AlwaysCravingThai

Had our board dinner at River Palm. Very unimpressed with the evening. Service wasn't very good (had my same steak knife all night). Steak was overdone and tasteless (filet) as was my lobster tail. Unexcusable for a $60+ plate! I wouldn't go back given the quality of Morton's or Ruth Chris. I would rather go to Outback!

Any suggestions for a top notch steakhouse in Bergen County. Have a board meeting with several Europeans and would prefer a private dining room, but quality will win out. Already know about Ruths Chris and Mortons, but they don't work for our purposes. Thanks in advance!

I too was there opening night. Thankfully, one of our party makes his own award winning wine so the fact that the food was awful didn't matter much after we each had a bottle of wine! Really, I wouldn't step foot in there again. I didn't even order a main course!

Thank you, Rosie. From the name it sounds French.

Has anyone been to Le Carousel in Montclair? It took over for another restaurant. Friends have made reservations for us for Friday night, but was wondering if anyone has been there? It's entirely possible that this is opening night because a friend of theirs is the piano player and I think he said something about it being the first night. I don't know if it was his first night or the restaurant's first night.

We enjoy the sushi at Asian Delight in West Caldwell. It's always fresh, but they don't have a very wide selection. My favorite is the spicy scallop hand roll and the spicy tuna, among the best I've had anywhere.

Geloti's in Caldwell has geloto that my wife and think is very good...for the US. Having been to southern Italy and eating geloto 2 times a day, it's tough to compare anything to it. We live near Geloti's and enjoy the Stracciatella (spelling) and the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle very much. It's better than any of the ice cream in the area, except for Maggie Moos.

I didn't read through the 9 pages of replies so it may have already been written about, however, we recently discovered that LOMBARDI'S in cedar grove has some very good pizza. It is very thin crust, similar to brick oven and may even be, but I don't know what ovens they use for sure. It is a small town bar with a decent number of tables, very family friendly though, with 6 TVs. And they're closed on Mondays. I had to drive right though Trenton today on the way back from a friend's. It took every fiber of my being not to go get a pie at DeLorenzo's as I was all of about 5 minutes away, but it was just me, and I'm told the pies don't travel well. <sigh> Got to get a gang of intrepid PA-gulleteers to make the drive again soon. I can almost taste the clam pie now...:drool: ← Hey Katie: Although nowhere near as good as fresh out of Gary's oven, a little known tip I got from him is to heat up leftover pie in a cast iron skillet using just a little EVOO. It really does work. I'm in for the pizza run, let me know when. Jeff ←

For the money: I would agree with Rosie on Costco; breads are excellent as are the rolls. Their sheet cakes are among the best of any I've had at many of the mediocre bakeries anywhere in Essex/Bergen area. Shop Rite of West Caldwell brought in a baker from Italy and thus most of their cakes and pastries are quite excellent. I don't have prices or specifics right now. Being in the Verona area, the local bakery, DiPaolo's, is frequented due to convenience, however, they have an excellent selection and variety of fresh breads/rolls, about 10 varieties of biscottie and a dozen or so flavors of fresh breadsticks. Again, prices are not on the tip of my fingers, but I can get them if you are interested.

Ate at Seabra's Rodizio in Ironbound a few days ago for the first time. I'm not sure what kind of beef it was, but it was probably the best tasting beef I have ever had anywhere! Perfectly seasoned on the salty side. I think it was either skirt or flank steak. Everything was very good, except for the Ostrich and Buffalo, which were a bit over done. They even served some alligator!

Now that Sears bought Kmart, they are renaming and revamping several locations, including the WO store. I don't know about the Pathmark location, but the Kmart will become one of the new Sears monikers.

I know I've been pretty quiet lateley(at least on this thread) so to give you the update, I am feverishly searching for the right location. I'm finding that to be quite difficult. Had a potemtial in Montclair, but decided it wasn't going to work for what I want to do so my partner and I walked away. I scoured morristown and Madison yesterday. There's not a "for rent" sign ANYWHERE. I may have found an ideal location in Union today though. I'll keep you posted. Oh and Hoboken; fuggheddaboutit. $6000 per month is a crapload of hot dogs!! Anyway, the name game is still on 'cuz I might use a different name deponding on location. Keep 'em coming if you think of anymore good names. Thanks alot, Eric ← What demographics are you looking for? What size space? Names: Frank Dog-gone It The Original Hot Dog House Fun on a Bun Natural Casing The Foot Long Frank's Famous Pigs in a Blanket If you use one of these, I will only ask for a small royalty. Good luck!

46 Farmer's Market is very good. I didn't look through this whole thread, so apologize if it was mentioned last year (I didn't see it in 2005). Another very nice market, though a small town local market, is Verona Farm Market on Bloomfield. Always very fresh and prices are very good. They have fresh sliced fruit for those who don't want or don't have time to do the work. They also have a very large selection of (bag) tea from well know brands to Asian types. They carry fresh dairy, flowers and the sushi chef makes some pretty good rolls, too!

I have several wines in my basement, some stored properly, some not. I wanted to know how to find out if they are still expected to be drinkable? For the California wines, I sent off an email directly to the winery and am awaiting answers. For the European wines, I'm not sure what to do. Thank you for any help.

Just went today to see what I could order for the weekend. I basicallly ordered one of each. The lady at the counter (Michel's wife?) was wonderful and had me taste everything! I told her I found out about it on eGullet and she told me about the photos you took, Jason. I have to say, though, that I was disappointed that I didn't like the flourless chocolate torte. I guess I just don't like the flavor of the pistachio flour. I'll let everyone know how it all tastes on Monday!