jb_973

I have one of those new-fangled super automatics. With beans in the top of the machien, and water in the tank, just press a button and you have a nice cup of espresso with a good crema on top. I realize that these machines are classed as sacrilegious in certain coffee-drinking quarters, however, being the newbie barista that I am, this machine turns out a great shot of coffee with minimal fuss... With all that said, is your Krups a blade grinder or a burr grinder?

I picked up an 'emergency can' from Whole Foods yesterday for $12.99 - I had just run out and needed to ensure my espresso fix was fulfilled this morning I've never been to Beans before - will have to check them out at some point in the future. I noticed that they are mentioned on the Illy USA site as an official retailer. Jason

Thanks - I'll check out Kings and Whole Foods for a can. I hadn't thought about searching eBay - will take a look there as well. Thanks again, Jason

Where's a good (i.e. reasonably-priced) place in Essex county to buy the cans of Illy Medium Roast Whole Beans? Thanks! Jason

Here's a quick list off the top of my head: Moghul - 1655 Oak Tree Road - Upscale, pretty consistently good dining - they run a decent lunch buffet, however the dinner service has some amazing food Malgudi - 1671 Oak Tree Road (hidden behind Dunken Donuts) - This has become a recent favorite for our office. They do a really good, reasonably priced buffet, with a wide variety of dishes (including tandoori, goat curry, chicken biryani) Moghul Express - 1670 Oak Tree Road - Fast-food like place for Dosas and Indian-Chinese-Thai cuisine. Also a good spot for Mithai (sweets) - I love their kalakand. Swagath - 1700 Oak Tree Road - Great south indian (vegetarian) food - I love going there when the weather is a bit cooler. They serve a small cup of this tomato-based soup at the beginning of your lunch, which has a good kick to it! Hope this helps! Jason

I had a pretty decent meal at the Indian restaurant up near Whole Foods - it is the place on the opposite side of the road, however I can't remember the name right now. Also Sapphire in East Hanover runs a good buffet (yes, I realize that this is just outside the Essex County border . That said, I have to admit that I usually try and stave off my Indian food cravings until I am down near my office (Iselin, a stones throw from Oak Tree Road, otherwise known as the New Jersey epicenter of good Indian restaurants). A quick 30 minute drive down there pays off with some great food.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. In the end we went to The Old Trout in Thame, a few miles off the M40 at Junction 7. This worked out great - they had a table set up for us in a room aside from the main dining room. Food was well prepared, price was right, and the service was friendly. While they did not have a specific children's menu, they easily handled the needs of our friend's four year old son. Jason

Ever since my first post on the topic (right at the top of this thread), I have actually become a fan of the Star Tavern pie. Yes, it does need a few napkins to soak up the grease, and yes, you really want to eat it at the place, rather than getting takeout, but when you do those two things, the slices go down real easy. A note on the takeout point - Frederici's down in Freehold typically puts their take-out pizzas in a large brown paper bag, rather than a pizza box. This seems to improve the 'travelability' of the pizza, so that the crust is still pretty crispy by the time you get it home. We pick up a pie or two from there when we're visiting our friends who live in that town. The only downside to this is that the top of the bag does get greasy, so you have to be a bit careful how you handle it. Jason

Thanks for the heads-up... I was hoping that this place would have a dependable menu option, as it would be nice to have something local. If I find myself in there, maybe I should try the dish ejebud had! On that note, Reggianos, a few doors down from Fortissimo always seems to have a packed parking lot. Certainly a lot more traffic than Wish ever had. I hear this is more 'fine dining' than casual. Also, Primavera in the Wilshire Hotel is not too far a stroll, and I have still yet to go there. Jason

Hi, I will be visiting friends in the UK, and we have planned to meet up for lunch on a Saturday. There will be about 10 of us, including one young child. As some of these friends live in the Reading / Maidenhead area, while others live up in the Redditch area, we thought that it would make sense to find some mid-point off the M40. Places like Banbury, Bicester, and Oxford have sprung to mind, but none of us really know the restaurants / family pubs in that area that would be a good fit for a group of our size (and child-friendly). I'm also at a disadvantage that I currently live in the US, and haven't been to that area of the UK in over ten years, so I really have no idea Does anyone have any recommendations for a good, informal place for lunch that takes reservations for a group? Thanks! Jason

Hey - I am so glad to see a review of Fortissimo. This place is walking distance from my house. I've gone past it so many times, but still have yet to pay it a visit. Will definitely have to stop in there sometime soon!

After reading this thread earlier in the week, I have had a hankering for Pho the past few days! So, this evening my wife and I went for our first trip to Little Saigon. What can I say? The Pho was absolutely delicious. I would concur that the broth has a intense flavor, one that I enjoyed so much I had to finish it all! My wife decided to go for the cubed beef (Bu Luc Lac? apologies my my non-existent Vietnamese language skills). That was great as well, the beef being well seasoned and cooked to perfection. Soft, tender, and packed full of flavor. No complaints about the service, although it did take a little bit of time for my wife to get her drink. I look forward to paying Little Saigon a repeat visit. Jason

Hmm... having some friends around on Saturday, so I think it is going to be some ribs done on the smoker, with some Best's hot dogs done on the grill. Backed up with some homemade potato salad, and washed down with Stella Artois

coughy - is Sweet Basil open again for lunch? I heard a while back that it was only doing catering. This would be great, as I live pretty close to there.

Shmily, Welcome to eGullet - my wife and I moved to West Orange a little over two years ago. There are some really great restaurants around here - Montclair has a wide variety offering different types of cuisine (French, Italian, Thai, Southern, Caribbean, Ethopian - the list goes on), and there are plenty of other good places in the other surrounding towns. Is there any particular type of restaurant/cuisine you're looking for? Jason

hitmanoo - what are the prices like?

Moghul Express has some good sweets - their kalakand is great!

hitmanoo - you can find an old thread about Lisboa BBQ here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...48534&hl=lisboa

Ok - I finally made it to Amazing Hot Dog. Took my wife there for lunch today - after some serious perusing of the menu, and some suggestions from Eric, we both got an 'Amazing' (bacon wrapped dog) with a generous scoop of chili on top. Great stuff - the dogs were delicious, and the fries were awesome (love double cooked fries!) I will definitely be going back - the menu has sparked my tastebuds' curiousity - I think I'll shoot for a My Schmeiro next time! Jason

Right now I have a windowbox full of Cayenne pepper plants growing in my kitchen, next to a pot of 6-week old lavendar plants grown from seed. The only question I have is when should I move the pepper plants outside - any suggestions? Thanks

Over the weekend I noticed that Bella Vita in West Orange, the casual Italian dining restaurant at the space previously inhabited by Wish (and, prior to that, Primavera), has changed its name once again - now known as 'Reggiano's'. I believe it is still casual Italian Dining, although I haven't had a chance to check it out yet. Anyone know the scoop on why this changed so quickly? I didn't even get a chance to check it out when it was Bella Vita.

Add me to the list of Front Street fans... After a long day at work on Friday, I decided to pay a trip, along with a coworker of mine (who is also a big BBQ fan), to the Front Street Smokehouse. Phil introduced himself, and gave us a bit of background about the place. I told him that I had read a number of good things online, and he instantly said 'eGullet?' We started off with a plate of the hot sausage appetizer - delicious, with a nice bit of barbeque dipping sauce. For entrees, we got the pulled pork platter and the beef brisket platter - both absolutely awesome. Pulled Pork was tasty, but my favorite was the brisket - juicy and packed full of flavor. Sides were the slaw, beans, red potato salad, and the sweet potato fries. I especially liked the red cabbage slaw, and the fries were great - especially when used to sop up the remaining juice from the brisket. All-in-all, a good dining experience. Service was great, and I definitely see a return visit in the not too distant future. Jason

Rosie, Unfortunately none of the other diners near our table had the family size platter - however, my wife's Ravoli was served on what could have been a family size plate. If so, I would guess that the family size servings would probably be plenty for a few people (with the caveat that this is pretty much a wild guess!) Jason

A quick review - my wife and I just came back from having dinner at Giambotta. Overall it was a pretty good experience. They valet park, which, given the size of their parking lot, is not too much of a surprise. On entering the building (past a pretty sturdy wooden door), you are confronted with a set of stairs leading up to a hostess desk, and a door to the side. Unfortunately, nothing really indicates what is what, so we had a bit of a conversation up the stairs to the hostess at the top, who indicated that while the upstairs dining room had closed (we arrived a little after 9pm), we could be seated in the downstairs dining room, through the aforementioned door. Our waiter for the night was good - very attentive (but not intrusively so), and we were quickly set up with water, crusty + focaccia bread with a side bowl of warm marinara sauce (which was possibly a little bit too sweet - a little bowl of some nice extra virgin olive oil would have been nice, though I must admit, I didn't actually ask to see if it would be available). We ordered the Antipasto Misto for two as the appetizer - a nice selection of mozzarella, parmigiano reggiano, marinated mushrooms, eggplant, baby tomatoes, prosciutto... and a couple of other things that I cannot remember! As I understand it, it is usually a mixture of six items - the contents of which change somewhat from day-to-day. For the entries, my wife had the cheese Ravioli - a simple dish, just served in a light tomato sauce. It was a 'single' serving size - a pretty sizeable plate of six large ravioli. My wife was not disappointed! I went for their Rigatoni 'Sunday Gravy' - a sturdy dish (again, a large portion for the single serving - they do have 'family' size plates as well) - which was pretty decent. While there were a couple of minor rough edges, such the kitchen waiter bringing out our main courses just after we had started tucking into our antipasto (he was apprehended by our waiter before he managed to get to our table), and the fact that the table next to us had not be cleaned from the previous guests until halfway through our meal, overall it was a good experience, and I am sure we will pay it a visit again in the future. Given what I've read about previous tenants of the building being cursed (what was there before?), I think these guys have a good chance of hanging around. Price-wise, the antipasto, two entries, two glasses of wine and a cup of cappuccino worked out to $61, including tip. And the leftovers will be more than sufficient for tomorrow's lunch! The next Italian restaurant we will try out will probably be Bella Vita, a BYOB in West Orange, which is literally a few minutes walk from our house (and a few minutes more stagger back after a few glasses of wine!) Jason p.s. On a completely unrelated note, anyone know any good books for writing restaurant reviews? I am in dire need of some good adjectives

Thanks for the Beyond Pita suggestion - I went there earlier in the week and picked up one of their falafel sandwiches. It was nice to see the falafel being freshly fried to work, and it certainly had a nice crispness to the outside! Next time I go back I will have to try their Giro or Shawarma - any experiences with that? Here's a shot of the falafel sandwich: Jason edit: typo!