Jason Perlow

I like Budweiser Budvar (Czechvar) a lot.

As would I. I think New Jersey diners must have serious issues with eating salads, because short of Ruby Tuesday and Charlie Browns, we don't have that many options.

← I had an incredible $2 Banh Mi at Hong Kong Supermarket in Gretna, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans:

I've heard Fogo de Chão's Salad Bar is very impressive. I'll be sure to try it next week when I'm in Chicago. Churrascarias do tend to have really good salad bars, but you have to usually spend full Rodizio prices to eat at them. We have quite a number of them in Newark, but I'm not paying $25 per person to eat salad!

Yesterday we had over 90 degree weather in Northern New Jersey, and Rachel and I were thinking about getting something refreshing for dinner -- a nice salad bar sounded like it would do the trick. Unfortunately, we came up empty. Other than Charlie Brown's, we couldn't figure out where to get a decent salad bar that had nice fresh produce and toppings. Salad Bars were all the rage in the 80's and early 90's. What happened to them? Which cities with what restaurants have the best salad bar options?

With the really hot weather we've been getting, I'd like to know where in Northern NJ you can find the best restaurants with good salad bars. And I don't mean Charlie Brown's or Sizzler. Any good Churrascarias in Newark that have particularly good ones to go with the rodizio?

See Mister? Look, He WANTS to die. Classic.

They're different, I wouldn't say better. I like them, if that's what you're asking.

The "Yankee Stadium" at Mike's Deli in the Bronx. ...and not to diminish Schwartz's, but by virtue of being a New Yorker I have to add my preference for Katz's and the traditional Pastrami spicing on the LES. I like Montreal smoke meat, but the spicing is just "different". Other favorites: Muffaletta, Central Grocery, New Orleans Oyster Loaf on Pan Bread, Casamento's, New Orleans

The Suan La Chow Show rules. I'd also stick with pretty much anything that is a Sichuan/Szechuan dish.

Given the fact that the Japanese are known to eat writhing, live animals such as live lobster sashimi, I seriously doubt we'll see any PETA campaigns in Japan any time soon. Maybe they'll start producing Foie Gras natively when the French ban it. Perhaps theres a future gastrotourism industry there waiting to be born.

This seems like a bizarre anal-retentive hobby. How can I get involved?

It's Decoding Ferran Adria, the "lost episode" that Food Network did not end up getting when Bourdain ended up moving to The Travel Channel and when New York Times Television disbanded, and when Chris and Lydia went to form their own production company, Zero Point Zero. I've seen it, and its definitely worth watching -- although a very different type of experience than either A Cook's Tour or No Reservations. It's highly cerebral and Bourdain is much more serious in it than he normally is. Its very much a transitional type of program.

I really would like to know just how much that cameraman had to take out of his pocket to pay for all the food that he destroyed.

Actually http://recipes.egullet.org/main.php to be more precise, but yeah. Old thread.

I made use of some leftover london broil from dinner on Saturday night: I sliced open some hot dog rolls and laid them flat on the broiling pan, and topped with leftover sliced london broil, shredded cheddar cheese, and sliced fresh vine ripened tomatoes. Broiled in the toaster oven for 4 minutes. This time, the poodle didn’t get any.

Their sauce? It was interesting, but I only used it on one or two of the oysters. I ate most of them straight or with a small amount of their horseradish cocktail sauce. The oysters themselves were really first rate.

Tonight, in defiance of Whole Foods' decision, we made Lobster Confetti Protest Pasta:

Which location? I think it's pretty obvious I completely disagree with your assessment.

So the Alaskan ones are the biggest oysters to the right of those lemons? Nice platter Jason! Is that some crazy mignonette sauce I see? ← The Windy Bay ones are to the left of the lemons, the ones to the right are the Wellfleets. The sauce to the right of the homemade cocktail sauce is their special sauce made with Prosecco sparkling wine, garlic and black pepper, and I think something else.

By the way, I cheated in these pictures. We did GO to the original Applegate Farm location in Montclair, but the lines were insane. So the actual ice cream photos are from the location in Nutley, where there were no lines. Granted, the Nutley location doesn't have as many of the flavors as the Montclair one does, but its the same ice cream.

New Applegate Farm photos:

Some new Little Saigon photos: Storefront Spring Rolls Summer Rolls This was an appetizer special, glutinous rice dumplings with pork and shrimp with some type of sliced chicken roll meat on top. Very good. Green Papaya Salad with Shrimp, my favorite of the evening. Rice Noodle Salad with Pork Beef Roll Wrapped with Special Leaf (we never found out what the Special Leaf was, but it imparted an interesting flavor to the dish) Coconut Sticky Rice with BBQ Chicken It may have been due to the fact that it wasn't as busy as usual because of the really hot weather and Father's Day, but it seems that they have their service issues pretty much ironed out.

Yeah, the parking situation is insane. The first time I tried to go to Neptune the day before, I had to abort mission because I couldn't find a parking space, so I drove out to Christie's in Lynn instead. I called Neptune the next day and found out there was a parking lot only two blocks away. If you're going to spend some time in the North End I reccommend you pay the $15 parking and just be done with it for a few hours. Otherwise, leave your car at the hotel and have a taxi bring you there and back. The Oysters are a selection prepared by the shucker, if you go counter clockwise from 1, they start with the Wellfleets and they go down the list, and there are two of each.

We had a plate of these a few days ago, in Chu Chee sauce. Excellent.