tommy

there are two bottles of sauce on every table. they don't physically hand you a bottle of sauce with your order. unless i'm misunderstanding. actually, they sometimes don't even hand you your *order* with your order. in general i'd say any restaurant deserves some time to work out kinks. i'm guessing that this place is more popular in its first week than they could have ever imagined. to my mind everyone is doing themselves and this local business a disservice by rushing off to it. and they're certainly doing it a disservice by posting negative comments right out of the gate. give it a few months, just as most people get when they start a new job. your boss and coworkers don't come into your cube and start busting your balls the first week, do they?

i think it's actually "Bourbon BBQ", rather than Bourbon County BBQ. edit: good point Curlz. i remember that now. the sign and the sauce are called "Bourbon BBQ", at least for now. so if people are looking for it, they'll probably look for what they saw from the road or on the sauce or website, rather than what's on the shirts. but yes, what's the name!?!? and there's no bourbon in the sauce. the name of the restaurant (and sauce) likely refer to Bourbon County. my thoughts on some of the sides: more here.

i recall that Hunan Cottage leans more towards Shanghainese. maybe they have both though. even China 46 has some sichuan dishes. but for the most part, it's a Shanghianese restaurant, and Chengdu struck me as primarily Sichuan. i'll have to look into China Chalet for sure.

Chengdu 1 is quite good. While China 46 is a Shanghainese restaurant, Chengdu 1 is sichuan. i don't know of any other sichuan places in north jersey, but if anyone does i'm all ears. service: horrible.

Ridgewood has some new vacancies in the area just north of the tracks. no restaurant infrastructure in these places as far as i know, but they are available.

assuming all of those desserts were offered on that night, sure, i'd say that's not limited. i read lima's comment as meaning they were out of some things. echoing viejo's comment, i can't for the life of me imagine why someone would read something negative about a restaurant on the internet and base their choices on that comment. i just can't get my head around that one. 99% of the internet is negative.

i'm confused. should the cappuccino machine have waited until Monday to break? faulting a restaurant for poor service or getting bumped into is one thing, but a broken cappuccino machine on a certain day of the week? sounds like the SRI's dress code has gone the way of most restaurants'. people just don't wear jackets to dinner much. people don't wear jackets to work much anymore, either. for me, this is a good thing.

for sure. what does this have to do with Per Se? ← the OP stated seems to me that they were trying to make some sort of impression ("point"). i don't believe i'd order a $2k bottle of wine for any reason other than i want to drink it. then again i can't afford a $2k bottle of wine to begin with. apparently the tactic, if that's what it was, worked, and they had the table for the evening. then again, maybe the 9 o'clock reservation canceled, or, the restaurant had additional considerations given the price of the bottle. not unheard of i'd think, and not unreasonable to my mind. i doubt we'll ever know if the tossing about of the Benjamins have an impact on the restaurant's handling of the situation.

what kind of phone do you have? those are ridiculously good pics for a camera phone!

they should change their name to "Fairway: no, not *that* one".

When I click on "dinner menu" on their website, it takes about a minute to load, & then gives me a photo of some pita & hummus. That's it. Is this a photo of the menu cover? Are they trying to be witty? I'd love to hear something tangible about this place - looking forward to Cook456's report! ← like many websites, theirs might not work on all browsers. I generally use mozilla, but switch to IE when i see something weird. their site works on both mozilla and IE for me. i always suggest that people update their browsers to take advantage of what the gearheads are coding for these days. no wit. just technology advancing faster than the public, which is not good. there is plenty of discussion online and also from local papers, including the following, with links to those local papers: egullet thread here. mouthfuls thread here.

just in the form of clarification, Wine Country is on Godwin Ave, rather than W. Ridgewood Ave. when you go under the tracks from Ridgewood proper, take a right at the light onto West Ridgewood Ave (you will see Wine Sellers at that light). La Laterna is 2 (short) blocks up on the right on the corner. there is parking in the (bank) lot behind the restaurant after bank hours.

Dined at the Martini Grill last week... it's a favorite hangout for friends of mine..but Oceanos just might do the trick. Any preferences for entrees? ← anything that focuses on the raw ingredient, which is top-notch seafood. i usually get the lobster, which comes with very good french fries (add some salt). grilled calamari as an app is very good. oysters are generally served well. the meats don't do too much for me (although the lamb chops are good), but it is a seafood restaurant.

no, people aren't saying that. the issue was with the liquor license sale as described here. There is nothing insidious here. Frankly I think speculation does nothing to help Chef Lo Pinto. Misinformation quickly becomes fact, and reputations are tarnished. This is not what anyone wants I would think.

i had a surprisingly pleasant meal at Martini Grill in Wood-ridge recently. http://www.martini-grill.com I loves me that Oceanos in Fair Lawn, that's for sure. http://www.oceanosrestaurant.com

it's unfortunate that the North Jersey blog entry suggests that the service issues were the reason for closing. that's obviously not what's going on, and I assume the inclusion of the service bit was basically just to add copy, rather than to offer an explanation.

i'm curious, MJP, why would this case a flame war? curlz, when you say "waiting lines" you mean that to eat at La Isla one has to generally wait a painfully long time, no? yes?

if cooking good burgers, as the Shake Shack does, was a slam dunk, more places would be doing it. i think it's entirely possible that they could go downhill a bit. although i've not noticed any reports suggesting that.

WARNING: link contains karaoke version of "Margaritaville". Click at your own risk.

if you walk up Washington Boulevard you're going to be in Jersey City. In Hoboken it's Washington *Street*. C'mon jon, you know that! Actually, i have a really cool book about Hoboken history in the 70's (availabe at the hoboken museum: http://www.hobokenmuseum.org/ ) . Back in the day, Washington Street was actually referred to as "the boulevard". i think that goes for lots of main streets in cities back then. i arrived in the mid 80's and it was pretty much "washington street" by that point. who knows, so much has changed in hoboken even in the last 5 years that they might be calling it "the boulevard" again, in which case i'll eat my hat and shut up.

it's every half hour. the schedule should obviously be confirmed at their website. http://www.nywaterway.com

athena, Elysian isn't walking distance from the Path, but there are always cabs for 5 or so dollars. it *is* walking distance from the 14th street ferry, however. and that's a wonderful ride. the room at the elysian is, i think, absolutely beautiful. they've restored the old space (at the cost of $1M i'd think). wonderful ceillings and walls and big windows. just perfect for a sunday afternoon to my mind. the photos section of their website shows the room. it's also a more "adult" place than a lot of hoboken. jon77, i misspoke. the deal at Arthur's is every night at the bar (happy hour basically). take a look at their website under "Special Offers" for details. http://www.arthurslanding.com/

Dissapointing to hear that. Remember reading recently that they had heard changed chefs and revamped the menu -- and reports had been good... Would be nice to have one of the places with a view that had strong food. ← i'd also read several positive reviews from sources of varying quality. my recent meal, however, was just not good. food was too sweet, too sour, not interesting, suffered from gratuitous garnish, wine served too warm, etc. the view though. oh my, that view. it's upscale jersey food. doesn't seem to hold a candle to mid-level NYC places food-wise. the menu reads well. try it yourself. it's worth a splurge just once, and you can decide on your own. i am actually looking forward to returning for their great wine deal on Tuesday nights at the bar. seems like the kind of place where you can get great value out of bar dining. however, sitting at at table and ordering a 90 dollar bottle of wine and a couple of drinks can quickly put you in the 200 dollar range.

not sure if you're referring to my comment, but i didn't say they discourage it. to my mind it's not encouraged, given the size, set-up, logistics, and comfort of the current bar, especially in relation to the old bar. other batali-bastianich restaurants are clearly set up for bar dining. from the comfort to the number of bartenders to the vibe. it's certainly not a place that i stop by to grab a meal at a bar. in fact, i haven't since they changed over, whereas i had several meals at the old bar.

the Lincoln Harbor ferry, if i'm not mistaken, is semi-private, and not open to the public. perhaps there is a way to use it if you're going to one of the restaurants there, however. there are ferrys from NYC to both uptown hoboken and downtown hoboken iirc. so there's no real advantage to chosing lincoln harbor (or port imperial for that matter) based on convenience. that room in the hotel restaurant (sheraton in weekhawken?) is quite appropriate, with a great view. the view at Arthur's Landing is also unbeatable. had a very very mediocre meal here recently, however. not that food is all that important for something like this. and good God don't ever eat at the Chart House. bottom line is that the food at those restaurants isn't all that good, however the view is better pretty much across the board. http://www.nywaterway.com