A guy walks into my restaurant around 8 ish with a news paper under his arm, sits down at the bar and asks for a menu. "Can you make this to go?" asks the gentleman to Phil. "Sure!! My pleasure". The order is placed, several apps, a few main dishes and a couple of sides. "I'll have a PBR please", and the gentleman reads his paper and drinks his beer. The order came out of the kitchen, the man is presented with his bill and hands Phil a credit card. Phil turns to the register, swipes the card, and as always, looks at the name and the back of the card. What a suprise to find the name on the card is that of Peter Genovese, the food writer for the Star Ledger. Taken by suprise, Phil could only hand him his bill and a pen, wait for the signature and then say "Thanks". The call then comes to me. "He was just here" says Phil. I get into my DVR, rewind the tape and get a good look at the man. "OK" I say. If he returns, we'll be prepaired. Before I can alert the staff to stay on their toes, in he walks the following afternoon around 4 ish while I am on duty behind the bar. He sits down, asks for a menu and says he would like to order to go. I say "Sure!! No Problem." I excuse my self, go into the kitchen and warn the crew that the next order I am sending in will be for the returning food reviewer. He ordered the ballance of the apps, (minus the onion), some more of the main dishes and the ballance of the sides he did not get the previous day. Once again, the order comes out of the kitchen, I present him the bill and in return, receive the same credit card as Phil got the previous day. I too, say nothing to him, only "Thanks and please come again". The next afternoon, I receive a call from Peter Genovese with questions reguarding our restaurant, the neighborhood, etc, etc, and answer him the best I can. The rest you all know as you've read the artical. I do have to say, that the things he like the most, were ordered during the first visit. The sweet potato fries were ordered from me, the second day. Now everyone knows the story of the "To Go" food review. He did like the majority of the items he sampled. If anyone has read any of his other food reviews, you will find that the review on FSS was the only review that I've been able to find where a bad word was not written on ANYTHING. He only said that the fries were soggy, not that "the egg was cooked to within an inch of its' life and the meat unreconizable". That was a quote from his previous week review of a deli in Edison. I hope we will have the opportunity to receive other reviews as positive as Peters' was. We were very pleased and have had a wonderful response and many new customers as a result.
