tommy

without a doubt. well, i wouldn't assume a *bad* rating, but i would assume the bit about the supposed cachet. personally i'm happier if a seen a "American Express" sticker on the door. as far as zagat's being a insult to serious foodies, i'm certainly not that easily insulted. i found the piece completely innocuous, and noticed some of my favorite places mentioned. and i only disdain the disdainful. tim zagat or his book don't really bother me all that much.

i'm with you. i think the important thing to note here is that you have to go south to get to it because of the way the roads are set up: by the time you get out to valley rd, you gots to go south. so it's officially south. i feel much better now.

you either have faith or not. what exactly did rosengarten say about RMG? i'd like to put his exact words under the light before writing him off as a souless shill. fwiw, i've not seen this commerical, nor have i found any information on the internet about it. that's odd. is it only in a few markets or something? perhaps they knew that jaded NJ-ers wouldn't buy it for a second.

oddly, my impression is that route 3 runs east/west. while i know that's not the case, i always think of things in terms of north or south of route 3, just as curlz suggests. and montclair to my mind is surely SW of rutherford...although it's really due west, which is confusing me. i don't want to talk about this anymore.

fair enough. i always found the food at Dish quite complex by nature. well-executed, but complex nonetheless. in fact, the last dish i had there, which was about 2 years ago at the bar, was tuna carpaccio, which seemed a bit too overdone for my taste. lots of "stuff" which distracted from the tuna. that's probably a judgment call though. i think at this point they could use a good dose of PR. if they're still executing dishes at the same level they were a few years back, Dish is certainly not to be ignored. holding it back, in addition to practically no marketing as far as i can tell, is the fact that's it not BYO. although their wine list, as i remember it, was well-selected, i get the impression that a bunch of byo places have popped up over the past few years that might be stealing a bit of business. that's just a guess though. i have to wonder if they still get a lot of business from the music-loving hipsters that filled the bar practically every night when Bruce still owned it? i know that was a draw for me and my group of friends...none of whom have so much as mentioned the place in a long while.

fink, of course you can quote me (using my screen name only, of course). my dad had a successful diverticulitis op a few years back. as he's fond of saying they moved his "ass 6 inches closer to [my] mouth".

stopping at Acme and sitting at the oyster bar mid-afternoon is a requirement. state law, i think.

from their website: thanks for that link, laura. i had forgotten all about the website as it's been so long since i gave the place much thought. the menu on the website reads very much the same as it did 3/4 years ago when i was last there.

doesn't Stage House Inn have an outdoor patio?

i would have been even more convinced it was an indian place it they named it "Curry House".

and non-chains don't do that? i've not found that to be the case. it seems once a place has more than a few outposts, or, :shudder:, stockholders, they are immediately branded. i would submit that an awful lot of non-chains deserve that branding just as much.

but did they own and run an italian place? given the average person's mindset, naming a place "risotto house" will most likely conjure up imagines of an italian-type place, with lots of risotto. does anyone have a website for this place?

Are they open for lunch? friday and sunday. or something odd like that.

Have you ever waited on her? of course. that's how i know she's still the girl from the block yo. or something like that anyways.

i've got ten bucks that says the risotto ain't nothing special. who wants?

that might have something to do with the fact that she's been one of the biggest celebrities in recent years. and she's enormously wealthy. people like that tend to draw attention. you can look at any magazine cover for proof. jenny is still the girl from the block yo. or something like that anyways.

yeah but mostly old though.

if anything everyone agrees that there are plenty of opinions on blue smoke.

they certainly ran the FOH very well. in fact, better than a large percentage of restaurants that i've been to. i'm surprised to hear the word "simple" as a descriptor. has the menu changed drastically over the years since it first opened? i'd love to see a website or sample menu, but i don't think there is one.

that many dups has to be a new record. i continue to amaze myself.

from what i remember, Dish's menu remained relatively static. additionally, food just as good at about the same price was readily available in NYC. for me, i think the charm of getting that type of food in that type of atmosphere in NJ wore off after a while. however, it probably also had to do with the fact that i lived in hoboken at the time, and it was a pain to get out there. well, it was a pain to get out there as opposed to eating in the city most nights anyway. the moral of the story is: don't get lazy.

i just want good food, and plenty of it. ®

the flavor of the meat, which i suppose is mostly due to the cow, is what sets apart florentine beef to me. minerally, and slightly organ-y imo.

No way man, I'm a follower, not a leader... trust me when i say you'd be following about 5 years behind. in fact i think i just lapped you.

if they are still open they've, for all intents and purposes, slid off the face of the earth. i've heard nothing about the place in years. i spoke with bruce (the original owner) not too long ago and apparently he has been out of there for some time now. it's anyone's guess what goes on behind those doors now, but i'd love to hear a report. anthony: make it so.