jb_973

My wife and I recently celebrated her birthday at Wish. For us, the restaurant has the absolute benefit of being a BYOB, and within walking distance of our home. It was our first visit, and we had nothing but compliments for the service and food. My favorite part of the meal was the Mushroom Risotto - awesome flavor. My wife had the Rock Shrimp appetizer (very generously sized), and the NY Strip Steak, perfectly cooked medium rare. I had the Ribs for my entree (and yes, the sauce does stick to the ribs, in a good way :) Keep up the good work guys - I agree with the comments of coughy - Wish deserves some good business, and it is great to have a place like this in West Orange.

We just tried out the new Baja Fresh on Route 1 for lunch today. It's nice to have one reasonably local to my office (although it could be a little closer to Iselin!) It actually wasn't too busy, which was nice - my wife has told me horror stories about how crazy the one in East Hanover gets around lunchtime.

ghostrider - I think you're probably talking about the London Food Company? (416 Bloomfield Ave). This is where I get my fix of chocolate and crisps (ahem, chips...) from the home country. And they do have some nice tea in there (my regular cuppa comes from a PG Tips tea bag.)

Thanks for all the suggestions! Given its proximity, I think I'll give Daily Soup in Montclair a try first. Does anyone know if these are the same as the Daily Soups in the city? When I used to work downtown, I used to go to the one at 55 Broad St - they used to have a good selection of soups.

A friend of my wife's, knowing that I spend far too much time talking about food, asked me the other day where she could take-out some good soup. I was stumped! The only place I could think of was Panera, and, while their soups are pretty decent, they do get monotonous after a while. Can anyone recommend somewhere in West Orange (+ beyond) to get some good soup?

Now, ghostrider, some of us West Orange eGulleters appreciate a bit more diversity in our local shopping choices :)

Earlier this week I managed to persuade my fellow colleagues to make the trip down to Harold's Deli. It was a first time for nearly all of us - me included - only one person had been there before. We ordered one of their group sandwiches to share between five of us. All I can say is *wow*. It would have been enough for at least seven people! And we had good appetites! I must admit, I did stock up a little at the pickle bar (love those sour pickles), but saved enough room to polish off some great pastrami and brisket sandwiches. Our order consisted of a combination of pastrami, brisket, and turkey, but, compared to the first two, the turkey paled in comparison. Not that it was bad, but the flavor in the pastrami and the brisket (with the au jus) just knocked the turkey out of the game. Harold's, for me, it is the kind of place where you leave there feeling content, but know for sure that it'll probably take a couple of months to build up the stamina to go back again! Definitely added to the lunch list.

Curlz - so how was LouCas?

Don't forget Mie Thai on Main St in Woodbridge - great Thai food, and good lunch specials. [edit: Ok, I got carried away - that should read 'great Thai food', not 'great Thai good' !]

It looks like we will be going to New York this evening. We have a friend's birthday bash at a bar in Brooklyn, so, we will probably get into the city a little earlier and make a trip to one of our regular restaurants in our old neighborhood - Los Pollitos II, our favorite place for Peruvian-style chicken in Park Slope (Rotisserie Chicken to die for!)

I managed to drag a couple of my colleagues out of the office for lunch today, and persuaded them to try something different. Everyone in my office is a Mie Thai diehard (not that it is a bad thing!), however a bit of variety is never a bad thing. So, we went down to Penang in Edison (our office is near the Woodbridge Center Mall, so Penang is only about a 5-10 minute from us.) Very similar in style to the E. Hanover outlet, the Edison one is located next to a non-descript strip mall (and just like the one in E. Hanover, a few steps away from a Kam Man Food grocery store?!) We had the Roti Canai for an appetizer (better than I remember the last time - Roti was a good mixture of soft and crisp). Entrees were the Mango Chicken (definitely a favorite dish of mine), Captain Noodles, and the Rendang Lamb - a recommendation of the waiter that turned out to be absolutely delicious. The Rendang sauce was equisitely spiced, and the lamb melted in my mouth. Everyone concurred that this was the best part of the meal. Definitely adding it to the lunch time list (along with Mie Thai, Moghul, Moghul Express, Swagath, Franco BBQ etc :)

Based on those wonderful photos, I really regret not attending the event this year! I will have to make a better effort to attend next time around. To those that did attend, what was your favorite dish?

I was wondering why I didn't recognize this place when I drove past it on the way to Depot yesterday. This sounds interesting, although I still have Stretch's on my list as the next place to try in Livingston... Also, and I guess this may deserve a new thread - does anyone know anything about the new complex being built in 'downtown' Livingston (S Livingston Ave + Mount Pleasant)? I hope we'll be greeted with some more interesting dining choices.

How far is your restaurant from Woodbury Commons? I'm always looking for a good place for lunch / dinner when we're up there shopping..

Just to add to this - has anyone been there for Hibachi? We're thinking about going there for a forthcoming celebration. As far as Sushi goes, we're sticking with Zen (Livingston) for right now - went back there again this past Monday, and had another great experience. As a side note - the Head Chef from Ekko was on West Orange Week this week (Channel 36).

Ah... I missed this topic - here's my Easter post-mortem. Instead of going out for Easter dinner, we ate at home. My wife and I had just come back from vacation the week prior, and, after hanging out with some old friends of mine from England, was inspired to cook a traditional English Sunday Roast. This time it was Roast Leg of Lamb, vegetables, roast potatoes (which always seem to surprise people who haven't had them before), Yorkshire puddings (really supposed to be served with Roast Beef, but I love them with any roast!), served with gravy and mint sauce. Dinner was followed by the mandatory post-Sunday-dinner 2 hour nap ;)

That site has been under construction for years ... I'll believe it when I see it open and ready for business! ← There was a very interesting article in the Star Ledger about Club Flirt. It looks like the owners still have a few hurdles to overcome before they would be allowed to open the place: [nj.com] Dance club is called out of step

EKKO had a flyer in this past Sunday's Star Ledger, proudly announcing their Sunday Brunch and weekday lunchtime Sushi buffet. Has anyone been to either of these? I am usually not a fan of Sushi buffets - would this one change my mind?

Second on the chicken dosa. I'm sitting at my desk right now munching on one. Delicious - the filling is really well spiced. Of course, the only issue is that I can't step foot in Moghul Express without picking up some Kalakand :)

Have you been to Diva Lounge in Montclair (www.divalounge.com) ? Definitely somewhat of a Miami-style club, and they have a regular Latin night on Thursdays. That said, I've only really tried appetizers there (which were pretty good) - I can't really vouch for the food. Maybe someone else can comment? Also, I heard a rumor that Diva's is under new management - any truth in this?

Thanks - I'm really interested in hearing about this place. After trying a few different Sushi places, we've also settled on Zen as our regular Sushi restaurant. When is ECKO going to be open to the general public?

Two thumbs up for Saffron's lunch buffet. We finally made it there today, despite the really crazy shopping traffic in E. Hanover. Really enjoyed the Bhindi (Okra) Masala, Lamb Rogan Josh, Chicken Tikka Masala, and the Dal. Naan bread was fresh. Had the Ras Malai for dessert (my favorite!), washed down with a tasty glass of Mango Lassi. Definitely worth checking out - at $9.95 it is a bargain. Certainly on a par with the experiences that I've had at Moghul's (Edison) lunch buffet.

I missed this post when it was originally active. I always notice that the kitchen/food dept of TJ Maxx and Marshalls usually have an assortment of panettone around the Holidays (possibly Perugina). However, pay note to the comment above from nizza - I have no idea about the freshness of these. Jason

As promised - here's the update. After quizzing our guests about their appetite, we decided to head to The Original Pancake House in West Caldwell. What can I say? Thanks for the tip - everyone was very happy with their food. I went for the Banana Pancakes - they melted in my mouth, and I loved the bananas both cooked inside and fresh on top. I was intrigued by the special (tropical?) syrup served on the side - it had a hint of marmalade in it. Anyone know the recipe? Thanks again everyone for the suggestions. We now have a long list of places to try out! When we get around to them, I'll be sure to post some more comments. Jason

Guys (and gals) - thanks for all the suggestions. Plenty (if you'll excuse the pun) of food for thought! I'll be sure to post back after Saturday to tell you where we ended up! Jason