menton1

Call me crazy, but again, I just don't care where the idea to review a place came from. Just be original, sincere, and objective. (And of course, no quid pro quos!!)

Even if Eg were the source of the IDEA to review a place (even though I find that improbable), I just don't think that it's important information to reveal in a review. The public just doesn't care. I want to know about the food, the service, the ambience, maybe some owner background, etc. I don't really care if the idea to review the place came in a dream, an apparition, from driving by, or whatever. It's really irrelevant. As long is the prose is original, sincere and objective, that's all that matters.

Well, I want my restaurant reviewers to tell me the bad along with the good. The reason the public reads resto reviews is to assist in their selection of where to spend their restaurant dollars. Commenting on a board doesn't bring with it the same obligation to the reader, IMHO. Also, according to the esteemed and respected Holly Moore, even a positive restaurant review can have a limited positive effect on a restaurant. It's really up to the resto to sustain its customers and get them to come back, over and over again. It's not like a movie, where we decide where to go, and only go once. Restaurants need repeat customers, and a lot of them. So if a restaurant thinks it can rest on the laurels of a positive review, it needs to hunker down and re-think its business plan. Edited to add: Smoke Chophouse in Englewood, a super-ordinary bar/resto that makes its living with cigar-smoker business (it's allowed) got 4 stars from the Record a couple of years ago. now that's an enormous stretch. There are probably other conspicuous reviews, but I don't pay much attention to the Record resto reviews on a regular basis.

Bah, humbug. If the Record reviewed every restaurant that was lauded in Eg, they would need a special separate section for resto reviews. Besides, they don't have to agree with the Eg comments, either. As a segue to the same topic, the Record invariably gives only good reviews, nary a bad word about a place. I still feel that this is somehow tied in to advertising. Surely these Bergen Record reviewers have had an appetizer or 2 that was slightly off?

Is there a holiday this Monday that I missed? President's day is Mon. 2/20.

Actually, I kind of like it when the server gives his/her name. It's somewhat of a nice touch. Not cheesy to me at all. Of course, if all the other staff mentioned above started introducing themselves my head might spin... This also reminded me of dining in France and Italy, where invariably the tasks done here by these large staffs are all done by 1 person. And the service is invariably efficient and good!! (How do they do it?)

Lovely photos, thanks! SW France is my favorite part of the country... And Beynac, like most of the little towns on the Dordogne River, is spectacular. Right next door, La Roque-Gageac, is even prettier, IMHO. Josephine Baker knew how to live...

Could you kindly elaborate on this explanation? I was asking why most of the larger Italian cities have translated English names, but no French cities' names are ever translated. Why should a name be translated at all, anyway?

There has apparently been some weirdly-inspired criticism of NBC in the States for using the name "Torino" instead of the translated "Turin" in all their Olympic Programming. Can't understand why anyone would care. As a point of interest, why do many Italian cities have English translations? Isn't a name a name? I've never seen a city name in France translated into an English version...

Well, that would seem to say that ALL retail should close Sundays. Ain't happened since 1982.

I think its very cute of you to say that breaking the Kashrut laws would be "illegal". However, you need to take up your gripes with the folks that decide what goes into this law. But according to what is clearly stated above, and verified by some "in the know" folks here on Eg the last time we discussed this, "Kosher" establishments MUST close on the Sabbath. Easy to understand. No shading there. Cut and dried. They just cannot open on the Sabbath and be Kosher. (Something like "Partially pregnant". ?)

We had a lot of back and forth on this "Kosher style" subject last year on a thread. One of the regular NY posters, Bloviatrix, chimed in as an expert on the subject and explained the matter definitively and seemed to be very knowledgeable on this topic. She concluded, as I had previously said, that no one observant at all would ever patronize a place open on Saturday, and that these places even calling themselves "Kosher" is very questionable. Edited to add the definition of Kashrut, from Jewish Virtual Library:

Sometimes these restaurants would be better off to buy their bread from a great bread bakery, rather than making it themselves. Remember, Subway advertises that they bake their own bread... I do second Balthazar, though. They have great bread, and they also sell it retail.

This discussion seems to be only about whole pizzas, not pizza by the slice. Is there anywhere in the city other than DiFara's to get a good, tasty, not-dried-out, reheated slice of pizza?

No, the ones in Teaneck are closed Saturday. Their audience would not patronize them otherwise.

Please provide a reference if you have one. I don't think I've ever seen a regulation against smoking outdoors enforced, but I have seen signs saying "smoking section" at outdoor sections of New York City restaurants and bars. ← Here's the law itself, I suppose that is an acceptable reference, Apparently smoking can only be permitted in outdoor dining areas if it comprises less than 25% of the total outdoor dining space. (Section 22/c:1) http://www.nycclash.com/LocalLaw47.html

It seems that these "Kosher" style delis in New Jersey think that the word Kosher is their license for exorbitant prices and low quality. Oh, if only they could emulate the NY Second Ave Deli... (I think that closed as well) The ironic part of the whole thing, is, that anyone observant of Kosher would NEVER go near any of these places, because they are open Saturday. But I suppose they satisfy the "semi-observant" in the population, whatever semi-observant means.

Wasn't Sol & Sol the former incarnation of Al's?

Ahh, Florence. The Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, Michaelangelo, and: Ribbollita, Gnudi Ravioli, Bistecca, Penne ai fiori de zucca, Tagliatelle di cinghiale. Who needs Bologna for great food?

The fresh, raw meats that they sell are the same ones that they use in their own cooked preparations, so if its OK to eat the cooked stuff, why not buy the same raw stuff that it started out as? I want my food places to be pretty close to immaculate. Judging by the overall smell and ambience at King Fung, it would not surprise me that if food fell on the floor, they would just throw it right back in the pot. I'll either do without, or go elsewhere where I feel it's clean and relatively odor-free. Call me eccentric.

Boy, you are a brave soul... I went into King Fong a year ago and the stench almost bowled me over. Place has an overall filthy, unmaintained apperance as well. Don't know how it passes the health inspections. For an immaculate Asian store, I would head over to Han Ah Reum in Ridgefield. It's a little further, but a lot safer on the digestive tract... (No smell in the store either).

I think the definitive response on the old thread is from tommy... It's just not a good night to go out. Just too much commercialization and "special menus" . Just order in the flowers and the chocolate, and busy yourself with "indoor activities".

Well, in NYC the ban includes outdoor dining areas. In Washington DC smoking is allowed outside. Don't know about the NJ law.

I think the key issue for me, and I suppose this would be hard to determine, is if this specials-recitation-without-pricing is done as an intentional business policy, to accentuate the positive (food) rather than the negative (cost) or whether its just a whimsical decision (or non-decision). I tend to feel, although this is a non-scientific opinion, that most restaurants choose to do this as a business decision. It's not exactly a subterfuge, but more of a selling feature. It does seem, though, from the response here, that most of the public does not like that no-price system.

Yes, but with that info, its pretty hard to say that the ban in NYC has hurt the bar biz! I don't have any other hard data, but with smoking bans being so widespread these days, it seems that most of the negative hubbub occurs before the ban is passed, and then the complaints stop forever after it takes effect. But that's just my feeling, not scientific. Hopefully, Lou will report back to us some hard data after April 15!!