tommy

nice dig. presumably directed toward me? i guess you're not into that dishonest fancy-pants stuff like guanciale. i'd probably have a burger at Copeland. it's that good. for red sauce i'd stay home, with better ingredients and perfectly cooked pasta. if my demise was imminent, i wouldn't have to worry about doing the dishes, which would be pretty sweet i'd think.

people who don't share your taste in food.

the plate will likely contain refried beans (made ahead or from a bag) and a bunch of cheese, which is likely melted on the plate, accounting for that hot plate. there's nothing inherently wrong with making food or elements of food ahead of time. i'd say that just about every restaurant does this on some level. curlz, as far as RM in DC goes, i can't speak to that. the original location has always been a good place, though, and the Lincoln Center location not so much. the union square location falls inbetween. even the lesser of the three will be a welcome addition to NJ. if only for the margaritas.

my guess is that they're exactly the same. they make their guac fresh to order, as any decent restaurant should, and it is quite good. they love to sell that one. "guac for the table?" yeah, sure. overall the menu and prepartion to me seem very cookie-cutter and unimaginative (not to offend your sensibilities or taste - the place is very very popular) and as you say expensive. it's probably more tex-mex than mexican. i'm definitely looking forward to Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack. I'm very confident it will be much better.

yes Curlz it is. can't say i've been very impressed with Mama Mexico in NYC. actually, i find it horrible. the fact that the 49th street outpost is located right across the street from Pampano and Pampano Taqueria makes its existence even more pointless.

yes. avoid the tasteless cauliflower. enjoy the excellent pork shank. ← I didn't love the grass fed ribeye that I had though the chimichurri sauce had a great kick. I guess I'm so used to the flavor/texture of corn feed beef or maybe it wasn't a great example of the grass fed kind that ended up on my plate. I do agree that the service was excellent and that the chef/owner went out of his way to be nice to us. He even sent over a dish of that "tasteless cauliflower" gratis, which, btw, I didn't find tasteless. ← our server/service was very nice indeed. since i was only there once i can't really speak to this, but something gives me the idea if there were actually more than 2 tables taken, it might have gotten hairy. i've yet to be back since that first trip. but, i will. i really enjoyed my pork shank and liked your steak, after i cut it the correct way. c'mon with that cauliflower though. it was steamed. everyone knows you're supposed to roast it. end of discussion.

yes. avoid the tasteless cauliflower. enjoy the excellent pork shank.

excellent work, =mark. another part of the litmus test that i was going to mention is "no guanciale". this place suffers from no such problem.

a "red sauce place" has a menu that reads something like this: - clams oreganota - spiedini - fried calamari - caesar salad - various veal dishes including parm - lots of chicken breast dishes - seafood consisting mostly of shrimp and maybe a salmon dish - pastas with various uses of cream including "a la vodka" or some other "pink" sauce - pastas with red sauce and cheese other elements: - enormous portions of everything made by a kitchen that likely doesn't have a chef who's driving the menu - lack of anything seasonal - pasta often cooked well past al dente - sauces often sweet and heavy - lack of arw ingredients actually imported from italy - pink and white tablecloths "red sauce joint" isn't necessary a pejorative, but it usually suggests that your expectations shouldn't be set very high. what those restaurants are serving is probably more accurately called "italian-american", and most don't do a very good job at it. that's fine sometimes. but i'm wondering about the real good stuff.

AOL's Cityguide for north jersey has a somewhat telling list. click here and go to the bottom to see the list of favorite italian places in NJ. edit: i just realized that that's a "top clicks" list. their "best of" list is here.

and then even some people who live in NY/NJ have had many a bad italian-american meal (i'm not a big fan of red sauce places), because most restaurants simply are not very good.

that's because the Jefferson was an ingredients-driven restaurant with interesting dishes, and most of the rest are red sauce places. I was not very impressed with TF, although it seems more interesting than 99% of "italian" restaurants around. curlz, here is augustino's menu. note the unfortunate use of cream in the carbonara. the rest of the menu doesn't do much for me and reads pretty typically. i'll give them props for serving chicken on the bone, though. the best part of the place is getting yelled at by the owner. growing up in NJ and NY, i have to say i haven't had all that many good meals at italian restaurants, in contrast to what the poster on the other thread suggested.

a poster on this thread suggests that there is good Italian food to be found in NJ at local restaurants. anyone know where? OG is obviously not a very good option. we could really use an injection of Vitamin B (batali) here in NJ. the red sauce places just aren't cutting it, and usually can't make "italian" food better than my irish grandmother or me (in fact, it's usually much worse). i think i'll go to Babbo for lunch.

amen to that.

think again, he said, after finding out the hard way during rush hour on route 17 no less.

you can make a burger at home that is just as unhealthy as a fast food burger. and how are you defining "healthier? less fat? less salt? less other stuff? more vitamins? i'd think we mean "healthful", however, i don't look to burgers for a healthful meal. i guess i don't understand this thread.

this might be a way-out-there suggestion, but i could think of worse things than cruising over to Seaside to grab a slice of pizza and a beer at the Sawmill on the boardwalk.

this is so stoopid!!! i got them all right.

i'm already impressed that they're going out of their way to state "USDA dry-aged prime" and "choice." and the option to top your steak with a fried egg? brilliant. a 24 oz porterhouse is likely more a t-bone. i prefer porterhouse for two. the thickness lends itself to wonderful char and m/r. looks like a good addition to the area. i'm looking forward to checking it out.

From the Australian Citrus Growers: "eat as much pith in citrus fruits as possible as it contains pectin, a great form of dietary fibre". In fact, orange pith is virtually undigestable, like corn kernal husks. ← which is a good thing, right? many people take fiber supplements (Metamucil, for example) for exactly that reason. tommy (doesn't have a "sense of urgency" since he's been using Metamucil, but won't eat pith, as it tastes nasty, and doesn't believe in "sin", since he's not terribly religious, and can't wait for his new garbage disposal, which will suck all that junk down the drain)

nothing brings steakas out of the woodwork faster than a mention of the possiblity of great steak somewhere.

i've always wanted to try that place. i gotta ask: dry-aged?

hopefully they reworked their wine list sine the time I went. There were very few options under 80 dollars at that time. other than convenience, i see little reason to go to Roots for steak, assuming one has access to NYC, which i assume most people around Summit do. i don't think it compares to even mid-tier NYC steakhouses (S&W, Palm, etc), assuming your tastes lean towards the dry-aged end of the spectrum, as mine do.

that link doesn't seem to work. i'm not sure i care how other people spend their money. after all, earth has lots of different people with different priorities, and different net worths. without the facts (couldn't see the story), i guess i could say if the steak and truffles cost that much, then i don't have an issue with paris hilton buying it. surely the restaurant didn't invent the dish for her benefit only. meals at top restaurants can cost a lot of money, and lots of people spend lots of money on those meals. as far as flying to japan to have a dinner, i'd have to think that would cost more money, and certainly more time. perhaps time is valuable to some people. i think there's even an old saying related to that fact. oh, and, they're famous because people have to odd need to watch and talk about their every move. for great blow, though, i know some people who would jump on a plane.

don't miss john from babbo, who is likely one of the more, um, notorious gatekeepers in the city, and for quite some time now.