tommy

good memory. willow and 10th. not sure if they said "original" or "famous", though. i drove by the old Lisa's on Friday and it came to me: "satch fries". that's what they called them. used to be a big sign tied to the fence with "satch fries" painted on it. yum-o

Gino's hamburgers. They changed to Roy Rogers in the 80's.

i'm considering rockafellas actually. looks like it might be a decent place for a drink, and off the boardwalk at that. which games? i worked the kiddie rides. they're not even there any longer.

Try Red's in Point Pleasant or Heatwave/Main St. in Bayhead. Both have good food. Red's has a raw bar outside. ← i'm coming to grips with the fact that Red's is really the only good place for casual shore dining in PPB.

i cook with EVOO (not at extreme temps) and i don't care about the cost. i also can't be bothered with one more bottle on my small counter. that's how that can be.

if he convinced just one person to use chicken thighs instead of breasts, pork shoulder instead of whatever else people use, or skirt steak, then i'll forgive him. but when pork shoulder gets over 1.50/lb because everyone's buying it, i'll hate him.

factually speaking, if i may, so do an awful lot of other people. yeah, as long as they pronounce "bruschetta" correctly. and they know exactly what it is.

i would not want to confuse "olive oil" for extra virgin olive oil. the latter i go through gallons of, the former i've never once bought.

good memory. willow and 10th. not sure if they said "original" or "famous", though. i've heard of "disco fries". but i live in north jersey. But, they're most often referred to simply as "gravy cheese fries" (as opposed to "gravy fries", or "cheese fries.") growing up in central jersey (the "shore", actually) i can attest to the fact that the dish exists (or at least existed) there as well. again, not called "disco" all that often in my experience. and everyone knows yellow american is the only way to go. edit: i should also add that it's no surprise that people haven't heard of the dish. it's generally not on the menu. it's something that drunk people know about and order, generally from 2am-4am. probably along side of a taylor ham egg and cheese.

any more thoughts on Point Pleasant? looks like i'll probably be stuck at the Tiki bar. is the food even edible there? i'm alway leary of their raw seafood.

like Queer Eye, but without the clothes, hair, music, remodel. Rocco can cook. No one who's had his food would deny that.

i was under the impression that this list didn't exist until yesterday or so. is this not the first year? if not, they've certainly not figured out how to make their point clear. 'wichcraft's sandwiches are 8 or 9 bucks.

i guess that's where we ("we" as in "me and the rest of the world") disagree. i don't have much of an issue with they way they've defined it, and i think their definition is reasoably clear and encompasses a different type of restaurant, in general, than the usual strictly "cheap eats" definition or a non-cheap eats (regular?) category. bouchon bakery is cetainly not expensive, and if they're serving great quality tuna in the form of a great sandwich, i want to know about it. it's like Riingo, which is certainly not an inexpensive restaurant by any stretch, but they have a fantastic tuna sandwich for about 13 bucks. it's simply a great value, and i don't think it's a lot of money for a meal. when you throw a glass of their 15 dollar wine on top of that, however... either way, it was a tall order, and i think all of the words they used to explain what the eff they were doing probably supports your point (that they haven't done a very good job defining the category) than it does mine.

i've never eaten there so i don't have an opinion one way or the other. but apparently they think differently. i'm always tempted to read through these things looking for the places that i know and like. probably has something to do with wanting affirmation. i need to train my eyes to actually look for places that i've yet to discover.

what a fun piece. great choices in there. considering the following, i really can't get too worked up over critics or editors writing titles of articles: "good deals" abound, for sure.

yikes. yup! i wouldn't be so sure. it should be noted that i excluded the most and least expensive items in each category in the averages. not sure of the psychology behind the perception of the pricing, though.

somewhat related to that choice, i'd think: a price comparison suggests that they're about the same price, food-wise (i didn't notice that wines overall were excessively priced, but i didn't do a strict comparison). using the numbers from menupages.com, i get the following averages (+/- any fat-fingering that no doubt occurred): Babbo antipasti: 13.14 Del Posto anitpasti: 15.20 Babbo Primi: 19.80 Del Posto Primi: 20.42 (edited for fat-fingering) Babbo Secondi: 28.75 Del Posto Secondi: 30.88 Babbo tasting: 70.00 Del Posto tasting: 120.00 (edited for fat-head) i found the food quite good overall. to me, there's just as much reason to try Del Posto as there is to return to Babbo, assuming you like Babbo. Once you've tried it then you can probably make an assessment of the decor, the service you received on that one visit, the restroom configuration, and, of course, the perceived value. If you have eaten at Babbo and the food's not your thing, i can't see bothering with Del Posto.

i haven't found that to be the case. Little Saigon is known for their deep intense broth. However, given the cooking method that goes into this broth, I can understand how there could be inconsistencies. as far as "better cuts of meat", well, i suppose that's completely subjective. but i've always like the beef LS serves for its rare beef pho. could be tenderloin, but i'm guessing it's not.

i found the passage in Bill Buford's book Heat, where he talks about Mario Batali digging through the garbage for food, quite interesting. Not shocking, though.

i've found the pho at Little Saigon in Montclair to be not only the best in north jersey, but the best anywhere i've had it. fyi, the egullet search engine can't handle anything less than 4 letters ("pho", for example). use the google search instead.

i think that goes for just about any type of kitchen, not the least of which your own.

we had Christine and co. cater a recent party and were really impressed with the results. i have to say, even though it sounds lame, the hamburgers (among other items) were exceptional, as promised. and i'm not easy to please when it comes to hamburgers. highly recommended.

I always though that Route 22 runs east west. It is one of the old national highways. ← it does. at that point, 22 and 78 are the same, and 22 splits off into a seemingly northerly direction, which is what i assume is pitter is referring to. take it up 2 miles or so and bear to the right for 57 east. either way, google maps or yahoo maps pinpoints the address pretty well, for those hitting the road.

our friends at Amazing Hot Dog serve a quarter pound dog that is over 3 dollars and can reach over 5 dollars depending on the toppings. the down side to my mind is that you can only really eat one. the upside is that it's a 5-8 dollar meal.

congrats to Christine and her Picnic crew for the accolades in this month's NJ Monthly magazine!