Jason Perlow

How about a gussied up Hubig Pie, like the ones they make (uh, made?) in New Orleans? They are basically like fried Hostess pies except that the shortening in the crust is LARD. Mmmmmm.

The purple sicilian eggplants are good, they have a custardy texture when baked. If you use the regular Italian black ones try to use just the males. The females have too many seeds and can be bitter. The small asian eggplants are more ideal for stir frying and they have the wrong texture for a heavy dish like mousakka. You really should have a look at the Moussaka cook off we did back in April: Cook Off VII: Moussaka

There's a very good web site that's maintained by a local Palisades Amusement Park expert that has everything you need to know about the place: http://www.palisadespark.com/ Apparently one of the best things there was the fresh cut french fries, which was served British style, with malt vinegar.

The NYT epitaph, for those who didn't get a chance to read it: Where Late the Hot Dogs Sizzled

FYI Cinco de Mayo in Bergenfield is not Cinco de Mayo. Its been renamed "La Batalla" for at least a year.

Riffing on mrbigjas, what about a baked brie?

Impossible, even with using canned beans.

Fried chicken breast cutlets would be good. So would the Popeyes. I'd say chicken fried steaks too. And fried pork chops.

With. Okay, well how about a variation on the deep south -- Fried Chicken. They do it with waffles, but I don't see why you couldn't do it with Pancakes. I also think some nice big thick char broiled hamburgers with fried onions on top, sans buns, would go well. I seem to remember long ago that IHOP used to have burgers on the side with pancakes. Oh. And some bratwursts. Kielbasa even. Or nice big piles of thinly sliced country ham.

Creme Fraische and Osetra Caviar. Ok lets get serious. I did a writeup of a really good pancake place in Jersey a few months back, Original Pancake House in Fort Lee, which is part of a small national chain. They've got some interesting variations on pancakes for sure. http://www.originalpancakehouse.com/ The thing is, their regular pancakes with toppings basically are not nearly as interesting as their special pancakes, which rather than having toppings, are actually prepared from different types of batters and are actually cooked differently than regular flapjacks. For example their Dutch Baby and Apple Pancake are these baked monstrosities which don't really resemble traditional pancakes: I'm still pretty much a sucker for regular pancakes with fresh strawberries and whipped cream, though:

I would tend to agree with tommy if it were not for the fact that the area is sorely lacking in really good dinner choices for Hong Kong style restaurants where you can get good renditions of seafood dishes like Lobster Cantonese and such. China 46 is excellent and they have some great seafood dishes but it is not Hong Kong style. For example, I like Silver Pond's Dim Sum, but I've been less than enthusiastic about their dinner service. So I want to try Dim Sum Dynasty for dinner at least once.

NOLA.com reports on the death of Joe Casamento: Joseph Casamento (1925-2005)

One other thing I want to add -- I didn't get any photos of them, but they have a nice selection of premium loose leaf Chinese teas, which are served in individual glass Bodum tea pots. One of the teas has actual floating flowers in it. The regular, non-premium tea selection is Oolong, Jasmine, and Black tea, which you get free of charge.

Edited for your pleasure, Stacy. The dim sum carts are only on the weekends from 11 to 3. During the week you can order certain dim sum items a la carte. I haven't found a web site for it yet.

Rachel and I had a really nice lunch at Dim Sum Dynasty today. This is a place we definitely will be going back to, as a nice (but more expensive) alternative to Silver Pond, which is our regular place. As Dumpling says, there are a number of items here that are not your typical Dim Sum parlor fare, and they are definitely worth having. Its an attractive, clean restaurant which is a great venue for a classy Chinese luncheon. Please forgive me that I shot these on a Treo 600 and not on a decent camera. I'm still holding out on reviews of the new Sony unit this week before I buy a new camera. Har Gow (wrappers over whole shrimps, excellent), Pork Shu Mai (very good), and Chicken Sticky Rice wrapped with lotus leaf (I prefer the Slilver Pond version) Pork Spring Rolls Chicken Sticky Rice Interior Meat wrapped with yuba bean skin. These were denser than Silver Pond's and with a less gloppy sauce. Not better, just different. These are some sort of vegetable dumplings with peanuts, which we thought were just OK. Char Siu Bao, which came out piping hot from the oven. These are almost ethereal, not as dense as some of the others we have eaten and have a great BBQ Pork filling. Probably some of the best I have ever had. Definitely order this. E-Fu Mein braised noodles, with mushrooms and yellow leeks. Really good. Fried Pork Dumplings. Slightly on the doughy side but still very good. These are some quails which were being passed around, which we didnt try. Gai Lan with Oyster Sauce. These were particulary young and tender stalks. These are deep fried smelts of some kind, which we didn't have. These are the deep fried Money Purses with crabmeat. Also very good. Lo Bak Ko, turnip cakes. Didn't try them. Roast Duck. Also didn't try.

I have been using the Test Member ID to verify the functionality of the ImageGullet software which we have been having some problems with this week (and is not yet completely fixed). We have simulated users for every access level to test how the board software works in various scenarios. I had been using that account for about a half hour until I realized that I was still logged into that account when you sent me that PM. Thanks for the reminder. I can assure you there is no nefarious motive behind using the test IDs. I think everyone can agree that we wouldn't want our tech staff testing functionality and throwing all kinds of software toggle switches using actual member accounts!

Actually I wouldn't agree that that their paella is "far superior" to what is served at Casa Vasca or any number of good Ironbound Spanish restaurants. As far as I can tell they don't even use real saffron in their paella and the seafood gets overcooked. That being said paella is not their strongest dish -- their Arroz con Pollo is. It's by far one of the best I've had in the area and a great value. Although I think the original North Bergen location does a -somewhat- better job.

This is an evil, evil topic and all of you are going to hell.

Recipe Gullet? What's that? ← You're asking for Marlene and Snowangel to come and kick your ass, right? Post the damn recipe.

It is within the power of every member on the site to include a signature with their real name if they are using a "handle". I believe other members would appreciate it, and I am of the personal opinion it adds extra weight to the validity of said posts, but from a policy perspective its not something that we are going to enforce. For those of you who want to include a signature with every post (which is also helpful if you want to promote your website or business in a totally acceptable manner) here is a handy link so you can add one right away: Add your eGullet Society Signature (click)

The question of anonymity versus full disclosure and participation using real names is something we have discussed internally and agonized on over the years. As of November of 2004 when we introduced the new registration and membership system we require that Participating Members (those members with posting rights) fully disclose their identity to eG Management. As a result, for anyone who has registered as of that date, we have their full profile info, including name, address and phone number. This data is not visible to other members obviously for privacy means, but it does mean that data is visible to the managers of the site. It would become very difficult, however, to require full identity disclosure of all our members who registered prior to November of 2004. We don't really have a good solution for this and if we were to impose such a requirement it would likely alienate many members of the site. I will add, however, that those old timers who have been with us for several years who do choose to voluntarily update their profile information are much appreciated by the management -- demographic information is always helpful to us, especially when approaching institutional donors and making decisions that require that kind of data -- such as creating new forums and content.

Understood. I like the idea of a Hot Dog Parmigiana.

Brooks, you got a recipe for Satsuma Poundcake that you can put into Recipe Gullet?

Right. Which is why its absolutely critical everyone order them NOW, post haste.

I agree with you wholeheartedly and if and when these places open again, we need to throw them our business, dollars and our love. However I think it is equally important that we, as the consumers and lovers of these New Orleans food traditions, remember and learn how to prepare them ourselves, because its theoretically possible that we might not see them again for a long time -- and there may be newcomers into this arena to try to fill the void who need to know how to replicate them or add their distinctiveness to them. If they have the resources to do so, we should welcome into the rebuilding of the city and its food culture. And as a food culture in diaspora, its also entirely possible we may see things like the Muffaletta, beignets, pralines and chickory coffee that are signatures of the city adopted elsewhere that pockets of displaced New Orleanians have chosen to hang their hat, temporarily or even permanently. Which is not a bad thing at all. If there is to be ANY silver lining as a result of this horrible disaster it will be that perhaps there might be a finer appreciation for New Orleans cuisine throughout the US.