jhlurie

Well, despite the hole in the wall location, under a crappy TV repair place which probably hasn't had a customer in the past 20 years, this IS the same location where our friend KT (of Saigon Republic) made her living for years. And while these new folks aren't exactly competition for her (they are very definitely going for the Hong Kong style, whereas KT's stuff was always more varied), so far I've been pleasantly surprised. Noodle shops aren't that common around here--normally it's either the full blown thing like China 46, or it's the crappiest of take-outs--where the food is sugared, un-subtly spiced and gummed up for "American" palates.

It's just takeout Chinese, and thus not huge food news, but I've sampled this place a few times since they opened about 3 weeks ago, and they are quite good. Basically, it's a Chinatown-style noodle shop transfered to NJ, and tweaked for takeout, since this location is little more than a shack. The King family, who run it, apparently also run a similar hole-in-the-wall operation in the Garment District, with the extremely memorable name "Noodle AA". I know this mostly from the postcard behind the register which says "Good luck, King family" and some copy of an award placard they've hung in the window for Noodle AA. The actual staff is a bit too busy to answer questions. What makes this slightly different from the 10 million other crappy Chinese takeout places in Bergen County, is that it's distinctly Hong Kong style. The emphasis is on chicken broth based soups and noodle dishes (you get the broth as a side even with the straight noodle dishes). That same base broth (which is pretty good) is in practically everything--except for the vegetarian soups, which have a substitute vegetable broth. The noodles taste freshly made--if not obvious in the noodle soups it's definitely obvious when tasting the dumplings and wontons. I've only had a fraction of the menu thus far, but especially excellent are the Steamed meat dumplings, the Wonton/Lo Mein combo dish, and a fairly mountainous portion size of Honey Roast Pork. Logistically, the location--Sharon Plaza, on the Fort Lee/Cliffside Park border--is a compromise. Saigon Gourmet, for years, did passably well there due to a slow build-up of loyal customers. It's too far from the center of Fort Lee to get the casual traveller, so it's limited to the neighborhood crowd, the people in the huge nearby apartment buildings, and the curious occasional shopper in Sharon Plaza. However, it's at least good enough that I'd recommend that anyone living within, or passing within a neighboring town consider a detour. After all, it's a bit less of a trip than detouring to the Garment district, or Chinatown, if you've got a killer craving for chinese noodle soup. Green Bamboo Noodle House 795 Abbott Blvd. Fort Lee, NJ 07024 201-886-7005 open 7 days a week 11:30am-10:30pm delivery minimum $10

Quick... compare and contrast... the long-term cultural effects of Graham Kerr and Jeff Smith....

We've considered this a bit more and moved the topic to "Food Media & News". While there's no specific news story linked to this thread, eGullet has a tradition of keeping it's threads on newsworthy food personalities in the FM&N forum. Rocco, Martha and other luminaries await Jeff's company! Also, any discussion of Jeff Smith will inevitably center around his appearances on TV, and his works in print, and those also usually fall under this forum. Asking if Jeff is "any good" or "still relevant" really asks for an analysis of his body of work, and that work was done primarily in these formats. If the discussion drifts into an analysis of specific techniques or recipes of Mr. Smith's, those might require their own threads in Cooking, but that always a possibility with a general inquiry about any food personality. Thanks, and sorry for any confusion caused by this topic jumping around.

Plus the guy at my local chinese takeout joint, to this day, calls it "flied chicken". Perhaps its not completely politically correct to find someone else's lingual difficulties funny (I'm sure the five words of Mandarin Chinese I know sound hilarious to a native speaker), but you know... I can't help myself. It's like that Chinese restaurant scene in that "A Christmas Story" movie. Just funny.

After nine pages I STILL don't think I've seen anything as embarassing as eGullet founder Jason Perlow's vending machine bagel dog obsession. A few weeks ago though, in a fit of late night desperation I had one of those "taquitos" they have rolling around with the hot dogs at 7-11. And by definition, pretty much ANY prepared food from 7-11 is embarassing/dangerous/disgusting.

You've got the right idea. In the "Snacking" thread, I confessed to being a Grade B maple syrup imbiber myself. There truly is no other. For me, it's always the tbsp measure I reach for. I suppose I'm tricking myself into thinking I'm showing some restraint/ measuring portion control, or some such nonsense. Hah. Maple syrup is hardly a deep dark confession! You can't be ashamed of maple syrup. I mean at least by the table spoon. If you were chugging it out of a two liter soda bottle, MAYBE.

I'll be bad and go slightly off topic for a moment to make a brave confession... ...I didn't hate Kenny Roger's Roasters when it was a common chain. Also, to this day, I still think of that Seinfeld episode where the red neon chicken sign from the KRR drives Kramer and Jerry up the wall.

Yes, I'm sure they will flame broil them. But then they will store them under heat lamps or keep them in warming bins--thus ruining them.

Speaking of Jon Lovitz, his appearances on the cartoon show "The Critic" involved all KINDS of food scenes and references. Almost non-step, since the main character was portrayed as having... food issues, in the Homer Simpson sense. Actually, has there BEEN a 'toon sitcom which HASN'T included at least one major character with a food consumption problem? Peter, on "The Family Guy". Fred on "The Flintstones". Homer Simpson, of course. Lovitz's character on "The Critic". The Robot, Bender, on "Futurama" (drinking problem--close enough!). Okay, maybe "The Jetsons". I can't think of anyone on "The Jetsons".

Ah... of course this topic gives me the opportunity to bump an older topic as a side discussion... The Pan (Shallow) vs. Deep Fried Chicken Debate topic. Although I doubt there are any "takeout chains" who do Pan Frying. At best... you'd be limited to finding individual restaurants who do it.

Wow, that looks... slammin'!

Roy Rogers still exists? I though the last few dozen of them might be gone by now. How about Church's? Never had it, but I know there's a bunch of them. Or in the even poorer areas Kennedy Fried Chicken. Kennedy Fried Chicken seems to only be in neighborhoods which scare me.

Nope. Just 21 dollars and 95 cents!

Why it's a bagel made up to impersonate French Toast! They are far from the only ones, but those criminals at Au Bon Pain seem to serve them. I've occasionally seen them at my local bagel places, since I usally don't frequent Au Bon Pain. Also, it's exactly the kind of crap that Einstein Brothers serves, if I remember right.

Sitcoms seem a bit limited, and inevitably this topic WILL drift to other TV, so I'm changing the topic title from "Your Favorite *Sit-Com* Food Scenes" to "Your Favorite TV Comedy and Drama Food Scenes". I know it's a mouth-full, and I apologize to Pickles for ruining the elegance of the earlier title, but if we don't qualify it somewhat we'll be including... cooking shows. And dudes... South Park has to win hands down for the MOST instances... except maybe for The Simpsons (but then again, The Simpsons examples are so legion we had an entire thread for them). One thing I'd like to ask straight up. Please respect the eGullet.com Copyright & Fair Use Policy when discussing these shows, particularly the 10%/100 words rule when quoting. Summarizing and paraphrasing are our friends! Thanks in advance.

Egg bagels are okay. They aren't a crime like French Toast bagels or Sun-dried tomato bagels or Blueberry. Bagels aren't supposed to be SWEET.

Yeah, sorry. You are right. For some reason it got mixed up in my mind, because I used to have it served all of the time to me in a diner I used to frequent in Virginia.

I doubt it. At least based on the etymology of the word it's not a new concept. Snack.

That's true. A "snack" is an apple. Or Ring Dings. Or Funyuns. I've never had grits as a snack, or hush puppies, or Tums, or collard greens, or Mr. Pibbs, or Snapple (I wonder if the author was confused with Scrapple, which is ANOTHER southern food). Then again if the "irony" of the piece was supposed to be that none of these are actually snacks... then I guess that makes it... not very clever. And a "nosh" is something else entirely.

If he's going for Kansas City instead of North Carolina or Texas, he needs BURNT ENDS. BURNT ENDS, people. Yummy BURNT ENDS. EDIT - Okay, with the word "Texas" in about 30 places on that menu, I suppose the cut of his ribs is the only KC influence.

You have to remember Adam that the Puritans were kicked out of England for having NO SENSE OF HUMOR! Okay, I missed the subtle spelling difference between Dim Sum and Dim Sim. I thought perhaps you'd had a beer too many.

As a point of comparison, Dim Sum is also available in many parts of the U.S., but it's authenticity varies more. It's actually not ALL bad here. As far as the sensitivity (over-sensitivity?) of Americans... it's probably true. Then again, we aren't the French.

ON AVERAGE, Thai has to be the hottest I've had, although I've had individual Korean, Sichuan, and Indian dishes which have blown the top of my head off. Mexican doesn't even come close--at least what I've had. Mind you I've had some fairly hot Mexican, but either "on average" or individually, it's almost always relying on much weaker peppers. The again, if solely based "on average", Korean isn't that hot either--it's only a few individual dishes that blow that trend. Jamaican? I think I just haven't had the right food.

Holy Bayless! That sucks! {That's my attempt to use "Bayless" as a fast-food related swear word.}