rozrapp
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Posts posted by rozrapp
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Ever notice your butter after sitting out for a while?
Maybe it's just us, but, if the bread is good, the butter doesn't stand a chance of sitting there very long.
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Macrosan, considering the "attitude" you were getting from your server, and since you say you are not even sure she ever actually checked with the kitchen -- it took her 10 minutes to get an answer?!
-- did it not occur to you or your dining companions to ask to see a manager who might have been able to accomplish your dessert request? If not, perhaps, he or she would have been able to give you a more courteous explanation of what exactly was going on. So sorry that bad service seems to have trailed you during your visit. But, at least, in this case, you reduced the tip sufficiently!
(Courage in numbers? 
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I love black radish! I peel it and grate it. (I used to use the 4-sided hand grater, but I now do it with the grating disk in my food processor.) I don't salt it. I add lots of very thinly sliced onions -- preferably Vidalia or another sweet onion -- and some freshly ground black pepper. Then I dress the mixture with vegetable or peanut oil. It's my favorite accompaniment to chopped liver.
Oh, and when I buy black radish, I always get a kick out of the perplexed look on the faces of the supermarket check-out people. When they go to punch in the code, they never know what it is.
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We love dining al fresco on a warm summer's day or evening.
One of our favorites is Gascogne with its truly charming rear garden. Their $15 3-course prix-fixe lunch/brunch, served Saturdays and Sundays, is a great bargain.
Another place we frequent is I Trulli. The rear garden is attractive and comfortable.
We have eaten many brunches and dinners in Verbena's spacious, pleasant rear garden; however, our last brunch there was so disappointing that we have not been back since.
I Coppi's rear garden is very pretty, and Le Jardin Bistro's is quite nice.
We've been to Uncle Nick's many times and, last year, discovered that they have a garden out back. Sadly, it's not at all attractive.
Ate once in the garden at Grove in the Village. I think the restaurant has changed ownership and name. I presume the garden is still there.
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I might have missed the boat on this one...but:
For dinner:
Gabrielle's at Richmond Hill Inn (pretty biased about this one)
- fine dining, elegant atmosphere, excellant use of local ingredients
Perry, Not to worry. This suggestion, at least, was posted in time, as you will see if you just scroll up a bit.
So, why are you biased about Richmond Hill Inn?
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Meatloaf
My adaptation of PF's recipe
- 1/2 lb each of finely ground lean beef, veal and pork
- 1 T oil
- 1 c finely chopped onion
- 1/2 tsp finely minced garlic
- 1 c fine fresh bread crumbs
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 c finely chopped parsely
- 1/4 c milk
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground allspice
- 1/8 tsp ground cumin
- 3 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Heat oil in pan. Add onion and garlic. Cook until wilted.
3. Place meat in bowl and add onion and garlic along with all other ingredients except cheese. Blend well.
4. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions. Pack each portion into 1-1/2 cup molds such as individual souffle dishes. Sprinkle tops with cheese.
5. Bake for 30 minutes. Run briefly under broiler until browned and glazed.
Let stand for about 5 minutes before unmolding.
I prefer to form them into individual loaves and place them side-by-side in one baking dish. I suppose you also could pack the whole mixture into one loaf pan, and then increase the baking time to about an hour.
As good as these are hot, they are really terrific when cold and sliced for sandwiches
Keywords: Main Dish, Beef
( RG477 )
- 1/2 lb each of finely ground lean beef, veal and pork
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Eric Asimov's review.
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Grimes in the Times gives Ola one star.
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i think you'll see that very few upscale towns have good upscale restaurants.
rumson - none?
Fromagerie -- It's been in Rumson for about 30 years.
rozrapp,
good i stand corrected.
however my point that these upscale towns don't necessary have upscale restaurants remains.
Tommy, I agree with you. Actually, if we made a list of upscale restaurants in the entire state, I'll bet we might find that there aren't all that many. And when it comes to their locations, some, like Nicholas, are not in a town, upscale or otherwise. Ryland Inn is another one in that category; it's in the middle of nowhere! Then there are some in towns or communities that would not be considered upscale. Frog and the Peach and Stage Left are both in New Brunswick, hardly an upscale zip code.
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i think you'll see that very few upscale towns have good upscale restaurants.
rumson - none?
Fromagerie -- It's been in Rumson for about 30 years.
Restaurant Nicholas is not in Rumson. Its address is Middletown; however, it's not in a "town" because Middletown is not a town. It's just a zip code. As a matter of fact, I'd hardly call Rumson much of a town either. A few shops and antiques places along River Road don't add up to much of a town. Montclair, Westfield, Red Bank, Princeton, Chester, Lambertville, Freehold, etc., -- those are real towns. Anyway, Nicholas is in its own building on Highway 35. It's a 4-star-rated, upscale restaurant that Rumson residents patronize, as well as being a destination dining place.
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When we were in Asheville, we stayed at the Richmond Hill Inn. We ate in the inn's restaurant, Gabrielle's, and the food was wonderful.
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No more Mr. Nice Guy. Fines will now be levied. And the owners are paying attention.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/30/nyregion/30SMOK.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/A...moking-Ban.html
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=Somewhere there is a restaurant called "The Restaurant". I just know there is.
"Le Restaurant", the flagship dining room at the Hotel Sofitel Melbourne
In Hackensack, NJ, there is a restaurant called "The Restaurant."
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I want to shout from the rooftops how wonderful I think Spargo's Grille on Route 33 in Manalapan, NJ is!!!! Chef Tim Murphy is one of the best in NJ (in my opinion). Ive been to quite a few 4 & 5 star restaurants around the US & in Europe, and although they are different, Chef Tim's food ranks right up there with me! He is creative and never boring. His nightly specials are just fantastic. Hostess Erin keeps everybody happy and smiling with her wit, beauty and great people skills. The serving staff also is top notch. I love this place and the food is fantastic.
Getting back to the restaurant that started this thread…. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had been to Spargo’s a couple of times after it first opened, but found the food inconsistent and had not been back until last evening. After reading Michelle’s high praise, I felt we should give it another try.
We called at a little past 8 p.m. and reserved for 8:30. (The restaurant is less than a 10-minute drive from our house.) When we arrived, there were only 3 tables occupied, not surprising for that hour on a Tuesday evening in this neighborhood. Most restaurants tend to do landslide business on weekend evenings, Saturdays in particular, and are much emptier weekday nights.
The restaurant looked the same as when we originally dined there. The room is quite large with pleasant, though non-descript, décor. Tables are covered with white linen tablecloths. Wine glasses are decent. (It’s a BYO.) Spacing between tables is relatively close, but not uncomfortably so. Seats are very comfortable.
Four rolls arrived in a napkin-wrapped basket. The rolls were so hot that we had to wait for them to cool down a bit before being able to eat them. Very good rolls, with crisp crust and good flavor. There was a dish of butter. Yes! (I am not a fan of oil for dipping.)
I would call the cuisine here “creative American.” In addition to the printed menu, there were several specials -- 2 apps and 4 mains -- which were described by the hostess with prices. Bravo for that! The dishes as described on the printed menu sounded “interesting,” though I can’t say that any one of them really “called” to me. For an appetizer, I was leaning toward something straightforward, shrimp breaded in panko crumbs, deep-fried, and accompanied by a fresh horseradish relish. However, my husband convinced me to share the “Beggar’s Purses” – sweet Italian sausage, roasted peppers and ricotta cheese in crisped wontons with a sweet and sour raspberry sauce. ($9) It was the sauce that made me hesitate. Raspberries with sausage, peppers and cheese? Well, turns out, it worked very well. We were served two large “purses” – definitely a dish that can be shared -- which had been deep-fried. Though I think they might have been rescued from the deep fryer just a tad sooner, the wontons were crispy, not at all oily, and the filling was very tasty. The oil and raspberry vinegar "sauce" was an excellent counterpoint to the filling. We really liked this dish!
For mains, we both chose specials. My husband opted for the large, thick-cut veal chop in a Barolo sauce over risotto and broccoli rabe. ($29) I went with the rack of lamb, coated in mustard and nuts, accompanied by mashed potatoes. ($25) There was a sauce, but what it was escapes me. When the dishes arrived, both were garnished with some thin, deep-fried, very crisp onion rings – excellent! – and a couple (2) of asparagus. My plate held a small rack of 8 chops, cut into 3 sections, cooked as I requested, medium rare. There was just enough sauce to add a little extra flavor component and, though this rack was not the best I’ve ever had, the meat had good flavor. The huge portion of mashed potatoes was o.k. (More about that in a moment.) I tasted a small piece of my husband’s veal which he ordered “as the chef prefers.” The medium rare meat was tender, and the Barolo sauce was fine. My husband said he liked everything on the plate. But the chop was so large, that he decided to “doggie bag” a piece. We put it together with my leftover potatoes.
We shared a dessert, peanut butter mixed with milk and dark chocolate mousses with peanuts sandwiched in between. ($7) Though I like peanut butter and chocolate, I did not really like this. There was something about the texture that I found unappealing. I think it would have been better made with ice cream.
Now for some quibbles and glitches.
I prefer specials to be printed out with prices and inserted into the menu. But, as I mentioned, prices were recited – a giant plus.
I don’t like music in restaurants. The music played last night was not at all to my taste. At least, it wasn’t too loud.
Too much decorative ground or powdery stuff on plates.
About those mashed potatoes. They are one of my least favorite accompaniments. Sometimes, they are appropriate for a particular dish; for example, they go very well with short ribs. However, I feel that chefs often use them as an easy out instead of trying to be a bit more creative when it comes to accompaniments. They show up in a number of Spargo’s main courses. Shrimp with mashed potatoes?!! And for my lamb, why not a potato gratin? Or some couscous? Or even skip the starch and go with something like ratatouille?
Service took a dramatic turn-for-the-worse after we finished our main courses and the table was cleared. At that point, we were the only patrons left and, for a short while, literally the only people left in the dining room. Period. The hostess had explained the specials, our order was taken by the maitre d’, a busboy brought the bread and filled our water glasses, and the food was brought by a young man who appeared to be a “runner”; therefore, we never really had a “server.” (After the maitre d’ opened our wine and poured the first glass, my husband did the pouring honors from then on.) So, there we were, totally alone, at a table devoid of anything save a mass of breadcrumbs! We could hear voices from behind the screen that separates the welcome station from the rest of the room, but nobody bothered to look into the room to see what was happening. After a few moments, one of the young men appeared – I think he was the “runner” -- and began clearing the table next to ours, changing the linen, etc. Finally, he looked over at us and realized that we were not being attended to. He asked if we wanted some coffee. We said we did not, but would like to look at the dessert menu. He went into the kitchen and came back with two small, sad-looking pieces of paper, which contained the list. Not exactly the proper way to present the dessert menu, in my estimation. Suddenly, out popped the Maitre d’ from behind the screen to take our dessert order. My husband asked him about having the breadcrumbs removed. Off he went, returning with one of the huge steak knives like the ones given us for our main courses, which he used to scrape the crumbs off. I have never before seen a giant steak knife used for this purpose. Since it is not its intended purpose, small wonder that it did not do a very good job. Not exactly a touch of class!
To sum up, I cannot agree with Michelle that Chef Tim ranks with 4-star chefs. That would mean his food would rank alongside such places as Restaurant Nicholas. And Spargo’s food is not even close to being in that league. As for the service being “top notch”…. However, the meal we had last night was good in many respects and had some degree of creativity. So, despite my quibbles and the glitches, Spargo’s does warrant a return visit.
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Well, at last, someone who has actually eaten at SamVera!
This place has been a total mystery to us. Not a stitch of advertising since it opened. Nothing to tell us what kind of a restaurant it is -- though we guessed Italian since just about every new restaurant that opens around these parts is Italian. 
(In case you haven't heard, the space previously occupied by Ray's Seafood in Colts Neck -- a restaurant we liked a lot because it had very good food -- will be re-opening as an Italian.) Not that I have anything against Italian restaurants, mind you. But most of them are just not very good. The previous restaurant in the SamVera location, Nardino, was an example. We tried it twice, and the food was quite awful. And the Italian places ubiquitous in the strip malls along Route 9 are, for the most part, worthless.I cannot share your opinion of Peking Pavillion. We gave it a try more than once years ago, and the food was worse each time. We are also in the minority in not liking Crown Palace (on Rte 79). Our one meal when it first opened was horrible. Even my husband, who loves Chinese food and will eat it practically anywhere, will not go back to either of those. We prefer Empire Szechuan, in the Willow Pointe strip mall.
Two restaurants we like very much are Aangan for Indian food and Fritzy’s for German. We are also very keen on Pooket, the Thai restaurant in Old Bridge, which I have posted about. We had another very good meal there a few days ago. We also go to Peter’s Fishery, in Matawan, for two particular items: my husband loves their “Mediterranean Morsels” – a variety of seafood morsels in a red sauce atop linguini – and I always order the fried shrimp platter – a huge portion of fried shrimp, perfectly deep-fried, crispy, and greaseless. They come with excellent fries, and homemade cole slaw and tartar sauce. Manhattan Clam Chowder is terrific as well.
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Michelle, There are too few posters from Western Monmouth, so I welcome you!
As someone who also lives in the area, and who has eaten at the places you have mentioned, your post really interested me. We ate at Spargo a couple of times right after it first opened and found the food quite inconsistent. Chef Tim previously ran the kitchen at 79 South, in Freehold, which we tried once, but never went back to because we did not find the food to be anything more than mediocre. Although I did not know that Spargo was "on hiatus" for awhile, I have seen advertisements in the Transcript stating that "Chef Tim has returned," but had not considered going there again. However, after reading what you have written, I may give it another try.
Ah, Posillipo's! We haven't been there in ages. We used to go quite often years ago, liked the food, and always enjoyed ourselves. In line with what you say here, someone else recently mentioned to me that she had eaten there not long ago, that the food is still quite good, and that they continue to offer their Wednesday Opera Night. So, it's now on my "go to" list.
Unfortunately, I cannot agree with you at all about La Cipollina. Frankly, I think the food is awful.
Have you tried Portabello? I've eaten dinner twice there. The first time, the food was first rate; the second meal was disappointing.
Main Street Bistro is another case of inconsistent food. Their soups are delicious, but everything else I've had has been hit or miss. However, the thing that totally turns me off -- and the main reason I have stopped going there --is that the noise level is truly unbearable.
Horrendous noise is also a problem with Marielle's new Main Street location. (Not a problem in their previous locale.) It's really a shame because the food's quite good.
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There are a number of restaurants where one best adapts a don't ask, don't tell attitude. Don't ask what's in the dish and don't tell the waiter what you like or want, just put yourself in the chef's hands and learn.
This reminds me of a conversation we had many years ago with the concierge at the hotel we were staying at in Lyon. At our request, he recommended a restaurant for lunch and also suggested that we order certain dishes, some of which were unfamiliar to us at the time. When we asked him to describe them, he replied that it was better that we not know exactly all the ingredients because, if we knew, we might be turned off. Assuring us that the suggested items were delicious, he encouraged us just to order them and enjoy. Which is exactly what we did.
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What about Thomas Sweet?? Doesn't anyone like Thomas Sweet?
I do! Nothing like strolling around Princeton on a warm summer day and stopping at Thomas Sweet for some delectible ice cream.
In Ocean Grove, Nagle's Apothecary Cafe has very good ice cream in a wide variety of flavors. As the name of the place suggests, it's located in what used to be a pharmacy, and there is a lot of interesting old drug store paraphernalia along the walls.
Also, last summer, we stopped for lunch in Chester and then had some delicious ice cream in a shop on Main St. Don't know its name.
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I made the buttercrunch recipe after all the rave reviews on here. I used unsalted pareve Pesach margarine (ick!) and regular light brown sugar. When I cooked the margarine and sugar the whole mixture looked separated the whole time despite constant stirring. These ingredients just would not emulsify, even temporarily. It simmered quickly but never really "boiled" as the recipe said so I had a hard time figuring out the timing of the dish. I tried to pour it as evenly as possible over the matzah but it was difficult since the mixture was separated. I didn't feel too optimistic about it by the time I was sticking the matzah in the oven. But the finished product was pretty good as Pesadik desserts go. I enjoyed picking at it, as did everybody else. I wondered if the recipe works better using real butter. I also got to musing about problems with recipe writing as I was cooking it; I really needed more information about what the mixture should look like.
Next time I hope to use real butter and better chocolate. Which reminds me, are any of the better chocolate brands available in Kosher for Passover formulations? That'd be nice. I'm not too into Barton's or Elite.
Malawry, I was the one who originally suggested this recipe. I have never made it with margarine, only with butter. I use Land O' Lakes, Brownulated Sugar, and plain old supermarket brand semi-sweet chocolate bits. (This year, it was Foodtown.) The finished product is always sensational!
As to your question about the consistency of the butter and brown sugar as they cook, they do remain "separated" for quite some time, but, eventually, with the constant stirring, they come together into a smooth, caramel mixture, which boils nicely. I then let it boil for however many minutes called for -- don't have the recipe in front of me -- still stirring constantly. When it is poured over the matzohs, it spreads easily. If every inch of the matzohs is not perfectly covered, once the baking starts, the caramel spreads out, evenly covering the entire surface, and then becomes bubbly.
Butter is definitely the way to go here, but I don't think that better quality chocolate is all that important.
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I think we've been down this road before, but I was underwhelmed by the food at Moonstruck when it was in OG. I went with a group of 8 people early (6 p.m.) in the middle of the week in the off-season, so there was no wait, and we did have a waitress who was super.
My days of waiting an hour or an hour and a half to eat at a restaurant are long gone. (Not enough years left in my life to waste time that way!
) No restaurant is worth it. And from what Oceangroveguy says here about attitude problems and decline in food, well, I've struck Moonstruck from my dining list. -
I think I remember a store that sells fudge in either Lambertville or New Hope (PA), just a short walk across the bridge over the Delaware River.
And if you were serious about being willing to travel far to get fudge, there was some seriously delicious fudge in assorted flavors in a place along the waterfront in Savannah, GA.
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identifiler, I totally agree that there's absolutely nothing wrong with those old-style French bistros which offer what you term the "unrevived" approach to cuisine, particularly when the food is excellent. We have a couple of favorites of that kind in NYC which have been around for 25 or 30 years. The waiters do not, however, wear tuxedos.
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I've heard that quite a few restaurants that had separate smoking rooms (cigars) have applied for exemptions. Stay tuned.
the NYT, today, has an article on that. here if you're subscribed.
I'm not sure that I understand why they are applying for an exemption because, based on what I've read, when the new, much stricter NY State Smokefree Law goes into effect in a couple of months, it will supercede NYC's law, and the State law has next to no exemptions.
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You were sort of lukewarm about your dinner at the upscale I Trulli, which I had suggested,
so I'll try again with something different. How about a pleasant little trattoria that serves what I have found to be very nicely prepared food at moderate prices? It's Trattoria Trecolori, on W. 45th St., btw 6th & 7th Av. Check out the menu here:
Craft
in New York: Dining
Posted
Excellent, Macrosan! Something like, "Stop! Before you do any rash tipping, call us for advice!" We could start it up in NYC, then franchise it in cities around the world.
Anyway, I'm glad to see that, despite all, you've managed to retain your sense of humor. 