JeAnneS

I'm not a 'que expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I do like it a lot I think The Joint in the Bywater is pretty darn good though I haven't tried the truck in comparison. www.alwayssmokin.com JeAnne

Daniel; Great reviews and pictures. My husband and I lived in NJ and worked in NYC for the better part of 12 years. We honeymooned in New Orleans in 2000 and apart from 2005, returned to this fantastic city every year. Last year we decided to make our fantasy a reality and we bought a little place in the Marigny in December and just moved here three weeks ago!! I am still pinching myself I can hardly believe it!! The weekend we closed on our house, our real estate agent took us to Parkway and I nearly died over the roast beef po boy. I had half to take home and savor the next meal along with a slab of their banana pudding. Next trip I highly recommend Coop's on Decatur...it's nothing pretty but their beans and rice (with sausage natch) and Cajun Fried chicken are finger licking good. Best wishes and hope you come back! JeAnne

I have placed two books up for auction on Ebay with 100% of the sale going to Egullet. Nick Malgieri - Chocolate http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...68511&rd=1&rd=1 Bo Friberg - The Professional Pastry Chef http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...67947&rd=1&rd=1 Any questions, please feel free to drop a post! JeAnne

Thank you Jason for posting about this place! Chaz (my husband) and I were in the mood for a little "themed" dinner this evening. I remembered drooling over the pics in this thread, pulled up the mapquest and off we went! It was fantastic for both of us. Chaz was thrilled..he's Scottish and though most of his memory of Chinese food in the UK is take away, he said it was very similar to what we had tonight ..ie Cantonese style. His opinion of the Chinese we've had here (here=states, not here meaning Chan's!) is that it's too healthy tasting The blowfish lights over the booths and the twinkling dragon eyes just put it over the top (or it could have been the zombies and love potion)! We started with the drinkies and a small pupu platter (the roast meat on a stick was fabu as were the fried chicken wings) and then split the roast pork Hawaii with a side order of fried rice. It was slices of roast pork over a bed of bean sprouts, sugar snap peas, mushrooms and water chestnuts in this brown sauce. YUMMY! The fried rice was the best I've had in a really long time..but that could be nostalgia talking. We brought home plenty of leftover and I thought the price was well worth it. We will definitely go back! JeAnne

This is similar to the mousse part of a peanut butter mousse cake on Epicurious and let me tell you it is nirvana. Every time I make this cake I have to forcefully stop myself from inhaling and devouring the mousse part...it is amazing stuff!

I'm so happy to have this thread and the fondant = looks great but tastes like cr@p thread today as it's a very slow work day. For the record, I had a whipped cream/cream cheese frosting on my wedding cake (pass on the fondant thanks!) and I will take cake over pie ANY day! JeAnne

ps Phil mentioned that they plan to have an outdoor patio this summer and they are expanding and renovating the second floor which should be open for dining in the fall

I really like the canned pomodoro and the low fat marinara. I tried one or two of the jars (vodka and I think bolognese) and wasn't impressed. I think the pomodoro and the marinara make great "bases" that you can quickly build on when you don't have a simmering day in front of you

I'm so glad I finally get to start really posting on the Jersey board! For the six years we have been here, we've been carless commuters into manhattan so needless to say our exploration of jersey didn't really take us much further than downtown Jersey City and Hoboken. Now we have a house in Bayonne and a car for exploring when we don't feel like going into the city!! I promise this is a relevant post Hub and I went to Front Street last night. I made the mistake of following mapquest directions and we got a little lost...first we missed Bayside and ended up in Staten Island and then we found bayside which was rerouted or something and ended up the going the long way around to get to Front Street. However it was SO WORTH IT! We shared the collossal onion and the pig out platter. Unless I missed it, I don't think the onion has been reviewed. It is fantastic much to hub's delight...perfectly seasoned batter fried up crispy with a kicking horseradish sauce. YUM. Our pig out platter consisted of the baby back ribs with brisket, pulled pork and sausage. I LOVED the barbecue sauce...its like vinegary sour and honey (maple?)sweet at the same time. I kept pouring little pools of sauce to dip forkfuls of meat into The pulled pork was tender, the brisket was wonderfully smoky and the sausage ...fantastic. Our sides were the sweet potato fries (which I thought were crispy) and the black beans which were delicious. Next time I want to try the chili and the pulled pork quesadilla. We met Phil who is a very sweet guy and gracious host. The bartender seemed a tad surly but the waitress made up for it. oh and the pigtini isn't bad either off to hunt for more jersey good eats! JeAnne

I haven't read every single post in this thread, but I will make a few statements: 1)I disagree that people who shop in the greenmarket wont be the same people at Trader Joes. I shop at Farmer's Markets once or twice a week for produce and will make a once a month pilgrimage to TJ's...I would maybe go more often if it was closer. (I'm in Bayonne and the closest TJ's is Westfield). 2)Trader Joes is more comparible in the "chain" arena to Citarella and Whole Foods than it is to Olive Garden and McDonalds'. Trader Joe's is much more specialty store than it is grocery store. But it has a lot of grocery store items (at better quality usually and cheaper price definitely) that make it more fun to shop than Balducci's or Citarella. I would say it's closer to a Whole Foods, but not as expensive and not as grocery store like. I'm not sure how well it will do in Manhattan and I wonder how the prices are going to stay as low as the prices are say in Jersey. My favorite TJ items: Frozen packaged fruit - wild blueberries, mango chunks and berry mix...I LOVE the mango chunks. Frozen veg - yes I try to eat mostly fresh, but in a pinch on a weeknight... my faves are the pre peeled butternut squash chunks and the haricot verts. Great variety of olive oil, vinegars, mustards ..ie funky condiment heaven TLC Crackers - they can be found elsewhere, but there is always a large variety at TJ's. Whole grain cereals - again a large variety and inexpensive TJ brand chicken sausages ..I think there are 3-4 different varieties and they are all good. The cheese and bulk chocolate chunks (usually callebaut) are unbelievably reasonable. and last but not least: Chocolate covered espresso beans cheers, JeAnne

Hub and i have tried a few pizza places in Bayonne. Our favorites are Pompei for take away and Giovanni's for either take out or eat in.

Thank you Mark for your response. We splurged for the hotel (a much needed therapy after the family reunion I'm sure!) and will be staying at the Threadneedles.

Thanks Caroline for the recommendation..I will definitely check out the Willow Tree. I also hate being rushed...especially as Chaz and I aren't exactly huge loungers over dinner. Anyone else? I'll have to try to search some threads for east london recs as I'm sure there are some here. Thank you again JeAnne

Hi everyone; My husband and I are spending a long weekend in the UK towards the end of January. We are spending two days in Bridgwater visiting his mother and older sister and then three days in London - staying in East London. My mouth is already watering for good curry so any recs there would be good..but would also like some good pub recommendations (hub is Scots) and maybe a higher end rec for a nice dinner out. Thanks so much in advance. Cheers! JeAnne

Happy Holidays everyone!!! Here are a couple pics from a cookie klatch I had at my house On the tray: Orange Honey Thumbprints (with Cranberry) Linzer Cookies Gingerbread Almond Ravioli Congo Bars Essence of Chocolate Squares Loaded Oatmeal Cookies (hub's fave ) Coconut Lime Sours Off tray: Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles Spicy Nuts Brown Butter Cardamom Cookies Stilton Tart with Cranberry Chutney Bacon, Onion and Gruyere Tart