walter maier

I've heard tell of a Russian place in Nutley called Peter the Great, which I think is across the street from Little Saigon on Franklin Avenue. But that's about all I know.

I apologize if this has been discussed already, but has anyone read or heard of the book Kitchen Confidential? Chef Anthony Bourdain is the author. A co-worker of mine is reading it and said the book can make you think twice about going out to eat. The book is available at Amazon, and received many favorable reviews. "Never order well-done, or fish on Mondays"

Couple of good pizza places in my town, Pequannock: Pizzaman and Cosmo Bella. Both have very good full menus too, with small BYO dining rooms. There is also V&J Pizza on Rt 23 in Pompton Plains, in the A&P shopping Center, which seems to specialize in "I never would have thought of that!" toppings on pies.

Be sure to try Arthur's Downtown, just a block away from NJPAC. It can be busy on concert evenings, so a reservation would not go amiss. We went for my wife's birthday this past April, and they prepared a nice "special menu" that said Happy Birthday, which we got to keep.

We've been to Opah Grille for dinner, it was quite good most of our group felt. If you want to try an out of the way seafood place, the Blu-Sea Cafe in Wayne is excellent. A specialty is soft shell crabs prepared however you like. I have had orange roughy, and a grilled teriyaki wahoo steak. And I am most assuredly NOT an adventurous seafood person. It's a BYO place, family run, and the desserts are prepared on site. They have a seafood store next door (Lucy's Gourmet Seafood), which I have yet to try. They also have other entrees that are not from the ocean -- chicken, veal.

We've been to Pamir, the Afghan place in Morristown, a number of times. Always very very good. The Daily Record did a story on the place about 2-3 weeks ago, actually, it appears their business has been on the increase since Sept 11. One story was that the Morristown mayor called the owner about 2 weeks after Sept 11, asking how business was. The owner said a little slow. The mayor said I need a reservation for 30 people. We went 3 weeks after Sept 11, and the place was packed. I know it sounds silly, and it probably doesn't mean anything, but I felt really good about this country that evening. By the way, this is my first post. Glad to be here.