msp

Ooops, yes. Bergenline Ave... sorry 'bout that!

And for more empanadas, stroll down Bergen Boulevard (in West New York, I believe) and sample the differences in empanadas from various countries and regions.

I would be thrilled to read 'em!

or, check out Cooking Light, may 2002, page 192...curried barley with raisins and almonds. If you cant get to the magazine, look it up on their web site cookinglight.com

Barley can be used in a side dish salad, like a pilaf. Toss the cooked barley with flash sauteed diced zucchini, carrots, onion, garlic, and lots of frsh chopped parsley...or cilantro, scallions, sesame oil, rice viengar, etc...use cooked barley the way you would orzo or rice, but take into account its nuttier flavor and chewier texture. Two companies make a quick cooking parley I love...Mother's and Quaker, and in both instances it is sold in beige colored boxes. It is ready to eat in about 20 minutes (the front of the box lies and says 10)...it is a great way of getting more of this delish and wholesom grain into your diet when more pressed for time.

No, wait; the egg to matzah ratio was the same as many others on this thread...about 2 eggs to three matzos. But honestly, I have never made such a small batch! Nor, I believe, has my grandmother.

My grandmother, who is 105 and still makes matzoh brei for the great grandchildren, breaks the matzoh up in a bowl and pours scalding hot water over it. Then she dunks it under the water for a couple of minutes (with her asbestos hands) while the butter melts in the skillet. She draines off the water and adds a lightly beaten egg, soaking the matzah briefly. She then "fries" it in the butter. Yes, she used to use shmaltz, but now its butter. She then serves it to all of us with salt and plenty of pepper. We wouldn't have dreamed of the sweet cinnamon sugar an orthodox neighbor of mine uses, nor would we think of ---gasp--- maple syrup. We grew up thinking of it as Jewish French Toast.

Please don't stick to chilean sea bass! You're right, we will kill them before they kill us..but in the case of chilean sea bass, that time is almost here. Over 60% of the chilean sea bass sold in this country is pirated or poached, and there isn't much left. And FYI: it is no relation to sea bass...it is actually patagonia toothfish, but the name wasn't marketable and was changed. Try some of the farmed sea bass on the market: it's great and not endangered. Chilean Sea bass won't be around much longer, but it has a tiny chance of surviving if we stop eating it...

All journalists, whether news reporters or feature writers, should take their responsibility to REPORT quite seriously. Most I know do. Part of taking the responsibility of being a reporter seriously is to see yourself as existing in a seperate universe from the marketing and sales departments. Any journalist worth his salt will never consider the financial aspects of running a newspaper while reporting a story...including reviews. Dodge, I am sure you are not alone in disagreeing with the opinions of reviewers. Can you imagine a world where every reader agreed with every review? Conventional wisdom would suggest you follow a reviewer whose writing style and opinions you are in concert with, and trust that person to be your guide. Certainly over the years there have been reviewers in other areas and other papers with whom I tended to disagree more than agree...that's ok. We are reviewers because we have knowledgable educated palates, are observant, are capable of reporting without bias, and are willing (!) Rail Paul, thank you for your support. Please especially note what I said above, that any decent journalist-- such as the food editor at the Bergen record, (who is considered amongst the top food editors in the country and has recvd many awards and acknowledgements from her peers) would not be influenced by advertising dollars. Believe me, the food editor at the Record is a strongly ethical woman, to whom other journalists turn for guidance about ethics issues. I write for many national magazines (and much bigger newspapers), and my affiliation with the Record is probably my biggest source of pride when it comes to journalistic standards. I'm curoius: from whom did you get that qupote that you attreibute to the Record, and what was the context? And now to your (rail paul) question...of the restaurants I visit how many do I actually review? Well, if I understand the question, the answer is (with a very rare exception) all. I do not visit a restaurant on the Record's dime unless I review it. Before I visit a restaurant for a review, it is agred and scheduled for publication on a certain date. There is no turning back, no deciding not to review it. On the other hand, I have a life, a family, friends, a need and desire to eat. There are time, plenty of them, that I go out to eat and do not review the restaurant. Those are the times when I do not have to concentrate on every detail of the room, commit to memory every morsel on the table--- I just relax and DONT think about what I'm doing. Whew. I hope I answered all the questions...and helped you understand the process, and how hard we all strive to be sure we are fair. MSP

The Xaviers restaurants are an important part of our region's culinary scene, and I believe the Xaviers In Garrison (the first one) is an important part of the best of dining in our region. It is a destination restaurant for many of us, certainly a place (as I believe I pointed out) that would be ideal for "special ocassion" dining for residents of Bergen County. The Garrison Xavier's is, in fact, a destination restaurant for the majority of diners who go there: there is only a very small population in the immediate area who dine there. And even if you live around the corner, the restaurant is not the sort of place you'd go to on a regular basis. Living in Bergen County, this restaurant is the sort of place one might go for Mother's Day, a marriage proposal, an anniversary, a special birthday, and the like. Haven't you ever wondered what special place you could go to on such an occasion?

Yes, IACP is International Association of Food Professionals. To join, call 800-928-4227 If you are a current or aspiring food professional-- chef, journalist, author, caterer, etc, this is an organization that can be invaluable to you. They offer one annual meeting (in April) and then a slew of other regional events. The IACP is a great resource for finding and meeting other food professionals, whether for advice, career growth, ideas exchange, or-- human interaction with like minded professionals! And no, I am not a paid spokesperson!!! But I have been involved in the organization on a volunteer basis over the years, and found it to be an invaluable part of the growth of my business.

Egg salad. It makes no sense: I love eggs, fried, soft boiled, coddled, soufleed, scrambled.... and I love mayonnaise, smeared on a ripe tomato, mixed in all sorts of salads... But put the tow together and it makes me gag!

Ouch! Someone asked, after my earlier posting, if msp=Marge Perry, reviewer for The Record. Yup, it's me. And here's the ouch: Reviewing does not work at all the way you are guessing it to be. I am a freelancer, and my choices for the restaurants I review come from two sources. Either my editor says that a restaurant is up for review (because it hasn't been reviewed for 3 years, or has never been reviewed, or is new) or I see or hear of a restaurant and ask to review it. Plain and simple, and it has nothing at all to do with advertising. I have no knowledge nor interest in who advertises with The Record, and it has no influence on my life or income. As for your thoughts on what motivates me: I don't "pick up" an extra $150 for writing an occasional extra column my editor approves because I make her life easier. I write the same number of reviews (read: earn the same amount of money) whether I report on a great restaurant or a horrific one. And here is a further piece of information that may interest you: Restaurant reviewing, compared to my other sources of income, is an extremely low paying job. For the hours I spend visiting a restaurant (always twice, in response to an earlier query) and making my follow-up call, then doing the actual writing...the compensation is far below what I make in other areas of my work. Ok, time to address another point raised in this thread: While the people on this site are all affirmed foodies and very aware that the Binghamton (which I did not review) doesn't have much to offer in terms of food service, many readers of the paper may not be aware of that...think of people new to our area, or generally not knowledgable about the restaurant scene who may see it all lit up at night and wonder. The purpose of reviews is to inform readers about the experience they can expect when spending their money at a restaurant. To the reader curious about a restaurant we food savvy people know to be less than adaquate, a review of the place offers an important service. How much would you trust as a source for reviews a newspaper which only reports on restaurants they like? Clearly, the reviewers were pre-disposed to like the restaurant before they even reviewed it! One final note. Many people think reviewing is about finding fault and pointing out weaknesses. I believe that is absolutely not our job. I do not walk in to a restaurant looking for mistakes, looking for oversalting, long waits, dry fish, or any other problems. I go to a restaurant armed only with the need to observe and report. Frankly, I love finding restaurants who do their job well, who are passionate and enthralled and good managers. I want to make it clear the thoughts expressed here are mine alone, and do not necessarily reflect those of the Record or any other media with which I am involved.

Park and Orchard in Rutherfordhas many vegetarian offerings on the menu, and in fact used to be vegetarian-- but no longer is. They also have an award winning wine list and an incredible cellar.

Fire Chef, Alas, if only I were more clever at navigating around! I did manage to pull up your member bio, but not the postings. As last night was my first time around egullet, I wandered aimlessly trying to understand how and where to find things... One night while cooking aboard the Spirit of NY, a fireman came in to the kitchen and asked me to heat up his dinner-- a dinner he had prepared for his whole crew of the most tantilizing, aromatic sausage and peppers, spaghetti, salad, a crusty loaf of bread...he brought several foil food service trays filled with goodies for his crew. I heated them up and brought them out, and the guys at the table, i sensed, were home for that little while. They were eating the foods they ate at the firehouse, and that must have been a great comfort. In fact, it was the only time i remember hearing laughter. So it is not just cooking that is therapy...we humans have long known that food can comfort and assure as well. How often do you cook for your firehouse? When you do, are you usually cooking for 30? And do you have to prepare foods that re-heat well? You mentioned a couple of times about having to cook with awareness of dietary restrictions...are you trying, in general, to keep the food you prepare basically healthy, or do you have to prepare different dishes for firemen with specific dietary restrictions? (And by the way, is it politically correct to say fireMEN? Aren't there also firewomen-- and if so, what do we call the collective group??Tell me its not firepeople!) MSP

To respond to one recent comment: the reviewers are freelance and know nothing about the advertising practices of the paper. And if the idea of a review is to report on the experience the reader is likely to have when visiting any particular restaurant--- well, I would want to know before I plunk down my money that the reviewer had this awful meal...so I wont waste my money! Isnt the reason we read reviews to make decisions on where to dine? If so, we also decide where NOT to dine...thus, reviews about bombs.

I cooked first aboard the Spirit of NY, the ship docked at the site, then later at the Marriot respite center...although by the time we went to the Marriot I was more "heating up" then I was actually putting foodstuffs together to make them more enticing. During that time, cooking there seemed to be the only thing that really mattered. Its like the rest of the world wasn't as real...the conversations I had with my children about homework and movies and lunch table politics; the poor attempts I made to get my work done...I went through the motions and none of it felt real. Now, these so many months later, it all does seem real again. But my world changed, as did most everyone's, and I still think about some of the workers I spoke to, and one in particular who, in thanking me said "You have no idea what a hot meal means to me after 8 hours out there" and he squeezed my arm in thanks...and I know that meal we made for him was truly a respite...that the fact that someone cooked for him was more than the taste of the food or filling an empty gut...the food soothed his soul for just a minute

This is my first visit to egullet, and my first post, so bear with me, please... As is true for many of the writers here, cooking for me has long been a source of comfort, pleasure, relaxation...a way to nurture and show love. After 9/11 I helped the only way I knew how, by cooking for the workers. It wasn't much, and I got far more out of it than I gave. But once again, cooking allowed me to express myself, to give a little, comfort a little, and try to help take care of those who were taking care of us. Cooking offers the cook and the diner/eater a nurturing, sensual connection, adn a simple, basic way of showing caring This is true when I cook for family and friends on a nightly basis, when I host a celebratory fete, and when I deliver food to someone who isn't well.