richl2214

Never had the Black Maple Hill 16 (the one on the left), it has eluded me until now. It should say its prayers. The middle is the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection Thomas Hardy Sazerac 2013 and the right is the "run of the mill" Black Maple Hill Small Batch. Should be an great weekend.

The Rye cost me $85. First time I every saw it. The limit of any VanWinkle product was 2 bottles per person. I passed on the 15 and 20 and took the Rye instead along with the 23.

Lucked out today. Very very happy. Havent seen Van Winkle Rye ever in my life.

1) Jefferson's Presidential Select 18yr Bourbon 2) 12yr old Yamazaki Single Malt 3) WhistlePig Straight Rye 4) not at the store but a friend of mine dropped me off a 12pk case of Russian River Brewery Damnation!

2 Bottles of Pappy Van Winkle 20 yr old and 1 bottle of Van Winkle 12 yr old Lot B. Lucky me! I also picked up a bottle of Masterson's Rye. Not your typical spicy Rye but more sweet and great for an Old Fashioned. Canadian Rye Whiskey made by the same distillers who do Whistlepig and Jefferson and bottled in Sonoma, CA.

Freshwater: Copper River salmon, without a doubt. Salt: Spanish Mackeral

Tomo's Cuisine in Little Falls is closing this week. Saturday 9/25 is the last dinner service and if you haven't reserved yet get to it(but it's probably too late anyway.) They lost the lease and cannot continue where they are. Tomo will leave for Japan for a while to continue to hone his skills and maybe if he gets the fire to cook again he may grace us with his great Japanese cooking sometime in the future. Good luck Tomo and Fin. You will both be greatly missed. I've been there countless times and can't imagine not having your cooking around anymore. Who would have thought you'd get my mom to eat ankimo! Hope to see you soon.

Can you allowed to give us an idea of the pricing for the savory pies?

If you find them, and have the opportunity to discover their source, please report back; I am curious. (I spent a few minutes Googling around and came up with one supplier in Oregon who claimed to have them for sale -- though it could just be a website that wasn't updated -- and a place that morel growing kits, but cultivated morels for sale). ← Found 'em today but they didn't divulge their source, well it was more like the people I asked had no idea. Bought 3/4 lb total fresh. I put about 1/8 of the smaller ones in the dehydrator to dry and fried up the rest in butter with a a lite coating in flour. $30/Lb worth it at twice the price these gems.

They actually can be cultivated with a lot of sweat and tears and tons of luck but its so not worth even attempting. I bought fresh morels at Depiero's last year in July so somebody is growing them. Thanks for the leads guys I'll check em out

My usual places are tapped. Where can I find some?

Tomo's still knocking 'em dead. Fin does a wonderful job serving even when the restaurant is full(you have to be patient here). Winners lately: Dancing mushroom, egg custard soup with shrimp and chicken, broiled mackerel or salmon cheeks, soft shell crab special roll, cold soba noodles with radish, fried lotus root, monkfish liver sushi style, etc. Oh yeah, the scallop is always the freshest sweetest specimen you can get your hands on. Live one minute, in your gullet the next. I can eat 10 of them without a blink if I was a glutton. I don't know why/how people leave their sake there for storage, I always finish mine.

Dinner at Highlawn Pavillion and drinks al fresco on their veranda on a nice warm night.

I love Tomo too. Right down the street from me. Had a great meal there last night and his stuff is as fresh as it gets.

Can't wait for Azores. My wife was born there and both sides of her family are from San Miguel. Going this year in September.

Mizu is the new operation in the spot previously run as Sukeroku in Little Falls. The new owners shaped up the bar, seating and sushi bar. Now Sukeroku was around for a long time. I've been going there myself for over 15yrs and it always served great fish. They were around when sushi was still unknown to most(like Dai-Kichi), before the nouveau sushi places of Montclair popped up like mushrooms. So I was a little skeptical. I can say with reckless abandon that Mizu has trumped them all in the immediate area including that "nouveau" place. Presentation, and freshness are the highlight. Light sweet scallop sashimi, yellowtail chutoro, baby yellowtail, etc. Some of the best octopus and uni I have had. The rolls were also executed very well, #68 roll (sweet basil/soft shell crab/jalapeno/parmesan topped w/spicy tuna & uta sauce) was excellent nd the spider roll was definitely the best I have had in NJ. My wife had the Sunset Blvd roll(crunchy spicy tuna/salmon/yellowtail avacado wrapped in soy paper and inplum sauce) which was ok but tasted a bit starchy and the Angry Dragonroll (shrimp tempura, papaya, spicy tuna, topped king crab in orange edamame sauce) which was phenomenal. This place is a must try for the sushi fan. Nice reasonably price sake list too from $12-22/btl. Mizu 68 Newark Pompton Tpk Little Falls, NJ 07424 973-785-8199

Due Nicola in Little Falls.

Thanks Tracey! Picked up a case yesterday!

I know its a summer drink but I want to make some Dark n Stormy's. Need a good source for Barritt's Ginger Beer in North Jersey. Specifically Bergen or Essex counties. LMK. Would consider other Ginger Beer but Barritt's is preferred. My last resort is making it myself but I don't want to muck with that. I want a case or two to keep around and hate to have to get mail order and pay all that shipping.

I like Mompou better than Adega. They have some great tapas and the atmosphere is much better. Try the octopus

Been there about 4 times. Great bar service. The bartenders are right on everything and make a killer Halcyon cocktail with Hendricks and St Germain. They have a nice raw bar with about 5 selections of oysters, mostly east coast and kumos, king crab, dungeness, huge shrimp, etc. It is definitely geared toward seafood but they have other items. I've had the "fish and chips" probably the best I've ever had. artichoke and chantarelle soup was a special the other day and great. It is the same owner of Egan's(which I can't stand) but he did this place right. Mostly all white marble. You can order the whole menu at the bar. Crowd is 30-40ish. Everything I have had so far has been good to very good with the exception of the soft opening(expected)

No big suprise here. I'm sure he couldn't wait to bail from there.

The Butcher and the Farm at De Piero farms in Montvale always has Prime dry aged beef. Excellent stuff by experience. The place is worth a trip for the produce alone. Also a fresh seafood dept and Pickleicious is there too. http://depieros.com/about-us.php This place is the real "whole" foods.

Highlawn Pavillion

Phenomenal review, in fact on of the best I have ever read. Thank you for the time you took to write it and for the picture it painted for us that have never been to Daniel. I am making reservations as I type.