dbrociner

Traprock Brewery in Berkeley Heights has raw oysters on the bar menu. Only one kind available. Decent wine list, the beer brewed on site is passable at best. They splash the oysters with olive oil, unless you stop them. I like mine with a little salt and a squeeze of lemon. As long as places in NYC are up for discussion, Pearl Oyster Bar on Cornelia is a gem. The best fried oysters in the City plus a great lobster roll sandwich and 2 different kinds of raw oysters. The place is tiny and best visited for lunch.

Do you mean Carmen's? There's one in Evanston and one in Rogers Park across from Loyola. They have good, but inconsistent, pizza. I have never heard of two layers of dough. Usually a stuffed pizza has a crust, usually with some cornmeal in it, shaped into a "pie shape", then the toppings, then the cheese, with crushed tomatoes on top. Yes, Carmen's. Carmine's is that place in NYC with the huge portions, my bad. Sounds like you've nailed what I was thinking as stuffed pizza.

Does Carmine's in Evanston still exist? Is there a difference between "deep dish" and "stuffed". I seem to remember liking the latter, but its been 20 years and a million brain cells. I think I fit Maggie's stereotype of the typical consumer of this dish in my college days. And its not just good at sopping up beer, it also kills the munchees! As for the difference between pizza and 'za, here's an east coasters observation of midwestern dialect. Whenever possible cut off the first portion of a word, as in: Pizza = 'za Spaghetti = 'ghetti Soda = pop Coming to Chicago at the end of the month, where should I eat after the Cubs game on Saturday May 31?

What do you order at Dev's? The usual Jamaican suspects, Jerk Chicken and Goat, meat patties? Anything unusual or outstanding? Please let us know.

Thanks Lou, I will be ready. BTW, is AAG open for Mother's Day and if so, do you have any open tables?

Tommy, I am not chef David. But I wish I could cook like him, and move to Maine: at least for the Summer. And while I can be clever, somehow I don't think thats what you had in mind.

Sorry to be picky, picky, picky BUT Portland is over an hour from Freeport so its hard to say that the chef will be opening a restaurant in the Freeport-Portland area. Kinda like opening in the Montclair-Cherry Hill area or some such. David (whose already hating himself for this posting)

Im a little surprised that you didnt mention Brigham's. They have/had the best vanilla bean Ive ever had, but then again, I was post partum at the time. Im talking mid 80's just like you said. I lived in Boston. Michelle Never went to Brigham's. Never even heard of it. I'm sure it was a gross oversite on my part. I lived just outside of Kenmore Square but I remember the best ice cream was in Cambridge, either in Harvard Square or Davis Square and on Newbury St. between Mass Ave and the Public Garden.

Rail Paul, can't agree about Magee Moo's. I find their ice cream to be very pedestrian. I'm always wary of a place based on a gimmick: in this case the frozen counter block which Magee Moo's uses to do their signature "mix in's". Their ice cream comes from a powdered mix. I may be naive about this but isn't it unfair to say the ice cream is home made or made on the premises if all thats actually being done is opening a bag and adding some milk or other liquid? My test for a good ice cream parlor is to order a black and white milkshake. If they have to ask you what this is, you know its time to leave. I lived in Boston in the mid 80's and there was an ice cream renaissance going on there at the time. Steve's, Ben & Jerry's and Emack and Bolio's all had stores with great ice cream. Steve's chocolate pudding, B & J's sweet cream (like vanilla without the vanilla) and E & B's key lime pie all stand out in my memory. I went to Applegate Farm last Thursday. I had the Cherry Vanilla. If its really homemade then why did they need to color it red? Shouldn't home made cherry vanilla ice cream look like Bryers cherry vanilla? Product wasn't bad and I'm sure I'll go back since I work so close and I still have to give them the black & white shake test. I'll report back when I do.

RS, you're killing me. Oh, but for a babysitter we would have been there to join you. Instead I subjected the wife to my beef stew. Not bad but certainly not like a meal at Lou's.

Just wanted to pass along a word of thanks from my wife who returned from Portland on Sunday. Sadly, she was unable to get into the original Jake's on two separate tries but someone else from her party did get in and raved about the food (I have no way of knowing this person's taste so I'll take the egulleteers word on this restaurant). She did go to South Park and had a good meal. She also, in a scene right out of Jeffery Steingarten's new book, ate meals strictly due the convenience of the restaurants' location. I mention Steingarten because he tells a story of his wife going to Hong Kong and eating in McDonald's which he interprets as a way of getting back at him for planning every meal on their travels months in advance. My wife must be thinking the same way because I do the same exact thing. Thanks again.

Lou, if I drink enough at the bar will you do my taxes? I need a very creative accountant this year. Thanks everyone for the ideas. I will report back tomorrow. Rachel, anything worth doing is worth waiting till the last minute to do. This philosophy drives my wife to the brink of sanity.

I have a 3 PM meeting with my accountant on Monday and would like opinions on where I should go to have lunch in the Paramus area. I will be alone if that makes a difference in your reccomendations. And while I need to stay relatively sober, I do have to finally face the music about my taxes so a couple of drinks might be in order

Just wanted to echo the praise for this restaurant. I've been several times and while the price is astoundingly high, the value is even higher. One example: I'm allergic to tree nuts and on one visit almost all the desserts had nuts including a plate of candied pecans that were placed on the table after the regular dessert was served. I jokingly said to our waiter that I should be brought a chocolate sundae to make up for all the things I couldn't eat. Without blinking an eye he asked if I really wanted one. I was too stuffed to take him up on the offer but thought it was amazing none the less.

why not support another egulleter and throw your business Jim Dixon's way. His website is Jim Dixon's Real Good Food

I can't understand the popularity of the white house. IMO, you can get better subs at any number of italian deli's in NJ. They also make a very mediocre cheese steak. Go only to see if they still have the autographed picture of OJ up on their wall of fame. You can get a better meal from the hotdog vendor outside of the Trump Plaza.

I work with a guy who loves this place, he goes to Menlo Park and waits over an hour to be seated. He claims that he takes a beeper and goes shopping in the mall so its no big deal to wait over an hour to eat in a place thats named after a dessert. So far I'm unimpressd. Then I'm listening to Michael Kay, the Yankee broadcaster, on his daily radio show on 1050 AM. Kay is asking his sidekick what he did over the weekend. Went to the Cheesecake Factory at Riverside Square. Waited almost 2 hours for a table. Spent the time watching sports at the bar, so it was okay to wait that long. Kay agrees saying that everytime he's eaten in a Cheesecake Factory he's had a super long wait. I hear a third story about a friend's sister who is taken to the Cheesecake Factory for her birthday and waits and waits...well you get the picture. So I decide I have to go and find out what all the fuss is about. I get to Menlo Park at 11:45 and beat the lunch rush. I am seated immediately, a victory in and of itself. I look over the menu: it has ads on every other page. One page apetizers one page carpet ad, one page salads one page car dealership. The waitstaff and the hostess are all young and thin, none of these people appear to be eating any cheesecake. The restaurant design looks like Art Deco meets King Tut. I order a skirt steak in a Latin-Asian sauce. I forget what they called it but the steak was cooked rare as ordered and was very good. $16.99 for a lunch entree, not an inexpensive dish. Most of the people around me were ordering salads. Plates with salad piled to the sky were moving past me the whole time I was eating. I guess people figure that if they're going to have cheesecake for dessert they should have a healthy lunch. For dessert I had the banana cream cheese cake. It was okay and came with a huge amount of whipped cream. Just what you need with a big slice of cheesecake, an enormous helping of whipped cream. Sort of the ying to the yang of that giant salad I guess. The cheesecake was mediocre. I couldn't reccomend it. With tax and tip I was out the door for $31. As I was leaving, at 12:45 on a Monday afternoon, the wait was 35 minutes. I guess my question is whats going on here? Why are so many people willing to wait so long to eat at these restaurants? Any thoughts?

Do either Mrs. Tommy or Sheri FB work for Legal Services? My wife (who'd rather die than be called Mrs. dbrociner) works for Legal Services of New Jersey and is going to Portland for a conference on those same April dates. Just thought I'd ask.

Rosie, I wouldn't reccomend The Grain House to an enemy. I had one of the worst meals of my life there.

Anyone know a good place for Easter Brunch in Morris, Somerset, Union, or Essex counties? I realize that this is like going out on Mother's Day but hey, short of converting my wife's entire family to Judaism (oy, my parents would be thrilled! ) this is what I've got to deal with. I do have a reservation for the North Maple Inn in Basking Ridge but I'm open to suggestions.

Some of you might also like to try the Bospherous (sp?) in Lake Hiawatha, also a new location just opened on Rt. 53 in Denville (Mt. Tabor?). Turkish food here is good, not great. Steer clear of the lamb chops (dry and tasteless: and expensive) and stick with the kebabs and the chopped salad. I also liked the grilled chicken liver. The place is small and byo, I like beer with Turkish food better than wine. I've wanted to try Kervan for a long time but am never in that area. The closest I came was at a wake in the summer of '01. There's a funeral parlor across the street. No one else wanted to go for Turkish food at 3 in the afternoon, especially on a somber occassion.

wow, am I niave. i looked at that last reply for over a minute trying to figure it out. I will say that I've cooked from Bittman's book, _The Minimalist Cooks at Home_, and have had success with the recipes.

Obviously too thick for this recipe. In the article Bittman makes a point that you should use a thicker chicken breast so as not to end up with something as dry as sawdust. I went to Whole Foods and had the butcher prepare a boneless breast with the skin still attached. I cut the breast in half and followed the directions. Clearly what I used was thicker than what Bittman had in mind. The reason for my post was, I thought I was doing exactly the right thing and ended up with a dreadful result. I wondered if anyone else had a similar experience.

I tried to make this easy sounding recipe for "sauteed chicken with parmesan crust" from yesterday's Minimalist column in the times. I followed the directions, even used panko instead of regular bread crumbs. Turned up the heat and after the prescribed amount of time I had beautiful looking chicken breasts that were absolutely raw on the inside. Put them back on the stovetop and smoked out the house before I could finish the chicken. Opened all the windows, turned the oven on 350 and 10 minutes later finally had dinner. Anyone else have a problem with this recipe?

I've driven past Ajian on Rt 22 probably a millon times. I don't know why but on face value I'd never go there. Guess I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, if you say its good I guess I should try.