jhlurie

Errrr... smell it? Assuming its been refrigerated, wouldn't smoked meat be good for quite a long time? Vacuum re-sealed I'm sure it would last much much longer. I'm grasping at straws. Since he doesn't seem to have seen this why don't you PM Klink?

This is probably for another thread (we have plenty on this issue), but "chain" does not automatically equal either soulless or worthless. Only the ones who are owned by huge corporations, who don't allow individual locations to customize themselves to their neighborhood, who standardize ingredients, who drive entrepreniuers out of local neighborhoods, etc. If the chain is the result of such an entrepreniuer, and is still run in some fashion that reflects this (by decendants, or at least people loyal to retaining the original quality)... so what? Knee-jerk opposition to ownership of multiple locations is as dumb as passively bending to the status quo and eating in a corporate-molded chain out of pure lazyness. Okay, back to disgusing Cafe Du Monde and drunkeness.

The big deal about Cafe Du Monde in the Quarter is that its part of a ritual of debauchery. It's not about the coffee and beignets, its about the coffee and beignets--in the middle of the night--after 5 or 6 hours of heavy drinking. The fact that they franchised themselves? So what? It doesn't affect the core experience of the original, supposing that you are someone who values it. Even the fact that there's likely both better coffee and beignets within a block or two of the original doesn't change the ritual. EDIT - Oh.... Perlow said much the same thing. Except that he packed it in as early as 2AM. I repeat... its not actually about the quality of what you are consuming, although obviously some minimum standard is expected.

King's won't get their white knight. Someone is probably waiting for them to teeter enough to pick them off, sure, but it won't really be in the best interest of the chain I think. Probably the same thing will happen to them as Grand Union. The vultures will pick up their real estate after the corpse doesn't respond anymore to being poked with a stick. A&P and Pathmark really have the strongest hold around here, with Stop & Shop moving in fast.

Probably to distinguish the people who mumble from the people who don't? To take in oxygen? I don't bloody know. Why do some people pause between "Chi" and "cago" and some people don't?

I like Piggly Wiggly only because of the name. Nothing else about them, at least the ones I've been to when in Florida. Really here in the NY/NJ/Conn. area most of the grocery chains (at least the dominant ones) are regional, not national.

As to the pronunciation, isn't it "Louie" - miniscule pause -"Ville"? Althought to think of it, I've also heard it said more like "Lou"-"ville", real fast and all together like that. Forget it. We need a native.

This is a daunting topic, since we've got to be aware of which different chains are actually the same with different names in various regions.

Since I doubt we can find a decent cajun restaurant overall, maybe we can identify individual cajun items around the city which are okay. Delta Grill (700 Ninth Ave.@48th St.) has decent Gumbo, but everything else is mediocre.

Unrealistic, but real -- The wacky Iraqi Information minister, Comical Ali (as opposed to Chemical Ali, the not-so-wacky general). I'd like to ask him if he really believed what he was saying, or whether he saw the humor in those comments too. Real, but still somewhat twilight zonish -- Woody Allen, and for the same reason many people WOULDN'T want to eat with him--to see how weird he really is (or isn't). Mind you I wouldn't try the same with Michael Jackson. Realistic -- Tommy. Wait, I HAVE had dinner with Tommy. Never mind. Dead, and therefore even less realistic -- Isaac Asimov, who'd probably always have something interesting to talk about during dinner. I'd have picked some supermodel or Playboy bunny type as well, but they keep chaging them every few years. Is Yasmeen Bleeth or Camen Elecktra still considered hot, or have we progressed on to other "hot chicks" yet? I've really got to start buying Maxim and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue again to keep up.

I probably never had a really worthy piece of Tofu until I was around 24 or 25. Then again, I'd not eaten much Korean or Japanese food until that age. Years of inferior quality Tofu at American-style Chinese buffets, the Tofu overcooked--and not that good to begin with--almost ruined it for me. I've spent the decade since then making up for it. I like the firmer tofus, the ones that don't turn into mush. Grilled, Korean-style please, along with something spicy. Or in a savory Vietnamese dumpling soup. Or if I have to have it in Chinese food, recently I had some superior Tofu at a Chinese ethnicity Korean noodle restaurant (maybe that's cheating), where they mixed with it with pork bits, onions and black bean sauce and toss it in with noodles. Also, Malysian style, again very spicy. They use Tofu very well too. Okay, I'm not helping the Japanese topic here. I like the TYPE of Tofu in Japanese food, but I think that a few of the other cuisines in the region use it a bit more creatively.

I'll use cast iron for anything that cooks longer or slower, and the stainless for anything quick.

Jason, you had some other pictures of "the Great Sandwich", didn't you? You should post 'em. (I tagged along on this expedition today, and played a nice round of "guess the Lionel Ritchie song" with that crazy vegetable guy. I lost, of course.) Isn't that lil' dead lambie cute? (yes, I know some vegan is currently wishing me to hell for saying that) The dead deer at the end of that case was cute too, but neither Jason nor I could get a good shot because of the glare on the window.

Off topic, but was that a Wolfian excellent or more a Mr. Burnsian version? I mean, since there's never been a version of Wolfe I've really liked on film, I can hear the Burns version much clearer.

What I DON'T love is that its absolute hell to grow yourself.

This is the EXACT same thing that happened to the Yonkers location. Fuck Kenny Rogers and the chicken he rode in on.

True, but its a bit harsh to compare them all to Olive Garden. There may be some genuine 2 starers, although a 3 does seem outright impossible. The continued popularity of "Big Red Tomato" does puzzle me as well, though. I drove by the place regularly for about six years, noticing the large crowds but not going in. Finally, a year or two back I DID go in, and now I'm even more confused. The Pizza King in Abbott Plaza a few blocks away is better and that IS an actual Pizza place.

Pizza Sweet Corn Northern part of New Jersey (aka "Soprano land") its got to be Italian, alternating with Korean food in certain parts.

In other words it tastes nothing like a grapefruit?

For reference purposes only: where this argument has gone before (from the eGullet early days)... Also, the next year, we dug in again. Some good arguments.

I suppose you'll have to wait till New Jersey legislates away the smokiness, Rosie.

Okay, I occasionally pass through Nutley, so I suppose this goes on my list.

Outback yes (its just meat, how much can you mess it up?), Olive Garden... no way. I'm sure we can dredge up some nice "chain restaurant" threads from the past if we want to debate this more.

Rosie, is it possible that the recommendation was actually for Don Quijote in Newark? Don Quijote 248 Mulberry St Newark, NJ 07102-3528 Phone: (973) 643-3996 I've never been... but I seem to recall being told it was decent by other people. There's also a place called "Meson Madrid" right near Don Quijote (the Fairview one), which I seem to recall is just as good or better. Meson Madrid 343 Bergen Boulevard Palisades Park NJ 07650 201-947-1038

Holly, if you DO visit Fink's neighborhood, there's also a place (which I admit I haven't tried) in Hackensack (next town over from River Edge) called "Dog House Grille". Its not far from White Manna, a place I know you know. Dog House Grille 60 River St Hackensack, NJ 07601-7020 Phone: (201) 646-0200 Again, this isn't a recommendation. I know nothing other than the fact that its there. Cubby's--a place I seem to remember that Mr. Perlow liked before Fink's opened--is also in that part of town. Oh, going back to your Jersey Dog page for a second... on your page for Callahan's you might want to mention that there's another location (actually, Callahan's used to be a medium sized franchise... there's probably a book in the story about how the franchise failed and several of the locations were "saved" by the original owners buying them back) The one you haven't been to is at: Callahan's Hot Dogs 146 US Hwy 46 Little Ferry, NJ 07643-1407 Phone: (201) 440-8516 Relatively the same dog you ate though. Probably not worth visiting.