glenn

YES! That' s the idea!

Any other suggestions in that area? We just made an offer on a house in the Locust area of Middletown, which is nearby Highlands. Siam Garden was on my recommended list -- are you saying otherwise, or that I should just go there with deep pockets?

While we're waiting, can I entertain you? These here are both written by everyone's favorite vegetarian, Weird Al Yankovic. Hey, ooh, oh One rule you all should obey Eat from the four basic food groups everyday Have bread, and vegetables too Some dairy products, but whatever you do Don't you forget about meat Don't, don't, don't, don't Don't you forget about meat ------------------ Now, let me tell you 'bout the school cafeteria It's got all the others beat It sells over four million burgers a year Just think, that's almost two pounds of meat My ice cream sandwich is lukewarm But my burrito is much too cold You know, a school cafeteria is the only place That serves artificially colored mold You know, a school cafeteria believes in mass production They buy those lousy soy beans by the keg I don't like to complain, but in a school cafeteria You can buy a taco and get Bubonic Plague Today in the school cafeteria They introduced a brand new malt It's called boysenberry dyesentary Pleas pass the salt The tunafish sandwiches will make you ill The enchiladas are enough to kill Before you eat, you better make out your will In the school cafeteria today After 63 years in the business Our cook still hasn't got the knack And all the food in the school cafeteria Comes in care packages that were sent back Feel your arteries growing hard As you eat another healthy spoonful of lard It's no matter that the food is so gross The health department is afraid to come close So everybody better hold your nose In the school cafeteria today So listen very closely all you girls and guys Here's a little message to the wives You'd better not try the chili suprise In the school cafeteria today Oh yeah In the school cafeteria today

It seems kind of ironic. Just after talking here about my lousy table at Bouley, I made Thanksgiving Day reservations at Craft and I was asked if I had a particular place I wanted to sit. I don't know if they thought I was a regular (I never ate there), or if this is standard, but I was a bit taken aback by the question (pleasantly so). Is there a particular area that's preferrable? I told the reservationist an out of the way corner table sounded nice and she said they'd try to accomodate us.

glenn raises hand, me too please! Or better yet, just start up www.burgerbitch.com. It's inevitable :-)).

Wasn't it Arthur who was plugging eglutton? And Rosie is my hero.

I might have asked this before, but can the the show be heard on the internet? There's no radio reception in the dungeon where I work.

Pan & Tommy are both correct, I shouldn't have been seated where I was but I should've asked for another table. However, it was a small thing and only one of several that caused my experience to be less than great. I was more irate at what I perceived to be the reason we were seated where we were. Nevertheless, the primary reason why I didn't open my mouth was, like some other people, I find going into a stuffy high-end restaurant intimidating, not to mention I have a ridiculous fear of waiters and maitre'd's. And I'm in the biz for 12 years and have eaten at many of nyc's top places. :-)) [as an aside, I called Bouley yesterday to get a copy of my check. I didn't have time to even glance at it since we were in a rush to catch a show -- I can't understand how 2 prix fixes @ $35/each plus 1 glass of wine and 1 espresso added up to about $100 with tax. Doing the arithmetic, that would be about $22 for the wine and espresso.]

I love having some stranger/pervert watch me take care of business, then turn on the water in the sink for me so I don't forget to wash my hands, then hand me towels to dry my hands so I don't wipe my hands on my pants and then I have to stick my not so dry hands in my pocket for a bill.

glenn raises hand. It's probably just me, but I didn't think the 3 courses was worth the price -- the entree of chicken breast was completely indistinguishable from most any upscale restaurant and came with only a miniscule portion of vegetables. They later brought out a SMALL side dish of mashed potatoes probably because my eyebrows went up 3 feet when I saw my meal, and again, it was nothing special, . And if the potatoes were supposed to accompany the meal, then somebody goofed BIGTIME. Having said all this, in all fairness it should be said that I am not as appreciative as most of you guys and gals of haute cuisine, or THAT LEVEL of food. I'm just as happy eating inexpensive ethnic food, and in yesterday's case, would have been happier having the corned beef and eggs at Le Zinc.

I don't mind small portions either if, 1) I don't leave hungry (I did), and 2) the food is a few thousand calibers above Burger King, which it wasn't.

Was there yesterday (Sunday) for lunch. OUr initial choice, Le Zinc, was closed for a private party. Since Bouley was right up the block, we stopped there for convenience sake. I stupidly assumed they had a brunch which they didn't; my fault for not asking or looking at the menu beforehand. Jeez, doesn't everyone serve brunch on Sunday? Aside from a couple of things, the service was what I would have expected. When we entered, the hostess seemed to be thrown off that we didn't have a reservation even though the place was two thirds empty (and emptier when we left). She left us standing there saying she had to have so and so seat us (the maitr'd?). We ended up waiting several long minutes to be seated. We were also given what I considered a poor table, right by the entrance and almost on top of another couple, while the place was pretty empty. I dunno if this is because we didn't have a reservation and we were casually dressed, but I suspect that it played a part. The initial snooty attitude almost caused us to get up and leave, which in retrospect after seeing the check, I wish I did. My water glass also remained empty twice until I asked for a refill. Other than that, the service was top notch. We told the waiter from the outset that we had tickets to a show and only had 75 minutes. He said it would be ok to order from the tasting menu even with the time constraints. They timed it perfectly. Bread refills (too many!) were had, and the service was very attentive. The important part -- I could not believe the miniscule portions. With tax and tip and 1 glass of wine, total for 2 was $120, far too much loot for lunch for what we got. Or maybe I don't appreciate haute cuisine. :-))

Top 5 reasons to sell a successful restaurant. 1. He decided he didn't wanna spend 70 hours a week working and was afraid to take off because shithead staff would make regular customers sit at irregular tables and serve them the wrong food. Also, in a business which takes in mostly cash or a large amount of cash - any business - you either gotta find someone you can trust or you gotta be there all the time. Even if you're there, an enterprising bartender or server can still steal you blind. 2. Despite being popular, he wasn't making money, or not enough to justify spending 70 hours working (see #1). Really, restaurants are a tough business and it's not easy to make a decent profit. 3. He made enough money to retire. 4. He found that being in a restaurant interfered with his south beach diet. 5. You get the idea... it's all sheer conjecture. But if you get the inside dope, let us know!

Looks very nice. Is Silestone better than granite? More expensive?

I dunno if it's my computer or you've got ulterior motives, probably the latter, but that link takes me to this contest page .... http://www.northjersey.com/registration/re...ionLiteForm.php

It ends up costing us close to $400/mo. Maybe I was sleeping when they went over the charges, but I wasn't aware until we got the first bill that you're charged for every OT reservation.

top 5... cleveland man - booker t & the mg's cleveland, ms. - the bluebirds down by the o-h-i-o - president o.a. plotz & the dictators cleveland rocks - ian hunter going to cleveland - mountain goats glenn, who has too much time on his hands

My first bite (illegally taken with the cheese) tasted good to me. Then, after being informed by Suzanme that the average weight of the burgers was 5.7698 ounces, the rare burgers had a temperature of 121 degrees celcius (or thereabouts), the blue was blue but the black wasn't black and then being toldI had to answer every question on the 12 page evaluation or I couldn't leave, the 2nd bite almost choked me. Whatever, I enjoyed, especially the fries, but most of all the company. Thanks again to the burger bitch for putting it together. Oh, the next best part after the great company was dessert, the spicy hot chocolate with a shot of espresso added at, jeez, what's the name of that place?

A couple of observations..... (1) if some of the places I worked for are any indication, ballot-stuffing goes on more than most people realize; (2) the text reviews have already been questioned here... i.e., who writes them, timeliness etc. The recently issued TONY Restaurant Guide is no better or worse than Zagat as far as timeliness. The review of the place I work at is almost a duplicate of last year, even though the entire menu changed as well as the chef, among other things. Items that have been off the menu for one year are still referred to. I understand that by nature, the business rapidly changes, but to simply reprint text from one year to the next without checking facts calls for having the editor go stand in the corner forever. [Which brings to question, just how valid are any guides? I'm referring to NY, since I'm myopic and that's all I'm familiar with. My favorite is the NY Times Guide, but it too seems outdated by the time it hits the stands. I suppose most of us here rely more on the internet (eglutton!) for info. But I digress, and maybe this s/b another discussion.]

Uh, what time again? Or just direct me to the page # the info is buried on. How many are going? I think I asked somewhere if anyone tried Pop Burger, Roy whassisname's new place in the meatpacking district. Was there ever any discussion on this?, or again, just direct me to the page # this is buried on. lazy glenn.

Between the 2 illustrious cities, my count hasn't gotten past 1 finger.

Hey Anthony or anyone, how'd you do that? Elephant's memory? Software program? [it doesn't appear that you subscribe to opentable which would enable you to track such things.]

Do you think the NJ Zagat is THAT influential, at least compared to the NYC edition? Lou, do you really think a review in Zagat would noticeably increase business? I admit to being pretty clueless and I've never bought the NJ edition figuring that it wouldn't have anything meaningful to say, not that the NYC edition does. Is there one edition for all of NJ? As a bush league foodie, do I need to have a copy in my car for desperate times?

See this thread also.

The Grimes pop vs. classic music analogy hit a nerve with me too, but it's merely a questionable analogy. I thought Grimes was right on target with the gist of the article for reasons stated a lot more eloquently than I'm capable. It's funny how this stuff pisses people off in different ways. For me, it was the Zagats' GARGANTUAN balls in manipulating numbers and feeling they don't need to account to anyone at how they arrive at their conclusions. Having seen them in action first hand, I can also state as 100% fact that they are the LOWLIFES of the restaurant industry.