chefdavidrusso

Check out Conte's Pizza on Witherspoon Street....pies only, no slices...eat in or take out. My personal favorite is the "Special". On the weekends be prepared to wait a while. Also, the pizza place on Nassau street in downtown Princeton (is it Victor's?) Good straight ahead NJ sllice. The brilliant comedian Gene Shepard alway used to say that you could tell the quality of a slice of New Jersey pizza by how far down your arm the grease dripped off. A really great slice made it all the way to your elbow..... -David

Yeah...I probably haven't been there since about 1991, so I guess my info isn't all that up to date, but it used to be good.... I had forgotten about the A&B....good suggestion, Shermar.....

I would be pretty interested, but I couldn't do it until late June at the earliest.

Personally, I would not recomend this place. But I suppose that's the beauty of it being America.... The Burg, however, I would give a thumbs up...it's my family's "ancestral home" and it has great food. If it's still around, there's a great Italian place by the Trenton Train Station...anybody remember the name of it? Expensive but excellent....

Exactly where in Ridgewood is the Viillage Green? That's my new 'hood and I'm trying to get all the good spots to try?

That makes m laugh...I never knew they called it "Hoagies"... I would agree with both of them, with a few additions. Triumph for beer and burgers. Definately "Haven" (I lived in that place when I was in HS and find myself wearing their t-shirt today as I sit and type this). The experience is sort of like "the soup Nazi" of greasy late-night hoagies. George now owns both "Haven" and "George's". My younger brother is friends with George's son and loves them both equally. Definitely Conte's....go for the special, but be prepared to wait for over an hour if you want pizza on a weekend night. PJ's is the plcae to go for Sunday late morning breakfast, but again...be prepared to wait Another long-standing Bugrer and Beer place is Tiger's Tale, which is north on 206 at the intersection with 518. It's been years since I've been there, and it was never anything spectacular....but it was good burgers and beer And of course you can't miss Thomas Sweets......really great ice cream place. Go for the "Blend-in's"...my favorite is cinnamon ice cream with M&M's... And f you want god diner....the Princtonian Diner on Rt 1, or (if you feel like a little bit of a drive) Mastori's....can't really remember where it is, but I'm sure it's in the book.

My wife and I had the opportunity to eat at FL a few years ago, and we had a nearly flawless evening. I say nearly flawless because after the 4 hour extravaganze - in which not one flavor was out of balance, not one ingredient improperly cooked - they completely forgot to serve us our coffee. And you know what?? We didn't care one stinking bit!!! As a chef, I found it somewhat heartening that one of the top restaurants in the counrty could still make a mistake. It humanised the whole experience. While I certainly agree that there is quitre a bit of idol worship that can happen when it come to Chef Keller, I think there is an equal amount of needless nay-saying, just to be contrary. Why can't we get comfortable with the fact that he is a top-notch chef who runs a fantastic restaurant? (I'll keep it singular because I haven't been to Per Se yet.) I aggree with what Dryden wrote: ...by the time we left, all we really could say was that we had gone in expecting a perfect meal down to the last detail, and Keller and crew had delivered - and given what we were expecting, that was really something special. I also think that we all ought to step back and realize that if fine ultra high-end dinning is becoming "a bit of a bore," maybe we should just feel lucky that we experience it enough so that it has the chance to become boring.

You might try Calico Catering...my step-mother (who lives in Princeton) has used her alot and had great success. I've had her food once, and really enjoyed it. If you can't find her in the phone book, I will get her info and post it. I 'm pretty sure her name is Veronica, but I'll double check And just in the interest of full disclosure, I'm a chef and caterer and educator, and am moving to NJ in early June. I happen to specialize in small at-home parites. Sorry I won't be able to help you out. Let us know how it goes... -David