Glenn, Full disclosure – I’m Ira Freehof. I was recently made aware of this post. My initial reaction was a defensive one. I was tempted to reply immediately, but I’ve learned over the years that doing something out of anger is usually NOT the best idea. I realized that if I replied at all it would have to be done fairly. This is itself a delicate issue – how to reply in a public forum to criticism of one’s own restaurant. As I said, I felt it only fair to look into your points and reply to each directly. The cook in the ridiculous looking chef’s hat: It was his first day and he didn’t have a hat of his own with him. The health codes require hair restraints. Rather than disregard the codes I opted to enforce them. The only option we had at the time was the tall chef’s hat. You call it ridiculous – I call it obeying the health codes. “Other than minor cosmetic changes, the place was virtually unchanged”: You’re absolutely correct in that we didn’t change the layout of the restaurant. I’m not sure what purpose that would have served other than to waste time and money. As to the minor cosmetic changes, I suppose that depends on your definition of minor. We changed the finishes on every wall, on every chair, on every booth and banquette. In addition we redid nearly all of the flooring, the entire back bar, all of the lounge furniture, most of the kitchen equipment and all of the china, glass and silver. It was an extensive (and not inexpensive) renovation. You called the appetizers “extremely boring”: We have 13 appetizers on the menu including crab cakes, grilled chicken skewers with Thai peanut dipping sauce, seared tuna, oysters, a quesadilla with chorizo, Caesar salad, Buffalo wings, and half a dozen more. I’d be curious to hear from you and others what you’d expect and more importantly what you’d LIKE to see from a restaurant like ours. You went on to say that “the menu was divided into 2 areas – comfort food and lighter fare” In fact the 2 areas are "salads + lighter fare" and "classics old + new". As you’ve indicated, trying to precisely define comfort food is a nearly impossible task. It means different things to different people. That’s why I’ve always tried to extend the “Comfort” part of our name beyond our food. We strive to make the restaurants comfortable places to be. I believe in that regard we’ve succeeded incredibly well in Jersey City. Did you get a chance to see either the indoor or outdoor lounge? You claimed our prices are “22nd century” While I don’t agree with that assessment, we have in fact lowered the prices of several items. They now start at $11 – and peak at $24 for filet mignon. I also hope we’ve done a better job with some of the menu descriptions. For instance, the macaroni and cheese is described as being made with Parmesan Reggiano, Italian Fontina and truffle butter. (More on the mac and cheese in a moment.) I can assure you after looking at the menus from all the other restaurants in the Newport development our prices are reasonable by comparison. I’d like to ask the egullet readers if they consider that price range out of line. Do you? You said we have “3 kinds of steaks in the 20’s” and “you’d have to be a moron to order the steak” Our 3 steaks are a marinated skirt steak for $18, a dry aged 12 oz. sirloin for $22 and a ten oz. filet mignon for $24. We purchase all 3 cuts from Lehman-Colorado. They supply some of the finest steakhouses in NJ and NYC. I’d love to know what you base your statement on. I have no problem with valid criticism. You’ll see that in a minute. I DO have a problem with the kind of attack that essentially calls us ‘morons’ in a public forum with no basis for your argument. You called the macaroni and cheese tasteless: You were right. It wasn’t made correctly on that night. Plain and simple. When it’s done right it’s incredible. Our chef is a former sous chef from Hudson Cafeteria. It’s almost the identical recipe for their highly acclaimed Truffled Macaroni and Cheese. Glenn, if you’re reading this I’d love to invite you back in as our guests to see just how delicious this dish is when it’s made correctly. This brings me to something I want to say. Problems occur in restaurants. I consider them opportunities. If any customer tells us about a problem we’ll go out of our way to correct it. We’d be crazy not to. I can’t help but wonder why you didn’t tell anyone in the restaurant about your problems. (If you did, I’d like to know about it and what was or wasn’t done to correct it). I can’t help wonder if it’s just gotten more fun to write about bad experiences here and in forums like this. Is it more fun to write that our press release said we’d have 70 wines but we had NO wine list rather than ask for one? If I’d read that press release I know I’d ask to see the wine list. Why didn’t you? It’s actually on the back of every menu in the restaurant and while we don’t yet have 70 choices yet, we do have nearly 30. Names like Jordan, Chimney Rock, Blackstone, Rudd, Markham, Purple Mountain and others. We’ve taken steps with staff training to make sure that every customer is made aware of it. I firmly believe that a person’s perception is in fact their reality. You had a bad experience. I’m sorry for that. As I said, I’d like to invite you and Anabelle in as our guests. If you’d like to take me up on my offer please call me at the restaurant (201) 533-1776. I hope to hear from you and more importantly to change your perception to match what I believe is OUR reality. Thanks, Ira
