glenn

That was my understanding. The late side would be best as they seem to be mostly emtpy. Like around 2. I'm free (or can set myself free) on Tue, Wed and Fri next week and Wed, thu, Fri in the last week of Sept. I'd volunteer to arrange it, though I'm sure I'd screw something up.

I overlooked the rest of your question though it's obviously too late. c-folds are coarse on my fine hands. When I dine and pee in luxury, I wanna wipe my mouth and hands in appropriately matched swab. And no, I don't mean cloth, just a nice soft paper towel. Something a step above CBGB's. And just for the rekkid, I only use Bounty at home. I never saw the wine list and they didn't list wines by the glass on the menu. Come to think of it, they never offered me a wine list. I had pinot noir ($8) by the glass. Well, 2 glasses. It was excellent I never asked the name though. The offerings were disappointingly basic - cab sauvignon, merlot, chianti and pinot noir for reds. Didn't ask about white. Rosie, whenever you're ready just holler. I have nothing better to do with my life these days except check out the competititon ;-0

I keep wavering on exactly what other refreshments to offer. For the time being, I plan to inlcude egg creams and fountain sodas (pop), as well as home made iced tea, lemonade and fruit punch. However, in the end I might scale back on the fountain sodas and egg creams and just offer specialty sodas not available in most places. The final decision mostly depends on the space.

Dang, how could I forget to mention the bar! Check it out in the photos - it's got the blue lounge seats. Are you tired of the term "drop dead gorgeous?" Your Tuesday night problem is solved.

One thing is clear. Porto Leggero (160 Greene) is as drop dead beautiful as the pictures. However, the pictures are deceiving; they make it look a lot bigger. We had lunch there today and if our experience was any sort of indicator, Jersey City FINALLY has a destination spot. It makes me so happy to say that. There were no less than 4 persons serving us – not counting co-owner Elliot who we engaged in conversation. However, there were only 3 tables. Service was first class and what one would expect of a multi-starred NYC restaurant. My litmus test for service is whether someone folds your napkin when you’re away taking care of personal business. [hey, it works for me.] They passed that with flying colors, even giving me a new napkin, which I had soiled by making a pig out of myself devouring the mussels. We shared the mussels’ appetizer. It was brought out on 2 separate plates and appeared to be 2 portions. When I complained that we only ordered 1 order, I was told that indeed, it was one order. Not only was it an incredible amount of mussels for $8, but also it was served in an incredibly tasty tangy tomato sauce with onions, peppers and small pieces of bread. I dare say that it was enough for a meal for one. We both had pastas – Anabelle had rigatoni and I had butternut squash ravioli. It was simply the best such ravioli I ever had. Anabelle’s rigatoni was mildly spicy and again, had a similar tangy flavor to it as the mussels. Dessert choices were minimal and uninteresting. However, in the interests of doing a full report, we ordered the cappuccino sorbet. This was a bad ending to an otherwise fantastic meal. The sorbet was obviously (to me) refrozen and contained lots of small bits of ice. Since I was honest with the waiter when asked about the other dishes (great! the best! incredible!), I told him the truth about the sorbet. He immediately offered us something else even though I ate every drop of the sorbet. I honestly didn’t want anything except to let them know that they had a bad batch of ice cream on their hands. A minute later Elliot came over and was very apologetic and offered to comp us, free desserts and some other things. I refused everything but they never charged us for dessert. Kudos to them. And on the way out, Elliot said the next time dessert’s on the house. The only other complaint I have is regarding the bathrooms. Yes, they were meticulously clean and also drop dead gorgeous. BUT WHAT’S WITH THE CHEAP-O C-FOLD TOWELS! It brought flashbacks/nightmares of a place I worked at which made me dizzy. But don’t get me started about a place that spends $1 million (easily) on construction and cheaps out and saves a few bucks on towels. But I digress. I studied the dinner menu while waiting for our food. Every single dish was prepared two ways. On one side, the heading was “traditional”, or something like that. On the other side was the same dish with a slightly different description under the hading “signature.” The prices were the same either way. Quite an interesting menu. Lunch for 2 including tax and 2 glasses of wine was $65. Quite reasonable. Dinner entrees seemed to average around $24 with the most expensive (steak) at $34. It’s a little tricky getting to with all the construction downtown. Take Columbus Ave. almost to the water and make a left on Greene and the parking entrance is on the right. There’s free parking in the Harborside building.

I still have to cost this out and figure out a way to make it work. I have no idea at this point how - I need to crunch the numbers. I don't anticipate making anywhere near the profit I would on something like cheddar, but as long as I'm not losing money, I'll find a way to make it work. My assumption is that I'll have 2 different kinds of markets. Customers that are cost conscious and those with a sophisticated palette AND don't mnd spending some loot. It remains to be seen whether there are enough people in the latter category when it comes to grilled cheese.

Per Marlena Spieler: "And a slightly aged, yet still creamy and soft, goat cheese paired with walnuts, then pressed into a panini, is one of the most enticing treats you could find on the streets of Paris today." So I guess you'll have to go to Paris if you want goat cheese :) Or Melt. I so much wanna try everything. The classics will always be on the menu. The idea is to change around the fancy cheeses. But the real test actually begins tomorrow when I start working on the menu and seeing if from a cost standpoint which cheeses makes sense. I don't know the cost of a suitable goat cheese, but would you pay in the neighborhood of $10 for such a sandwich?

Do I have to do EVERYTHING? fontina beaufort french yogurt aged gouda mezza secco

So what are your top 5 or 10 or 2 or whatever? The only rule: no common stuff like cheddar, american, muenster, provolone or jack unless it's in a combo. Combos are not only allowed, but welcome. The present plan calls for a cheese of the week, or until I run out of it.

Silbert wrote a piece in Sunday's New Jersey section under "Quick Bite." He loved it. He loved the screaming order taker, the fries, the fact that they used REAL ice cream in the chocolate shake, even waiting more than the 11 minutes he was told, EVERYTHING, including the burger. I've been there a half dozen times or so [there's not much in downtown JC in the way of, uh, quick bites.] Every time I visited there was a hefty line. Even just before noon this past Friday, the line was quite long. So I guess it's 50,000,000 to 1. I just don't get what everyone else seemingly does. The screaming order takers have grown tiresome and, frankly, obnoxious. But forget that and the fact that it ain't so fast. [My average wait time is about 15 minutes, not any different than a diner.] Can we get back to the burger? So what that they use quality beef, or so everyone sez. How the hell would you know since they fry it to a crisp and then some?! How the hell can you taste the dang thing? That's my argument, period. I concede on the fries and even the milk shake isn't half bad [hey, it's got REAL ice cream!] But the burger?? C'mon, gimme a break. And a secret to Mr. Fatburger - the 15 minute wait (after you place the order) might actually become 11 minutes if you made the burger to my liking.

So many choices between pickels and chutneys! How the heck am I ever gonna evaluate them all?! Though I guess that's the fun part. Thanks for the suggestions.

You saved me the trouble about asking about pickles, thanks. That's another item I plan to include as a topping and I want a few different and very special kinds. Can you expand a little more about Branson pickles and where Keswick is? Also, as far as Kalustyan's and other places in that area, I thought they only carried Indian goods?

And what do you thing goes well with grilled cheese?

I passed by today and stopped in and looked at the menu. Drop dead beautiful. Riscala Design should get an award. Here are some pictures. The menu looked adventurous and included duplicates of some items but prepared differently. My only bone is how many Italian restaurants does JC need?

Jason, how big is that place? Do they carry everything, i.e., food, paper goods, flatware, etc? Big selection? Do you know how it compares to Restaurant Depot, the one in Hackensack?

Oh no, I'm trying to stay far away from retro! After all, I'm a modern man ;-0. And tommy, no, but you can call me cheese louise. I should change Anabelle's name to Louise so I could use that one.

Thanks Mark, but I'm looking one for my home for the time being so I can experiment. I've narrowed down the commercial presses to 2 manufacturers - Cecilware or Sodir. However, for various reasons (including electrical and space considerations), I don't wanna put a commercial machine in my home. But I'd like to duplicate it as closely as possible.

I do like Melt Shop. I like Glenn's Melt Shop better. But I think I'll stick with Melt if I end up in a stodgy office building and consider something else if I'm on JC's famed and defamed restaurant row.

tommy, don't mince words please. And it's better than MELTSHAKE! I forgot to bestow the worst name award for that one. ungrateful glenn

Hmmm... interesting. How 'bout "Melt Factory?" And of course, have a warehouse chic decor.

I didn't realize the Krups didn't have a thermostat. That's a dealbreaker for me. And I've heard the about the Foreman being a problem crushing the sandwich. The villaware looks very sturdy and I like the floating design and adjustable temperature. Is this the one being referred to?

Krups I'll be doing a lot of experimenting and practicing. Is this one recommended? Any others? Thx.

Lol. Are we all up for an $10k investment? I guess I've said too much already. I'm going back to standing in the corner.

Hard Grove Cafe in Jersey City shut down! I dunno, I thought the bugs crawling around everywhere added to the ambience. But alas, I passed by yesterday and they were open.

That's funny. I found the same site and wrote to the photographer. Thx.