menton1

Wonderful choice, the Cinque Terre is one of my favorite spots in Europe. No need for a car, the towns are inaccessible by car, take the train to La Spezia and then the local train to any of the little villages. All of the villages are so charming, quaint, all along the Mediterranean. You can walk between them, about a 30 minute walk between each. My favorite of all of them is Manarola, a town that time has passed by. There is a wonderful little hotel, the Andrean, right in the village with very friendly hosts. And a wonderful seaside restaurant, Piccola Marina, what a great environment, right on the water!! Staying overnight is great, the town gets so quiet after 6PM!! You can also wander into just about anywhere, most restos here are wonderful. The only town that is a bit touristy is Monterosso, be more careful there, and definitely don't stay there. Buon viaggio, I'm so jealous!!

These 2 places are being lumped together because they are both missing from the listings. Nothing to do with the actual rating. As you have demonstrated by your comments, to be listed AT ALL is far more important than having a good rating. Most people use Zagat as you do, as an address book. The outrage is that supposedly this new editor eliminated a restaurant from the listings on a purely whimsical basis, or, as someone previously said, they got on the editor's bad side.

Maybe we could do a very un-Zagat restaurant guide, with less politics involved in getting listed; THE EGULLET RESTAURANT GUIDE TO NEW JERSEY. Anyone have a good publishing connection?

I was in Puerto Banus several years ago, and, although touristy, I remember it as being quite attractive. Memory serves that the restaurants did not open until 11PM, and I also remember, after finishing dinner at 1AM, you could shop at the many stores in the complex until 3 AM!! (Requires a whole body clock adjustment!) For a slightly more local environment, you might try the small inner streets of Marbella, and I think there the restaurants open at 9:30! (Sorry, can't remember any names)

I've always been impressed by the terrific professionalism of most of the wait staff in France. I've had impeccable service when my waiter is handling 15 tables all by himself at a bistro, no bus people, no help. Here is the US, I've seen miserable service when a waiter is handling 5 tables and has 3 bus staff helpers!

Plans have been approved by the township to do something with the old Hahnes building. I think they are going to put in restaurants/shopping with apts over the stores. That's very good news, Rosie!! What the heck took them so long? The city fathers should be ashamed. They could have at least razed the building 15 years ago and made a temporary parking lot!!

I believe that all the "Most Popular" really means is that it was rated, good or bad, on the most ballots. Of course, with their online ballots now, the ballot box can be "stuffed" very easily. And obviously this has no real relationship to how many people patronize the restaurant. Most Popular is quite misleading here. The credibility of Zagat can be summed up in a nutshell: The chain restaurant, Outback, is listed, but Casa Comida and American Grill are absent. Maybe they should list McDonald's as well.

Actually, that Zagat thread in Food & Media was quite a revelation. One of the reasons we love Egullet! Rosie, I'm using a quote from =Mark because the thread has 52 replies and will take some time to read all of it. QUOTE:You must have pissed off Andrea Clurfield. She is editor at NJ Zagat and reviewer for Asbury Park Press. She has had a contentious affair with Casa Comida, the largest and oldest (est. 1981) Mexican Restaurant in Monmouth County for over a dozen years. Casa Comida was listed in all previous editions of the NJ Zagat. When Clurfield took over as editor, Poof! The review of Casa Comida dissapears. Coincidence? (END QUOTE) (From =Mark) After reading that thread, I would believe most bad things said about Zagat!! Here is the link to the entire thread: Zagat Food & Media Thread

We have been disparaging Zagat's for a week in the Food & Media section; I was sadly surprised to hears about a well-established restaurant down on the shore being removed from the listings because they did something to annoy the Zagat NJ editor. It was also interesting to learn that a bad rating is actually better than not being listed; Some folks just use it as a restaurant address book!

Here's an update on Northern NJ Farmers Markets. Most run July through October. These were not on the previous list: RIVER VALE Thursdays, 1-6, Mark Lane Recreational Field, Piermont Ave. TEANECK Thursdays, 2-7, Cedar Lane and Chestnut Street FAIR LAWN Saturdays, 9-2, at the Radburn RR Station HASBROUCK HEIGHTS Tuesdays, 12-6, Washington Place and Boulevard NYACK, NY (Just over the border) (Excellent Market!) Thursdays, 9-2, Main and Cedar Streets Can't wait for those great melons and peaches!!

Anybody have any info as to why Amex seems to care so little about doing business with its cards in France? Apparently it's much more expensive for the merchant than the other cards. Even in Italy the Amex is more widely accepted than in France. If you ever want to see a French merchant grimace, just pull out your Amex to pay the bill!!

I guess I'm just a fan of IGTM, it really looks and feels authentic inside. All of these IGTMs have different owners, they are franchised, and IGTM Englewood is the only one I like. I have found that, even if there is a wait on weekends, it usually is never more than 10 minutes. As far as Baumgarts, we have discussed it before, and IMHO it tries to be all 3 of those things, yes, but succeeds at none of them. It is a bit seedy, and highly overpriced. Go there for an ice cream cone after having dinner somewhere else.

A nice, casual, "after-the-movies" place is Moon Street, on Dean Street just north of Palisade Avenue. Cute decor, interesting but simple menu, even a burger if you like. For something a little more serious, try Café Boulevard, on Abbott Blvd in Fort Lee. Beautiful lighting, great background music going, and really interesting eclectic food. For ethnic, I prefer Its Greek to Me to Bennies. About 33% less expensive, and a nicer decor, looks like a real Greek Taverna. In the center of town on Palisade Avenue. All 3 of these places should have a relatively moderate noise level.

Here's some that were missed: THURSDAYS: Afternoons: River Vale, Teaneck Mornings: Nyack, NY (Just over the border) I can get the exact times and addresses later.

That's why I think Bragg and the food critic in Connecticut are baffled by the sudden rush to judgement heaped upon them; it seems that what they did is common practice today. If this needs to be changed, why single them out? What Blair did was sit home and write fiction. That is different!!

The NY Times has indicated that Rick Bragg did indeed pay his "ghost writer" for the story done about the oystermen. The other issue is that, as Howard Kurtz has said, this is a rather common practice today for journalists that have gone "up the ladder". Maybe it fits a pure definition of plagiarism, but I'm still convinced that this was a backlash of the Jason Blair events.

This is probably a moot issue because, if a resto has a liquor license, 99.999% of the time they are NOT going to allow you to bring your own!!

Bux, you lost me on this one. How does 2% work out to be LESS than 1%?? On another note, I checked with MBNA Visa, and they also say that they add no other charges other than the standard 1% that Visa USA gets. But Bux, are you saying that it's still better to use Amex when you can? (Tough to use Amex in France)

FG, this is probably true, but I still can't put this reporter's scenario in the "plagiarism" category any more than I could put the example I gave earlier, as an attorney citing a case in court, and failing to accredit the paralegals who spent all night researching the matter!! I think these newspapers are trying, in the wrong way, to show that they are not going to let happen what happened to the NY Times (Blair) but that was not plagiarism, that was fabrication!

It is really wrong to lump Rick Bragg and Jayson Blair together. Rick Bragg hired someone to gather a story for him, the story was accurate, but Rick Bragg gave the freelancer no attribution. Jayson Blair completely fabricated many stories. Different animal. I think these newspapers are now nitpicking. I think these practices of giving someone else the "grunt work" have gone on and been widely accepted for years. Why is this any different from the sous-chefs in the kitchen doing all the work, and the proprietor/chef gets all the credit? Or a lawyer citing a case in court, and the research was done by his paralegal team? The limelight goes to the stars, and the grunts will continue to do their work without any mention. The real issue is the accuracy of the story, not whether they gave everybody who had a hand in it public credit. That's why I think these are phony issues, and there is a real difference between what Rick Bragg did, and what Jayson Blair did. Hope the food reporter gets hired by another newspaper soon!

The problem with determining the fees charged is that most cards just put a dollar amount, they cleverly don't break down what exchange rate they use, what percentage fee, and/or what flat fee charged. It's almost impossible to calculate without this information. I found a fairly good web site discussing the topic, and this page shows that just about ALL Debit cards have hidden charges, and another click will display a chart saying that First Union Credit Card is the best, with NO added percentage, and a small $1.50 for ATM withdrawls. Foreign currency conversion fees I believe there was also a court case where several credit cards were ordered to refund these fees to customers.

According to Rosie, corkage fees are ILLEGAL in New Jersey. So how can they waive an illegal fee?

Yeah, "del" sounds right to me, too. Anybody been there in the old days before the fire when it was "Il Ghiottone?"

I've been to this place a few times, and I have felt it was always a nice experience. I was even there in its first incarnation before it burned down. I was very happy to see it reopen after about a year, and they spruced up the decor quite a bit. BYOB is a nice feature as well. Place has always been packed, need to arrive early, or wait!! They seem to have played with the name, I have seen "der" as well as "del", don't know which is right. Before the fire, they just called themselves "Il Ghiottone" (The Glutton)