Rail Paul

I must have been speaking to them a minute before or after. Here's the menu from Sonoma Grill, reservations for six at 730 under Paul: first course artisan cheeses, fresh and dried fruit sauteed shrimp fresh tomato, basil, pita crisps 12 caesar salad sonama jack cheese eggplant croutons 6 semolian dusted calamari 9 rocotta cheese gnocchi artichoke hearts, asparagus forest mushrrom jus 9 crab louis salad with avocado 13 portobello mushroom flagelots 9 baked oysters melted leeks white truffle essence 12 nori roll roll tempura 12 main course pan roasted day boat scallops, truffle essence 24 grilled salmon filet saffron vanilla cream sauce 21 szech ahi tuna wasabi sauce 25 rack of nz lamb twice baked goat cheese potato 27 breast of chicken under a brick, rabe 18 pan roasted quail cherry pistachio sauce 22 filet mignon merchant du vin sauce 25 grilled veal chop spaetzle saute 27 black angus strip steak 26 risotto priced daily pasta ragu bolognese 16 straw and hay pasta and salmon 16 tofu satay 15 sounds pretty interesting. Had to type fast as I'm on my way to a meeting I'll be in the bar at P&O by about 610, I'm wearing my white sweater with pictures of a golden retriever and a black labrador.

The news services are reporting that the executive editor and managing editor of the NY Times have resigned. Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd will leave their positions and be replaced by Joseph Llelyveld, former executive editor. The report mentions their failure to lead in the Jayson Blair and Rick Bragg issues.

From Park & Orchard's parking lot directly in front of the restaurant, take a right hand turn on Hackensack street. First traffic light is Paterson PLank road, Candelwyck Diner is on the corner. Go straight on Hackensack Road. The second light is Hoboken Road. There's a church on the corner of Hackensack and Hoboken. Turn right (toward 17) and go down hill two blocks, Sonoma Grill is on your right. I estimate it as a three minute drive or a ten minute walk from P&O. If you're going directly to Sonoma Grill, Hoboken Road has a marked exit off NJ 17 Southbound (only). If you're northbound, you have to make a huey upwards somewhere.

First, let me say that I'm sure many freelancers share your ethical integrity. But, newspapers no longer have the interest to provide fact checking, research or even editiorial guidance. Not for Rick Bragg, or Jayson Blair or any other high profile or lower profile reporters. Does that mean the other 100,000 newspaper journalists in the US call in their stories? Of course not. They take diligent effort to assure their stories are accurate. I stand by my original comment. If you have a business where your workers are making minimum wage or much less, you're unlikely to attract many of the people you'd most like to have working for you. I'm happy that you're the exception to this conclusion, and I am sure there are others who have chosen this employment. Very few newspaper food departments have more than one full time writer. Some rely heavily on wire services, others use stringers for local flavor. In a review of today's local Newhouse paper, the Newark Star Ledger here's what I found: 8 pages 3 pages of full page ads 4 half page ads (2 pages) leaving 3 pages for smaller ads, articles, etc. one 1/4 page listing of farmers markets in NJ from the Farmers Group, looks like a rewrite four articles, all by freelancers ---one wine review by John Foy, a distinguished restaurateur ---one byways article on a circus based fast food place ---one review of NJ brewpubs by their restaurant critic ---one article with recipes for lychees It's a business decision, and the newspapers choose not to pay more than they need to for freelance work. They undoubtedly make a bundle of money from the food section, how they choose to spend it is their business. If you get burned, like the Courant (or the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal did),that's a cost of doing business. It's not like the New Yorker, where every fact was verified in every article for years. Only EB White, William Maxwell, and one or two other writers were among the "untouchables"

I am saddened by this report, and I suspect many readers of the Courant are, as well. Plagiarism is wrong. It's theft of somebody else's work. But, I'm not all that certain the Courant didn't get what it was paying for. Freelancers are rarely protected by unions and almost never have support. What did they really expect for their $50 or $100? A 10,000 word opus on nuclear fission? In the recent case of NY Times Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg, some of his work was written by an unpaid stringer. Bragg gets the bux, the stringer gets maybe a shot at the big time. Not even a credit line. The Saudi terrorists walked past $5.15 an hour screener teams at Logan airport and Newark on September 11, 2001. The other two went thru a similar checkpoint in Portland ME. Ultimately, you get what you pay for, whether you're an airline buying security from fast food window guys or a respected newspaper filling column inches for a few bucks an inch. If you give good journalists pay and resources, you'll get a good story. If you pay people $1.50 an hour, you may regret what they give you...

Didn't the IRS attempt to run Joe Conforti's house of comfort in Nevada for a while? IRS took it in lieu of taxes, the state wouldn't allow them to shut it down due to economic impact and plant closing laws. So, the Feds had to run it themselves and lost money doing it. Eventually bulldozed the place. Only people in the history of the world who couldn't make money running a cat house.

Eastern North Carolina BBQ likes to travel. It's considered part of the BBQ evangelizing process. Mitchell's neighbor Bill Ellis (about a mile away in Wilson) has 14 tractor-trailer units for away from home events. Equipped with refrigeration units, massive pit cookers, and every thing necessary to serve customers up to and including the White House. Wilson is only a few minutes off I-95, so an enterprising traveler can visit Mitchell, Ellis, and Parker's (south of town on US 301) and fill an ice chest with the next few days larder. Holly's site has details and teasers in its Carolina BBQ section. Holly Eats

The NJ section of the Times has a Sunday review of this Rockland County restaurant. Excellent, mentions the no credit cards rule David Corcoran makes the same distinction: Peter Xavier Kelley (the person) with a E Xaviar's (the restaurant) with an A and an apostrophe Xaviars (the website) with an A, no apostrophe Corcoran tends to be pretty detailed about his fact checking from what I've observed

Elyse, I'm definitely interested, and would love some details. I'm not sure if we need to move this to the NJ board..... The NJ board has had several extensive threads on Newark rodizio (several places) and Portuguese places. The NJ eGullet group hosted a dinner at one last year. The DDC had a rodizio festival at the Armoury in Perth Amboy recently, as well.

This isn't gonna become another 47 page bashing of the Record's reviews, is it? They've had a pass for many weeks now --if they spell the name of the place incorrectly, that doesn't bode well for the rest of the article, does it?

I will call about corkage, although I believe somebody (viejo perhaps?) mentioned SG has an excellent list. Dee's wavering, we can wait list anybody who's interested. PM me or post, as you wish

as in unattached people, or still wet copies of George Washington on greenish paper? we do have space available rock pete paul dee? tommy ?

We're set for six people, the Sonoma Grill on Thursday June 5 at 730pm. 64 Hoboken Road in East Rutherford. It's under "Paul" I'll get a menu from them and post it closer to the date, and we can figure out the logistics of meeting at P&O, etc

I believe it's just opposite the entrance to the red line Gallery Place station, in the Pepco Building Eighth and G, maybe?

It's not lke every pizza place in NY and NJ is named Ray's, or Famous Ray's, or Original Ray's, or Original Famous Ray's, is it?

Elks and Moose barbeque-ing pigs? Sounds like George Orwell would have a field day with this. What ever happened to the harmony of nature?

Jonathan - welcome aboard, and post often! Paul

Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher of the Wall Street Journal wine staff covered inexpensive red jug wines in a September column. Liked: Belmondo Merlot Delle venezie 2000 at 6.99 for 1.5L Dario D'Angelo Montepulciano d'Abruzzo at 5.99 Foxhorn Vineyards Merlot at 7.49 column ran September 6, 2002 They tend to be reliable wine guides based on my limited experience

Pepperwood Grove Syrah has been reliable for a wine priced under $7. Costco has had it (in NJ) for 5.99 occasionally. Good with burgers...

that works for me, too. I don't know if Dee's in yet. She did express an interest in seeing the interior of Satin Dolls (Bada Bing on Sopranos) once. this isn't a closed event, nor is it an official eGullet sponsored event, so I figure there's room for six to eight people? Wait list anybody who's not spoken up once we get to six? I'll make the calls to the establishments and post back

June 5 at 7-730 pm? Start on P&O, move over to Sonoma Grill, break by 930ish? Count me in for at least one spot, maybe two.

They say they have Orthodox Union certification and I saw OU on the box. I went back to check exactly what the eggland folks say about this. Their fine print mirrors macrosan's and afn's comments. The chickens are fed grain only, no animal fats, and are killed in an appropriate way, supervised by appropriate authorities. I was intrigued to read on the site that Orthodox Jewish buyers account for about 20% of kosher purchases. Observant Muslims account for another 30%. Within the terms of that description, I'd suspect non-Orthodox Jewish buyers are lumped into the 50% other buyer group. I can't imagine non-Jewish, non-Halal purchasers are 50% of the kosher market.

Park & Orchard is the place described as GLOP earlier in the thread? A bottle of wine at the bar sounds good, they have a great list....

The book is also reviewed in the current issue of Gourmet magazine. It sounds like a very touching story. Seems like the publicity flacks are doing their job very well. That's a lot of exposure. Figure a turn on NPR's All Things Considered, WHYY's Fresh Air, and CBS weekend for a trifecta...

Customers become unhappy if they feel they are overpaying for something. But they feel good if they feel they are underpaying and getting a deal. If a maitre accepts $100 cash from me and marks that dinner as a "comp" for a restaurant reviewer, he just pocketed $80 (tip for the waitstaff). If the meal simply disappeared off the books, his cost of goods sold stayed the same while revenues dropped by $100. If you're the owner, you don't want your staff doing this. If YOU are the owner, and it's your pocket, that's a good thing. Folks believe they have a right to free credit. Credit isn't free, somebody pays the cost. I'd just prefer it isn't me. If the house is willing to give me 6% (NJ sales tax) off for paying cash, I'll do it every time.