Randi

Atlantic City, NJ - White House Subs and Salt Water Taffy Newark, NJ - Italian Hot Dogs

Persimmons! food of the goddesses...

Has anyone tried the McDonald's new Philly Cheesesteak? I'm just curious about it...

anything raw on the halfshell ketchup (except as cocktail sauce for shrimp) butter cookies (the big soft tasteless kind from the bakery with the sprinkles and fake tasting chocolate) most soft cookies (I like crispy!) beef cooked medium and (*gasp*) well done too rare (aka raw) beef canned veggies (except crispy corn) Hershey's chocolate (unless I have pretzels to eat with it) Bottled matzoh balls canned light tuna french dressing ok ok...I could go on forever. LOL

I know I have been guilty of this occasionally, but usually it was because the final decision wasn't up to me. And I felt sheepish about it I have used all the suggestions I've received to create a mental "places I gotta try" list. And my recent trip to the Stagehouse Inn was based on a recommendation from folks here when I'd asked for advice.

Make it a huge sweet Jersey tomato slice (as big as the bread). Sliced purple sweet onion optional.

LNorman, Thanks for the tip! I posted a couple of months ago looking for placing serving afternoon tea in the area, so if you know of any others, please share! I am in the Woodbridge/Edison area. Thanks! Randi

Ooops...Chocolate Alley is alive and kicking! Just found an ad they ran in a local coupon magazine for Valentine's Day. Chocolate Alley 515 Avenel Street Avenel 732-634-8456 The have chocolate covered strawberries and will dip any other fresh fruit by request. In fact they say "We dip anything!" Could make for an interesting Valentine's Day!

It's Al Richards. They used to also own "Chocolate Alley" in Avenel but that location went out of business, I believe. And yes, Al Richards' chocolates are pretty good, and reasonably priced. And yes, a Bayonne landmark indeed. I especially liked their chocolate covered cream cheese! (They had it at Chocolate Alley).

gribbenes tied with shellfish (esp. lobster)

Just a couple of additions to this thread - first, I have the wine prices from our Weds. nite dinner - the Cakebread Chardonnay '01 was $52 not $65. And the Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon was $60. One more thing - my company was looking to change locations for an annual sales award dinner next month (for over 50 people) and have taken my suggestion to have it at Lana's, so we are working out those details with Peter and Lana now

Well you used to work in the TOWN where I worked...I guess that doesn't count? And I was going to say salt cellars - but I've never heard of pepper cellars. And these were very shallow and I picture salt cellars as something deeper? So since I didn't know how to say the salt AND pepper were in these dishes, I decided to call them...well...."dishes"! This is all new to me....heck, I didn't even know what to call the things they served the soup from! Randi (who is willing to learn!)

Well, last night was our business dinner at Lana's. There were 12 of us. We got there around 6:30, and didn't leave till 10 PM and a MARVELOUS time was had by all! Sadly (for the restaurant) no one else came in to dine the entire night The good news was that we were free to be fairly animated (after about 10 bottles of wine, I think!) since there were no other diners to disturb. Everyone raved about the place - they loved the food, appreciated the atmosphere, and thought the staff was friendly and attentive (what else did they have to do?? ) The food was superb - we ordered several appetizers and every dish was inhaled! We got 2 seafood towers ($65 each) which consisted of 6 clams, 6 oysters, 4 huge shrimp, jumbo lump crabmeat, ceviche salad, and 6 pieces of assorted sashimi (per tower). We also got 4 orders of my fave from last week - the warm goat cheese medallions ($10 each) and 2 orders of fabulous oysters rockefeller ($10) (they were delicious! with sauted spinach, chorizo and ouzo). Oh, the wine - we had a couple of bottles of Cakebread Chardonnay (I think $65) and around 8 bottles of Dry Creek Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve 1999 - which everyone raved about. (sorry, didn't see the price). Four of us got the Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Roasted Duck and Toasted Pumpkin Seed Oil ($6). I liked it but the other 3 folks raved and raved about it! We even enjoyed the way it was served - beautiful deep oval bowls were brought to us with a portion of duck confit in the bottom, and the soup was poured from individual stainless serving pitchers into our bowls. Oh, the very fresh (and warm) olive bread and cranberry nut bread was brought around and offered to us throughout the meal. (note to Bob - there was proper-temperature sweet butter on the table along with olive oil. And we did have salt and pepper - altho not shakers...little flat dishes with serving spoons) Ooops I almost forgot - we received a tasty amuse of goat cheese quiche. The entrees that were ordered were: Three of us got the Center Cut Pork Chop with Honey-soy-basil marinade, Grilled Black Plum and Seckle Pear with Potato Puree and 25 yr old balsamic vinegar ($23); 2 people got the Prime aged rib-eye steak (22 oz) ($29); 2 got the filet mignon ($25); one got Seafood Cioppino ($24); one got the Roasted Diver Scallops ($24); one got the Brasied Lamb Shank ($28) and 2 folks got pasta dishes (not sure which ones) ($19 each). We got coffee and cappuccinos and a few of us ordered desserts including rum raisin ice cream ($6); the Warm chocolate cake with ice cream and rosehip preserve ($8) which was pronounced "amazing"; a lemon tart ($8) and a couple of orders of dulce de leche pancakes with vanilla ice cream ($8) (which were INCREDIBLE - 2 pancakes rolled up with with caramel inside, put under a flame to crystalize the sugar, and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with thin shreds of fresh mint on top). We weren't sure what was on the ice cream - it tasted like spearmint. We asked for clarification, and they brought out the chef (Humberto Campos). When he came to the table we applauded him! (Unfortunately I can't remember the kind of mint he said it was.) We chatted with him a bit and learned that he has worked at Restaurant Nicholas and Stagehouse Inn (among others). Everyone kept thanking me for choosing Lana's. (Even today they continued to thank me at our meeting!) I am sure once the weather warms and the golf course gets busy, Lana's will be busy as well!

Yes, Stagehouse has a fireplace. So does Sweetwaters, but that place isn't very romantic.

I know it's too late...but...I used to go to a place called "The Sayreville Bar" (very original name) and I wasn't sure they were still there...and if they were, my experiences were so long ago that I was hesitant to mention it. BUT...I did a search and they are, indeed, still in business. They are now The Sayreville Bar and Restaurant (7 Cecelia Street, Sayreville). Still a very original name. It was my favorite place to go when I was in college (in the 70s) and for a few years after. They had great seafood and it was a bargain back then - a plate of lobster claws for $2.50 (5 or 6 claws) and a huge pot of steamers for $5.00 (enough for 2 or 3 people to share). I got the same thing every time I went. I stopped going when they renovated the place and became more of a full service restaurant and didn't have the "cheapie" seafood specials anymore. But I am glad to have the chance to reminisce

Hi Bob, Great first post Glad you enjoyed Lana's - I was so glad to hear that the place was 2/3 full that night. (Maybe from everyone who read my post? ) About the salt shakers - when we were there they had little dishes with salt and pepper with tiny spoons. (I am sure there must be a name for those).... And we didn't even get butter - there was olive oil on the table for the bread. Thanks for the great review - it will help me decide what to order when I go back there this week! Randi

Thanks for the suggestions! Someone has also suggested Crossroads on North Ave. in Garwood. They have live entertainment most nights. The menu is basically Cajun and I've heard it's pretty good. Has anyone been there?

I did a Google search of "Culinary Renaissance" Metuchen and found out that it did, indeed close. But also found out that the owner/chef opened a new restaurant in Pittsburgh, and another CR mainstay opened a place called "Rosse's" in Martinsville which he describes as Culinary Renaissance meets Italy. Some interesting articles, if you want to do the seach. Plus a recipe from CR for Basil and Potato Crusted Salmon.

Can anyone recommend any restaurants with entertainment (i.e. jazz bands) perferably in the central NJ area (Edison-Woodbridge vicinity a plus). Thanks!

Sorry, I meant to include that in my post. We got out of there for $55 for the 3 of us, including the above dishes one diet soda and tax and tip. My scallops were $16, the appetizer was $7 and the sandwiches were $9. I decided we are going to Lana's for our business dinner next week. I am happy to give them the business. I did check out Stage House today for lunch - it was incredible, but not as convenient to the hotel for my group.

I decided to try Lana's today for lunch, to scope it out as a possible site for our business dinner next week. I am glad I did! I thought it was terrific. The place was completely empty when we got there (about 12:45 PM) which is sad, athough I assume when the weather is better they will get busier (they are located in the Hyatt Hills Golf Complex, in Clark.) While we were there, only one other table was occupied. The server brought some bread by the table for us to choose from. There were fennel raisin rolls, cranberry bread, olive bread and plain rolls. There was olive oil on the table. We shared an appetizer of warm goat cheese medallions, smoked and sweet chilies, cumin, arugula and aged balsamic vinegar. Delicious!! I want to go back and get that again (and not have to share it! ) My entree was spiced roasted diver scallops with chanterelle mushrooms, baby spinach, parsnip, and carrot-ginger emulsion. There were 3 huge scallops, nicely presented. Also delicious. My coworkers each got a sandwich. One got grilled sashimi yellowfin tuna with orange segments, spicy arugula and citrus pesto, grilled maui onion and sprouts on focaccia bread. She chose fresh fruit on the side (other choices were "american fried potatoes" and potato salad.) She said it was an excellent sandwich. My other coworker got the grilled skirt steak sandwich, with bleu cheese, watercress, grilled maui onion and fig balsamic dressing. He chose the fries (which were served in a bucket). He said the sandwich was "interesting" but I think the problem was that it came out rare (he hadn't specified how he wanted it done). Some of the other items I am eager to try include: Rustic cripsy gnocchi with lemon-brown butter, sage, and aged balsamic; the roasted butternut squash soup with roasted duck and pumpkin seed oil, and some desserts, including Dulce de leche pancakes carmel brulee; fall fruit fricassee with puff pastry and rum raisin ice cream; Meyer lemon tart with candied lemon, orange and basil salad; and carmelized and rosemary scented plum tart with quince sauce. Oh, by the way, the executive chef is Humberto Campos. (Phil, is he the one from La Griglia?) The owner stopped by our table to welcome us. All in all it was a very positive experience. I hope people discover this place - they are trying hard and I would love to see them succeed. Lana's Restaurant (in the Hyatt Hills Golf Complex) 1300 Raritan Road (just north of Central Avenue) Clark (732) 669-9024 open for lunch Tues-Fri 11-2:30 open for dinner Tues-Thurs 5-10 PM; Fri&Sat 5-11 PM full bar

The problem is, according to their website, the only thing they offer is a $45 prix fixe menu. Since it is a business dinner for 15 people, it seems expensive and not flexible enough for this group. (Although I am sure the ala carte cost per person will reach that in any case, we tend to order appetizers and sides to pass and share when we have these meetings.) The Stage House has a $29 Market Dinner with 3 courses, along with the option of ala carte choices, so gives us more flexibility. Thanks for the suggestion, tho. I would love to try Chez Catherine one day.

John is right, the do have them flown in (all year 'round). I know they aren't actually Maryland crabs - I just didnt know what to call the bay-seasoned type of preparation, so I called it Maryland-style. Sorry for the confusion.

It is also near the Hard Shell Cafe where I go for all-you-can-eat crabs (garlic or maryland-style spiced) whenever I can. YUM! Hardshell Cafe is at the intersection of Rt. 70 and Rt 73, on 73 a little bit north of the intersection

Has the recent Mad Cow discovery affected anyone's tendency to purchase/order beef? I ask because I find myself thinking twice, and also because I am planning a dinner outing for 15 people in 2 weeks and when a local steak house was suggested by a coworker, I found myself wondering if people might be a tad leery about beef. Any thoughts?