
dbrociner
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Everything posted by dbrociner
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Thought I'd give this topic a bump with the smoking ban going into effect tonight at midnight. I was in the Outback in Greenbrook a few weeks ago, sitting at the bar waiting for my "take away", having a vodka tonic and trying to stay upwind of a couple of smokers. I said to the bartender that I couldn't wait for April 15th. She nodded and told me she's asked to be the one who gets to throw away the ashtrays. Add the bar at Outback to my list of places I might go starting tomorrow.
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To be fair to Paula, you can't do a 3 letter search on eG. She would have had to be an active reader to know that the place hadn't gotten good reviews.
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Is this the Ora in Morristown? If you gave the location I missed it.
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Here's to Rosie, who brought me to eGullet and who has been an inspiration to me since back when we were both on Prodigy in the early '90s. Good luck with whatever you end up doing. Where you lead, RS, I will follow. Nuff said.
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Randi, you're trading miles for speed. With that in mind take your pick, just go hungry.
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Closed Monday?! Oh well. Randi, its a long, long way from exit 137 off the GSP. I'd consider taking Route 78 exit off the Parkway and then heading east either to the NJ Turnpike or to Route 1 south. Would be much, much faster that way. Bruce, you really should post hours and phone number on/near the door. If you have the info up I couldn't find it.
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Tried to go today for lunch, got there at 2:30 and FSS was closed, arghh. I thought the place was open for lunch. There are no hours listed and no phone number either. I really like this place but this information should be available at the door. Did I miss it?
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Nice article. The best part was the guy who wouldn't give his last name. There's a movie in there somewhere. The lone hotdog guy on the run from his past, one eye on the griddle or the steamer, the other always looking over his shoulder for? Well that would be the story, wouldn't it?
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I'm pretty sure they take reservations at the Short Hills location. I go in late on a weeknight and sit at the bar so the crowd isn't really an issue. They were still full when I got there on Tuesday at 9:15 but the place was almost empty when I left an hour or so later. I agree with Tommy on the "chain" issue. We've hashed this out on other threads but this isn't TGIF or Chili's or the Olive Garden we're talking about here. I don't wait on line for food either and I can't think of many other places of any sort in northern NJ that do as good a job with the raw bar. As for Heineken Light, I wouldn't order it the same way I wouldn't order sugar free chocolate cake. How many calories do you really save? If the calories are that important maybe you shouldn't be drinking beer at all.
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Strange folk indeed. No Met game next Tuesday. I may show anyway, we'll see. Welcome home.
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Tuesday night and I work late. No point in going home and no one to go have a meal with. I've been going out and sitting at the bar at different places and having a late dinner. Tonight it was Legal Seafood in the Short Hills Mall. I know this is a chain restaurant but I think it is great example of what other chains could aspire to be. The place is beautifully run, the servers well trained, and because of the huge turnover, the fish is always fresh. I walked in thinking Kumamoto oysters and a couple of Bloody Mary's with the NIT semifinals on the flat screen above the bar. The only problem was they had only East Coast oysters, not a bad thing but not what I had in mind. I still ordered the Bloody Mary, they make a good one here: all the spices are pre mixed but then added to the tomato juice and vodka at the last minute. Keeps the juice fresher. I really like the combination of Bloody Mary's and raw seafood. The fact that the drink comes with vegies to chomp on while you survey the menu is a big plus for me. I end up ordering the Blackened Tuna sashimi with wasabi and chili oil. The tuna is very good, the wasabi barely there but the chili oil makes a big statement, maybe too big. I've finished the Bloody Mary at this point and have asked the bartender for a wine pairing for the tuna. I've actually asked two bartenders, the first has already let slip that he likes Michelob Ultra, this came up when someone comes in looking for the new Henieken Light, and I'm shying away from taking his advice. The other bartender, someone I've ordered from before, is reccomending a Pinot Noir and I take her up on it. The wine is delicious but a bad match for the tuna. Lots of fruit but not enough acid to stand up to the richness of the fish or the spiceness of the chili oil. I understand how someone could feel safe reccomending a red with tuna but it didn't work here. Not done yet I order another appetizer, a "venitian" style Calamari. Those of you familiar with the 'firecracker" calamari at An American Grill will recognize the basic concept here, fried calamari with kalamata olives, garlic, tomatoes and some hot red pepper flakes. Not exactly the same but close. It would have been better too if it had been hot enough. Huge portion, big enough to justify the $15.95 price and bigger than I was looking for but the Sam Adams I had with it was cold and bitter and perfect and before you knew it the bowl was empty. I thought about another beer, I thought about Rick Pitino trying to keep his team motivated against an undersized South Carolina team that had no business staying in the game but somehow did anyway, I thought about dessert. I paid the bill and drove home. More next Tuesday. Any suggestions? Has to be within a half hour of East Hanover and has to have sports on TV, hey baseball starts next Sunday night.
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Oh well, Ev, nobody's perfect.
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You could request that. They're very accomodating around here.
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Isn't a dentist who gives out candy as gifts really just looking for business?
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I think I walked by Tommy on my way into FSSH yesterday. Too bad Tommy, it would have been nice to say hello. I just want to lend my voice to the chorus here and say that this is as good a BBQ restaurant as I've been to in NJ. I don't want to get back into the debate about the inability of a NJ restaurant to put out high quality BBQ because I think Bruce and his staff have shattered that myth into a million pieces. Between lunch and dinner we had a good representation of the ribs, pork, brisket. I wish we'd had the chili and the chicken but thats what return visits are made for. Count me in the corner of those who loved the beef rib. We also had the black bean quesadilla and I thought that was excellent as well. I'm also looking forward to seeing the pictures taken by Eric (nudge, nudge) and it was great to share a meal with fellow eGer's. Beth and Eric, your girls are really great, Stephanie and I really enjoyed meeting them. I'm sure I'll have more to say after going back but I do encourage everyone to go and check this place out. Its kind of off the beaten path but its an easy trip and well worth it. This is the kind of restaurant that we should be supporting.
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I really like the "Firecracker Calamari" app. You have to like olives and some heat but I think its great. The veal chop, which I think is on the menu, is also great. I know some people don't eat veal but if you do don't miss it.
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Much more accurate than my directions. Good thing you haven't left yet.
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They didn't want to preempt "Postcards from Buster" .
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I have stopped eating most Chinese food because of this. I have posted my complaint about this before but it is such a pet peeve of mine that I'll make this case again. It is not, in my opinion, acceptable to receive second class service in a Chinese restaurant because you happen to be white any more than it would be acceptable to discriminate against black patrons in a white owned restaurant. While in the later case you might find the restaurant slapped with a lawsuit, a la Denny's, or find Al Sharpton out front picketing no one seems to find anything wrong with the former. Same goes with the special menu for Chinese people at these places. Again imagine being black and going to a restaurant and asking for the "White person's" menu: your head would explode and you'd be right. Somehow though with the Chinese restaurant its part of the charm. And I don't believe for a minute that this can be chalked up to the language barrier, its more a way of discouraging you, the white patron, from returning to the establishment. They, the restaurant owners, don't want your business, if they did they'd do more to make you want to return.
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Take Rt. 287 north to Rt. 10 west. Go about 10 miles. AAG is on the right.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I'll let you know how things work out.
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Yesterday I made some braised beef shanks but we weren't able to eat them. I separated the shanks from the braising liquid so that I could skim off the fat from the liquid before reheating. My question is this: whats the best way to reheat? Should I recombine and put everything back in the oven? Can I microwave the shanks and heat the degreased liquid back on the stove? Can I put the shanks and the degreased liquid in my crock pot and leave them all day on the low setting while I go to work? At some point I will cook down the liquid and use it as a sauce on the meat and some form of starch-noodles, rice or mashed potatoes. Thanks for the help.
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This is sort of off topic but I was just thinking about that Cheap Trick album and I know that Ric Neilsen has a restaurant in Chicago so I think that gives me license to make the following comparison: Cheap Trick was a band trying oh so hard to be the next big thing back in the late 70's. Critics used to say things about the group's "Beatles inspired pop" etc. and they, the band that is, saw "Surrender" as their break out hit and they were taken completely off guard when the live version of "I want you, to want me" became on over night sensation. So much so that their label had to delay the release of their next studio album, "The Dream Police", which probably wasn't such a bad move. Anyway, the food connection here is this: imagine if you'd worked hard on your culinary chops only to become famous for the "bloomin' onion" or some such. "Now, I'd heard the WAC's recruited old maids for the war"....
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Tracy, I was making a play on words.
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Uh, seems like you already have. How about a road trip to the Front St. Smokehouse in Elizabeth to clear the air?