Jason Perlow

It's not sub-par, Marc. Its just that this not what they excel at. Restaurants do certain things better than they do at other things. That doesn't necessarily make the secondi bad -- far from it. I just feel their appetizers and pasta are their strongest point. That's the nature of restaurants. There is no perfect restaurant. I'm also having a problem figuring out what exactly was wrong with the preparation of gaf's dish in his photos.

Has anyone had the Paella at Marisqueria? Being a Portuguese restaurant, I tend to eat the native seafood dishes there, but I would imagine they'd do a good job with Paella. Do they even have Paella on the menu?

I like the Sazerac's at Herbsaint. Not too far from the Sheraton, although you might want a cab. You should also have dinner there. Not too expensive. The bar at the Rib Room might also be good. ← Yes, Herbsaint would be an excellent dining choice as well.

NOW? Old Absinthe House, probably. Or Bourbon House or Palace Cafe. Tujagues too.

Mother's, on Poydras, for 'Po Boys. Also I highly reccomend Casamentos. They close in early June, so you really want to catch them before they're done for the season. However it is a bit of a ride from the Sheraton. If you want good raw Oysters that is not so far away, definitely ACME Oyster House. Its a touristy kind of place but the oysters are pristine, so thats what counts. Palace Cafe is also not that far from your hotel, and its a very solid restaurant. Bourbon House is also near you, as is Restaurant August, which if you wanted to have a very elegant lunch or dinner would be my choice. Bon Ton Cafe is also not far from your hotel either. Definitely a lunch joint. K-Pauls is not open for lunch yet but would also be a nice choice for dinner. Have a look at this thread for photos of these places: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=85793 All of my complete New Orleans summaries are on my blog as well, see my signature below.

I'm sure Legal Seafood will be able to get their stuff from other sources, if you really need to have clams. I'm going to be spending a few weeks up in Boston myself shortly and I'll berserk if I can't have them.

Ray Nagin has been re-elected as Mayor of New Orleans. For those of you who missed the Ray Nagin podcast and his New Orleans restaurant reccomendations, grab it here: "Hey, Doesn't That Waiter Look Like Ray Nagin?" (Off The Broiler)

Some new Spanish Sangria pics: The complimentary Caldo Gallego to start you off. Champiniones Ajillo. By far one of my favorite renditions of this dish. Spanish Sangria excels at Shrimp Ajillo as well. Scallops Sangria, which was sort of a miss. Scallops shells stuffed with scallops and crabmeat, with cheese melted on top. Sangria's Paella Valenciana. Despite the fact that this particular paella had the addition of both pork and squid w/tentacles, in addition to the usual chicken, lobster, clams, scallops, mussels and chorizo, I felt this dish was pretty bland. I prefer Casa Vasca's version better, which uses more chicken stock. I couldnt detect a saffron flavor here, if they used any at all, and I felt most of the seafood was overcooked. Paella Valenciana, plated.

What can I say. I've never had a poor meal at Robertos. Not everyone can have my omniscient superpowers of menu data processing, I guess.

Touche', you caught me with the scallopine. I was in the mood for it, and I saw one come out the pass that looked good before I ordered it. But it was a simple one, and I liked it. So sue me!

Sneakeater, if Roberto's had never been documented in any way on eG, with no precise dish reccomendations to order, you'd be very correct. However, since there's been a lot of discussion about Roberto's and a lot of reccomendations about what they do well and what they don't, I find it somewhat strange that gaf didn't order any of their signature items. As to Babbo, I've never eaten anything other than pasta there either. Because I know that's what they do well. There's just no point at ordering what they don't do well. I don't think that neccessarily makes Babbo flawed either.

Shields Up! I didn't say the secondi weren't worthwhile. It just isn't what they excel at.

A&J Seabra's Supermarket 260 Lafayette St, Newark, NJ (973) 589-8606 I can't beleive that we haven't had a dedicated thread for Seabra's until now. I guess its time we remedied that. Seabra's is one of my favorite food shopping destinations in all of New Jersey. If you're looking foir Iberian and Brazilian foodstuffs of all kinds, this is THE place to go. Seabra's is a full service supermarket, that happens to includes a Portuguese/Brazilian butcher and a Portuguese/Brazilian deli, in addition to a fish market. Plus its got all the cheeses and dried sausages and all the canned and jarred stuff you would expect in terms of Spanish, Portuguese and Brazilian cuisine. A&J Seabra, the import company that Seabra's runs, gets in a lot of exclusive items and is the master distrubutor for many of the brands of stuff you see used at Portuguese and Brazilian restaurants in the Ironbound. They also run several restaurants, including Seabra's Rodizio, Seabra's Marisqueria and Seabra's Mediterranean Manor, just to name a few. Here's a big display for several flavors of Sumol, a Portuguese fruit soda brand and one of my favorites. The classic orange is the best, but the Passion Fruit and Pineapple are also very good. Guarana Triunfo, a new sugar cane Guarana soda imported and distributed by Seabra. In Brazil, its marketed as the brand "Xereta", but the can art and everything you see was designed for the American market -- as you can see by the labelling, it says "Prohibited for sale in Brazil" because of the special packaging. I think the stuff is excellent, and I even prefer it to Antarctica, the most popular Brazilian Guarana, which they also sell. Seabra's also sells Guarana Brasilia, which is made locally in Newark. Diet Triunfo is apparently due to be imported soon as well. The hard cheeses section. Bacalao, dried salt cod. You can smell this stuff from over 10 feet away. Olives The price on the Portugese Presunto, similar to Prosciutto or Serrano, is very attractive. The Tony Bourdain section. Some nice prices on beef cuts here. You can get freshly made Brazilian Linguica sausage as well as some nice cuts of lamb and pork. Need large amounts of cured ham or chourico sausage? No Problem. Chourico Even MORE kinds of chourico, and this is only a small sampling. Good deals on beef primals. Mmmmm. Cracklins. The ultimate bar snack. Extreme Chourico Closeup.

The restaurant excells at fresh pastas and risottos, and overall I would say their appetizers are very strong. Their sauteed scallopine type things in my opinion are decent but they do not showcase the restaurant. I drive over the GW Bridge from Jersey for their pastas -- I can get scallopine of the same quality locally at any average Italian restaurant. What they do exceptionally well is seafood pastas and risottos -- veal and chicken sauteed dishes are not their forte. Weekday lunch would not have been the time I would have chosen to visit the place either. Your comment about the exploded cherry tomatoes being in poor contrast to the favas and the fresh pasta doesn't seem to make sense to me if the purpose of the ruptured tomatoes in the first place was to provide the sauce for the pasta. I mean if you cook a cherry tomato in a saute pan, isn't that what happens, pretty much all the time, unless you are cutting them in half and tossing them with cooked pasta a la minute?

The Baronets are excellent. I ordered a whole bunch of pods during the holiday season and got cinnamon and eggnog flavors. They also have Kenya AA and Kona pods that are excellent.

Oh baby.

You ordered wrong. Period. This is the type of stuff they excel in:

What we did with the leftover pizza this morning: Yes, it was mighty tasty.

can't agree with you there. i've been to Otto perhaps 20 times over the last 4 years or so since it's first opened, and i don't see a comparison. quite frankly i prefer kinchely's crust to Otto's, although i'm sure they put much less thought into than mario and co. have. ← I've personally been to OTTO twice, so I can't say I have a huge frame of reference either.

I'm amazed we've never posted any Bennies photographs yet. Here we are, albeit highly processed because of the very low lighting, so excuse the graininess please: Storefront on Palisade Ave. You might be seriously challenged to find a parking space during prime dining hours. Dining Room Mezze display Mezze Mezze Tabbouleh and Roasted Cauliflower with Carrots Spicy Eggplant and Hummus Okra with Rice Kafta Kebab Sandwich Arabic Coffee Service Tea Service Nutella and Banana Crepe

The bagels at Sonny Amster's Bakery in the Millburn mall: These are the famous "Watson" bagels that were once made near Newark many years ago. http://www.virtualnewarknj.com/memories/we...bodianbagel.htm

I've never been to Lento's but I would say the crust is similiar to OTTO in Manhattan. As to the cheese... its pizza cheese. But there's certainly nothing wrong with that given the genre of pie that it is.

Jamaicans make sorrel into an iced tea drink with ginger. http://www.jamaicans.com/cooking/seasonal/sorrel.shtml Its actually quite refreshing and very good.

Kinchley's Tavern 586 N Franklin Tpke, Ramsey, NJ (201) 934-7777 I know Kinchley's is mentioned in many threads about pizza in the NJ forum, but it doesn't have its own thread. That's now going to be remedied. The main entrance and signage at Kinchley's. The main dining room at about 9:30PM on Friday. Come two and a half hours earlier, the place will be packed and you'll have to wait in the bar for a seat. Note to late nite diners: Kinchleys is open to 1AM on Fridays. The salad is actually quite good. Bacon pie with Fra Diavolo sauce. One of our favorite combinations. Kinchley's pies are "bar pies", meaning that they are only about 12 inches in width, so two people can finish one very easily. Order two pies and take half home, or eat it all there, if you're really hungry. Get yourself a pitcher of Boylan's Birch Beer to chill off the spicy sauce. Close-Up of bacon slice. Note the crispy, ultra thin crust. The pie disappears rather quickly so you want to make sure you have another order in the queue. Sausage pie, with razor-thin cut crispy sausage. Kinchley's also has really good hot subs -- we shared a meatball sub as well that we deemed as excellent. Kinchley's also has a full bar, which apparently no longer smells smoky due to the fact that New Jersey passed its no smoking legislation last month. So if you've been staying away from bar-type atmospheres because of the smoke, fear not — Kinchey's is smoke-free. The bar is totally aired out and there isn't any smoke smell anymore. What remains of Kinchley's smoker cuture is a giant ash tray that's sitting outside the side entrance, filled with cigaratte butts, as a reminder to those who are intent on smoking inside. Kinchley's is Cash Only but there is an ATM onsite.

Well, they do have spaghetti with meat sauce, you know. I think we ordered it once, it wasn't bad actually.