jasper

I am interested to see where alinea will be in five years.

Yes. The show has already been taped and it will feature Venue in Hoboken NJ, WD-50 in Manhattan and Moto in Chicago. It will be the first food network series that will be on TV and on line. You will be able to watch each episode on food networks web site. I hear sometime in November but not 100% sure.

I do agree and feel that Sam Mason is probably the best pastry chef in all of New York City. But take him out of the equasion and just talking food In my opinion I felt that Venue's food just tasted better. Dont get me wrong, WD is great but I think that Venue will always be labled as "trying too hard" because they are in NJ. If Venue was in Manhatten as well it would be a totally different story. Thats why I feel that its a shame they are not in manhattan. They are always going to have to deal with the " it cant be as good as WD-50, or Alinea its in NJ." In regards to the menu, I thought Wd uses too many of the same ingredients and or concepts repeatedly. Such as pickled items and smoked items. I think a great menu should have very few similarities within it. I guess Venue just appealed to my pallette more. The bottom line is they are both great restaurants and which one is better can be debated on and on and on. It depends on the pallette. I do feel that they are both extremely creative and I am in love with the avant garde cuisine factor. ← good news for BryanZ and dRock. Venue, Wd-50 and Moto in Chicago are going to be featured on an upcoming food network show titled "eat this" with Dave Leiberman. I will fill you in with more info when I get more details.

The "air" concept actually started at el bulli. Restaurants like cafe atlantico in dc and alinea do renditions of it. But it is definitely not an Alinea thing.. Credit ferran with that one.

Thank you very much! I appreciate it.

Rosie- The name of my restaurant is Venue in Hoboken NJ. Look Im not trying to bash this place. The concept is really cool, but if you want to keep the reputation you built, you must remain consistant. You should even try to improve not go in the opposite direction. If you were there the last time I was, believe me, you would be frustrated too. ← Jasper--thank you for letting us know which restaurant you own and congratulations on the excellent review you received from David Corcoran in the New York Times NJ section. ←

Samdan in Creskill has very good consistant Turkish cuisine and if your in Manhattan, Pasha is probably the most authentic and best tasting Turkish joint around.

Rosie- The name of my restaurant is Venue in Hoboken NJ. Look Im not trying to bash this place. The concept is really cool, but if you want to keep the reputation you built, you must remain consistant. You should even try to improve not go in the opposite direction. If you were there the last time I was, believe me, you would be frustrated too.

My wife and I have been to G & S three times starting about a month ago and I have to tell you this place is a dissapointment. I am a chef/ owner of a restaurant and I know how a place should operate. Every time I have been there the sevice has been real bad even though the place isnt full. Not that we waited long for our food, but the servers have no idea what is going on! They have no knowledge of the menu and and they dont know if they have bottled water, iced tea, etc. For example two of the times we were there my wife and I both ordered the roasted chicken as an entree. The first time the waiter came back after 5 mins and told us that the chef said that the chicken delivery didnt show up. The second time which was 2 weeks later a different waiter came back 2 mins later and said they were out, so we ordered 2 different items( skirt steak and salmon) and the manager came to us and said sorry we were mistaken, we have chicken would you like to have it? We said Yes! But wait, two mins after that the waiter came up to us again and said " the chef just told me we have the chicken but it isnt pre roasted yet, it is raw, so it will take too long to make it." At this point my wife was pissed but i just had to laugh. What a joke man! I mean in my opinion the food at best is O.K. The service and management are horrible! The only good thing about the place is their coconut-lemongrass soup. Thats the only reason to go there.

You can view venue restaurants menu and space at www.venue-restaurant.com

I have been to Flemings in Edgewater 3 times each time I had a pleasant experience. But it still does not come close to the quality of Mortons.

I heard that the ryland inn is great but that they have been running with the same menu for years. Where is the creativity in that? No knock on craig but dont you think a place gets boring after a while?

You could make a peach preserve by just adding 2 cups of sugar, 3 table spoons of rice wine vinegar and 3 cups of water. Cook it all down on medium high heat for about an hour and a half stirring every 5 minutes