MJP

I was thinking more of the dim sum items; I'm already in love with their buns. :-D

More than 10ish years ago, there was a Chinese market where the Moroccan restaurant and school uniform store is now in Parsippany, on 46 West. They would send a truck into NYC on Saturday mornings and load it up with fresh dim sum stuff - shumai, har gao, seven treasures rice in banana leaves, all the classics. Top Quality Food Market/Maxim's still does this but on a far smaller scale. Does anyone know if any Chinese markets in central NJ do this? I don't think Kam Man does, but I haven't been out to verify and I might just do that today.

I thought McDonald's banned beef tallow so they could sell their fries to vegetarians? In any case, after seeing the details, I wonder how many people eat one hot dog's worth of processed meat every day for years on end to merit said cancer risk.

I'll be in town from Thursday to Sunday for a convention, and I want to get some good steamed crabs. Obrycki's and L.P. Steamers came up but Obrycki's had some posts about bad service and crabs that were just okay. Is there any truth to this? Or is LP Steamers just better?

Agreed: Five Guys is to fries as Rutt's Hut is to onion rings.

I'm having a bachelor party of nerdly proportions, 6-7 guys and myself are going to be in a shore house down in Stone Harbor and I thought it'd be awesome to have a small roast pig. Anyone know of a place where I can get a roast pig or lechon?

If you absolutely must have a burger, and a diner isn't within easy reach, Five Guys is decent, but they gave me TONS of fries for my Regular.

I moved to Highland Park in March and we were delighted to discover that Hong Fu, formerly Shanghai Park (and still listed in Google and most phone books by that name) was less than two long blocks from our house and had xiao long bao on the menu! We've done takeout from them twice and did Sunday dim sum with friends after a convention. The takeout is really quite good, but the xiao long bao are hit or miss when they cool down. The first time they were unremarkable, the second time they were great: the broth was more intensely flavored and the filling was nicely packed, but fell apart in your mouth as it should. Not to be missed: the rice cakes with salted cabbage. They were perfectly chewy and had such a wonderful flavor to them. The dim sum menu was Sunday-only and included things like scallion pancakes, salt baked shrimp, fried crullers, and other dim sum fare. No carts, the place is too small for that. Their menu includes Generic Dragon staples but the Chinese items are in there and in plain English. Skip the bubble tea on their menu, it's only barely okay and the bubbles were mushy. Have your dessert at Tasty Bakery two blocks up the road - delicious cakes and Chinese sweets, and some of the best bubble tea I've ever had. If you're a Rutgers student or know someone who is, these guys do deliver to RU campuses and are the same price as the crappy Generic Dragons everywhere else. If you're equidistant between Hong Fu and Hunan Cottage in Fairfield, try them both, but I would say that this is good if you don't want to schlep up to Hunan Cottage. I wouldn't travel down to Hong Fu. Pithari Taverna in Highland Park, yes.

I just moved to Highland Park, just across the river from Rutgers, and I'm dying for lack of chicarrones. Is there any decent Latin cuisine to be had, let alone delicious chicharrones? Or do I have to head on up to Union City to get my fix?

Pad Thai in Highland Park is just okay... standard stuff, but the fact that they cook so much without pork (it's a very observant orthodox Jewish neighborhood) means that if you like it, it's added just at the end, not cooked as part of the dish like it should be. D:

I dunno, it's going to be a hard sell for quality sushi with Tomo two or three blocks away.

Okay, my fiancee and I were hoping to take a shot at fondue for New Year's Eve dinner. Other than Magic Pot in Edgewater (Inbound tunnel traffic would probably eat us alive) and the Melting Pot chains (Way, way expensive), any suggestions?

I have a friend whose brother will be in Minneapolis/St. Paul for his birthday and would love some Peking Duck. Anyone have any recommendations?

Picnic Catering in Emerson is the gold standard; she's PicnicChef here on eG and her website is www.picniccaterers.com. Christine's catering our wedding in August and she's willing to work with any range of food and budget; I can't recommend her enough.

I'm scouting around for mont blanc. Preferably mont blanc cake, the kind you see in Japanese cafes. The bakery in/near JAS-Mart on St. Mark's used to have it, but I've been told they don't anymore. I do know that Italian Tomato in Mitsuwa has it. I didn't see it at Cafe Zaiya last time I went, so any input is appreciated.