scarlet knight

We're going to be in the Greenwich area for a couple of days. Any restaurant recommendations? We like French, but more on the bistro side than super high end. Also like interesting ethnicities, such as Indian or Thai. Seafood is good, also. Thank you in advance!

They are building a huge parking deck behind Church Street. Anyone know when it should be finished? There is also a big deck behind the Volvo dealer. They hve $5 valet parking in the deck near Epernay and Mexicali Rose. The situation is improving. We've had those 20 minute rides, also. But Montclair is the top restaurant town in NJ IMHO.

If you mean Blu in Montclair, there's an enthusiastic thread just below.

Blu is very good. We went last Friday. I had the cod entree. I often hesitate to order cod beause it can be dry and tasteless due to its low fat content. However, at Blu it was ethereal. I can only compare it to a cooked black cod that I once ate at Nobu . My wife had a fettucine with bolognese sauce. Unfortunately, it had a heavy rosemary component which she hates. I guess they could have described it on the menu. She just ate a small part of it. She could have sent it back or they could have taken it off the bill, but neither side took aggressive action to correct the situation. It happens, no hard feelings. We liked the tapioca dessert. It had mango and guava--tropical and refreshing. This place has great food at low prices. The portions are a bit small, but I actually appreciate that.

I don't buy as much wine as I used to and look what happened--Carlo Russo had to close his Fort Lee store. Do you know when it closed? I'm trying to remember the last time I was there. I have a lot of fond memories of "finds" in that store. They had a huge collection. It looks like their much, much smaller Ho-Ho-Kus store is still around.

I like Carlo Russo' s World of Wine in the Kings Shopping Plaza in Fort Lee. It might be called Linwood Plaza, but I could be wrong. It's near the GW Bridge, where Kings Supermarket is located.

We did eat there in September, 2005. Food-very good, service-great, noise level-what did you say?

We had lunch at Lalezar in Montclair and it was a big hit. We've gone about 3 times ourselves and we had mixed feelings. Once, a whole grilled fish was a little gamy. Another time, I recall that my chicken kebabs were dried out. However, this was our best experience to date. The plain nature of the grilled meats catered to the picky eaters among us. Also, the large appetizer plate and the large coban salad went over well. Thanks for the other suggestions which we will try on our own.

We had lunch at Copeland on a Tuesday. It is a beautiful and large place, but only one other table was occupied. My wife had a crab cake. It was very good. I had a Turkey Club sandwich at $11. The turkey was as fake and rubbery as possible. The turkey club at any diner would have been better and less costly. Maybe it was a poor choice by me, but I expected better. I hope that they succeed. We'll try it for dinner, but something seems off kilter here. I much prefer small, chef-owned restaurants to hotel operations.

Thank you, menton1 and lovveskiing for your thoughtful responses. I think that I am going to change my criteria slightly to a sit-down Sunday lunch. We are going with our parents, who are slightly older and not really mobile or hungry enough for a buffet. Also, they want to foot the bill(it's our birthdays) and I think that they would pass out if they saw what they charge at the Manor or Short Hills Hilton (I would guess $35-50/person). We don't want to take them down too hard with the bill. Thanks for any additional input. It's this Sunday.

We want to have brunch with two other couples between Fort Lee and Livingston. One of the attendees has difficulty walking, so we would prefer a sit-down format over a buffet. Any suggestions?

We ate at China Chalet on Sunday night. We ordered a shrimp and pineapple spring roll as an appetizer. A little sweet on the outside, but good. Our entrees were shrimp with mango , apple and pine nuts, which we've ordered before as take-out and enjoyed. It was tropically refreshing with perfectly cooked shrimp and a light sauce. Our other entree was Sichuan Lamb. We asked them to tone down the spiciness. I enjoy spicy food to eat, but it wreaks revenge on me. It, too, was a clean, crisp dish devoid of the cornstarch glop that so often encapsulates Chinese food. The service was nice and the place was about 60% full, mostly with Asian families. We encountered no inferior treatment due to our Caucasian background. Having been to Hunan Cottage and China 46, I give this place an enthusiatic favorable endorsement. I would like to try more authentic regional fare here, but due to my unfortunate limitation, I'll have to request that the spiciness be toned down.

We've ordered take-out from China Chalet. We enjoyed a shrimp and mango dish from them. While somewhat Americanized (our choice), it was very clean and the shrimp were very fresh and of high quality. The same dish in lesser hands would be goopy with bad shrimp. Andrew, have you been to Hunan Cottage in Fairfield? I know it has Shanghai cuisine, but I am curious to see how you think it compares with China Chalet. They know us at Hunan Cottage and I think that they like that we order from the Chinese menu. I feel that we are well treated there. I would hate to see Westerners treated worse than Chinese people at any restaurant (or vice verse).

Where was Chef Zod previously? His name sounds familiar, unless I am confusing him with one of the villains in a Superman movie.

what is it?

Babbo is great, but we found it challenging to get a reservation when we went a couple of years ago. Give yourself plenty of time to get a reservation if it is still tough.

we received a private message from an e-gulletter, but we lost it due to a wi-fi error... we thank you for generous assistance, but we'll stay with Sogno and try Nicholas another time.

Thanks, Rosie. I booked Sogno . I think that we were there several years ago with friends from the area and we enjoyed it.

We will be in the Red Bank area this weekend. Nicholas is pretty booked, except for undesirable times. Any other suggestions?

we're going to Cape May shortly. So far, Black Duck, Washington Inn and Gecko's are on our radar screen. We were disappointed in 410 Bank and Daniel's on Broadway in recent years. Any other recommendations for good food?

We returned to Cafe Monet for a second try on 9/2/05. The flaws of the first visist remained. It was hot as blazes in this place. HELLO, if you want to open a restaurant, you have to do what it takes to keep it under 80 degrees. We had the same earnest waiter who tried hard, but needs some seasoning. Speaking of seasoning, my entree came with sweet potatoes that contained what seemed like the shells of peppercorns. It was not edible. My duck entree was pretty tough and chewy. I did not like it. My wife's chicken, which can be so good in a French bistro setting, was dried out. However, her potato galette was good. The profiterole dessert featured stale profiteroles and icy ice cream. Well, my raison d'etre for this restaurant, good food, has evaporated. Back to Lilac, Orbis, Wish, Table 8 and CocoBella Cafe.

Just returned from WF in Milburn. Tuna was $19.99/lb. It looked great, but I went with the swordfish at $11.99/lb. It is expensive, but they ususally have enough choices such that a cost-conscious consumer can find something good.

Well, it does sound like there is a consensus that the food is good at Cafe Monet. The service was earnest but amateurish when we went. Maybe they have to bite the bullet and get more experienced waitstaff. I'm with Rosie on the wine pouring. I really don't want anyone else to pour our wine. We have our own pace. Sometimes, I tell the waiter that I want to pour the wine. Hope they're not offended, but I don't want to drink wine like it's a Big Gulp. I still think that this place has potential. Having good food is the rarest commodity; service and atmosphere are more easily corrected. We will try it again on a cooler night.

i'm not sure what they charge for tuna, but i think that Whole Foods' fresh fish is much better than any other supermarket. I'd rather pay $15.99 and enjoy it instead of $7.99 and not enjoy it. apparently, many other people feel the same way, based upon the success of WF

We ate there on Friday 8/12. We arrived late and did not feel like a full entree each, so we ordered 4 appetizers: mussels with chorizo in a spicy tomato sauce, crabcake, grilled peach salad and dates with almonds and cheese wrapped in bacon. They were all very good. I look forward to return to try the entrees! Also, the atmosphere, lighting, chairs and plates are very New York trendy. We enjoyed it. The host, Dmetri, is very,very friendly and hospitable. A neighboring hostess (many of you know who I mean) should hang out with Dmetri for a night to see how it's done. We liked Dmetri's, but this restaurant is better in both food and atmosphere. We were advised that a nearby new parking deck is open and not charging on some evenings--it's behind the Volvo dealer.