Rail Paul

I was commenting on Dodge's observation that Wegmans locks it down in one place, and has it out on the shelf in the other. I tend to view locked up merchandise (other than weapons, etc) as merchandise the owner has no real interest in selling. The Macy's at Willowbrook Mall is an example. I have no interest in trying on a coat which is chained, and has to be released. I prefer not to shop in a place where the shopper is assumed to be a criminal. My sense is the Wegmans would offend many buyers in NJ with a locked cabinet. Contrast that with the description of the Pierre Herme shop in the same store. Artfully displayed pastry in cabinets, highlighted details, attentive salespeople (2), eager to help. Avoiding the "May I help you?" with the open ended "That's one of our new items. Customers have said it is a wonderful chocolate." One store welcomes you, invites you in, encourages you to look. The other locks up its merchandise, forcing you to find a salesperson before you've decided to spend the $45 an ounce. Strange that this is the same chain. As for me being a nut, you may be right

Capri found a Wegmans reference that new stores will be opened in the DC metro. Original post on the NJ board. Loudon County and Fairfax County come up winners! Click for Wegmans

I heard the start date for Whole Foods was "mid-September" If I have the chance, I'll drive by tomorrow and see what's happening. I already promised to visit the Pops bbq which is about a mile away.

His mom sounds like my kind of people, do you suppose she'd adopt me? I'd put the slaw on the side, and let the eater load it up when he/she chooses. That way you don't wilt the bun. If you're adventuresome, you might consider julienned carrots on the side. Lots of crunch and mouthfeel. It's heresy, but I'd consider steak fries on the side, and a choice of two or three dips. Maybe a vinegar-catsup as noted, an asian (thai with peppers), and a warm, sweet pepper relish with mangos. A few cold pilsners and you're on your way to bliss...

Okay. There is a logic to the airlines wanting the employees to benefit from the mileage, as in most cases it is the employee, or an employee anyway, who decides which airline to use, and the benefit to the airlines is loyalty. If my employer took my air miles away, I wouldn't use the same carrier (almost) all the time - which I do. Dumb question: What are these points all about? Wilfrid - your example makes sense insofar as the employee has some say in which carrier the company selects. That is becoming, unfortunately, less common. I may recommend a flight, but an exception report to the CEO is generated if there's a lower fare I declined. In some cases, the employer negotiates a locked in price between two end points. When I commuted regularly to Washington from NY, we had a deal which gave us a price of () which was competitive, but required 200 segments per year. We did all our travel on that one airline between those points. No miles. TWA also had several lock-in deals to California, which required a change in StLouis. Nobody liked it, but it was $600 bucks when everybody else was a grand or more. That goes right to the bottom line. Paul

We wrestle with this issue every day. We fly on our own time occasionally, and sometimes on weekends. The miles belong to us, and it's part of the explicit agreement. Travel costs are outrageous, and they're getting worse. But, disincentivizing people from necessary face time with clients isn't a way we want to pursue. We do, and have as recently as last week, return travel vouchers with counter-offers of what we'll reimburse. CO's best price to Tampa a few weeks ago was $800. Add a Friday night stay, and the price dropped to $300. I flew back on Saturday afternoon, with an additional hotel night and a chance to chase trains out in the phosphate belt. Wasn't a top notch place, and they didn't pay for Bern's, either...

General Hangover question - And, are they worse on beer, wine, whiskey, rum, etc? I've found my wine hangovers to be by far the worst. That shouldn't be logical, because we're dealing with specific measures of alcohol which can be clearly defined. A bottle of decent wine is about 3.5 oz of alcohol, two mixed drinks will be about the same, as will a six pack of beer or four pints. Run the BAC example on a person for each of the mixes, and blood alcohol should be the same

Maybe this belongs in its own thread... but I've vocally objected when a store chooses to lock down items for reasons other than safety. If the item is sufficiently valuable to be offered at $699 a pound, it's sufficiently valubale to have a person available to show it, display it, etc. A jewelry store is the perfect example. Unless the store is defending the product against its own employees, which is another story altogether.

Certain of the corporate amex cards don't bear points. One visiting consultant mentioned his firm negotiated points out of the deal in return for a concession in some other area. There have been a few efforts by the IRS to place a value and tax on company paid fares which generate miles used for personal purposes, but the Service hasn't pushed it. The 535 frequent flyers out of Reagan National might not be pleased. (Even the local congress people and staffs fly)

Dodge - agree completely with you on the Wegman's, that's one fine store!! I'd be willing to travel 15 minutes for that kind of place. I had heard that they looked at a site in Montville (the triangle where Bloomfield Ave and US 46 diverge) but passed on it Paul

Yet another reason why I pay only minor attention to reviews and reviewers. I believe it was I.F. Stone who said "Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one." That sounds like an appropriate comment. Newspapers have very little to do with the free flow of information, TV networks have even less.

Th trend is growing, however. VISA was the only card accepted at the Winter Olympics, and the US Olympic Center in Colorado. AmEx has had specialty deals where blocks of tickets to shows are reserved for Gold, Plat, etc holders. We ordered our Aida tix (the Bway play, not the opera) via Amex Gold, and received superb seats. Our first set of Producers tix were also via AmEx, it was this block purchase which is now marketed as the "Producer's Circle" premium tix.

John - although I agree with several of your comments, this highlight is especially unfair. It was precisely the objections by many members to the assertion which kept the thread going as long as it did. There was significantly greater moral resonance than you acknowledge. You chose to avoid reference to the specific thread which caused Suvir's absence. Did you avoid the reference as it would undermine your premise of eGullet's spoiled, wealthy elite? Had you named the issue (should France's dalliance with anti-semitic and anti-immigrant parties cause US diners to avoid France?), you would have to acknowledge many issues which spoil your nice construct. Ditto the issue on chocolate derived from slave labor. We scoped out the issue long before the mainstream US media had it. I spoke with Ben & Jerry's and with Nestle, and reported the issue here. I will probably post an update within the next few weeks as there has been some progress in this human rights issue. I recognize that it's common for a journalist to decide on a story line, then find the facts to support that story. Wall Street analysts and politicians do the same thing all the time. It's just disappointing when a writer who has participated in many of the same threads chooses examples so selectively the message becomes garbled. Paul

I have been reading Ms. Cook in the Times since her first bi-weekly review. Since David Corcoran joined her in sharing the reviewing duties, I have found her the more pedantic of the two writers. I have always had difficulty pinning down in precise terms exactly why I’ve always felt somewhat uncomfortable with her criticism. Of course Jon nails it with what seems to me now to be an obvious spot on comparison of the two writers. Without disputing any of the observations made, it should be noted that Karla Cook has been a food journalist for several (many?) years. It's not like she just parachuted onto the food page from reporting stock option accounting or tax issues. She formerly edited and was chief writer for the Star-Ledger's Savor section for several years, although I don't recall she wrote formal reviews.

You might want to call Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck. Alstede's in Chester had peaches at the Madison greenmarket last week. Took a few days in the brown sack, and they were perfect.

Lincoln Place -Yes, Tiffany's (or similar) - Yes, and Pop's -Maybe. I'll take a ride down there on Monday and check it out. Tiffany's never impressed me (wonder how they got to use that name, isn't there a big bbq place in MoPlains and Montville with the same name?) Madison and Chatham both seem to have a disproportionate number of restaurants for relatively small towns. All those office parks must help, but dinner's sometimes tought to get, too.

That's Seabra's Mediterranean Manor. NJ eGullet Dinner #1 was there. Seabra's Rodizio is on NJ 21, north of the arts center and south of the ballfield.

Thanks for the info. It's now on my (getting longer) list. Just click the "quote button" on the post you want to quote. The entire post appears in a new, lower, window underneath the one where you enter your message. Just edit and delete in the lower window, and that's the part which shows up shaded in your own post

Lamb - welcome aboard, and thanks for your comments. As time permits, would you share a little more about your trip to the Reef Club? Thanks

Dee and I had dinner there on Saturday. It's popular pre and post theater. We had seen Top Dog/Under Dog earlier in the afternoon. Friendly greeting, reservation was OK. Main room prob seats 150 people. There's a small, skylighted interior garden adjacent to the bar. It's designed to look like a French courtyard with brick walls, murals, a small fountain, and seats for about 50 people. A/C no smoking. Decent menu, printed daily or often. Just one appy special, one entree special. Dee ordered a Bellini, I had a spaten dark pint. Dee had the baby green salad ($8) with a citrus dressing, tasted fine. I decided not to order the petit pois soup. Dee had a breast of duck ($25), served on a slightly puree of potatoes with chard? (I'm working from recollections, the menu is home). It was fine, but nowhere near as good as the duck the week before at Triomphe, same price. Triomphe also offered a slice of foie gras under the duck. Dee had switched to a glass of Sauvignon Blanc ($10) by then. I had the scallop special ($30ish) which was five browned scallops served with a thin cream / lobster sauce. The rest of the plate is a blank, but I think julienned carrots might have been part of that. Scallops were OK, I would have liked them a little more translucent. Desserts were uncredited and included a chocolate mousse pudding cake ($10) which was very densely chocolatey mouth filling. Dee liked that a lot I had two scoops of home made caramel ice cream (whose home?) which was fine, along with a snifter of Calvados ($7). Dee reminded me she had ordered exactly the same meal (right down to dessert) as she had at Triomphe. Cost was about $135 with tip. Overall I found it charming, pleasant, and very enjoyable. The outside room was definitely an attribute. Had I been inside, in the relatively dark (and completely full by 630) room, I would not have enjoyed it as much. Compared to Triomphe ($15 more for a similar menu), I'd take Triomphe every time.

Sounds like the same place, 46 eastbound, just east of the I-80 crossovers, and next to the new Land-Rover dealer. Dee and I went there once. Korean bbq was OK, place was empty. No special reason to go back. Sit down restaurant, on the right as you walk in.

Did Liza offer Lou Grant as her answer? All I saw was the edit note Tommy - you may have one-upped me. Was the Lou Grant quote for perky or spunky?

I wonder if irradiation would kill the botulism in garlic or other veggies? It is believed to kill various bacteria in ground beef. Wegman's ran a full page ad in the NJ section of the Times trumpeting its irradiation techniques. I'll find it when I get home and give their hotline a call to ask... I spoke with two people who have knowlege of the issues on irradiating vegetables and spices. Currently, FDA does not allow the radiation of fresh vegetables. Garlic, basil, thyme, etc are vegetables for this purpose. Powdered and dried spices and vegetables are often irradiated, especially those imported into the US. When irradiation on a specific product has been defined as Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) a specific notice is not required. Same rules apply to the various food dyes and preservatives. It appears that there has not been an interest in irradiating fresh vegetables, fresh spices, or fresh herbs, nor have any requests been made to change the regs. I didn't think to ask if the irradiation kills the botulism bacteria, but the surebeam corp's website says most bacteria on food are killed by the electric charge, and the ripening process is often slowed down. Paul

I wonder if irradiation would kill the botulism in garlic or other veggies? It is believed to kill various bacteria in ground beef. Wegman's ran a full page ad in the NJ section of the Times trumpeting its irradiation techniques. I'll find it when I get home and give their hotline a call to ask...

i think she's very cute and bubbly. Is Sissy Biggers still on TV? I just assumed she joined Bill Boggs in FoodTV Valhalla She has that cute, energetic perkiness I always found unpleasant in marketing interns who refused to learn anything about marketing or sales. I hate perky... (and that's an easy cultural reference)