Jason Perlow

You're not far from Hunan Cottage, one of the best authentic Shanghai-style restaurants in NJ. Second to China 46 in Ridgefield, I think it is pretty tops in terms of Chinese dining in the NNJ area. 14 US Hwy 46 Fairfield, NJ Hunan Cottage Thread (click)

BTW, "Tandoori Chef", the larger, full service sister restaurant to Indian Chef, is tentatively opening next weekend in Hackensack, in the old Dragonel and Dhaaba space. The owners are awaiting their CO from Hackensack before they can open, so stay tuned for details.

A few more pics from the Indian Chef Photo Album Gulab Jamun (Dessert Item) Vegetable Pakora Samosa Mango Lassi

It will also likely be appearing shortly on a certain show on the Travel Channel... My favorite dish there by far is the Gambas Mozambique... Think GIGANTIC heads-on prawns in a spicy sauce with paprika.

I had dinner at Acquerello on Tuesday evening with Melkor and his lovely fiancee. Needless to say melkor, snarky evil beast that he is, should consider himself lucky. But I digress. MsMelkor ended up either picking or getting all the best dishes for the evening. Overall, only about 1/3 of the dishes we liked, the others were pretty substandard for such an expensive place. Parmesan "Pudino". Sort of like a loose free-form quiche or a savory pudding. We liked this one a lot. This is a chilled potato (watercress?) soup with caviar, similar to a vichysoisse. Refreshing, well liked. This is a raw fish carpaccio with cherry tomatoes. It was okay. A mushroom risotto that we felt was underdone, and the mushroom base itself was lacking in flavor. Fresh asparagus tortellinis that were a bit underdone as well. The filling was sort of underwhelming but the actual sauce was very good. I forgot what these were called but they were essentially spinach ravioli filling without the pasta, with lots of parmigiano in it. These happened to be excellent even though they look like dinosaur droppings. Loin of lamb plus braised lamb. The loin itself was excellent but the braised part got stringy and overcooked, tasting somewhat like the Passover brisket from hell. The sauce reduction however was very nice. Braised Veal rolled with Prosciutto. I liked this one but I am not sure about the others. Garganelli with Duck Ragu. By far the best pasta dish, even though it looks sort of like something that came out of a Marie Callendar microwave entree box. Peach tart. "Tastes like a hamentashen!" Chocolate Semifreddo Martini. This one was was really good. Coconut Panna Cotta Almond biscotti, which everyone thought was outstanding

Human flesh, particularly west coasters.

I concur. We brought Mr. and Mrs. Mayhaw Man there recently and we had some wonderful food there, as usual. Its been the consistently best Iberian restaurant we've been to in the area in the last 4 years.

So you're saying Ferran is the Sith Master and Santi is Yoda?

I've posted my Manresa album on Imagegullet (click) Note that these were all taken without flash under low light, with someone else's camera, and are heavily post-processed with Picasa, so they are pretty grainy and really don't do justice to how beautiful the food is.

Had a really outstanding meal at Manresa last night. We took quite a few photos and lots of notes, and we may be producing a podcast of the evening. In any case, it may be a few days before we get anything up, so here is the menu: <center>Petit fours "red pepper-black olive" Radis au beurre Strawberries with Hibiscus and Lime Tomato Soup, barely cooked Corn Croquettes Arpege egg English pea and foie gras royale Corn and tomato salad new version Marinated striped jack, local olive oil Big eye tuna and wild celery bouillion Crenshaw melon soup, silken almond tofu Bronzini on the plancha, rock shrimp, sweet and sour Rouget, anchovy sofrigit with lemon basil Morille en papilliote, slow egg Abalone and young shallots meuniere style, pigs trotter Rabbit and Salt code, mortar sauce of favas and mint Roast squab, raspberries crushed with hazelnut oil Prime beef roasted in its own fat, foie gras Joe's strawberries, 50 year balsamico, mascarpone Pain perdu, roast pluots and corn ice cream Chocolate marquis, condensed milk ice cream Petit fours "chocolate-strawberry"</center> BTW, there were no wine pairings with this meal. Straight ice water. This did not detract from the experience in my opinion as it kept us focused on the flavors, and it was a very long meal (5 hours)

There's this big sign that says "Pier 8" right by Guastavinos and Tarantino's, though.

Every couple of visits to San Francisco I like to go down to the Wharf and engage in a bit of crustaceo-mass-consumption. While many native Bay Area residents will poo poo Pier 8 as a tourist trap -- and rightly so -- there are still some gems to be found. I will also argue that no where else in San Francisco will you find as good a value if you are looking to indulge in locally caught Cancer magister, particulary if you forgo the restaurants themselves and stick with the seafood stands and get intimate with the vendors. But getting to the wharf, particularly on a busy Sunday, driving in from across the Bay, can be an adventure. Patience however, is rewarded. Here I am in bumper to bumper traffic on I-580 leading up to the Bay Bridge. After sitting in traffic for about an hour or so, you'll come alongside the Embarcadero, where you will get a nice view of the bridge you just crossed. The Embarcadero has a ton of lights to get thru before you get to Pier 8, but trust me, the end result is worth it. Here's the parking lot across from Pier 8 on Fisherman's Wharf. As you can see there are a number of seafood restaurants here that have views of the bay and cater to tourists. While the sight of this would scare most sane people away, I was on a mission and zoning in on my crabby target. Dungeness crabs, yanked right out of the steamer, at Nick's. This is where the action is, and where you can get up close an personal with your lunch and the people preparing it. Pile 'O Crab Salads. And that aint no surimi. A Dungeness that has been prepared for my consumption. Shrimp Cocktail. Clam Chowda in a sourdough bread bowl. A guilty pleasure. Lobsters. A seafood platter being prepared. Oysters, prior to ingestion

Perhaps, but I quite enjoy going there as a single diner. I wouldnt typify the cuisine as touristy though, its authentically Hunan, which is in short supply in SF. Welcome to the site and thanks for supporting us!

I had Dim Sum at Koi Palace on Thursday on reccomendations of a co-worker -- really classy, clean dim sum restaurant, pretty much all the items we had were top notch. Pristine bathrooms, huge tanks of healthy looking fish and shellfish out in front. Long wait to get into the place (30 mins +) during lunchtime even though the place seats probably around 800 people -- and it was PACKED. In my estimation probably the best Hong Kong style dim sum I have ever had. Definitely a place I will return to.

I'm not sure, it was a fairly large restaurant, probably about 120-140 seats or so. I have the receipt, but all it says is "PHO BAC HOA VIET". I noticed that one of the items is listed as "Chinese Item" and I think that was the roast pork noodle soup John had.

Before heading back to San Francisco and Oakland, I decided to have one last burger at Nationwide: Double French Bacon Cheese Burger. The bacon is really crispy, of the thick cut variety. I brought my dirty shirt from the day before and changed into it in the bathroom before digging into the burger. No use getting a nice new business shirt greased up. Cruisin' down Route 80 in my Chrysler minivan.

Pho Bac... John, the Vietnamese UNIX admin at my client brought me there. I thought the pho was really good, as was the shrimp/pork crepe and the Cha Gio.

Its my understanding that the roll isnt as much an issue as the preparation of the lobster -- whether it is the mayonnaise-based cold salad type, or the warm meat tossed in melted butter on a toasted bun type that you find in Connecticut. Personally, I think they are both valid, but I prefer the Connecticut version.

Driving along the outskirts of Sacramento. Sacramento is one of the largest producers of sunflower seeds. You can see fields of these things for miles upon miles. Los Hermanos Lopez Carniceria 5350 Sunrise Blvd, Fair Oaks 95628 916-961-2672 The guys at Nationwide Meats recommended this particular taqueria in Fair Oaks. The place is in a strip mall along Sunrise Boulevard, and its kinda scary looking from the outside. Here's what the ordering counter looks like. This is a plate of various tacos. They are topped with this insanely spicy red hot sauce that is made from Chiles de Arbol and "Chiles Japonesas" (Japanese Chiles). Whatever was in it, it blew my head off. Still Life Tostada de Ceviche de Camarones. Kickass. Anyone for pickled pig ears?

Fried pies.

Its impossible to eat without dripping the grease onto your shirt. I had to go right back to the hotel after eating that thing. The place is like a 5 out of 5 on the Holly grease stain scale. By the way, Nationwide closes at 7PM, so no late night burgers.

There's a great Newark segment as well, but I am not sure if it will make it into the final cut of the episode.

First of all, there is NO WAY In-N-Out is even in the same league with Nationwide. Nationwide is a completely old-school burger place. The business has been around for 40 years, and is still owned by the same family. Irregardless of whether the orders are to go or to stay, you're served your meal in a brown paper bag. This is a "Double French" with cheese. The "French" part is because its French sandwich roll, whatever that means -- its an exceptionally good, large, soft hamburger roll, perhaps slightly on the sweet side. The burger comes already dressed, with a traditional burger sauce like a Russian dressing or a Big Mac. The double is two 1/3lb patties, with lettuce, tomato, and red onion (and cheese, if you order it with cheese). It is truly an outstanding burger, which would hold up to the finest Burger establishments in New York or New Jersey, in fact I would say it is one of the best burgers I have ever had. Really. The fries are also outstanding, and they are very thick cut, made from gargantuan potatoes sourced from Nevada. Maybe its all those nuclear tests, because I have never seen thick cut fries so long. The onion rings are also very good, and they seem to pay very close attention to the mix of their fountain sodas as well.

"Vermont" is a brand name for a popular curry roux mix sold in Japan by the House Foods Company. http://www.house-foods.com/imported_products.html "Golden" by the S&B company and Glico are also very popular.

If you can make it across the river on the free shuttle bus from Manhattan, the Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater, NJ has a pretty formidable food court that serves a mean Japanese curry.