Jeff L

Sound good Rich, I'll have to add to my list. Do you know of any places besides Casino in the burg who serves good Italian hot dogs?

Yeah, I read your report back then. Nice touch someone else buying at that place. Who was he..maybe he wants to pick up our tab too.

Not having been to this venerable restaurant, I am curious to hear others comments on its current quality or lack thereof. We are considering going for a special ocassion in the next few weeks with close friends and would welcome comments. I just scanned some of the older posts on this place and the reviews are decidedly mixed.

We went to Manon a few months back - very good. BYO. French country style as I remember. I found it after a long search and review trek and was very pleased at the choice. Evan ← Must second this choice as my wife's cousin is the chef! At Manon that is.

I just thought of a really nice place close to the waterfront on South Street. It's called Primavera and has always been quite good (although I haven't been in a while) It's at South and 2nd and it used to be owned by the same folks who own Monte Carlo Living Room next door. I heard it's the same kitchen but food is half the cost at Primavera. Maybe some others could comment on whether it's still good or not. Jeff

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

The Tweeter Center is in Camden NJ so you won't have any event dining pressure at Susanna Foo as it is in the 1600 block on Walnut Street in Philly. I have been there numerous times and can highly recommend it but the price may be closer to $$$$ than $$$ dependng on what you order. You really could eat anywhere in the city and take the riverboat from Penns Landing over to Camden/Tweeter Center. It's $6 roundtrip.

Well if you can keep a secret, the Newtown collection store has both the Freemark Abbey Sycamore and Boche 2000 vintage. I saw it in the upcoming section but it is not on the current Chairman Selection list. I just finished my second bottle of the Sycamore and can attest to Mr. Newman's savvy and appreciate the ridiculously low price of $17.99 ($50.00 on their site) Can't wait to sample the Boche! Crazy price of $19.99 vs. $60 at Freemark Abbey!! ← I Just received this email FWIW ...... I have not sent out this kind of email to my subscribers before, but I recently came across such a screaming wine deal that I felt compelled to let everyone in Pennsylvania, (or close enough to get here) know about it. I have always been a big fan of Freemark Abbey wines from the Napa Valley. Freemark Abbey has two "single vineyard designated" wines, one is called Bosché (Boshay) and the other, Sycamore Vineyards. Both are Napa Valley cabernets that I have considered to be exemplary examples of Napa cabs. These wine typically retail between $55 and $65 per bottles. When I sold these wines for Paterno Imports, I was lucky to have 20 cases of Bosche available for the whole state of Colorado and I never saw the Syscamore. Imagine my astonishment to walk into a Pennsylvania Premium Selection store on Friday and find stacks of these wines, 2000 vintage, for $17.99 (Sycamore ) and 19.99 (Bosché) as a Chairman's Selection. It's insane. Say what you will about Pennsylvania's state run liquor operations, the buying power he has to get deals like this is incredible. If you like California cabernets, I urge you to check out the nearest Premium Selection Wine shop (except for the Gateway Plaza store, where there are none left) and make a purchase. You will not get many opportunities to have wines of this caliber at this price. Notes from FreemarkAbbey.com Freemark Abbey :: Cabernet Bosché :: 2000 Cabernet Bosché A blend of 90% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot, all from the Bosché Vineyard, located in the heart of the Rutherford Bench. Deep ruby color, with an appealing nose of black cherry, aromatic cedar, earthiness, and dusty forest floor. Black cherry, coffee, and dark chocolate flavors blend smoothly, leading to a balanced wine with a lingering finish. A full 24 months of barrel age coupled with 16 months in the bottle allow this wine to slightly soften, but the 2000 Cabernet Bosché still retains it powerful fruit character and solid structure. Our Winemaker suggest 10-15 years of cellaring. $ 65.00 2000 Sycamore Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon he 2000 Sycamore Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon is aged for two years in French Oak and further aged two years in the bottle. Intense ruby color, and an appealing nose of juniper berry, brown sugar and molasses plus dark chocolate. Dark chocolate, coffee, vanilla, and dark cherry flavors blend delightfully, leading to a lingering fruitful finish. A blend of 81% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Merlot, 8% Cab Franc. Cellar life of 7-15 years. $ 55.00 The only caveat that I would throw in is this. The wines are drinking beautifully right now. It would seem unlikely that they will improve substantially over the next 10 ten years. I'm sure they will hold their own for several years to come, but don't lay them down for a decade expecting them to get even better. Drink up, I say. EVO Eric V. Orange (EVO) Local Wine Events.com ←

R Wash, I know you are saying same ingrediants.. Can you please tell me about the pork.. Do they cook the pork in Philly or New York? Same with the rabe, are they transporting already cooked rabe and then reheating it? ← Well I'm not sure if they transport cooked pork to NYC or not, but I just stumbled upon New York Metro.com magazine best sandwich of 2005 (http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/bony/food/2005/11368/index.html) and guess who was the first entry? Yup, Good ole Tony Luke's hoagie. Now if the reviewer only ate the roast paork italien with rabe and sharp provolone, they'd have to make a new category.

Open Sunday @ 3:30 - Everyday except Monday. I suggest 5:00 pm if doable as it tends to get busy after 6:00. Also, first come first serve.

Well if you can keep a secret, the Newtown collection store has both the Freemark Abbey Sycamore and Boche 2000 vintage. I saw it in the upcoming section but it is not on the current Chairman Selection list. I just finished my second bottle of the Sycamore and can attest to Mr. Newman's savvy and appreciate the ridiculously low price of $17.99 ($50.00 on their site) Can't wait to sample the Boche! Crazy price of $19.99 vs. $60 at Freemark Abbey!!

In my humble opinion, there is only one clear choice and that is the Delorenzo's on Hudson street. Particularly in light of the fact that they are opening a second pizza joint in Robbinsville (scheduled to open within 16 months) and will be winding down the Trenton mainstay at some point. This info gleaned from Gary last Friday at lunch who is the finest pizza man in the world. Gary said "I'm 62 and my back bothers me". The new place will be run by their son Sammy who quite honestly does not do nearly as well as dad in the art of thin crust tomato pie creation. As I pm'd Rich the other day, I had 2 pies last week, the first made by Gary and was hands down the best tomato pie I ever had in the 40 years I've been going there. Next pie came from Sammy and you would think you were in another restaurant. The cheese wasn't fully melted and the crust was way off. I think it wouldn't have been quite so noticeable if the first pie wasn't so stellar. Anyway, I'm game to join everyone there.

After searching through pages jaunes, I stumbled upon 2 restaurants on rue de Carnes, with one that looks vaguely familiar to me. The first one is located at 32 rue de Carnes and is called La Paillotte d'Or . This is not familiar to me but the second just next door at 30 rue de Carnes is called Coin de Rue and looks somewhat familiar to me. I kind of remember the wide window and it being in the middle of the block. Now if I can confirm there is a woman chef/owner, looks like I've found it. Does anyone know about this place Coin de Rue??

Go to the Website Bux and I gave the link to and "look around". ← I just noticed the union jack on the site now for English. Thanks, I will try again. In either case, I will post my results within the next hour or so or in the 3 months time!!

Aha. We're getting a little closer. Les Fontaines' particularity is that it didn't have a bistrot-like feel to it, so you couldn't guess that you'd be served such good bistrot fare there. Now the décor is just as dull, but the food is no longer remarkable, which is why I use the past tense. There's only two straight streets offering a direct view upward on the Panthéon. Rue Soufflot, which is more like a short, wide avenue with a triumphal view of the monument uphill. Now there are a couple of large cafés on the left side of that street but nothing resembling a bistrot or restaurant. The second street is rue des Carmes, starting from place Maubert not far from the Seine. There are a few neighborhood restaurants on the left side of the street, much more bistrot-like than Les Fontaines, but I have never been to any of them. Your bistrot may well be one of them. Is the street you're thinking of beginning at the Jardin du Luxembourg or at boulevard Saint-Germain ? ← Possibly, although it has been quite a long time since being there and I'm just not sure. I might remember the name of the place, is there a way to locate restaurants/bistrots on that street?

Ptipois: I think you are right, about Les Fountaines, I would remember this name. I do indeed remember this place being on the LEFT side of the street walking up toward the Pantheon. It had a bistrot like feel to it, casually dressed patrons and plenty of them. Quite a lively place, tho not as busy the one time I went for lunch. Hope this helps, although I am sure to remember how to get back once in Paris! Jeff

I also have a tendency to point out that Parisian restaurants live under a microscope. There may be no city on earth whose restaurants are as often reviewed as those in Paris. What's more, they are reviewed not only in French for local diners, but probably more often than any other city in other languages in periodicals and guide books as well. It's a rare tourist with an interest in food who arrives in Paris without loads of information. There may be many cities in the world where the question of where to eat will bring similar lists of places from many people, or where six out of ten suggestions will apear on 90% of the lists provided. In Paris, once you get beyond a list of the two and three star Michelin places, everyone's list may be different. I don't think you'll find many who will arrange the two and three star places in the same order, or agree on which restaurants in that list are over, or under, rated. As for searching in the forum for other threads on Paris, I will add that reading reports written soon after a member's eaten in the restaurant is going to be more useful than waiting for responses about past meals. Opinions of where to eat, when there are so many choices, are apt to be meaningless unless you know the person's tastes. Am I posting true to form, John? Les Fontaines, 9 r Soufflot -- almost in front of the Pantheon, between the Pantheon and the Jardin du Luxembourg. ← Bux, many thanks for your comments. I quite agree with you about reading posters comments immediately after their meals. I will start combing through the various threads here in France. Obviously, it's a big time celebration for us particularly since my wife has never been to Paris before and I want to be as thorough as possible and try to plan well for a limited stay of about 8 or 9 days. Thanks also for the address to Les Fountaines. Just curious, if it is the same place, do you enjoy it? One thing that strikes me about the Pennsylvania, NJ and NY forum is the consistantly spot on recommendations for cuisine of all types. I used to rely mainly on Zagat but now have my fellow E-Gulleteers to count on. Jeff L

Do you know the address by chance?

Sorry, it's been 10 years. I know it was near the Pantheon for sure, confused about Montmarte obviously. Walking by her place I noticed many people coming in and out with happy faces. It seemed a really lively and fun spot and I decided after my tour to have dinner there. Once inside and chatting with the owner, she asked me how "I found the house" I told her purely by happenstance. I mentioned the happy faces of people leaving her place and she immediately proceeded to provide me with personal service as if adopting an American (with poor at best French speaking) who never ate French food before. She even brought out her special olive oil from the south of france for me to use on my salad. I feel confidant that I could find the place again in October, but it would be nice to know its name ahead of time. To John Talbott: Thanks for your response. I know about the train lines near my hotel and I plan to make full use of them. I think I mentioned in my post we would travel. Thanks for your recommendations about the sights and you are correct, so many places to see and so many concepts of what is interesting and fun to see. I will certainly look for the list of restaurants you mentioned, thanks again! Edited by John Talbott (with permission of Jeff L) to fix Quote start.

My wife and I are planning a trip to France to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. I have been several times before but she has not. So far, I know the approximate dates will be Oct 3rd thru Oct. 11th. I also know that while in Paris we will stay in the beautiful Chateaux and Hotels du France 3 star hotel called Hotel Eber Monceau. I've stayed here previously, although some years ago, and still think of the place fondly. I am not particularly up on the sights and new e-gullet recommended restaurants to try. Hotel is located in the 17th Arrondissement at rue Léon Jost 75017. I do remember a spectacular restaurant near the Pantheon in the Montmarte area. It was the best meal I've had in all of Europe. I made the acquaintence of the house owner who was dressed as a bus person. Unbeknownst to me, she was in reality the first female member of the famed Cordon Blue! If anyone knows of this place, please let me know the name and location. I am also interested in hearing form those familiar with other great restaurants/bistros in the area, although we will travel for a great meal. Also, some help is requested in terms of worthwhile sightseeing. Thanks for any suggestions. Jeff L from Philadelphia

If you are willing to drive to Trenton, I would suggest Pete Lorenzo's cafe right accross the street from the Trenton train station. This is about the best steak around these parts and also quite appropriate for a business dinner. It's cash only and pricey but the aged steaks make it worthwhile. I suggest cavatelli and brocoli as a side dish, quite good. Rosie recommended Acacia in Lawrenceville (byo) and I heartily second that.

Assuming you haven't yet gone to Lee How Fook, I always enjoy the mongolian hot pots there. It's a beautifully made thick dark broth with what I assume is sea bass or some other white fish deep fried to perfection. In the broth are chineese mushrooms, greens and plenty of fresh ginger slices and scallions. This is a must have if you like these sorts of dishes. That said, others we go with always enjoy their meals. I think it's hard to order the wrong thing in this little place, my favorite in Chinatown

I've eaten at the World Cafe Live just once and decided it is a great venue for music lovers to catch great music, not a dining destination.

I have been using All Clad almost exclusively for the past 6 years or so. I have 3 pans, 3 pots and recently bought an All Clad stock Pot. For my money there is no better product on the market. I too use Bartenders Friend with amazing results every time.