menton1

I only know about Eastern Bergen County, and here are my faves: Chez Cheese on the main drag in Tenafly has great homemade soups every day with at least one pure vegetarian soup; Michael's, in Downtown Cresskill, has one terrific soup daily, and Isaballa"s, a beautiful new gourmet deli just opened in Closter on the corner of Closter Dock and Durie, has superb homemade soups daily. These are the 3 best in the area for homemade soup IMHO.

When you said somewhat casual, and 8 people, I immediately thought of Taro, a very smart/casual pan-asian in Downtown Montclair. One of the nice features about Taro is that you will be able to get a LARGE round table, which is very desirable for 8 people. Instead of the rectangular shape where you are actually broken off into 2 cliques, their giant round tables are great for large groups. The food is actually quite interesting, a blend of asian and continental. I've been a couple of times in the past few months and found it very good. Taro Web Site

How could Michelin have close ties to a restaurateur and then claim to be objective?

I just called an Orthodox friend of mine in Teaneck to get some clarification of this matter; When I asked if Kosher Nosh was kosher, he laughed! No way, he said! And I told him of your analogy about being kosher except for Saturdays, he compared that to the peppers in a western omelette (ham cheese and peppers) being kosher. Doesn't matter, because the ham is there...

No way is Kosher Nosh a kosher restaurant. It is also "kosher-style"! It is open Saturdays, so that immediately kills any thought of it being kosher. There is a pure "Kosher" place 5 minutes away in Fair Lawn, Petak's, but it's takeout only, and pretty ordinary. (How about a bi-weekly bus excursion to Katz's?)

The most well-known bakery on the Rue des Rosiers is Florence Finkelstajn, famous for strudel, cheesecake, and "Pletzls". (Fabulous)

I share your view of the mediocrity of the Kosher Nosh, NJ2Fla. I vote for the bus trip to Katz's...

On Kinderkamack Road, just about 1 mile south of A Taste of Greece, in the Kam Fung Shopping center, a new Greek restaurant/takeout is opening within 2 weeks. When it rains, it pours...

So how does their pastrami stack up? I remember years ago they used to cut it right in front of you out in the aisle... (Great pickles too)

I don't doubt RusticFood's veracity, however I have encountered many people who have a home-based catrering business. I realize , though, that they must have re-outfitted their home kitchen to comply with health dept and State standards. Here are a couple of resources: Catering From Home and Denise Vivaldo's Guide to Home-Based Catering

Yes, I did-- Finally found it! Mysteriously, they have it listed under "Asian". It's an archive catalogued by the title of the article, so it's a mystery which restaurant they are reviewing, you have to look at ALL of them one at a time!! P.S. Anybody know about Extraordinaire?

Thanks, but the only restaurant talked about here is Extraordinaire, Jamaican food, sounds great. Anybody been to Extraordinaire?

I see there are 2 new restaurants opened in Montclair; One Fifteen Cafe and Round Trip Fare. Any reports, descriptions, or any info at all on these 2 places? Thanks.

We ARE beating a dead horse-- it seems that both sides of this argument are hunkering down--- but my story is that DISCLOSURE is the American way, it is the way of a democracy. The argument that reputation suffers for poor endorsements doesn't hold water, in my mind. A newspaper columnist could then write several pieces extolling the virtues of a product. Then a WSJ-type reporter does an expose. You would be outraged!! IMHO it's analogous. It's like these sponsors quietly slipping the celebrity an envelope. It's sneaky and wrong. Let these chefs get all the endorsements they can fit into their wallet, God bless them-- I just want to know about it before he makes his pronouncements!!!

Gee whiz, I did not start this topic to discuss the virtues or drawbacks of frozen shrimp! What I feel IS important is that a seemingly objective celebrity is being paid by a NON impartial sponsor. I want to know that. I don't want to read about it in the WSJ. I want the show to put out a statement telling me that the celebrity has been paid and by whom. Then and only then can I decide how much weight to give the celebrity's statements. If I feel that his reputation is such that he would never endorse a bad product, at least I have ALL the information. I will not be convinced that these unrevealed sponsorships are not SMARMY!

Be sure not to miss the wonderful Museum of Judaic Art & History on 71, rue du Temple in the 4th. A beautiful restored "hotel", there are changing exhibits as well as a lot of Paris' Jewish heritage. During WWII, France saved 2/3 of their Jewish population which was about 600,000 at the time. They did it quietly and individually with small heroic acts by common folks and the Résistance. It is an ongoing source of argument re France's treatment of Jews historically and today. This museum adds some important dimensions to the discussion.

Couldn't you also say that if a reviewer loves a place and you then hate it, you won't go back there? I think the key here is the lost word: Integrity. Sure, money is the great temptation, and I have no idea that I would not react the same way if I were in their shoes and offered a tidy sum... That being said, I propose this disclaimer at the beginning of Ming Tsai's PBS show: "The producers are obliged to announce that Mr Tsai has been paid half a million dollars this past year by the Contessa Frozen Shrimp Company. However, if it wasn't a good product, he wouldn't endorse it!" And for David Burke: "Please be advised that Mr. Burke is a paid advisor to the American beef lobby."

But doc, how would you feel about the restaurant reviewer situation I've described above-- it's OK for him to be on a restaurant's payroll? It is impossible for the public to discern how to assess an "opinion" if they don't know that the person expressing his/her opinion has been paid by their endorsee. With that knowledge, only then can we "let the chips fall where they may".

It's quite noble that the prevailing opinion is that a chef would not accept $500k from a product he didn't like; However, the basic rules of objectivity require DISCLOSURE of the stipend. No matter how much a restaurant reviewer could protest that he would NEVER say good things about a restaurant he did not like, his reputation is on the line, etc, if it became public knowledge that he was on a restaurant's payroll and then he subsequently gave a favorable review, there would certainly be a hue and cry. Nobody would say "It's only a restaurant". It is incumbent on the chefs and their producers that at the very least a statement be made revealing to the public their financial arrangements with their endorsees!!

Sorry, wrong mouse click...

Tony, you are missing the point. I was not discussing frozen vs fresh shrimp; the point is, is that these people are paid spokespersons, and they act like impartial objective observers. Something like a restaurant reviewer being paid a stipend by a restaurant owner!!

Steve, you have made several good points, but I have to hold to some of my original views; first of all, these people we are talking about are not just "chefs", but are ones at the top income level of the trade. I also know that even Donald Trump does ads, though. The real point here is that they are not "coming clean" about their endorsements. And I think that's the whole point of the WSJ article as well. Even here on the Eg boards, we don't mind self-promotion, as long as it is clearly shown that self-promotion is what you are doing, and that you are not claiming to be an impartial outsider. These people are not volunteering the fact that they have been paid by these sponsors-- this is a crucial piece of information for the public to have. Maybe frozen shrimp IS better than fresh (although I doubt it!) but I sure as heck want to know that the guy expressing that opinion is being paid half a million bucks by a frozen shrimp company!! And using your so-called objective Fox cooking spot to cook a beef dish so that the beef lobby can slip you five grand is also quite smarmy, IMHO. So I still say SHAME on them.

I've often found that the best wines in France are to be found at little producers with little signs directing you to their "Cave". In your area you should see a bunch of these signs, just keep trying. They will all, of course, let you taste and sample, some even have some cheese. I always try to buy from the ones with the cutest dogs!!

Friday's Wall Street Journal featured an article by Kelly Crow about an alarming ever-increasing trend by celebrity chefs that impugns their impartiality and puts quite a cloud both on their restaurants and their media shows. These celebrities have sold out their opinions by taking money and then "recommending" their sponsor's wares. Ming Tsai, that personable fellow of "Ming's Quest" PBS fame and the Blue Ginger restaurant in suburban Boston, is one of the offenders. Ming has a deal and gets big bucks from a frozen shrimp company. In return, he has 2 or 3 entrees on his restaurant menu with frozen shrimp, and also does a couple of sequences on the show with the shrimp. When questioned by a reviewer recently, Mr. Tsai said that "frozen shrimp is far superior to fresh". David Burke of Burke and Donatella takes $5K from the beef lobby every time he features beef on his TV spot on Fox News. Some of the other people on this ever-growing list include Rick Bayless (chipotle sauce), Charlie Trotter (Fiji water), and Charlie Palmer (caviar). The article also mentions how Julia Child had been approached by scores of companies seeking her paid endorsement, and she had always refused. Alas, Julia is gone, and so it seems is celebrity-chef integrity. Shame on all of these people, they are all successful, and you would think that they don't need this money, and also shame on PBS for continuing to give these paid spokespeople a TV outlet. I hopefully have found a link to this article that won't require a subscription:The Sponsored Chef WSJ Article

That's quite noble-sounding; except I still think that something is fishy with "The Artful Diner", just as I don't trust the Bergen Record's resto reviews one whit... I do feel that David Corcoran is quite impartial and objective, though.