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How about Chengdu 1 on Rt. 23 in Cedar Grove? Outstanding Szechuan food, reasonable prices, large entree portions.

Sometimes you don't know what you have in your own backyard until someone lets you know. I saw a brief article about this place yesterday in The Record, and thought to myself, "Cool, a new hot dog place!" I was shock to find out that this place has actually been open for over a year. This place borders on the surreal. It's a hot dog stand located in a modified rail car, next to some freight railroad tracks. You park on the dirt/stone road next to the tracks. They have a picnic bench or two, and the area has a rural vibe, even though if you look hard the views of traffic on Godwin Ave. and the shops on Central Ave. will remind you you're still in Bergen County. This is the type of place you'd expect to find in way-out Western NJ. Or in Pennsylvania. Upstate New York. Vermont. But in Midland Park?!? Smack dab in the middle of Bergern County suburbia?!? Anyway, this place sells good ol' Sabrett boiled water dogs. And man are they good. They also sell special dogs, which are thicker, and have quite a potent kick to them. I was surprised at how spicy the speicals were, but they were delicious. They sell a few other things too. Of course they have fries, but they also sell chili, soup, nachos, and ice cream. The fries are krinkle cut, and surprisingly good. Amazing Hot Dog has nothing to worry about, but I would say that the fries were a bit better than the ones you get at Goffle Grill or Johnny & Hanges. The chili was also very good. They offer regular and Fire chili. I got the Fire chili, and it was pretty zesty. It had nice big chunks of meat and was quite good. They also offered little cups of cheese and sour cream for the chili (not sure if there was a charge for it, but probably). Total for a regular hot dog and a special dog, both with mustard and kraut, an order of fries, and a large Fire chili (about 16 oz.) was $11. Very fair price. They have quite a few toppings for the dogs. Most are $.20 extra. (I think mustard and ketchup are free, but they charge for just about everything else, including saurkraut.) Still, the prices are very reasonable. The woman running the stand was very nice and friendly, and when i told her I came because I saw the article in the Record, she seemed to be pretty happy and hoped that the article would attract more business. They cater mostly to a lunch crowd, so their hours are pretty limited. But check this place out. They really are great, and when you see them, you won't believe you're in Midland Park. Hot Dog Caboose

WAAAAAAAHAHAHAH! It looks like the Great Great Great Granddaddy of all Chinese buffets, the PuPu Inn in Elmwood Park, is no more. I went there the other night for dinner, and the place looked empty, and "For Rent" signs were in the window. OK, they only had about 20 no-frills items on their buffet. The "atmosphere" basically consisted of benches, tables, and walls. Parking was rough. But the food was good (including the best fried noodles and cheese toasts EVER), it was easy to get out quick, and the prices were dirt cheap. ($4.95 for lunch, $6.50 for dinner. I don't think they every increased the prices since they've been in existence.) I know, they're a blast from the past, but I loved 'em. They used to have locations in Bloomfield and Clifton, but they both disappeared years ago. The Elmwood Park location was the last one, I believe. There also used to be a nearly identical restaurant in West Paterson in the strip behind the Pizza Hut called BoBo Inn. Do any of these old school buffets exist anymore? I love the good fancier buffets, but sometimes I want a $5 buffet lunch that I can eat in 20 or 30 minutes, without any of the frills, and food right out of the early 1980s. And does anyone know what happened to PuPu? They were there for a long time. I know there was an attempted robbery there a few months ago, I wonder if this affected their decision to close down. I'm really bummed right now.

I went back this morning, not for the free breakfast, but simply to get some more good stuff. What a zoo. The ENTIRE front end was jammed with people wating on a huge line for the breakfast. The bakery and deli were inaccessible. Are people in Oakland that desperate for a free breakfast? I took one look at the crowds and immediately muscled my way back outside. I'll go another day.

I took a ride up to this place today, after planning to go to Maywood Market. I was not expecting too much. I figured it would be another super highbrow store with super highbrow prices and so-so stuff. I was pleasantly surprised. They have some decent stuff here, and some things were very good deals. They had honeydews for $.99. I also got some smoked gouda with herbs, which I think was around $3.99 a pound. The cheese section was limited, but what was there looked good and reasonably priced. The deli had pretty good sale prices: $5.99 for Virginia ham, $4.99 for turkey breast, $3.99 for Boar's Head provolone. I didn't see many prepackaged prepared meals, but they did have a very nice salad bar with all items $5.99 per pound. The highlights were some very good stuffed grape leaves and a delicious cold ditali pasta salad made with sundried tomatoes and I think some very finely chopped mozzarella and herbs. This was similar to a fantastic penne pasta with sundried tomato and mozzarella salad we used to make when I worked for Grand Union. Delicious, although that GU salad will always be the champ in my mind. I got some sushi, which I would say was comparable in price and quality to decent supermarket sushi. They had a nice combo pack of nigiri style eel and eel rolls for around $6.99. I also got a Kit-Kat brownie, which was around $2.49. This may have been the most unique and possibily the best brownie I ever had. The brownine literally had Kit-Kat like wafers baked throughout the pastry, and a great chocolate flavor. I devoured it. They had some nice looking cakes, but full cakes were pretty expensive. I got a couple of slices for $2.49 each. There are a few problems with the place. Although it looks very nice inside, the aisles are very narrow and criss-cross. There are also some pretty stacked displays of glass and other fragile items on the corners of the aisles. It's hard to see people coming from the other direction when you're heading the opposite way from them. The crowd was moderate when I went, and I still had to slow down every time I came to an intersection to make sure I didn't crash into anyone. When the place gets really busy, a crash into one of the displays will almost definitely happen. Also, most of the staff seemed pretty indifferent. There wasn't a whole lot of enthusiasm, friendliness, or customer-oriented service evident. When I went to check out, there was only one register open, and the line, even though it moved at a pretty good clip, got long. Finally, a kid cleaning shelves came to open a second register just as it was my turn, but five employees must have seen the one register and the long line. Overall, I would say that the prices and the highbrow factor fall smack dab in the middle of Maywood Market and Market Basket. The prices on most items won't have Maywood quaking in their boots anytime soon, but they are quite a bit cheaper for most items than the Market Basket. The crowd seemed to be quite a bit more casual than the typical Market Basket crowd too, but still quite a distance away from Maywood's mostly blue-collar crowd. I will definitely come back. They do need to redo some of their displays and give their staff a good pep talk, but I liked what I saw and thought most of the prices were fair. There was plenty of parking too, unlike Maywood Market, where you may be taking your life into your hands during busy times trying to find a spot in their tiny lot. But Maywood Market's still the best overall. P.S. Zeytinia is having their official grand opening on 9/15/07. They will be having a complimentary buffet breakfast.

Here's a second for Zaide's. I've never been a huge fan of kosher bakeries (and the horrible Royal Bake Shop that Zaide's replaced did nothing to change my mind in that area), but this one struck gold. Their danishes are the best I ever had, and each one can give you two generous servings. Their dairy offerings are extremely limited (the danishes are dairy) but their parve cakes are quite good for parve, and as tkrongold said, the breads are also very good. They do gangbusters business, so get there early to get the best selection. Prices on most items are fair for a kosher bakery. Check them out! As far as delis/restaurants, Petak's is indeed excellent, but about a mile and a half away just over the FL border is the Kosher Nosh in Glen Rock. I prefer them to Petak's but they are a bit more expensive. (And Petak's ain't cheap to begin with.) But both places are outstanding. There's also a kosher restaurant on River Road in Fair Lawn called Perfect Pita that I have been dying to try. I've heard good things about them. They serve a lot of Middle Eastern style dishes in addition to the pitas. I don't know too much about the kosher restaurant scene in Teaneck, but I'm sure some other people can chime in here!

In my mind, the legality of the argument is not what has merit here; the business logic of the lawsuit is what is BAD. It's more than mileage, it's the logistics of this part of Bergen County. The Fort Lee Fairway has little to lose and a lot to gain from a store of the caliber of Fairway NY opening in Paramus. The one in Ft Lee, no matter how long it's been there, has a following mainly in the surrounding towns. Hardly anybody outside of a 5 mile distance has ever heard of the place! So, while the Ft Lee place may be well known and appreciated in Ft Lee, Cliffside, Pal Pk, and Leonia, that's about 95% of its customers. The residents of Bergen living outside of these towns rarely venture into them to shop because of congestion, poor roads, high traffic, little parking, and a much more urbanized environment than in the rest of the county. So any runoff from even a fallacious association with the 2 places would only benefit the Ft Lee place, not vice-versa. So they, IMHO, should save their money, forget about the lawyers and their fees, and chill. ← Menton, thank you for expressing my exact thoughts (and probably the thoughts of many others) on this situation. You hid the nail right on the head. I enjoy venturing all over Bergen County, but I don't venture into Fort Lee and the surrounding area for the exact reasons you mention. I just can't take the traffic and lack of parking. I understand the Fort Lee Fairway market is a small family owned business, and they may have an oportunity to get some $$$ out of this, but I agree that it is highly unlikely that they will lose any business when the Paramus Fairway opens. They'll probably reach a settlement.

I see that buried among all the planned South Jersey and Eastern PA locations, is a planned franchise location in Hawthorne for us North Jerseyans. Menu is basic, but looks good. I'm looking forward to this place!

They do the buffet every day, but Sunny has told me the weekday menu is more limited. I have always gone on the weekends. I think it's $8.95 during the week, and $10.95 on weekends. Elmwood Park and a few other towns bordering Passaic County get their water from the Passaic Valley Water Commission, so they were not affected by the lightning strike at United Water. (They need to fix this already!!!)

The other night, I was watching a special on PBS about farmers' markets across the country. (It was called To Market, to Market, to Buy a Fat Pig. The markets featured in the show were BIIIG. No little bitty markets like Ridgewood featured in this program. Several of the markets featured in the program were huge indoor farmers' markets. These places were huge, with dozens of vendors in a variety of categories: seafood, meats, baked goods, and of course, fruits and vegetables. The foods presented looked like they were of high quality. One market featured was in Baltimore, another one was in Lancaster, PA. While I was watching the special, I thought to myself, "Man, it would be great if we had places like that here!" So, do we have any places like those here in NJ, especially Northern NJ? The only place I could think of that even remotely resembles these markets is Corrado's in Clifton, and although I like Corrado's, it's about as far from"upscale" as you can get. I'm wondering if we have any similar places that are a bit fancier (for lack of a better term), but of course, I don't want to go bankrupt either. So, any thoughts? I really don't feel like driving 5 hours to Lancaster! (Although I'm tempted!)

It's time to revive this thread! Bhoj is a wonderful find, and if you haven't been here yet, you don't know what you're missing. We need to get the word out so that we can ensure they'll be with us for many years. I hit the lunch buffet this afternoon. Thank goodness Elmwood Park wasn't affected by the boil water order in effect for most of Bergen County, as this forced the closure of quite a few restaurants over the weekend. However, this most likely had an impact on business for Bhoj, because the restaurant was nearly empty today. (The first time I have seen it like this.) Bhoj's lunch buffet is great. Everything is delicious, but the chicken tikka masala, dosas, chicken tandori, and mango chutney are my favorites. The naan is also fantastic. Today, they tried out a new dish: shredded cabbage in a very spicy red sauce. I'm not a huge cabbage eater, but this was very good. They also featured a very good rice pudding today. It was very sweet, with slivered almonds. While scooping the pudding into a bowl, I found a cinnamon stick the size of a log in the bowl. I love cinnamon, so this was neat to see. It added great flavor, but was not overpowering. Bhoj knows how to strike just the right balance between seasoning/spice/heat and flavor. Their food is spicer than most other places, but that makes it better! The kick is there without becoming overpowering or uncomfortable to eat for most people. (Of course, some foods run spicier than others.) Sunny, the owner, is a great man. He is very friendly, and his first priority is to make sure you're happy. He treats you like a friend, whether you've come in for the first time or whether you're a veteran. He was a little bummed out about the slow business today, but hopefully things will pick up next week. If you haven't been here yet, or you know people who love Indian food who don't know about this place, please tell them. Great food, great prices, a great staff, and no problems with parking make this one of Bergen County's true hidden gems. Why go to Ridgewood and spend an hour looking for parking, and pay double the price for food that isn't as good? Check this fantastic place out instead.

After months of promising, I told my brother I'd take him down to Amazing Hot Dog for lunch. Drove down there, only to realize they're closed on Sundays for the summer! So, I told him about Chengdu 1 and we headed down Route 23. What a great great meal. We got the Dan Dan noodles and wontons in red oil for appetizers, and for entrees I got the drypan lamb and he got sauteed lamb. Bot dishes were amazing. Not only was the drypan lamb a MASSIVE portion, but it was absolutely delicious. As Mzrb stated, the dish was full of flavors and "stuff": cellophane noodles, peppers, and a yummy, super spicy sauce. The dish was served in a steel pan over a flame. Very cool. I had plenty left over for dinner. My brother's lamb was a bit more plain, but still delicious. Very tender meat and well-seasoned, but mild. He ate the whole thing. They gave us a "family style" bowl of rice to accompany the entrees. Total for the whole shebang was $35, before tip. What a wonderful wonderful restaurant. Easily worth the 15 mile or so trip from Fair Lawn. If you haven't tried this place yet, go soon. You won't be disappointed.

When I went in the afternoon, there were only two other customers there, but it took about 15 minutes to prepare the food. I think he prepares the food to order, at least as much as he can. They have bar chairs at tables and a small bench for waiting. It was worth the wait for me!

While our friends at Bourbon BBQ have been getting most of the attention lately, another barbecue place has also opened in Haledon. It's called CC's Barbecue Pit, and it's located at 527 Belmont Ave. in Haledon. They're located in a working-class section of Haledon, kind of off the beaten path. But they're worth seeking out. The place is very old school. They're in an old building which was probably a house at one time. Inside, the place looks like a neighborhood 'cue joint you'd find in the South in the 1950s. Definitely a blast from the past. There are a few small tables with bar-like chairs in the restaurant, but the place is definitely geared more for takeout. Their menu is comparable to Bourbon's. They offer the staples: brisket, pulled pork, barbecue wings, etc., and the usual sides: slaw, beans, mac & cheese, fries, and mashed potatoes. For a first visit, I kept it simple: I ordered a brisket platter. The platter comes with two sides and a corn muffin. I got beans and mac & cheese for sides. The cost was $12.95, which was fair for the amount of food. The brisket was delicious. Very tender. It actually reminded me more of a smoked pot roast, but it was absolutely yummy. The beef was covered with a very good barbecue sauce. The beans were very good also. No frills, but the sauce was thick and flavorful. No chunks of meat like at Bourbon, but they were still very good. And now for the highlight: the mac and cheese was absolutely delicious, the best I've had from a restaurant in a while. Baked, nice and dry, with nice cheese flavor and perfectly cooked pasta all the way through. I would come back to this place just to get the macaroni and cheese, that's how good it was. So overall, it was an excellent meal, and I am DEFINITELY returning here. I can't wait to try the pork and some other interesting things, such as BBQ nachos made with the pork. Parking can be a bit tricky, because the road forks in front of the place, and there are only a few space in front of the place, but there was parking on the next street. It's a steep street though, so put your emergency brake on. I can't wait to return!

I was thinking this too, but I was afraid to say anything. It's very rare that I have any problems with restaurants, but I'd like to think that if there was a (legitimate) problem, the owners/managers would offer to make things right.

The problem, especially in Northern NJ, is we have too many people in too small an area, and the infrastructures of our small towns cannot support our populations. Ridgewood is bad, but Montclair is much worse to me. Bloomfield Ave. is a nightmare, and although I hit restaurants in Montclair every once in a while, I usually avoid the area simply because the traffic and parking problems are so bad. Ditto with Ridgewood, although I think you have more of a fighting chance to get a parking spot there. Any town in this area with a decent downtown - Ridgewood, Montclair, Westwood, Ramsey, Englewood, etc. has major traffic problems. Too many people driving too big cars, and not enough space to hold everyone. I also find that many of the restaurants in these towns feel they have to jack up prices to be viewed as "fancy" and/or to pay the insanely high rents charged in towns like Ridgewood or Montclair. Sure, I go to fancy restaurants every once in a while, but I far prefer more casual restaurants where I get more bang for my buck. There are lots of good restaurants in blue collar towns off the beaten path. No, they may not be in a "restaurant row", but they usually provide good food for about 1/3 - 1/2 of what you'd pay in Ridgewood or Montclair. Plus it's usually much easier to get parking, and you won't have to fuss with reservations or waiting an hour for tables. I'm certainly not a restaurant expert or a professional chef like many others on this board, but it seems to me that if you have an interesting and different concept for a restaurant, and you charge fair prices for the cuisine, you will do well. For example, I went to Minado in Little Ferry for lunch yesterday. (I know, I know... A BUFFET?!? Blasphemous!) The restaurant is next to a small little motel, in one of the tougher towns in Bergen County, and not really close to a lot of other restaurants. Every time I go into the place, no matter what time I go, it is INSANELY busy. (And a very large crowd of Asian-Americans is always at the Little Ferry location too, which tells me the food must be pretty good and authentic.) Why? Because there's nothing else like it in the area, the food is great, and the price, while quite a bit more than the price you'd pay for the typical Chinese buffet, is quite reasonable considering the variety and the quality of the food. There are some very good restaurants in Ridgewood and Montclair, but too many charge too much money for what you get, and too many are too alike to lots of other restaurants. Plus, the parking and traffic situations in both towns are maddening. I'm not sure how that problem can be solved.

I dropped by this place last week at lunch time for some take out. And let me say, I was impressed. I ordered the Dan Dan noodles, the wotons in red oil, and hot and sour soup. The Dan Dan noodles and the spicy wontons were both amazing, and unlike anything I've had at other Chinese restaurants. The portion of the wontons was a bit small, but it was made up for by the very large portion of Dan Dan noodles. I guess they're both considered appetizers, so they were only like $3.95 each. The hot and sour soup was good, but nothing revolutionary. The broth was nice and thick though. I would definitely return here for a sit down dinner. The menu is pretty extensive and prices are very good on most items. I hope they do well. I also think it's kind of funny that Eric mentioned that he thinks Chinese restaurants tend to do one dish well. I have more experience with take out Chinese joints than the sit down Chinese restaurants, but I noticed the same thing with the take out joints. Each place seems to do one dish better than any other place. Here in Fair Lawn, there's a very successful take out Chinese retaurant called Man Hing. They're very good overall, but their best dish is their boneless ribs. There's another joint on Broadway (I forget the name of it) that does excellent pork lo mein. When I lived in Waldwick, there was a great hole-in-the-wall take out place called Lee Garden. Again, very good overall, but they have one unique dish that I have never found anywhere else. They simply call it "Chicken and Shrimp in Brown Sauce", and offer it only as a combo platter. This dish gets my vote as one of the best take-out Chinese restaurant dishes ever. It's simply boneless chicken and shrimp (nice big pieces too!) in a brown sauce with a lot of heat (they'll tone it down if you ask them). I still drive up there every once in a while to get this dish. It absolutely rocks! They also do a very cool cheap fried shrimp appetizer. Not big pieces, but they give you a lot (about 20 pieces or so) and it's only like $4.00. If you live near here though, you have to try the chicken & shrimp in brown sauce!

A wicked illness has keep me house confined to my apartent for most of the past week, so I couldn't make it to the grand opening yesterday, but I asked my brother to go today and pick us up some lunch, and he was cool enough to do so. We got a pound of brisket, a pound of pork, and sides of mac & cheese, cole slaw, and baked beans. So, here's my thoughts: The meats were both excellent. Both were very tender and flavorful, without being overly spiced. We both thought the brisket was slightly better than the pork but both were wonderful. They were served piled high with slices of white bread, onions, and pickle slices on the side. The meats were both served with sides of the bourbon barbecue sauce, which was very good, but it is spicy for a barbecue sauce. I loved it, but those who can't handle spicy sauces may want to go easy on this. I didn't catch a whole lot of bourbon flavor, but the sauce was still excellent. The beans were outstanding as well. Very flavorful, with a nice maple flavored sauce and nice big shreds of the aformentioned pork and brisket can be found throughout, and not a lot of other junk. Some of the best retaurant beans I've had. The one miss was the macaroni and cheese. I am a fan of nice, dry, baked macaroni and cheese. With nice brown bits throughout and hints of mustard and cayenne. There are some good "wet" macaroni and cheeses out there, but none compare to the best baked ones, IMHO. (Although Picnic in Emerson does a very good "wet" macaroni & cheese.) The macaroni & cheese came in a regular styrofoam cup with a regular drink cover. The macaroni was covered in a fairly gloppy cheese sauce. It was OK and the sauce had OK flavor, but I was so hoping for a good dry baked macaroni and cheese. If you like this type of mac & cheese, you'll probably enjoy it. But there are much better version out there, both wet & dry. I don't eat cole slaw, but I asked my brother what he thought of it. He said he thought it was OK, but nothing spectacular. I thought it looked pretty decent for a cole slaw. Drier than most. My brother said the place was very busy and the staff was frenzied, but I guess that's to be expected on opening day. All the food cost $34. A little bit more than I'm used to spending on take out, but it was a ton of food, and of great quality overall. So, overall, it was a very good lunch. These guys do the most important things, the 'cue, very very well. I do hope they'll work on that macaroni & cheese though. It's been a few years since I enjoyed Fink's but I have to get up there soon so I can do a true comparison. But overall, I'm glad these guys are here, and I'm sure things will improve as time goes on.

The grand opening is set for July 1, according to the website. They also have a takeout menu posted online: Link The menu seems a bit limited, but what's there looks good, and thank goodness the prices seem reasonable. Hopefully they'll add some nice flavored wings like Fink used to have. I'm looking forward to this place, as a decent barbecue place in Bergen County has been hard to come by since Fink's closed a few years ago. I can't wait!

I saw this article yesterday too, and thought to myself, "Great. Another yuppie supermarket requiring you to pay for your groceries with a mortgage or rent payment." But just for kicks, I went to their website to see if they had an online flyer. They do. And I was very impressed. Good looking stuff, very reasonable prices. Now I'm excited too! It would be great if they could put a "zipper" sign on the front of the store, but it probably won't happen. Here's a link to the Plainview store's online flyer: Fairway Market Online Flyer They'll probably have a massive grand opening sale too. That means lots of bargains! As Menton said, Welcome to Paramus and NJ, Fairway!

Although I don't live near this area, on nights when I have to stay late at work I go to J.P. Lee's in Milliburn (318 Millburn Avenue) which is a Mongolian stir-fry place. Very friendly for everyone. I've seen lots of kids here, and they seem to love making their own stir-fry bowls, loading them up with meats, noodles, and veggies. It's a lot of fun, you can control what you eat, the place is very clean and the staff and owner are great. Reasonably priced too, it's $11.95 for dinner for adults, and probably cheaper for kids. Dinner is all-you can-eat. They do lunch too, but it's one trip to the stir-fry. They also have a small Chinese buffet, peel & eat shrimp, and a few very no-frills sushi rolls, which are OK, but not great. The shrimp, and some items on the buffet, like the crab rangoons, are very good. But the attraction here is the stir-fry. I love it! I wish he'd build another store in Bergen County! Wild Noodles has taken a bashing from a lot of people here and elsewhere, but I like it. I thought the food was good and the portions were generous. They closed the one in Ridgewood near where I live (no parking, and really not high fallutin' enough for Ridgewood's Restaurant Row), but they're building some others around the state. I hope to get there again. Also, although I'm sure they're not related, there used to be a pizzeria called Pronto on Route 4 in Paramus where the Wendy's is now. They were great. They used to make the best personal pies for us kiddies, and they were like $2.00 each. The pizza there was very good, and the place looked like a product of its time, like an old school 70s pizzeria. They must've closed sometime in the late 80s. If I knew there was another pizzeria making the same pizza, I would definitely make a trip.

My brother and I had to visit a family friend in Randolph today, so we figured we should stop by this place. We had eaten dinner at our friend's house, but we had to try this place. Let me tell you... this may be the best restaurant find since... well, maybe ever! The place is modest but very clean and comfortable inside. The menu has a staggering variety of empanadas. Most are $2.50 to $3.50 in price. We each got a 5 sausage & lime empananda and shared a third heaven (chicken, beef and shrimp). They were absolutely delicious. And, a plus for me, NO ONIONS! (As others have said they can't stand olives, I can't stand onions, although I can tolerate limited amounts incorporated into items in certain types of food, like salsas or tomato sauces.) We also split a chocolate hazelnut empanada for dessert. This was oozing chocolate and real chopped hazelnuts. Yum! To wash everything down, we got a mango milkshake. It was $4.50 for a very generous pitcher. It was very good, although it could have been a bit sweeter. Still, it was excellent. I will DEFINITELY DEFINITELY DEFINITELY return here. Even if you live far away, it's worth the trip. The food is delicious, the staff is very friendly, and they charge 1982 prices for most items. Get yourself over here ASAP. You won't be disappointed.

It's been a while since someone has talked about the Chinese buffets around Northern NJ, so I thought this would be a good topic to start a new discussion off. Bon Buffet was probably the first all inclusive buffet in the Bergen County area. PuPu Inn in Elmwood Park has been around longer, but PuPu Inn offers only basic Chinese food staples. It is still a great place to go for a good, dirt-cheap Chinese buffet lunch, but it is just the basics. Bon Buffet changed all that when they opened, and they offered a wide variety of soups, salads, American and Chinese entrees, a carving station, and desserts. When they started out, probably around 1992 or 1993, they were fantastic. But over the years, they gradually got worse and worse, and eventually, they shut down. Well, Bon Buffet is open again. And this is not the old Bon Buffet. This is a completely new restaurant despite keeping the same name. And the new Bon Buffet is pretty bon. The place is very different inside. The lighting, the seating arrangements, and the buffet stations are completely new. Yesterday was their first day open, and word got out fast. The place was very busy. OK, on to the food. The regular stations seem to have the typical Chinese and American dishes. Salt and pepper shrimp, lo mein, and General Tso's chicken were comparable to other reasonably good Chinese buffets, but I wouldn't say they were outstanding. The American offerings were very tasty. They had some chicken parmigiana and chicken francaise that were both very tasty, and a tray full of linguine that was cooked perfectly. There were some salads, and about eight kinds of soup, which I didn't get a chance to try. So, what sets this place apart? Well, they have an oyster bar. Raw oysters are not my thing, but these oysters looked fresh and tasty and were well-iced. If I was a raw oyster person, I would have definitely tried some. They also have a sushi station. And the sushi here is the best I have had at a traditional Chinese-based buffet. They had a chef constantly preparing rolls. There wasn't a huge variety, but what they had was very good. Not quite Minado, but far better than the sushi at other tradtional buffets. They had eel, tuna, and salmon nigiri style, and the pieces of fish on these were HUGE and of good quality. They also had quite a few rolls, many with avocado, which I love. If they can keep up the quality of the sushi station, they will do well. They have a small grilling section, where they prepare ribs and other grilled meats. They had chicken teriyaki and ribs, and some other things I can't remember. I didn't get a chance to try the chicken teriyaki, but it looked good. I tried a rib, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Not too much meat and a bit tough. They also have stir-fry (YES)! No giant round wok, they prepare it on a traditional grill. They had the usual assortments of meats and veggies, lo mein noodles, about 4 sauces, garlic, and chili paste. The sauces weren't labeled, so I just put one scoop of each on my plate with some garlic and chili paste. And it was delicious. Stir-fry is my favorite, so this is a selling point for me. The one miss was in the dessert category. They had a few cakes and cookies out, but they weren't so great. The piece of golden cake I had was pretty dry. The ice cream was a bit grainy, which makes me wonder if they're using the same machine as the old Bon Buffet, which also had grainy ice cream. It was OK, but other places have much better ice cream. They also had some jello, fruit, and chocolate pudding. Still, overall, it was a very good meal, and they did a very nice job renovating the place. I would definitely return, and hopefully they'll improve as they work out their opening kinks. They're more expensive than the old place, (it was $15.95 for dinner on a Saturday, but they're having a 20% off grand opening special for a couple of weeks I think), but overall, the food is of much better quality. It's worth $15.95 just for the sushi and the stir-fry. While on the subject of buffets, I also recently rediscovered Dynasty Buffet in Saddle Brook. They are also very good, especially for dinner. I hate that the place is always insanely busy, but they make some good stuff. They seem to have a little more variety of American dishes than most other places (including some pretty decent potato skins), and the Chinese offerings are comparable to other buffets. The sushi is pretty good too, but the new Bon Buffet has them beat by a mile. Dynasty Buffets really excels with their grilling stations and desserts. Their chicken teriyaki is delicious, and the prime rib and barbecued ribs are very good too. The duck is absolutely the best I've had at a buffet. Perfectly cooked and nice and meaty. Their selection of desserts is the best I've seen at a traditional buffet, too. Delicious creme brulee, tiramisu, cheesecake, carrot cake, and ice cream. The weekday buffet seems to be the same as the weekend buffet, but it's a few bucks cheaper. (I think it's like $14.99 during the week and $16.99 during the weekend.) If you can put up with the crazy crowds, you'll have a good meal here. So, stir-fry and sushi or duck and desserts? Decisions, decisions... Both the new Bon Buffet and Dynasty Buffet are very good, and well above average compared to other typical buffet places. They're a little bit more expensive, but worth it for the better quality of food. Although PuPu Inns $4.95 lunch and $6.50 dinners are still great values too, when you want a good, quick, cheap no-frills Chinese meal! Grand Buffet in Ramsey is good, but they're starting to show their age. Hot foods are good, but they don't have the variety of the newer places. They are a little cheaper though. Of course, Minado is still my absolute favorite buffet, hands down, but it's too expensive to go there on a regular basis! And the crowds there make Dynasty Buffet look deserted. What other good buffets are there around Northern NJ?

Welcome! They're my favorite cookies too. You'll have more luck posting in the NYC boards, as this forum focuses on NJ (with a heavy emphasis on Northern NJ). I can't help you with locations in Manhattan, but for those interested in where to find these cookies here in Jersey the Shop-Rite in Ramsey has them fairly often (although less often recently) and my "Best Bang for the Buck" bakery has them regularly, Belmont Bakery in North Haledon. Also, be careful, as more and more shops seem to be selling what I call "fake" rainbow cookies. These are not marzipan, but more like Italian cookies. They're OK, but the marzipan ones blow them out of the water. These cookies tend to have only three layers (as opposed to the 5-7 layers usually found in the marzipan cookies), and the colors tend to be much brighter than the marzipan cookies. When I go to a store and they tell me they have rainbow cookies, I always ask, "REAL ones"? Sometimes the Shop-Rite in Ramsey sells the "fake" ones. Belmont Bakery always has the real ones. Also, for those looking for high-end pastries, I agree with those who recommended Patisserie St. Michel in Teaneck. They're expensive, but they make the best pastries in the area, hands down. They're nice folks too, and they always give you samples!

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. I ended up going to Manhattan Bagel in Elmwood Park (I never knew they were there!) to get some jalapeno cheddar bagels. The kids enjoyed them! As for me, I thought they were OK, but nothing like a quality local Jersey joint. I've been to Bernie's in Allendale several times before too. OK bagels, but great muffins there, and they're a bit more expensive than most other places. (I guess it costs beaucoup $$$ to rent a store in a zillionaire's town like Allendale.) Nobody makes a bagel like Hot Bagels on Saddle River Road in Fair Lawn though, but sadly there's no possibility of getting jalapeno bagels there!