MJP

King Fung in River Edge (570 Kinderkamack, I believe? If you're coming from Route 4, it's on the left side after a mile or two or three) has dim sum and buns brought in from NYC on Saturday mornings. Go before 10/11 and you've got a better shot at some good stuff. There's tons of fun dim sum and Shanghai-style dumplings and buns to try. It's great for a picnic; we found a little park near a police station on the other side of the river heading back towards 4.

I never got the chance to interact with Rosie personally, but I see the influence she feels, and I've seen what happens when a board moderator needs to take their bows and step off the stage. Thanks for your professionalism and spirit. You will be missed!

I found the one recipe at the top of the results, but I was hoping for one that doesn't require pork skin. They don't have that at our local supermarket. :-/

This one might be a bit of a challenge, but I want to give it a shot. My girlfriend, our friends, her family, my family - we all love xiao lun bao, AKA soup dumplings or soup buns. I want to know how to make them so I can make my own in big batches for entertaining. I know they'll be a huge hit if I can get them right. I made dumplings a few years ago in college, but I forget how it went across, so I need the basics from the ground up - how to make the skins, filling, broth, etc., and how to construct them. Any help is appreciated; even Google couldn't find anything helpful. :-/ Thanks!

Partially correct. The reason I want the kosher for Passover is because it's made with regular sugar and not the high-fructose corn syrup. It's gotta be worth a try, IMHO.

Thanks to Jason's blog for the inspiration; having been brought up on diet soda because I didn't like the cloyingness of regular, I have made it a priority to get my hands on Coke that's kosher for Passover. Anyone know any places in Bergen County (around the Meadowlands?) that carry it so far? My local ShopRite and Stop & Shop don't have it and don't know if they'll get it.

I took my girlfriend and her brother, who hasn't ever had Middle Eastern or Turkish, to Assayad (341 Crooks Ave) for lunch today. It was probably one of the worst overall experiences I had dining out in my life thus far. We were seated promptly and got our menus, but it was about ten or fifteen minutes before the waitress came to take drink orders. We didn't even get water when we were seated. We ordered our appetizers (lebneh and kubbeh) and it was another fifteen minutes, which was understandable, since the kubbeh were fantastic. The skin was crisp and not too oily, and the filling was flavorful and not too tightly packed. The pita bread for the lebneh wasn't homemade, though, which was a bit of a minus. The food was about twenty minutes behind that. I had a kufte casserole in tahini, the girlfriend and her brother had fish and shrimp versions of a dish whose name I forget, but they were something very delicious indeed. The fish and shrimp weren't too overcooked and they were topped with a thick, rich tomatoey sauce that went perfect with the seasoned long-grain rice it was served on. The strings of carmelized onions were a great texture, and the plating itself was very nice. However, after we finished our drinks, the waitress wasn't around to be seen for the next HALF-HOUR. I even got up and looked around for someone - which is something you really shouldn't have to do in a restaurant - and we ended up without any further service. There were only four or five people around, and they were smoking hookahs provided by the restaurant; we had to wait until they came to refill them until we asked for boxes and a check. That took another ten minutes. It ended up well because we went to Mondial afterwards for dessert. Really fantastic. They had these Arabic sodas in their case which were non-alcoholic malt drinks. We had a peach and an apple one, which were great accompaniments to the fresh pastries. The owner even brought out some fresh stuff after we had sat down and gave us a few pieces. Maybe we just came at the wrong time, but Assayad really has a ways to go if all their lunches are like this. Big thumbs down, despite the unique and delicious food.

Wow, talk about a response! Thank you for all the suggestions, everyone; it's going to be a lot of fun trying all these places. I haven't browsed much of eG outside of the NJ forum, so I'll be sure to seek out the Coffee/Tea threads.

I tried to stave off the morning caffeine craving by teas of all kinds. That failed miserably, so I've finally given in to coffee. The thing is that I need a coffee that's rich, heady, and strong. I haven't had much luck with light roast coffee; the best I can get is a Sumatra Mandheling that we get at the office. It's in pods, though, which is no help for my morning cup with breakfast. Shop-Rite coffee isn't strong enough for me. I need a coffee that comes both in regular and decaf so I can do a half-decaf, otherwise I'll be way too hyper. Where can I go in North Jersey to stock up on coffee that's ground fresh that I can freeze? Please don't say Starbucks; their blends usually have too much Columbian in them and that's got that acid aftertwinge that I'm not too big on.

Irongut: good call on King Fung, but they were further up Kinderkamack; I think it was 625, but it wasn't far from 470. :-P Good call on getting there early; we just got dim sum things (including some incredibly delicious flaky things with pork in them; I have never had a croissant that matches these things in my life) but next time, that takeout kitchen looks pretty tasty! It was only about 20 minutes from my house, so it's up there.

Toros is BYO. It's worth calling ahead and asking as one place whose name I forget (Across Main from Toros) does not serve or allow alcohol. titmfatied I believe that Nablus might be Al-Aqsa. I think I got the name wrong. This is what happens when you follow the Mideast news and eat the cuisine in the same day. :-P

I hear you loud and clear, dumpling. A trip to Triple Eight Palace is in the very near future for the GF and I. Until then, where is King Fong located?

One step ahead of you, Rachel; I just ran up to Han Ah Reum this weekend and snagged a bag of the shrimp dumplings. Next time I'll go for the siu mai, but I still miss all the other stuff... fish cakes unlike what Mitsuwa and HAR carry, fresh steamed buns... *sigh* It's been so long that I've actually forgotten most of the dim sum stuff I used to love. :-(

Thanks! I would much rather go to an actual Chinese place rather than Mitsuwa or Han Ah Reum for frozen dumplings (not to say that both don't have delicious dumplings, although the ones at HAR have no MSG and more variety) rather than steam them myself. I'll check those out!

One of my fondest memories from growing up was the Saturday morning dim sum takeout from Young Young out on 46. I forget where it was exactly, but it was a tiny little Chinese market that was put out of business by Maxim's, now Top Quality Food Market. The latter does decent dishes, but I miss shumai, steamed buns, etc. Basically, I want to get dim sum that's as close to what you can get in Chinatown for take-out. Young Young used to send a truck into Chinatown early on Saturdays and it came back loaded with dim sum. Are there any places that do that anymore? The closer to Lyndhurst, the better, but I'd rather not head out to the one place near the Lincoln Park train station for a weekly dim sum run. :-/ Bonus question: aside from Hunan Cottage, does anyone know where I can go to get some xiao lun pao/pork soup dumplings? I don't care if they're frozen or fresh, it'd be a coup if I could find some that I could keep at home.

I have a side job where I do tech support; one of my clients is in Ramsey. That shouldn't be too far. Next time I head up there (don't hold your breath) I will skip my usual trip to Ginger and Spice in favor of some BBQ.

I'm surprised nobody's posted about South Paterson already. This is a heavily Islamic part of Paterson and isn't as unsafe at night as the rest of the city, and it's home to some of the very best Middle Eastern food this side of Dubai. Ranging around a few blocks on Main Street between Madison and Crooks, I believe, there are mostly Lebanese, Saudi Arabian, Turkish and Syrian restaurants with at least two Palestinean sweet shops. The girlfriend and I really like Toros, a Turkish place. They have two locations with small differences in the menus, one at 489 Hazel Street in Clifton (not far from SP) and one on 1083 Main Street in Paterson. Their kabobs are fantastic, never overdone and very basic. The grilled hot peppers and tomatoes are wonderful accompaniments, and I believe they bake their own borek and pide bread. The one on Hazel Street is a little bit nicer than the one on Main Street, but both have very warm atmospheres, fantastic service, and traditional Turkish food that sets the standard. Try them with patlican salasi (I believe that's the eggplant salad) and with the cacik (a cold yogurt/cucumber/garlic sauce reminiscent of tzatziki), or if you really want something incredibly tasty, any of the yogurtlu kebabs are delicious. My one complaint is that the yogurtlu kebab involves a little bit too much yogurt, which kills the texture of the pide, but that's easily resolved by soaking it up with the extra bread. Not for the carb-phobic! Save some room, because a quick walk up the road is Al-Aqsa Pastry Shop. They do homemade pastries whose names completely escape me, but they all revolve around shredded wheat threads, honey, pistachios and walnuts, and for one or two, this delicious sweet cheese that has a texture closer to ricotta than mascarpone. They're sweet and sticky, and a couple could share one or two pastries of each type comfortably. Stay with the stuff on the right, but the basic baked goods look awesome too. There's a new dessert place that a Syrian co-worker of mine says is better than Al-Aqsa. I believe it's called Mondial, but don't get me wrong. Finally, tucked in near a supermarket is Istanbul Cafe. Not the place where you want to eat, they do fantastic take-out. It's about five minutes off of I-80, so if you're coming back from work and feel like a different kind of take-out, Istanbul Cafe is a good start. Anyone else have any thoughts or experiences?

I'm doing a run to Mandoo this weekend to restock (my girlfriend loves the shrimp dumplings) and these guys look like they're worth it. What time were you there when they had 'em fresh, Anonymouze? How was the kimchi as well? I suffer from the same affliction as your husband... even the fresh stuff at Han Ah Reum doesn't spice me out anymore. :-/

I've always wanted to try a decent nabemono but have only been able to find a basic nabe at Kenka in NYC. This looks like it's definitely going to merit a visit from my girlfriend and I; it'll prove a nice extra to our monthly visit for Mitsuwa ramen. Question about the egg, though: how safe is it to dip in it? Should the beef be at a certain temperature in order to partially cook the egg, or is it best eaten with the egg still raw? I have always wondered about this; I think I read somewhere that the possible diseases in eggs come from feeding practices of American chickens. Maybe there's something different about this in Japanese chicken raising?

What's the name of the rib place in Hackensack that's not too far from the prison or I-80? My dad took me there all the time when I was younger, and I remember that they had decent ribs, probably BBQ as well.

Not to bump my own thread, but Cook was spot-on: this was probably the singular best "Italian-American" pizza I've ever had thus far. I don't know what it was, but the cheese was of a quality I've never tasted before in pizzeria mozzarella, and the crust had a unique, subtle garlickiness to it. My girlfriend approves as well, and due to a garlic allergy as yet unfixable (Yay enzyme pills!) this is the third pizza she's ever had. I'm glad she's had the chance to do two of the best so far! Thanks for the recommendation!

This might not be what you're looking for, but Dave and Buster's might be something like the "adult Chuck E. Cheese" shpiel. It's basically a bar/grill and video arcade. There's one at the Palisades Mall in Nyack; a bit of a drive, but accessible from the Parkway and just over the border. www.daveandbusters.com

Don't quote me on this, but a few years ago, when I was delivering auto parts, I recall that there were some Korean restaurants in Bergenfield just off of the Bergenfield exit on 4. I don't know the proximity to you, but it wasn't too far from Holy Name Hospital. I think that there was a Han Ah Reum or otherwise Korean supermarket in the area and can't recall anything exactly, so this would merit a reconnaisance run on a weekend if you're in the area. Don't go on my recommendation alone, because I'm not even sure if they're still in business. It was past the National Guard Armory if it's on your right side... I know it's not much to go on, so hopefully it helps a little.

I'm dying for real mozzarella di bufala. I'd rather buy from a local producer rather than a faceless web site that might not even have the real thing. Does anyone know a decent, authentic buffalo milk mozzarella in NJ or the metro area? I don't mind driving a bit to get it, but it's gotta be as real as it gets. Thanks in advance!

I'm looking for a well-rounded hot sauce that I can use as a condiment, not an ingredient, for general use... burgers, chili, chicken, you name it. I have a pretty decent tolerance for spicy, so I'm looking for something around the 30,000+ Scoville range. One or two drops should really do it for me. Just for reference on my tolerance: on the hot end, Barron's habanero sauce is what I use to spice up regular BBQ sauce and it only takes a few drops, but I can take a straw and start drinking Tabasco without any adverse (heat or flavor, that is) effects, so that's pretty mild. (What happens later is another story... ) Any suggestions? I don't mind ordering online since my local markets don't really carry much outside the mild stuff.