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!

There's a rodizio buffet in Little Ferry in the Home Depot plaza. Never ate there so I can't tell you if it's any good. I'm certain it can't compare to the other suggestions above.

For those of you who like ribs, I hate to say it, but Costco's ribs are really very good. Very meaty and sweet. Costs about $15 for the rack. I pick up a rack whenever they have it and I'm there-which is not very often. They fly off the shelf as soon as they are put out. Open a bottle of wine and put in a good movie and it's better than most restaurants that serve BBQ in this area.

The Assembly is quite good, but may be a bit pricier than you are looking for.

Thanks! Lists are good, although this one does not seem to have the type of BBQ, I will definately give it a go over to see if there is anything listed in Essex County -besides those in Newark. AlisonA ← There's a new location of a mini chain called Jim Dandy's in Cedar Grove. There's another in Nutley. I haven't personally been there, but have heard very good things about it.

I've been to Trattoria Fresco several times, and only once have I had a positive experience. I've made reservations, only to be told that they had no record of my reservation. I've been mistreated on my own birthday dinner. I've had subpar service. I don't think that their food is anything exceptional, aside from the occasional delicious dish--meaning that while they've made some dishes excellent, there is no consistancy. I don't know what to say about this other than you really need to get out to more places. Just because a restaurant tries hard and has some creative dishes, does not mean that their food is outstanding. In northern New Jersey, there are so many Italian restaurants that are creative, tasty, and consistantl. My intention of this post is not to get personal, but rather to emphasize my overall disappointment with Trattoria Fresco after several bad experiences there. Sorry to use your own bad experience as a platform to vent my frustration with this restaurant. Unfortunately, with this place the potential is there, but they have yet to realize that potential in the eyes of this dissatisfied patron. ← Nothing personal taken. I travel the world and have found the best italian food outside of Italy to be in Germany (Frankfurt), actually. There are great places in Manhattan, of course (San Pietro) and a couple in Jersey that I find decent. Napoli Napoli (moved) of Little Falls was a small place I would bring anyone from anywhere in the world to for Italian food. Unfortunately, they moved to Lodi under a different name, I believe, and I have not been able to get there and do not even know if it still exists. Regarding TF, I won't be back anytime soon. I'm a Thai food fan afterall!

I love to taste different items, but it doesn't sound like The Grill is that type of restaurant. To your question; I would prefer just the entree with the option of ordering sides. When a dish comes with "plain sides" as you described and I know I'm not going to eat them, I feel I am being overcharged. Sometimes I might ask if there is a deduction for leaving the side off, but I usually don't remember to do that.

I wish I had read West Orange Frank's post prior to Saturday night... Just ate there with 3 other couples (8 total in our party). We had 8:30 reservations. We wanted 8:00, but were assured that if we took 8:30 we would be seated immediately. We arrived at 8:20 and were finally seated at 9:25! Since I complained 2 times, the hostess offered an apology, but noone else nor was anything offered in terms of "on the house". There is no doubt that the food served here is among the best Italian food I have had anywhere in the U.S. My only major complaint, other than the wait, is that the restaurant was much too noisy. Not just loud, but so loud that I actually could barely hear my wife sitting next to me! A minor complaint is that the menu was still a Winter menu. Now into April, the menu should have changed if that is something the restaurant wants to be known to do. What did we eat? Heavy on the appetizers. We had Frito Misto (2), a prosciutto pizza, and a Crabello (portobello mushroom covered crabcake). A fried cheese ball of sorts made its way to our table but was not ordered. I don't like ricotta cheese (which was in it) so I didn't taste it, but my friends said it was much too salty. For dinner, I stayed light and had the shrimp and lobster over spaghettini with a lobster aioli. It was very good except that the shrimp were a bit overcooked. For dessert I had the chocolate sorbet. I must say that I have had none better. Hate to end it on a sour note, but we were celebrating my wife's birthday. They had to be coaxed to bring something with a candle and it wound up on our bill! It wasn't very good, either (apple crisp of sorts).

Just ate there with 3 other couples (8 total in our party). We had 8:30 reservations. We wanted 8:00, but were assured that if we took 8:30 we would be seated immediately. We arrived at 8:20 and were finally seated at 9:25! Since I complained 2 times, the hostess offered an apology, but noone else nor was anything offered in terms of "on the house". There is no doubt that the food served here is among the best Italian food I have had anywhere in the U.S. My only major complaint, other than the wait, is that the restaurant was much too noisy. Not just loud, but so loud that I actually could barely hear my wife sitting next to me! A minor complaint is that the menu was still a Winter menu. Now into April, the menu should have changed if that is something the restaurant wants to be known to do. What did we eat? Heavy on the appetizers. We had Frito Misto (2), a prosciutto pizza, and a Crabello (portobello mushroom covered crabcake). A fried cheese ball of sorts made its way to our table but was not ordered. I don't like ricotta cheese (which was in it) so I didn't taste it, but my friends said it was much too salty. For dinner, I stayed light and had the shrimp and lobster over spaghettini with a lobster aioli. It was very good except that the shrimp were a bit overcooked. For dessert I had the chocolate sorbet. I must say that I have had none better. Hate to end it on a sour note, but we were celebrating my wife's birthday. They had to be coaxed to bring something with a candle and it wound up on our bill! It wasn't very good, either (apple crisp of sorts).

Thanks, everyone! Of course with my forum name I know about Bangkok Kitchen, however, the crowd I'm out with Saturday is not so wide ranging in their tastes. I have reservations at Trattoria Fresco. Will let everyone know how it is...

We have 5 couples going out Saturday night and are looking for a restaurant in Montclair/Caldwell area that is fairly casual and Bring Your Own. Would love to hear your recommendations! Thank you.