, you can adjust accordingly. 1 pound lobster meat 1 stick butter 1 sleeve ritz crackers lemon and sherry to taste Melt half the butter and toss with the crumbs. Melt a tab of butter and toss with lobster in dish. put crumb mix on top, and mix ina bit w/lobster. Cut rest of butter into slivers and dot over the top. Give a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of sherry. Bake at 300 for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle with a little parsley. This really complements the lobster and has so much flavor, rich and decadent. Goes very well w/filet. Have had this combo many, many times. Enjoy! Pam ← Some how Lobster and Ritz crackers don't compute for me. Maybe that fake crab stuff. But not lobster. ← Then there are the reports from 19th century prisons in New England where revolts broke out because they were being fed lobster every night...

It's my understanding from folks who have tried fugu that from a culinary standpoint it's a fairly unremarkable bland whitefish. It's the extemely unlikely possibility of a fatal outcome that gives it popularity.

If grilling, you may want to consider running a skewar up through the tail which will prevent it from curling up. This will allow for a more even cook...

I've got a pickle and a glass chile pepper. When I was a kid we had a plastic pork chop ornament, don't know where that came from...

I can understand pepper mills because peppercorns retain their flavor in volotile oils which they retain better if left unmolested until just prior to their use. Salt, on the other hand is just salt, and grinding it may change the texture, but there's no inherrent benefit as far as flavor goes. I suppose the asthetic appeal of matching spice gadgets can be considered.

Heirloom Twinkies.

It's my understanding that mined salt can be referred to as Sea Salt as it resulted from the evaporation of sea water. The whole concept of a salt grinder escapes me...