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Tommy, I don't think it's going to be a problem. Last night Fink just plopped down a big jar of pickles from Pickelicious in front of me about 30 seconds after I sat down! Those horseradish pickles had some nice kick to them. I think I have to head over to this place and educate myself further in the area of pickle knowledge (something to which everyone should aspire).

I headed to El Gran Mexicano last night and (surprise, surprise!) ran into Tommy. Since he forgot to post impressions on this thread, I figured I'd take the liberty of quoting the appropriate post: I didn't order anything new, but I did sample someone else's ground beef tacos which were a nice surprise. Very moist and apparently cooked in a tomato sauce or the like which adds an almost Ragu like flavor. Very different from the dried out sort of beef that I (unfortunately) have come to expect. Oh wait, there was ANOTHER dish I hadn't sampled before. The flan. Mmmmmmm... the flan. VERY creamy, VERY rich. So good it makes one want to slurp it up with a straw!!

I stopped by this place last night on a whim around 8pm. Actually, we were already in the car when I suggested it as a possiblity to my "steak and potatoes"-type friends after failing to convince one of them to go to El Gran Mexicano. We called information to get the restaurant's number so we could call for directions (since we had driven on Buffalo from Main Street and didn't know about its extension rather far removed on the other side of the railroad tracks). The directions which we were given were simply wrong. We were told to take Crooks Ave and then turn left on Buffalo. Buffalo runs parallel to Crooks about three blocks north... it doesn't intersect. Anyway, the friend who called didn't think to reserve a table for us (despite my asking) and when we showed up the place was PACKED. I remember seeing a review in the the Record about 2-3 weeks ago, so maybe that had something to do with it. We were told the wait would be over an hour and elected to go elsewhere instead, despite the pleasantly high percentage of attractive young hostesses and waitresses. Oh yeah, the exterior of this building is good for a laugh. Food reports to follow a night when I actually eat at this place.

Does Trio's creative approach to cuisine also manifest itself in accommodating diners who choose not to imbibe alcohol (i.e. through creative juice presentations and pairings perhaps)? Do you feel that those who choose an alcohol-free lifestyle in this way cannot have as full a dining experience as those who enjoy wine?

Mr. Toast I almost fell off my chair when I saw Mr. Toast. No shit, true story!!! Carry on... Oh, and welcome to eGullet, Mr. Toast. And thank you... of course, of course. Oh man, if I drank I'd be hitting one back right about now. Nevermind, I'm going to bed if I can ever stop laughing.

This should probably be the subject of another thread, but does anyone think it's weird that people will say, "I don't want Chinese food tonight, I just had Chinese food last night;" But people usually don't think twice about having a steak the night after having roast chicken, i.e., "I don't want to have American food tonight, I just had American food last night." When people tell me "I just had Chinese food," I usually respond, "o.k., well if you had a Chinese chicken dish last night, we can order a Chinese seafood dish tonight." It doesn't work, but I say it. I definitely agree with you, it's certainly weird, but I guess it's because those people are subtasters who can only detect one flavor in each cuisine! Personally, I get a lot of different cravings so I'm usually all over the place trying to satisfy them all. However, I've got no problems with eating Thai food (for example) five nights a week, other than the fact that I'll start reading a thread about bulgolgi and the craving monster rears his ugly head again. Has anyone else gotten to the point where you feel like you're spreading yourself too thin between all your favorite cuisines???

Let's not forget about all the cooks from Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, El Salvador, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Cuba, etc... Not everyone who speaks Spanish and works in a restaurant is Mexican. Personally I've never found myself thinking, "I'd like to get some ethnic food tonight". I tend to think in terms of "I'm in a Thai mood tonight" or "I had Vietnamese for lunch, so maybe Mexican for dinner". And if the Mexican dinner happens to cost $150, that doesn't make it any less Mexican, just more expensive. I guess for me the term "ethnic food" is simply too broad to be of any practical value. Every food is ethnic food. Everything can be tied historically to one group or another. Go ahead and destroy it if you like, since it doesn't really do much for any of us.

In Northern New Jersey at least (and I would assume NYC as well) there are actually a good number of Albanian pizza makers. Of course, none that I know would ever advertise the fact that they're Albanian and some even go so far as to lie to the rest of the staff by claiming to be Italian. In Maine I know of a Greek family running a pizzeria and serving baklava for dessert. Some of the locals I spoke with didn't believe me when I told them it was Greeks making the pizzas. Many people simply have certain expectations when it comes to specific foods. People expect their sushi chef to look Japanese (even if he's Chinese), people expect their pizza maker to look Italian (even if he's Cuban), and people expect Mexican chefs to look Mexican (even if they're Costa Rican). The thought process is generally that at a lower level of dining one hopes that the cook has grown up with the cuisine and developed experience through the years since it's unlikely that an institutional culinary education was followed. Personally, I would have no problem eating pizza made by someone whose descent is African or Korean or Peruvian, but I've just never seen it in NY or NJ. Here's a question for everyone though... when was the last time you saw a woman as the main pizza maker?

Can't agree. Maybe before the fat police got to them (they cooked them in beef tallow). Of ff type Wendys has got them beat by a mile. I haven't had McDonald's fries in a long while, but I have had the fries at three different Wendy's locations in the past year or so. In my experience, Wendy's doesn't cook their fries long enough and they almost seem to have stopped salting them altogether while handing out salt & pepper packets with the fries. So I have no idea what the current McDonald's fries taste like, but I can't see them being worse than Wendy's. Anyway, as far as fast food fries go, I'd have to agree with Jon and say Nathan's. It's just one of those weird summer cravings I sometimes get where I'll see a Nathan's and have to order just some fries and a lemonade. I can't remember the last time I actually ate a Nathan's hot dog. Off the top of my head though, I can't really think of any destinations for really good fries in Jersey. The only time I really think, "I want some fries" (aside from my summertime Nathan's craving) would be when I'm in the neighborhood of a Pomme Frites in the city. Have any of those places spread across the Hudson yet?

I forgot to order fries this time around, but my friend ordered the onion rings about which he had heard good things. I didn't try any, but he said they were just "standard", which I take to mean that he'll stick to fries the next time. Oh yeah, I noticed that The Hot Grill uses Hunt's ketchup. I can only hope that Rutt's Hutt has Heinz.

I decided to head over to Rutt's Hutt today and see if maybe the roof was leaking rain and causing the dogs to become "mushy". Along the way, I stopped by The Hot Grill for a little bit of an appetizer. I'd been to The Hot Grill before, but this was actually my first visit to Rutt's and I must say that the latter is one hell of an experience! But first, The Hot Grill: For a rainy afternoon, this place was pretty crowded. There were still tables available, but there was barely any space around the long counter where orders are placed. I think it's funny how rigid these counter guys are, but they're certainly efficient. I got a plain dog and one with just sauce, but I have to admit that I still don't "get" all-the-way-sauce. I know lots of people love it, but I'd prefer a meatier chili anyday. In any case, my visit to the Hot Grill today was mostly for referential knowledge (damn shame what eGullet can do to you sometimes ). Then it was on to Rutt's Hutt: All I can say about the bar area is "wow". Timewarp doesn't even BEGIN to convey the full impact of that space. The "dining room" is a little lighter, but I made sure that I secured a seat in the beautiful dank. Boy, was I glad that I was wearing plaid flannel 'cause the stuff works like camoflauge in there. Anyway, I actually asked for a menu and was sort of surprised at the amount of dishes offered. Not that I would order many of them outside of some sort of morbid curiosity (sauerbraten in THIS place?) but it just adds so much to the exprerience to see a specials board. Has anyone ventured outside of hot dog territory in this place? Please share! I was completely bowled over by the atmosphere so I decided to indulge a little slice of the aforementioned morbid curiosity. I ordered: one ripper, one cremator, and one bbq pork sandwich. They were (respectively): very good, very bad, and very VERY funny! First, the very good. I took a couple of bites of the ripper before applying the relish so that I could just compare the base dog with that of The Hot Grill. I like the dogs at Rutt's better, which is strange because I like the all-beef dogs at Johnny & Hanges and I THINK (correct me if I'm wrong) that Rutt's dog has less beef content than that of The Hot Grill. I'm guessing it's all in the spicing, because overall the Rutt's dog seems to have more flavor. The skin was nice and crisp and the inside certainly did not make me think "mushy". Perhaps it's the oil that a couple of posters didn't like? I just don't know. In any case, next time I'm going to order a weller, because I think that might be even more to my taste. Next, the very bad. The cremator... man, they aren't kidding!! It looks like the charred corpse of a hot dog and that's exactly what it is. It's more like an oily crouton than a hot dog and definitely the sort of thing that is used in sentences such as, "I dare you to eat 5 cremators with NO water." Probably the funniest thing about getting this cremator was that when the waitress brought out the plate of hot dogs, she actually felt the need to identify which one the cremator was! As though my friend and I wouldn't be able to tell that the BLACK one was the cremator and the other three were the rippers! I guess there's a reason why my friend had never seen anyone order one. Now, the very funny. To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was expecting from a $1.55 barbeque pork sandwich. Come to think of it, I'm not even sure if that's what was on my plate. Picture the saddest, plainest little smooth hamburger bun you can imagine, put two thin greyish slices of meat on it, and top the meat with a thin brown gravy. Wow. What was barbeque about this sandwich? Damned if I know. Eating it brought to mind oddly contrasting food memories like roast beef with gravy (understandable given the brown gravy) and the taylor ham sandwiches my grade school cafeteria served (I think that had to do with the bun and tiny amount of meat). Regardless, at no point did it remind me of any sort of barbeque, but I'm glad that the memories of this sandwich will be tied forever to my first time at Rutt's Hutt! Finally, the relish. This was different from what I expected, but I did really enjoy it. I was commenting on how it seemed closer to sauerkraut than sweet relish when my friend pointed out that it's made from cabbage. Makes sense. I loaded both the ripper and the cremator up with relish after sampling it, but NOTHING was going to help that cremator get better! The ripper on the other hand went from very good to excellent and I think a weller with relish is probably near perfection. I think I expected the relish to be bolder too, but it's subtle. Definitely not as subtle as the toppings at Super Duper Weenie in Connecticut, but that's definitely a plus for Rutt's relish in my book. Did I really just write that much about hot dogs? edit: Typo.

I believe you're thinking of Jersey City's "Little India". Huge Indian patronage and quite a few places to eat and shop. It's Newark Street between Kennedy Boulevard and Tonnelle Avenue. Just a $1.50 PATH train to Journal Square and a walk of a couple blocks. I was only in one restaurant there some time ago which was good, but didn't leave the impression that Diwan did. I understand that Diwan is a completely seperate category though, but I really think that's the category of Indian food that I really appreciate. I'm just now trying to sample a little more and expand my Indian dining horizons.

mushy how? i've never heard anyone characterize their hots dogs, which are deep fried and cripsy, as "mushy." maybe you got a bad batch. Holy deja vu, Batman! Check out the first two posts in this thread, Tommy. (though the statement WAS retracted in later posts) Alright, I originally WAS going to have Mexican for lunch, but now I'm thinking about hitting a couple of hot dog places instead. Damn you, eGullet.... DAMMMMNNNN YOOOUUUUUU!!!

Oh, all right then. Americans are obese vulgarians with no culture. To quote Otto (ah-toe) as portrayed by Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda: "You're the VULgarian, you FUCK!!" Carry on.

so that fact that the US has one of the highest obesity levels in the world has nothing to do with the amount of food served in restaurants? Actually, there are a LOT of reasons why that is, and the large proportions served in restaurants may well be one. Having spent a great deal of my time in Europe, I think another reason is that we have such an enormous land mass that we always take our vehicles places, rather than walk, as one does incessantly in European cities. But the reasons are many and varied and ephemeral, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to continue this discussion. ... I'll take up the torch again for a moment. I hardly think it's fair to blame American obesity on large portions in American restaurants. What Jaymes said about the prevalance of automobiles is certainly a large factor as are fatty snacks, overly processed groceries, and fast food. Outside of eGullet, I'd say that fast food probably makes up the greater percentage of "eating out" experiences for most Americans. I've just compared McDonald's nutritional data for the Big Mac in the US and the UK: The UK serving is 215g with 493 calories and 22.9g of fat (9.8g saturated). The US serving is 216g with 590 calories and 34g of fat (11g saturated). Well, I guess they DID make the Big Mac smaller for the UK customers , but hopefully you'll also notice the larger difference in fat content and calories. Now the French fries: A "medium" UK serving is 110g with 293 calories and 12.8g of fat (2.8 saturated). A "medium" US serving is 147g with 450 calories and 22g of fat (4g saturated). Obviously the American "medium" size is larger, but it also contains a higher proportion of fat. You'd have to eat almost twice as many of the UK fries in order to get the same fat content. In any case, I certainly agree that the US is largely a wasteful society. However, I simply cannot see how the concept of taking excess food home to be used later can be considered an example of that. Yes, I understand that you're saying it shouldn't be there in the first place, but that seems to me an issue better taken up with the slaughterhouses than the dining public. (... he said as he finished up some leftover Thai food from the previous evening )

Britcook - I understand that you're trying to make the argument that American portion sizes are too large, but it seems to me that you've somewhat eliminated relativity from the discussion. Should a 13 year old boy going through a growth spurt be given the same portion as his 83 year old grandmother? Even if their weights may be the same, their appetites are going to differ. As MSP pointed out, 3000 calories seems pretty high for an average man, but it could conceivably be low for a very active weight-lifter. I have friends whose caloric intake was much higher and yet their body fat remained close to 8%. The point is... why not give diners the benefit of the doubt in knowing when their hunger is satiated rather than telling them when it is? I feel it's much more sensible to give the larger portion size with the option of bringing any excess home (or giving it to the homeless) rather than simply telling a hungry diner, "well, you SHOULDN'T be hungry and therefore you're wrong". Stomach sizes vary, activity levels vary, appetites vary, and it just makes good sense to cover the bases, doesn't it? In any case, I've never been to Britain, but I haven't eaten any meals in Germany, Austria, or the Netherlands which have been noticeably smaller than their American counterparts. Maybe I should've ordered more steaks.

My deepest sympathies!!

ChefG, did this question slip by you? I'm sorry it's not in multiple parts, but I am really curious and I think a little disclosure/confirmation would be nice for everyone reading along at home. I guess I could rephrase the question as: 1.a. Is the creator of Trio's food, Chef Grant Achatz, posting on eGullet.com with the user name 'chefg'? 1.b. Would contributing to such a site raise/lower the amount of time Chef Achatz dedicates to Trio's menu? 2. Does Trio's creative approach to cuisine also manifest itself in accomodating diners who choose not to imbibe alcohol (i.e. through creative juice presentations perhaps)?

So that makes the score what... -999? I agree that certain things wouldn't travel well and would lose quite a bit in the reheating, but steak is still delicious even when it's cold, so there's really no excuse there. At the level of dining where one might feel uncomfortable taking food home, I find that the serving sizes are generally too small for it to even be an option for me.

Jason - I later found out that Russians do have something like pierogies with a different name, but I don't know what that name is. I think it's probably regional as well, being that Ukraine is much closer to Poland and those national identities have a complicated history with Russia. It's because of those complicated histories that I think we shouldn't rush to lump all the countries together. Can anyone comment on whether there is any French influence in present day Russian cuisine? I would think that with so much French influence on the Russian nobility in the 18th and 19th centuries that it would have found its way into the cuisine as well. edit: For clarity. edit: Clarity came with a repeated word which made things less clear. I think it's all cleared up now though.

Well, try asking for Polish "pierogies" in some of the Russian grocery stores around Allston, MA. They looked at me as though I had two heads! Sure enough, there were none to be found in the three shops I searched. Unfortunately, I can't remember exactly what WAS in those shops otherwise I'd have something more to contribute to this thread.

I'm not sure, but I think that the Paris Inn is still there, no? Actually, I haven't driven through that area in a while so it may not be. In any case, just the look of that place always made me keep driving. The German place that Tommy's recalling is probably Triangle Hofbrau on Route 23 South. I remember the atmosphere being amusing, but I never felt a real need to rush back there. What sort of time frame was this Swabische Alpen place around? I'm definitely blanking on places where I'd want to eat within the borders of Wayne. The only one I can think of right now is the Taipei Noodle House that Rosie mentioned. I'm going to try it the next time I'm in the area (which isn't often), so I can't really recommend it yet. You're better off in Montclair. Try doing a search for Montclair in this forum and see what comes up. Also, Franklin Lakes isn't that far away either, so maybe that Chef's Table (French) place I've been hearing about? Or possibly Ruga (Italian) in Oakland (haven't been as I'm not huge on Italian food, but I've heard some good things).

No. Yes. No. No. Carry on...

Well, the recipe that Jon linked to seems to be the right direction, but they were described to me as spherical and deep-fried. Which is a little more appealing to me actually!

Unfortunately, I don't really have any suggestions to give, but I wanted to tap this thread for a related question. If anyone finds an Irish restaurant serving boxty, I'd like to hear about it. A friend of mine recently came back from the gulf coast of Florida with some boxty tales and I'm trying to find a place to sample them.