
glenn
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Everything posted by glenn
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I forget the name of the place you're thinking about, but it's not the Liberty Grille [it's on washington st. just north of the newport path stop] - fairly big bar scene there too. Yes, it's on a boat... we went there about 4 years ago, one of the first places we ate out at in JC. I should've moved out of JC right then and there. I don't recall the bar scene at all, but the food and service were really really awful. I've seen other posts about this place [chowhound??, or can i say that word?] saying more or less the same. However, the view of nyc is, or at least was, gorgeous. [on another note, we have tiks yet again to a show and we're gonna take a helicopter over to your recommendation Cascina, though I'm armed with backups should they be closed yet again. in this day and age, how could a restaurant not have an answering machine with a recording of their hours!]
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Re America: i've been wanting to check them out. Rachel, your review has me sold... I wonder if it was just a fluke that the place was only half full [pessimist glenn]. [[and congrats on the article!]] So, thus far my choices are Little Saigon, taking Tommy's helicopter to la carbonaia (how do you pronounce that??), moving to a remote island and eating the fish, getting a gift certificate from Rosie for the Bernards Inn (or is it Bernardsvile Inn??), Jocelyne's -- I've always wanted to check them out or Rosemary and Sage (hate the name though), taking a chance on thereuare's questionable taste (he likes Oddfellows!) and checking out Lighthouse... though in all likelihood I'll end up at the Liberty Grille in Newport next Saturday and bitching about the ground pepper.
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According to my abacus, it's 23.99 miles with lots of crummy NJ roads. I dunno about you, but I don't have my own private helicopter :wow: Ya know, considering my antisocial tendencies, not to mention I have a hard time admitting I live in NJ [i usuall mutter I'm from the NY area ], that definitely sounds like a viable alternative - not to mention I wouldn't have to agonize about my taxes going into some crook's pocket - though I'm not so sure it'll help my restaurant quandary. But I digress as usual.
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Bernardsville?? ho-ho-kus?? You guys are pushing the 40 minute limit rule! And Rosie, if you and Lowell wanna give me an allowance, I'd love to make the Bernardsville Inn a regular on my list. thereuare, tell me more about this place please. I think it's so ironic that you brought up Oddfellows. The JC locale is one of those crummy JC restaurants I was referring to . But we ended up eating there yet again last night. [extremely lazy glenn] There's a few good things on the menu, but the specials are usually way overpriced and mediocre. However, my beef with the JC restaurant is that the service is simply the pits - much different than the Hoboken joint, though I've only had 1 experience there. I think we've eaten at the JC place 5 times now -- every single time w/o exaggeration, they've brought out the entrees well before we finished the appetizer. Last time I told them to take them back. This time, when I ordered, I forewarned the waitress not to do that. It happened anyway. Yeah, I know, it's the runner or busboy that brings the food, but you'd think the staff talks to one another. Additionally, they forgot to bring the cornbread and I had to ask for the bread basket. And I'm on a pepper crusade these days [ever since tommy chastised me about ground pepper] - not only was there none on the table, the waitress never brought any even though I asked. I also think they brought the wrong entree for me because my bbq shrimp was not barbecued. And to add insult to injury, the main reason I go there is that it's always empty and no wait [i can't imagine why]. Same deal last night, but there were no two top tables and they made us wait for one!! It's just incredible to me how almost every JC restaurant is seemingly owned and staffed by a bunch of amateurs. I tell ya, I always tip a minimum of 15% no matter what the experience is, but last night was one of the few times I felt justified in leaving less since the entire staff seemed to be on drugs or something. Let's get rid of Jersey City.
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I am so tired of the junky places in Jersey City, but I can't tolerate crowds on weekends so Jersey City is where I usually end up. What are some decent, though not necessarily knock your socks off places, no reservation necessary, at least more than 4 hours in advance and no wait?? I'm not averse to traveling, 40 minutes tops. Or am I dreaming?
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Flowers (now AZ) used a company for internal evaluation purposes on a regular basis. They were very helpful - the crtitiques helped with many different aspects of concern to any restaurant. The writers were very observant and prolific [dang, wish I could remember the name of the company]. Their procedure was to have one half of the mystery couple, generally the guy, spend about 30 minutes or so at the bar. He observed everything about the bartender, i.e., whether sales rung up on register/computer, personality, pours (big or small), cleanliness, etc. He/she would also observe other aspects of the restaurant, i.e., how the hostess was handling her job, all around cleanliness of the restaurant, bathrooms, etc. Then the other half of the couple would join the other, and they'd sit down at a table for dinner. They did an excellent critique on the food and service. The cost to the restaurant was in the area of $200 plus we reimbursed the company for food and drinks. The mystery couple received no compensation, just reimbursement for what they spent at the restaurant. It was well worth it. The report we received was very detailed and as I said, very prolific. The critique of the food and service was on the par of any professional restaurant critic. We caught many problems, including bartenders stealing, and were able to improve many areas. There are lots of these companies and it is not unusual for a restaurant to utilize their services.
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Hmmm, looks very tempting -- nice website too. Should I book reservations for you and me? It will do wonders for my um, weight management program --- thanks a whole lot, Rosie.
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Too late, the flowers are on order But what is Zingerman's? [the yuppie in me is panting in anticipation of a new store to blow my dough on]
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The busiest day of the year for restaurants!! That's the last place I'd wanna be --- unsociable glenn [i need a very fast suggestion for a gift for my step mom in Fla. or else I'm gonna be doomed to get flowers yet again -- does mother's day come earlier every year?]
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i can see both points, but especially tommy's . If I wanted to make sure I got a reservation, I would call. If I don't get a call back to confirm, I call them. Still, no excuse... if someone's gonna have a website, they oughta make sure the info is accurate or take it down.
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I've been there several times and have yet to see what all the fuss is about. It just goes to show ya what a few good reviews and well placed PR can do for an otherwise ordinary and overpriced eatery.
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We went to Cascina and they weren't open yet at 3:30. There oughta be a law. I called to see what their hours were but got no answer or answering machine. However, their website sez they're open at 12 noon 7 days. INaccuate websites are a pet peeve. Lots of restaurants put up a site and forget about it. Not much was open at that time and we were pretty hungry. Esca, Marseille and Becco were also closed. I was trying to think of that prix fixe pasta place but couldn't remember where it was or the name. Help! Ended up at Thalia, where only the cafe was open. It happened to be pretty good for what it was -- hamburgers, pasta and such, and very inexpensive. Best of all was the play, Elaine Stritch -- if there's only 1 or 2 shows you go to, this one should be on your list.
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ummmm, er, no comment.
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lol. I really think there needs to be a Tommy section here. But of course the powers that be [hi rachel/jason] need to empower the ordinary masses with a delete button first, or did I mention that? That place looks great, think i might check it out today if they're open early, before goin' to see Elaine Stritch, yay.
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I'm more of a ruby foo's type. Hey tommy, i think maybe those cookies that you eat are laced with a little too much strychnine. Not to get nit picky, but last I heard Lincoln Center was still on the west side. Can't imagine what movie you're talking about... So we got bway tiks again today, 5 PM show.. anyplace good open around 3 pm?
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And I suspect there was a ton of honey in the mashed sweet potatoes. And there's a health club a few doors down with the exercise machines in full view to make one feel even more guilty. They were closed so we went for dessert at Cafe Eclectic instead [can we nominate that for world's worst name?]
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We got there at 5:45 yesterday, perfect timing. Two of the 7 or 8 or 9 tables were empty. 15 minutes later there was a line waiting to get in. It's nothing to knock your socks off, but if you want good inexpensive traditional [kansas city?] barbecue in an unpretentious atmosphere then this joint is for you. We got the samplers -- the entree sampler and side sampler (good choice glenn). The home made biscuits and mashed sweet potatoes were outstanding. Total bill for 2 $40 inc. tax and tip, no dessert. They could (and should) add more tables, apparently the place was originally set up for takeout... though the interior is quite appealing especially the dramatic indigo setting. byob. Dessert at Cafe Eclectic across the street cost almost as much as dinner. Yeesh! [we felt too guilty to have a leisurely dessert at Indigo with a lineful of 40 eyes glaring at us]. But great chocolate cake and (dare I say) very good espresso.
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Rec'd the Rocky today, wow that was fast. What a nice machine. It'd be nice if they had instructions that explained how to use the darn thing though... but the folks at WholeLatteLove helped out there. It's extremely difficult to tell from the instructions which setting is coarse or fine, plus there's no mention how to empty the grounds. That might be obvious to folks with espresso makers, but the doser didn't seem to make sense to me. Still doesn't... I removed the plastic filter holder and put a bowl underneath to dose the grounds to - that was at the suggestion of WholeLatteLove. I'm not pleased with that part. But anyway, I can see I'll never have to buy another grinder and I'm looking forward to Mrs. Bux teaching a course on the Sylvia at the Learning Annex.
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Hmmm, you have a point. But I wonder what the great minds here think of the following. This is way more coffee than I generally use (I usually make 4 four oz. cups at a time). This came from someone on alt.coffee. In my experience, these things are NOT linear - one cup takes more than (4 cups / 4).My baseline is something like 14 gms for one mug, 26 for 2, 34 for 3, 42 for 4 (and that's as much as I make at once)
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I should add that someone on alt.coffee recommended 53-58 grams for a 1 quart press. Getting my abacus out, that comes out to 1.66 - 1.81 grams per cup [53 or 58 grams / 32 ounces]. Does that sound right and again, is that ground coffee? It seems way off to me considering (according to the author) that the bodum scoop has 7 grams.
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Not to get too obsessive about this - but moving on to measurements. I hear a lot of different opinions on the ratio of coffee to water. I'm speaking solely in terms of a french press. I don't know what a "standard" measure is nor the definition of a "standard" cup. I see different opinions on this too. Can someone state in terms of grams of coffee (and whether that's ground coffee or beans) and ounces of water what the approximate ratio should be? I also need to buy a kitchen scale, but I'll spare y'all and start another thread. [ruby's ghost is haunting me]
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Very funny. Sorry for not adding in the appropriate places, - you took some of the things I said too seriously. You and Bux and everyone else have offered some great advice and I weighed everything. Jeez, you guys had my head spinning between a blade grinder, hand grinder (and which one!), the Braun that jaybee mentioned, the Solis, Bodum and the Rocky. I have expressed my gratitude for the learning experience that I've been provided and I'll do so again. Seriously! Thank you all! Over the past week, between this forum, alt.coffee and coffeegeek.com my knowledge has increased massively. Sorry, if I mistook some of the things you said, Steve. Anyhow, I just got off the phone with the very helpful folks at wholelottalove.com, busted their chops for info and ordered the Rocky. The black one has been discontinued but thankst gawd they still had some in stock. So what coffehouse do you recommend to get a great shot?
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Hey Steve, I appreciate your enthusiasm about all things related to coffee. But let’s not go overboard. To state that coffee is not “joe” and to intimate that anyone who uses such a term is a neophyte is bordering on ridiculous. [you should glance at the newsgroup alt.coffee and see how often the term “joe” is used by aficionados, but that’s irrelevant] And let’s separate unwillingness to spend the time and effort to make a good “shot” with the ability to appreciate the enjoying of such. While I’m sure my taste buds aren’t nearly as honed as yours, I can appreciate a good “shot”. Who knows what the future holds. That is why I’m leaning towards a Rocky now — yeah, one factor is that it’ll look cool on my countertop. And yeah, I know, every day I change my mind. While I am aware the Rocky is overkill for a press, my rationale is that one day in the not too distant future I might summon the motivation to go with the Sylvia or something equivalent. If Mrs. Bux were to offer lessons, I might even be more motivated. And jeez, I gotta stop talking about this already, it’s consuming my every waking moment. :confused:
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Jaybee and everyone, thanks for your input, but I think I'm hopeless. [it must be because I haven't had a good cup of joe for days] I can't seem to make up my mind on this one, but I am leaning towards a a zassenhaus hand grinder. The main reason is the Braun, like every other burr grinder in its class/price range it seems, sprays all over the place according to the reports. [i'm going by epinion.com and coffeegeek.com (great site!!)] Also, it only comes in white and everything on my countertop is black. Major pitfall! But I can't seem to make up my mind about a dang zassenhaus either -- there are a bunch of different types of models, i.e., knee mill, closed hopper, open hopper, blah blah blah.. Such a stoopid thing but it's driving me insane.
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A few years ago I was in the same quandary, that is, looking for everyday flatware. I called some of our dinnerware purveyors we used at the restaurant I worked and asked their opinion. They unanimously advised me to get stainless steel. I forget the exact reasons, silver plated was overpriced (?), you can't put it in the dishwasher (?), or whatever. Surprisingly, I settled on Oneida, a brand that doesn't meet with my usual snobbery. But I've been very happy with it -- it's great looking and practical. I got the Julliard line. You can look at prices and styles at Kaiser Crow.