tommy

unless you like three kinds of saucy pastas dumped onto a single plate, avoid becco's Sinfonia di Pasta, which, loosely translated means "a bunch of saucy pasta dropped onto your plate at once by people who assume you need to rush off to get to a show." conversely, study the menu for a moment and order something clever from the 25 buck a bottle wine list, and perhaps a long-time-cooked pork product, if they're offering it. cheap? yes. better than OG? without a doubt. a good experience and great value? usually not so much, unless you order well.

it should be noted that the salad is clearly *not* iceberg.

had another fine BBQ dinner from Silver Oak Bistro tonight. tonight's vegetable was a most excellent broccoli rabe. it's as if i'm almost as excited about the vegetable as i am the pork. pic here. i noticed the ribs have a bit of spice to them. i love that. and again, i didn't use much of the sauce at all. i've had the pleasure of having BBQ at Front Street, Silver Oak, and Blue Smoke (NYC) in the span of about a week. i'm been trying hard to commit to memory the different flavor profiles for comparison. but i think it's pointless. there are a million versions of good BBQ. that's evidenced by how many BBQ competitions there are. if there was just one great way to make BBQ, everyone would do it the same way. and that would be horrible. but, i will say that Blue Smoke's baby backs are a bit saucy, SOB's have that great spicy kick and the focus, to me, is on the dry rub, and Front Street leans on the saucy side as well. all with different flavor profiles. all great. just enough smoke. tender meat. what more is there i ask. don't get my started on that mac and cheese and how good it is. Silver Oak was doing a nice business tonight. lots of tables taken (i've noticed a mostly older crowd...however, that might be because i'm usually there at 6.30), and some people getting take-out.

What doors...? they're not doors.... stupid submarine handle things.

they got me on the way out. i'm sitting there trying to spin those big round handle things to no avail. it was horrible. glad it was on the way out and not on the way in. stupid doors.

Well, if the food isn't necessarily bad if it's cold (especially sashimi), but if it's not supposed to be cold.... i'll follow up with her to make sure she knows that raw fish shouldn't be hot.

my wife, whose opinion i trust implicitly, said it was just horrible. cold food. bad food. bad service. the whole ball of wax. i'm in no hurry to try it (although i was at one point). we loved our experience at Morimoto in Philly and dinners at Nobu when he was there.

don't quote on the cell phone part. all i know is that there's some sort of call-ahead consideration at the paramus LS. as far as light beer, 80 calories savings per beer x 5 beers = 400 calories. that's a savings no matter how you slice it. once you start hitting the 12 beer category though...

I've seen you mention this in a couple of posts. In your opinion, what constitutes a good or a bad order at Legal Seafood? I so rarely go, but I am curious. I usually go if I find myself at the Short Hills Mall for some reason, but I find it tough to wait 45 minutes to eat chain seafood. ← i don't wait in line for food. which i suppose is why i rarely end up at Legal. however, i have no problem with their spicy fried calamari, some oysters, and maybe some fried seafood if i'm in the mood. i do believe they have prosecco (i like bubbles) and sancerre and other oyster-appropriate-to-my-mind whites. so yeah, some fried seafood, some oysters, and some bubbles, and i'm pretty happy. but no, i wouldn't wait in line for it. i wouldn't wait in line for Per Se, much less, LS. "chain" is meaningless to me. a restaurant either has good food and provides a good experience, or it doesn't. Per Se and The French Laundry might be a chain. Smith and Wollensky's most certianly is. i'm not saying either is good or bad, but i don't give it too much thought if i'm going to either one. as an aside, i think if you happen to find yourself spending some time at the mall, you can put your name in and they'll either give you a beeper thing or take your cell number in order to contact you as you stroll around when your table is ready. conversly, they don't take reservations (at least at the paramus location), but if you call ahead and give your name, they'll quite possibly hold the table for you. again, as with most things, it comes to how you handle it. where there's a will, there's a way.

here's the link: http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpc...nFlZUVFeXkxNQ== that mac and cheese deserves every molecule of ink it gets. ← Does anyone have a copy of this recipe? The link has expired... ← detailed directions available here.

i would imagine that amstel light (and the other amstels as well) is made by the same people who make heineken. as far as their new product, heiny light, it tastes like watered down heineken, rather than like amstel light. edited to add that i'd think the "light beer" category is more popular, and, more important than ever. back when amstel was released (must have been before the mid eighties, because i remember being in college and drinking it, underage at that) i can see where there might have been a stigma. but, if you want to stay competitive these days, you'll release a lower-calorie option. no surprises there. however, i don't think i'll necessarily see guinness light any time soon. back to the bar at legal, it's always a pleasant place to eat. it's been non-smoking since i can remember, which is appealing to some. the wine selection by-the-glass is not as horrible as you might think, and you can orchestrate a very satisfying meal if you know how to order.

there's no doubt in my mind that they make most of their profit on people who have no taste in food and couldn't care less. however, it's important to note the logical distinction between that (largely undisputed) fact, and any assertion that people who eat there have no taste in food and couldn't care less. for example, i go to chains, and my taste is, without a doubt, more discerning than 95% of the people reading this thread right now. of this you are assured. dryden, i'll see you at the Times Square OG at 6 pm. i'll be at the bar in a blue and yellow striped shirt. wishing i were elsewhere. over-and-out.

menton, if you are on vacation and you go to a chain restaurant, i'll hunt you down and beat you with a carrot. however, the thrust of my point is business travel. look, we all have different experiences, and i'm sure anyone involved in this discussion approaches travel (business OR pleasure) completely differently than 99% of the planet. i think it's important to understand how the other half lives (you know, those people at Red Lobster). at any rate, i would hope that everyone involved in this discussion has eaten at OG. and Daniel, if you're still reading, I'm hoping you do as well, least of all so you can form an informed opinion. and if the free lobster and cocktails offer is still on the table, i will reiterate: what time would you like me to be there.

Funny, I remember one of the motel chains using just the slogan "No surprises" in their TV ads a few years ago... ← smart. business travellers don't like surprises. ← I don't think that's true. Business travelers tend to be exhausted, and don't know their way around very well, but if you told them there was great, surprising food to be had (at almost any price - expense accounts are a nice thing) - I think you'd be surprised how far people will go. agreed. if you hold peoples' hands and show them great things, they will most likely go the extra mile and they might even enjoy it. edited to reflect the edit by Dryden.

you (and me) are very special that way. but most of the world isn't. otherwise egullet and chowhound would have 2 billion members, rather than 10's of thousands. it seems to go without saying really.

Funny, I remember one of the motel chains using just the slogan "No surprises" in their TV ads a few years ago... ← smart. business travellers don't like surprises.

i've always been a huge proponent of Legal. glad you guys had a good time. my first experience with Heineken (sp?) Light was at the Front Street Smokehouse. it's a tasty light beer i suppose, but at the end of the day, like Beck's Light (of which i drank perhaps 100 cases last summer), it's just watered down Heineken. and, with the lower alcohol content, you might find yourself drinking a lot more bottles than you would with regular. i'm almost convinced that regular full-calorie full-flavor full-carb beer is the way to go if you want to cut back on anything. chili oil? i'd go for a white. probably a somewhat sweet white.

and i'll continue eating it until it's all gone. my recent thoughts on SOB: tommy:eats SOB

i don't think so. it's just not that simple. what it says to me is that there are strong opinions that are met with equally strong opinions, just as with any subject where emotions come into play. for each poster that says "who would eat that crap", or, "only tourists eat there", there's another poster who *has* eaten there for various reasons, or whose mom goes there for one reason or another, or whose aunt came to visit them and wanted "Red Lobster" so the thoughtful "true new yorker" obliged, and, it becomes personal. and beyond the "becoming personal" issue, it offends some people's sense of logic and sensible thinking on a most basic level. "only tourists go there" or "true new yorkers don't eat there" is not a sensible conclusion, to my mind. casually noticing a line outside the door and making the determination that those people are clearly not "new yorkers" is not either. it's funny, it's thought provoking, perhaps satirical, but it's nothing more than anecdotal, and it begs, demands, rebuttal. my favorite poster "fat guy" did a nice job of it in fact. i see no one has attempted to refute him with any success. everyone can deduce all they want, but there are reasons beyond your understanding why people go to the OG, or, why they post about it on a thread like this. i can guarantee it. but perhaps Rich is right, the OG *is* popular. just not in the sense he meant. edit: totally cross-posed with kumquatmay on the following: p.s. i don't know how many people have travelled for a living, ending up in strange (perhaps great) cities or towns, but i can tell you this: when you have 1 hour to grab dinner, and you're tired and smelly, the last thing you want to do is go on an adventure. and i can think of countless places around any OG or Red Lobster in NYC that will offer nothing less than a shit experience. no thanks. i'll grab a salad and some pasta at a place i know won't produce any "surprises." i'll save my culinary adventures for a proper vacation.

i don't think it's a lie. first of all, it would be a pretty big lie. just because a school is located in tuscany doesn't mean that it's very good. and it certainly doesn't mean that the students are applying whatever they do happen to learn at an enormous chain like OG. however, it sounds fancy, and people do loves their fancy. on a trip to Rome, i bumped into a group of americans who were there for a few weeks for the culinary school of Macaroni Grill. or maybe it was OG. no difference. at any rate, they were all happily sucking back american beer at the Hard Rock Cafe and acting like they were at any bar in the US. i'm not sure they really took much away from their experience in Rome. then again it doesn't say much about me if i was actually in the Hard Rock in Rome to see them in the first place, but that's beside the point. nice group of guys, actually. we had a good time.

have you been yet, dana?

somewhat fabulous, i'd like to think. Daniel, if you want to go to Silver Oak, make sure you go to RidgeWOOD, not Ridgefield. however, if you want to go to China 46, go to Ridgefield. both are excellent choices.

what you need is to tell me what time you'd like me to be there.

we ordered the rib eye and baby arugula salad. the arugula had turned into spinach, and i think the rib eye was actually hanger steak. come on guys. if there's a substitution i need to know about it before it hits the table. i have noticed that SOB tends to overcook beef. this should be considered when ordering a temp. but, it was a very good piece of meat and a nice salad and certainly well worth the modest tariff of 12 bucks. the gumbo was great, as always. the pulled pork was excellent. i had to feel sorry for anonymouze when i overheard the server tell her that i had ordered the last one. pork me.

conversely, how do you manage to meet only people who share your tastes? in everything?