tommy

and i would urge anyone who thinks this is some sort of wegman's conspiracy to see my above posts re: NY Giants, NY corporate offices, etc. it's SOP, and there're plenty of other things for me to worry about. i'd hope the same for everyone else. well, not the plenty of things to worry about part, but, you know.

i think that a cold and unfriendly host is enough to keep a fourth star away from any restaurant. i can deal with music, however.

scott123, does morristown have the room for a wegman's? these stores, from what i've read, require a great deal of space and supporting infrastructure. at the end of the day, morristown is the most well-known town in the area of the proposed store.

i'm on it like stink on poop.

what pains me to this day is that when they were open in montclair, before the expansion, about 10 people knew about it. service was top-notch. food incredible. after that expansion, it lost just about all appeal for me. it's really a shame, as, to me, this is a great restaurant that simply lost its way: horrible service, slow, spotty food, a freakin train wreck overall at times. good pork chops, though.

there's a french influence on thai cuisine?

i was wondering what the demographic might be. my table consisted of a chef's wife, a partner of danny meyer, a food writer from savuer, a food writer from some other huge food magazine, another partner of one of the chefs, and writer from a huge news network...and me and my wife. i got the feeling i was the only one spending my own money that night. so yeah, who else was there? if my table was any indication, they may have made a lot of calls to get people to come down.

walking away from that dinner you might have been convinced of the same, for editorial purposes at least.

my comment might be for another thread, but if diners need to take off their jacket, and presumably drape it over their chair, then something is wrong. either it's too hot, or the standard of dress at the restaurant is at a level where it doesn't require a jacket, or, worse yet, embraces jackets draped off the back of chairs.

i didn't say that. you make it very difficult to have a discussion.

The fact that, once you reach a certain level, corporate tradition and the U.S. tax code kick in to double-cosset the gilded class is not reassuring. it's oftentimes lower-level people making 50k a year being whisked around. regardless, a towncar has little correlation with the salary of the person inside.

frankly, i'd more expect them to put something in Rutherford and call it "the ridgewood xxxx". space is at a premium. well-known towns are full. the Giants play in NJ. the "NY offices" of countless companies are located in Jersey City, Fort Lee, and Weehawken. and who the hell knows what town Newark airport is in. i've learned to get over it.

Also, the OP asked about the "dress code," which means what the restraurant requires or desires. If the OP had asked, on the other hand, what patrons have been seen to wear . . . . right again. batting 1.000.

differ'nt strokes. but at least we both understand each side, now.

depending on the year and other factors, i'm thinking a good amount of servers at top NYC restaurants make more money than a pretty good percentage of us on egullet. and those town cars? don't get too bent out of shape: they're usually paid for by the company.

why? morristown is a large well-known town. that's the point, which i think is explained in the first post to some extent.

you often don't get a good indication when talking to the receptionist. hearsay, which we would hope would be firsthand reports, often do the trick.

Tommy, where is Madame Claude's in relation to Journal Square (sorry, I failed geography)? it's southeast. not really walkable, i don't think. madame claude's is not far from Grove Street, however, if you're thinking of coming from NYC via PATH. if you're not, ignore me. mapquest it to get relative distances.

bingo. dinner at most upscale NYC restaurants might be about 300 bucks a couple, if one doesn't go nuts ordering wine. and that's the high end. do that twice a year and that's 600. not even a month's rent for most middle class people around NYC, for example, and certainly an amount that could be saved over the course of a year to fuel a passion/hobby. my neighbor wouldn't dream of spending that kind of money on such a luxury, but he's got an awfully nice 52 inch flat screen TV, which has the life span of about 4 years, and cost him around 9 grand. i think *he's* freakin nuts. i've got another friend who lives in a trailer in florida and has several thousand dollars in guns. i think *he's* freakin nuts. immoral? i'll not judge morality. nuts? definitely.

That's right: only wealthy people deserve good food. OK, I'm being a bit flip, i hope so, because the point, i think, is that wegman's most likely puts a lot of thought into where they're going to place their stores, i'd imagine, to maximize profit, among other things. it has nothing to do with who "deserves" what, but rather, who is more likely to support the store. and from what i've seen, the current day wegman's isn't an inexpensive venture to start up and maintain.

never heard of it. for some good ideas, use the search function, and click on "more options", and search on "city" on the NJ forum, clicking off the selection to return only threads. ok, i'll do it: here. a recent favorite in downtown JC is madame claude's, which is a BYOB french bistro with excellent hanger steak, frites, and a damned good plate of pate and whatnot. a thread here. website here. and glenn rambles on about something here. rosie reported on Edward's here. apparently the chef is from the Old Homestead in NYC.

but that was a valid point. and one, i might add, that agreed with the post that i quoted, which i believe was yours.

i would only make a diagnosis if i were a doctor and i'd only expect additional discussion and thought if i came to egullet to discuss or think about medicine. you think he *should* discuss it? i think that would make for a pretty lame article on dining. and i sure don't care what a food writer has to say about these very deep and heeeeavy issues.

if you have a pop-up stopper you end up staring at a blank window with no heading or anything. for months i thought the site was messed up, or that i had the wrong one. quite frustrating.

as might sky-rocketing housing costs, 1000's of expensive hummers on the road, etc. i don't see fine dining being unique, and you haven't offered any compelling arguments to change my mind. "mights" and "mays" just don't do it. your second paragraph seems like arm-chair psychology at best. the weather is *perfect* up here. why do you ask?