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They also made the restaurant a little more formal than it had been as Istanbul. Not by much, but a bit.

I'm curious how Lisa's compare to the OTHER Turkish restaurant in Ridgewood....the one on Broad Street, a door or two down from Bagelicious (and whose name escapes me currently). I know, I know....I think they changed their menu from strictly Turkish to a more "global" mediterranean (and I actually haven't eaten their since they have) but the food used to be pretty damn good there. Their stuffed grape leaves rank among my tops of all time....bested perhaps only by the ones made for me an old Palestinian grandmother at a party that I catered. Any comments?

I don't know where you live to know what your 100 miles radius includes, but here are some of my favs..... Bobolink Dairy for Cheese and Bread (or bake your own...the metod that was in the NY Times a couple of weeks ago - 18 hour rise, baked in a cast iron Dutch Oven - is FANTASTIC and simple. I started using it and now bake fresh bread about twice a week.) Terhune Orchards in Princeton for Apples and related products Goffle Road Poultry Farm in Wyckoff for the bird. I've had their chicken and it's excellent...I can only assume that their turkeys are equal. Their eggs are the best I've had. That's it for now.....

My wife and I had dinner there last night, and while I would recomend that everyone give them their fair shot, I was left a little underwhelmed. I started with a cup of the chili. It was alright...a little thick for my tastes, and I prefer one made with diced meat rather than the ground meat that theirs was made of. The taste was good, but a little too similar to a something store-bought. Then I had a half-slab of ribs. They were well cooked...very tender with a good smoke ring. Unfortunately the meat tasted like it wasn't dry-rubbed long enough if at all prior to smoking. The sauce had an appealing sweet-tangy balance. but the ribs didn't come with quite enough (becasue the ribs hadn't been seasoned well.) My wife had a pulled chicken sandwich, which didn't come with any sauce at all, and she sadi was fairly dry. As for the sides, the macaroni and cheese was the best of what we had, followed by the baked beans. The mashed potatoes had no seasoning at all and were far too gummy. The cole slaw was good, but nothing to sing about. The service was alright, but my biggest complaint about the place would have to be the atmosphere. FAR too quiet, and the music that they did have was all wrong. One might expect some blues, or a little southern rock, but they were playing quiet contemporary music that did nothing for them. I would also have to say that the dining expereince was far too clean to be good BBQ. I just didn't get messy enough, and barely needed my napkin. All that being said, I'll probably give them another shot in a few weeks, just to see if they've made any adjustments.

Please give the details...I'm not familiar with this restaurant and don't know where it is.

So what sort of "very good reports" did your people give?

I drove by there on Wednesday...I saw a River Palm truck in the driveway and assumed that it was changing over FROM the Ocean Palm TO the River Palm, because I had heard from one of my customers that a new River Palm was opening up. Apparently this is not the case. A quick Google search seems to confirm that it is the same owners as the River PAlm, but I came up with nothing regarding the concept.

I've heard very excellent things about Michael Mina's new place, Seablue. Several colleagues from work (with a high level of reliabilty when it comes to restaurant recomendations) had dinner there last week and said it was phenominal. And I've eaten at NobHill on several occasions at the MGM Grand, and if Seablue is anywhere near the same caliber you will not be dissappointed.

If memory serves me correctly, there was a thread here in the NJ forum about this....City Marketplace is going to be a steakhouse. I think. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong.

I have a garden full of weeds right now. It makes me sad.

My 2 1/2 y.o. LOVES some of the non-chain restaurants in the Ridgewood area.....his current favorite is Gazelle, and he also really enjoys Ginger and Spice (he's developed quite a love of White Oolong tea and Pad Thai). Curlz hit it right on the nose.....start 'em early and go at a time when you can set yourself up for success. My impression of what "kid friendly" means is just an overall attitude and demeanor of the restaurant. Depending on the age of your child, my wife and I have found that more boisterous and relaxed places are better suited. (i.e. - I don't care how well behaved your 3 year old is, I don't think that Village Green is an appropriate place for them)

The Mrs. and I had dinner there tonight, and it was excellent. We had never been to the other location, so we weren't sure what to expect, but the place really lived up to the possitive reviews that everyone has given. We started out with the calamari salad, which was quite good. The calamari was very well fried, and the bananas were an excellent touch. And from a nostalgic perspective, it was very similar to a dish that I would make myself for dinner most night way back when I worked at Zoe in Soho. MY only suggestion would be for them to dress the salad a little more agressively...which I suppose is better that the alternative of having it swim in dressing (and which is the mistake that most restaurants make.) Then we shared an array of Tapas for our meal. My two favs were the Pernil Napolean and the Yuca Fries; my wife preferred the Maduros and the Empanadas. The Sangria was pretty tasty, and helped make for a relaxing evening away from the kids. And that, I am sure, helped raise our already hgh opinion of the restaurant even higher My only complaint is a very personal one....I don't like places that force you into using Valet parking. But we'll definitely go back!

As a chef, I would like to weigh in...the meat packing industry has also downgraded the rating system of beef a little. Well, I don't know if "downgraded" is quite the right term, but in other words, better steaks are being rated "choice", as a way to build up the choice market. Relaxing the standard...perhaps that's the right way of looking at it. I think one of the previous posters is correct in saying that the bigger difference (to even the above-average consumer) will be made in dry vs. wet aged, not Choice vs. prime. For what it's worth.....

I find it somewhat surprising that you were caught off-guard by over-priced ANYTHING at a strip club. While trying not to appear like a connoisseur of establishments such as these, strip clubs are nortorious for the $8 domestic beer, $10 imports, etc. They have a captive audience and they know it, and they know that the clientel generally show up intending to drop a fat wad of cash.

Call me crazy....but what type of meal for two IS worth 700.00 ← French Laundry was about $720 for two, when it was all said and done. And it was worth every penny ← how much of the tab was the wine/alcohol? I love to cook as well as eat......but to spend 700$$ for a meal ...... not for me..... it is for true culinary artists. Enjoy!!! ← I'll be honest with you....I don't really remember the breakdown of the bill. It was about 5 years ago, and all I remember at this point is the total. I'm thinking it might have been about 300 for food, 300 for wine, tax and tip ??

Call me crazy....but what type of meal for two IS worth 700.00 ← French Laundry was about $720 for two, when it was all said and done. And it was worth every penny

My mom also lives down by Columbus, and she just brought up some tomatoes last week that were FANTASTIC! Don't know where she got them, but her sig. other knows alot of the farmers down there. I'm sure they were just from a local stand. She also brought corn on the cobb that had been picked fresh for her that morning. HOLY $@%!? was it good!

I actually ate lunch there the first time I ever called on Bistro En....I've never had Afgan food, but I thought it was excellent. The yogurt dressing on the salad was particularly good. I had the Sambosas that Jason pictured and they were very good...the two chutneys were particular standouts. The sambosas were very properly fried, very light, not at all greasy. I loved the bread as well. I had Kebobs (lamb) and they were very good, but I remember particularly enjoying the rice. All in all a very good experience

every time i go i think it's going to be a really great experience and every time i leave i wonder why i returned. can't they do better? ← That's my gut feeling about this place, but I'll give it it's fair shot.

We had breakfast at Janice in HoHoKus...had never been there before, and I had heard good things about it so I thought I would like to try it. We're usually a diner kinda bunch on Sundays(Coach House, Tom Sawyer, or "Pancakes as Big as Your Head" in Ridgewood) All in all it wasn't bad...relatively resonably priced, but not as kid friendly as I would have expected, given the area (only high chairs, no boosters; and no kids menu. It frightens me that these are now things I think about when evaluating a restaurant) The food was good, but not spectacular, and that made me sad because it's exactly the type of place that I root for to have great food. For example, my wife's French Toast was tasty, but it was just the standard thin slice of white bread. In their defense, however, they did also offer Cinnamon Raisin FT (which in my experience is usually thicker), and they had a special of "Texas French Toast," indicating that they do have the thicker available. But I would like to see a place like that have a better standard item, and then really wow me with their special. Also, my Eggs Beney were properly and well (though not expertly) prepared. But I was very disappointed that they weren't using home-made hollandaise. On a bright note, the oatmeal has a good presentation. It's the bowl (a rather HUGE bowl at that - see my comment about kids portions) and then served along side it is a platter with small bowls of brown sugar, walnuts, raisins,, and craisins - thus allowing you to do quite a bit of doctoring yourself. We'll probably hit there again, just to try another round of options. And I'd be interested to check out their dinner service. Anyone ever been there and care to share their experience? Oh - for dinner I spent a few hours in the kitchen, which is something I don't get to do nearly enough of any more. Basic stuff, but oh so good - grilled some steaks, grilled some veg, made some German Potato Salad, marinated some fresh mozz and hit it with some basil puree, made a rasp-blueberry trifle (watched a little soccer). Papa was a happy man.

Has anybody been here yet? Here's the link. I've read alot about them lately and heard good things. Disclosure - they're a customer of mine.

(Notice of full disclosure - I know Craig and Stacy to a limited extent, and call on him professionally as a potential customer) My wife and son and I went to Rocca for their Pasta menu this past Tuesday. The Mrs. ended up having the special menu, I ordered ala carte. She: Rocca Salad (basic mixed greens) Linguini with spicy tomato sauce (that was "the deal") Me: salad with Fried atrichokes and olives in a lemon aioli dressing lasagna Bolognese The food was good - my only piece of constructive criticism would be that everything was a bit over dressed/sauced for my taste. My salad had a bit too much dressing (though it was a mighty fine dressing), and the plain pasta with butter that we ordered for our 2 1/2 year old was fairly well swimming in butter. My assesment of the Tuesady pasta night adventure....it's a great value ($9.95 per person) if, like us, you've got a family and don't feel like cooking on a random mid-week night and want some good, inexpensive pasta. We haven't tried the Thursday night Pasta Tasting menu yet. We also commented that the menu seemed more "typically" Italian than our memory. But the specials did appear to be a bit more "forward thinking" We also went there for Mother's Day brunch, and it was VERY good, albeit a more typical American-stlye plated brunch...omelet, eggs bene, pancakes, etc. Again, all done creatively and very well executed. We have always had very good service; in fact we had the same server fo MD and pasta night, were quite pleased. One night Stacey (the chef/owner's wife) was running the dining room , and sat my wife for dessert and coffe as they were cleaning up, which we felt was very generous. Overall I think it is a very good, successful restaurant (which is never a bad thing, and quite an accomplishment in it's own right) that is a nice addition to the local scene. I think it puts to shame the Ridgewood Italian places, and I like being able to support a good chef in my own town.

I think I'm going to figure out a way to be in Linden for lunch sometime this week...several times. I was a resident of the Windy City for almost 10 years, and a good Chicago 'dog is a thing of beauty. The neon was never my favorite thing, but it does hold a certain nostalgic place in my heart. It's been just long enough since I lived there to have almost forgotten about the Beef and Sausage Combo. Almost.

The BarbeReuben, huh? Sounds like a trip northward is in my future.... Is the Palisades Center Mall the HUGE mall that's in West Nyack?

I'm going to be stopping by this week...I'll find out and let you know