Jason Perlow

Jtracey where do you live in north jersey?

The coolest bathroom I ever saw was at Hunan Dumpling in San Francisco. The inside of it was all painted red, really nice black and white checkboard tiling, and the toilet was made of solid stainless steel. I gotta get me one of those.

I have to say, I am a bit shocked to hear about your experiences at Silver Pond. I've been there probably a dozen times this year (maybe more) and I'd have to say its one of the cleanest HK-style restaurants I've ever been in. Maybe it was just a bad night. Fish, you know, like, die occassionally. For what its worth Steven feels Silver Pond is superior to most dim sum restaurants in Manhattan, so I dunno. Silver Pond caters primarily to Japanese and Korean clientele, who are much more discerning about cleanliness in restaurants than -MOST- Chinese. So I would tend to think this was an aberration. As to Peking Duck House, well to each his own. Thats what this board is all about -- everyone is entitled to their own opinion -- and certainly I'm not going to try to enforce my opinions on others. Can you tell me -what- exactly you don't like about Peking Duck House, though?

Pings is very good, as is grand sichuan, henry, I've dined at both places with Fat Guy and they are some of my favorites in manhattan. But you clearly havent tried any of the places I have mentioned.... otherwise you would not have made such a statement! :)

Its a book with menus of various NY restaurants init it with his commentary on them ...

BON: Do you think you could tell us how to make ramen soups at home, for those of us who have access to Japanese and other asian groceries here in the US and elsewhere?

DANY I would love to go to that with Rosie... :)

Here's a good page on Absinthe. This is also a pretty cool 'Nawlins site in general. http://www.gumbopages.com/food/beverages/absinthe.html

Absinthe is totally illegal in this country. Its been so for decades. You can find it however abroad, especially in eastern europe. There are substitutes however that have the same anise-absinthe flavor. Like Pernaud for example. Hurricanes arent made with that.

Casa Vasca is my favorite place in Newark too -- but other than Sangria and Spanish Tavern, does anyone have any other Iberian restaurant suggestions? I feel like I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. Dont suggest Fornos... I have no idea why that place ended up #1 in the NJ Zagats... that place is abominable, they overcook everything and the service is horrendous.. Anyone been to Don Pepe?

See.. now you know why I have a tough time going back to Spanish Sangria. BTW the take-home Tortilla de Patatas was great for lunch at room tempature over some toasted bread with a shmear of Hellman's (Yes Bux, I know you make your own mayo... but still... )

Oh WENDY Kelly.

Yes, but with synthetic corks you don't get corked wine! Which on a 200 dollar bottle of burgundy is probably a very good thing...

Welcome BON! you can use the IMG tag. Click on the HELP menu at the top and select VIEW IKONCODE TAGS. it will show you how to insert a picture..

Yep, Carlo Russo's.

Neither have we... there are too many serious chinese and other asian restaurants in the area. I'm not really keen on American style chinese food but I suppose when Rachel is craving the ice cream and chinese food combination we'll go.

http://njsun.com/wine.htm This has a list of wineries and links to their homepages. BTW the Alba wines, although not easily findable in NJ, can be ordered directly from them but they only ship in NJ. Their 1999 Reisling is exceptional enough that I would order a case. Wine and Spirit World in Fort Lee carries Alba if you want to make the trip up to Bergen County and pick up a few bottles out of curiosity. Alba has also won awards for its red raspberry dessert wine, but I find it personally to be more of a novelty than a serious wine. Their moscato and port are better I think.

Went to Peking Duck House on Piermont Road in Closter yesterday for dinner -- excellent, excellent chinese food. Not only does the place have the full three-course Peking duck service but it also has some very authentic Sichuan food as well (in addition to really good renditions of American-chinese favorites), the closest analogue being Grand Sichuan International in NYC. We had a hot and spicy shredded pickled pork with dried bean curd that was just divine, and their presentation of Chicken Soong in lettuce leaves was about the most elegant I have seen in NJ, only to be matched by Mr. Chu on RT 10 in East Hanover, i think. Peking Duck House also has a mongolian grill plus a pretty extensive wine list, which has stuff thats really well matched to the cuisine too (you can get Gewurtztraminer by the glass!!!!). They also had a few featured american style desserts there that looked really nice (a dark chocolate cake they had sitting in a display case looked particularly inviting) Definitely recommended if you are in the area and are looking for something different. They have a brunch on sunday which they bill as a dim sum brunch, and I suppose its pretty good, but from what I understand the actual "dim sum" variety may not be that impressive. I bet the chinese chafing dishes are awesome though.

Kelly are you in Rachel's pod?

Rodriguez is cuban though, isn't he? And wasnt his restaurant Yuca in Miami? He's at Patria now in NYC...

I dont recall that one. I do however remember this amazing, very pricey place called Marisol in Old San Juan, which had a female chef and served incredible food. I think she was an award winning CIA graduate. Heavy focus on seafood and imported ingredients. Chef Marisol Cuisine 302 Cristo 725-7454 Having trouble finding a review or website for it though.

Magners is good -- theres another one I am drinking called "K cider" that comes in small bottles that is very good and I've also been drinking some of the Woodchuck as well.

Holly: Theres a burger joint in Meridien, Connecticut that I want to try that was mentioned on the Stern's Road Food site. The cooking technique sounds really interesting. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews....&Type=1 Also Louis Lunch sounds interesting in a more paleontological way than Manna -- supposedly the hamburger was invented here. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews....&Type=1

Yeah, but it shares a lot of dishes with Cantonese food (aka their really amazing Chow Fun at Penang) and other regions of china. Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), along with Malay is one of the two official languages of that country. The owners of Penang are Chinese expats several generations removed I beleive. Here is a good web site I have found with lots of great malaysian recipies: http://www.sintercom.org/makan/recipe01.htm

I think I've mentioned them before but.. 1) Silver Pond in Fort Lee 2) Taiwan Noodle House on RT 46 in Parsippany (also a branch in Teaneck) 3) Noodle Chu on RT 46 in Parsippany 4) Hunan Cottage on Rt 46 in Fairfield 5) Mr. Chu on RT 10 in East Hanover 6) Penang on RT 10 in East Hanover