
glenn
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Everything posted by glenn
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Well, I have a big finger. Add Amanda's and Frankie & Johnny's, La Isla and maybe Baja's. But unquestionably, the Dining Room is the only one that can motivate me to put up with all the nonsense that goes on in Hoboken.
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Mention, bash JC all you want. I do :)). Have you been to Hoboken much? I disagree with your assessment - there are a zillion restaurants there, but I can count on one finger all the good ones. Not to mention that the parking is a hassle. Plus it's hard to notice any ambience on a weekend night as one is doing his best to avoid the vomit on the sidewalk on Washington St. Schnapps, I agree with Rosie about Tania's. However, I find it hard to motivate myself to go much because it takes forever to get served. Another little jewel near Tania's is a Moroccan place which I can't remember the name of, on the corner just east of Tania's on Grove. It's byob. Not a big menu, but everything on it is good. I've never been to Rita & Joe's... is it Italian? [5 synagogues?? The only one I know of is the ancient one downtown.]
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Vu?? Not sure, but Rosie should know, she knows all the mediocre places :)).
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The question was posed if you were going to JC (god knows why you would want to), should you go to Marco & Pepe's, or the newly opened Lighthorse, or the other newbie, 95 Greene. All 3 replaces are near each other, so if you don't like the looks of one of 'em, it's easy enough to go on to the next. At this point, reservations are not required at any of 'em, and I don't think M&P takes reservations. Marco & Pepe, named after owner Ralph's dogs, is on Grove and Mercer (I think). I've been there countless times since they opened 2 years ago and it is a truly unique place for JC. It's grown up a lot, starting out as mostly tapas dishes and a very limited menu, though good. Ralph is from Spain and the initial plan was to give it a an Italian and Spanish flavor. It retains its European style and is very casual. Jeans is the norm and yuppies predominate. They have a large selection of European beers as well as a pretty decent wine list (as well as a nice selection of wines by the glass). It's become a little more homogenized since its early days -- now there are American, Australian and French wines on the menu, and the dinner menu was American style, for lack of a better term. We had dinner there for the first time in a while, and it seems that the tapas menu is history and they've serving a full dinner menu. Entrees range from about $15-$21. The dishes we had were definitely unique, though they sometimes missed the spot. I had a warm tart as an appetizer, which turned out to be a very tasty pastry covered with carmelized onions. It doesn't sound exciting, but it was excellent. I had to order the macaroni and cheese based on the description, which regrettably I forget. When I asked the waiter about it, he just smiled in approval. It was incredible. Anabelle had the risotto with squash, which was also excellent. They leave a french style carafe of water on the table, and the bread, which was great, was served in a tin pail. Nice touch. I don't have much experience with the other places having only eaten at each place once. Putting personal grudges aside with the Lighthorse, they presently hold out the most promise of any restaurant in JC. It's a gorgeous space and the owners have high aspirations. The original plan was to model themselves after Gramercy Tavern, though I don't know if that's still the case. We were there about 6 weeks ago, a week after they opened. However, in every area, our experience ranged from fair to disastrous. Someone should check this place out though in the future, but it won't be me because of personal reasons. If you must know, the owners are snobs. We were at 95 Greene the day after Valentine's Day, a week after they opened. Very pretty place. They were still serving the Valentine's Day prixe fixe menu, which we weren't in the mood for. So we ordered from the bar menu. We got the complimentary amuse that was being served on the VD menu, which I thought was a nice gesture, not to mention it was out of this world. The bar food was ok, nothing more. We took a look at the regular dinner menu and it looked to be the usual upscale fare and the prices were a bit high. The wine menu was disappointing with a very limited selection of wines by the glass. But we'll be back. In answer to which place would I recommend, I'd say go to M&P's if you want a very laid back environment and interesting food, though not haute cuisine. If you want a real fine dining experience and are willing to take a chance that they've worked out the zillions of kinks, go to Lighthorse. But here's the real SHOCKER... a kosher style deli is open in the heart of JC!! And it's been there going on a year, but it's on a side street and no one knew about them, especially since they didn't advertise until recently. Steve's, 359 Varick St, 201-422-2700 is a real throwback. At least Steve is. We checked it out today and had combo sandwiches, kasha knishes and brought home chopped liver (after Steve forced some down my throat). There's no hot food -- it's in a landmark area and presumably they don't issue permits for commercial cooking. So forget about stuffed cabbage. The sandwiches were not the typical overstuffed sandwiches I'm accustomed to, but then again the price was only $7.95. It was good, though it doesn't compare to the better known NY establishments. The knishes happened to be excellent, as well as the chopped liver. Nothing is made on premises except for the egg salad, chicken salad and tuna salad. One wonders how such an establishment does any business in JC, considering JC has a population of about 102 Jews. It turns out they deliever to Hoboken and other areas, and are bigtime into catering. Steve claims to have made his money back in 3 months and is preparing to open another place in Bayonne. Steve must know something I don't know... there's probably only about 28 Jews in Bayonne. Ok, back to the REAL new jersey stuff....
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I'll be there if I can get out of the looney asylum in time.
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So does Zagat. + cost.
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Assuming a concensus could be arrived at [yeah, right], how would the system be utilized, or is it just for fun?
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Give Starbucks credit for making the terms small, medium and large obsolete. And to give credit where it's due, I hear they pay health benefits for part time employees, an extreme rarity, at least in the US.
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Regarding this past weekend, are you saying that the weather makes little difference in your reservations? You don't think what happened at Nicholas this past weekend was an aberration? I've always found that the weather puts a bigtime damper on reservations wherever I've worked. Btw, we went out to the very popular and typically booked Dining Room in Hoboken this past Saturday, and there were tables open at prime time. Personally, the weather plays no factor in my decision to go out. And YOU probably only get 1 lousy day off, so of course you're gonna go out on that day :)).
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The usual spot, nearby the parking lot on River Rd. or whatever it is, that charges me $20 and you $10 (half price for little people?) We parked on top of a snow bank.
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We went again last night and finally tried the cheese. Not being a connoisseur (of anything!) and never having ordered cheese before, we let Anthony pick the cheeses. They were wonderful, but can't remember the names. Then a complimentary amuse of lobster bisque, the warm potato tart appetizer for each of us and pasta dishes -- lobster gnocchi and lamb sausage. Very filling, very reasonable, and as usual, incredible, not to mention the great service. Reservations are a lot easier to come by -- I think they have 2 seatings now, an early one at about 6 and one at 8, or something like that. I think you're limited to those times, but I guess that's the only way he can handle it with the limited seating and trying to get maximum turnover, uh, twice. The spring menu should be out soon. One complaint is the absence of specials, but he's not set up for it, having limited kitchen help.
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Trivia question -- in what movie was the breakfast of choice a big bowl of oreos and milk? And do you break the cookies in half so the cream is on one side? Which half do you eat first? Do you lick the cream? Me - yes, bald side, yes -- when i was 10 years old.
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Joe's Dairy on Sullivan between Houston and Prince. Small family shop. I'm no connoisseur, but in my view, their different flavored yogurt cheeses are fantastic. And they do let you taste.
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In my experience, it's generally a bad idea to give notice and not follow through. It's almost like a threat. There's a certain trust that's lost if the employee stays, and things are never the same. In any event, it sounds like a moot point in this case and glad to hear things are starting to sort themselves out.
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I guess it was nothing of interest if between you and Rosie you can't remember, or it was Jersey City restaurants that got written up, which no one ever goes to except me anyway.
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Coulda sworn that was today's review. I was talking about last Sunday when I was in paradise.
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To follow up Elyse, I personally never thought of ordering off the menu and didn't realize that some people actually do that (thought that may be the result of a limited imagination), though I don't know if that means substituting a side dish or something more substantial, like an entree.
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I missed last week's paper and the NJ section either isn't online yet or I'm too stoopid to figure out how to find it. Who was reviewed? Thanks.
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new kid in town - eagles do you remember the first time - pulp last time - plotz' banned of 3 new kid on the block - bare naked ladies poster boy - holly and the italians
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I agree in principle. The Restaurant Association would be the likely party to unite restaurants in such an undertaking, but I have a feeling this has been tried. Ambiguity of the term restaurant industry aside, the implication that restaurants share a common problem and can and should unite to tackle the problem is not the reality. More popular/upscale restaurants have a much easier time getting a guaranteed reservation then less popular ones. They can more easily tell the customer who balks at giving his credit card info to go eat somewhere else. The majority of restaurants cannot afford to be so choosy. To take an extreme example, Daniel (I have no idea if they require a guarantee) has no motivation to join a crusade to change the system because they (probably) have no such problems.
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And iDine certainly makes enough money from the restaurant. I thought it rather comical that part of the sales pitch was offering me a free membership, like they were offering me a bribe or something.
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Theoretically you would be benefitting everyone by getting a guarantee -- your customers would not have to wait for a table because you had to overbook by 25% on a Sat. night and miraculously, everyone showed up. Unless of course this is not a problem with your particular establishment, then it's moot.
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The system will never change until the public squarely backs the restaurant industry by tacitly approving of credit card guarantees. There is an incredible amount of reluctance for many to give their credit card number to guarantee a table. This is not so in other related industries. It's unjustified but entrenched behavior on the part of the public. If guarantees were SOP, the no show problem and the resulting overbooking and waiting for tables would be minimized.
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Would someone mind emailing the article to me, tia.
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They don't conjure up warm feelings. The general perception is that most restaurants that participate with iDine are having financial problems, though not all. The "interest" is exorbitant. It's 2 for 1... you borrow $50,000 and pay back $100,000. The salespeople have a way of rationalizing it to the restaurant, though the facts are the facts. Now, I thought they stopped giving away discounts and instead give away frequent flyer miles? At least that's the impression I got the last time I met with the salesperson. [she seems to follow me around wherever I work, probably smelling a desperate restaurant :))] Part of her sales ploy was they have a more upscale customer now that they offer frequent flyer miles instead of discounts. Do they offer a choice of a discount or FF miles?