Hank

To all eGullet posters Menton1 is dead wrong about Fairway of Fort Lee being an "imposter". The name Fairway has been on the store front since the early 1900's with the third generation Cafasso's now running it, well before the NY stores opened their doors. A little research would go a far way before posting mis-information.

Hank, please be certain that you differentiate between your inferences and what I actually said. Never did I say, imply, or otherwise indicate that the "other problems" were necessarily dirty. There are many, many things that can contribute to a restaurant closing - all of which fall under that umbrella of "other problems." Yes, some of those reasons may be less than savory, but there are alot of them that are perfectly innocent. I simply chose not to elaborate. You ask, "how in God's name can we not infer that there is something drastically wrong with either Shelton personally or his Inn." What you choose to infer is your own domaine and no one elses. Please do not attempt to shift that responsibility to me. At this point, several things are obvious to me. First - you will not be satisfied with what I have said so far. Second - I am not going to say any more. So I would like to suggest that this particular portion of the discussion come to a gentle close. I stand by my post, along with everything that was and was not said in it. If not everyone agrees, I can certainly respect that. But a protracted volley of "you said, I said" will benefit no one. ← AMEN

I totally disagree. David says in his post (please re-read it) that he has reliable info from the pastry chef who is close to the restaurant that there were other problems afoot and out of respect to Shelton's good name and rep he will not elaborate. Come on sir. He is basically telling us that he has some dirty laundry that he does not want to talk about which is ofcourse his perogotive but then why hang it out in the first place? Why didn't you or anyone else elaborate on that? And that is the primary jist of my posts. Also, there is no way that you can say that a negative comment could not hurt Shelton's career. You well know how little it takes in the restaurant business for people to stop coming to you. You want names, I've got them but certainly not in public.

I honestly hope and pray that that was the reason (and a good and necessary one) to close the restaurant, BUT then why feed us the "stuff" about good name and reputation. Either David has some very wrong info which in my opinion he should not have alluded to or there is a lot more to come out of this.

PLEASE

And how about some major fairly new restaurants in our own state of New Jersey?

Hank, I'm sorry that you feel I have done a diservice to the Ryland Inn and to Chef Shelton; you are ceratinly entitled to your opinion. You ask in your first post "Am I wrong? I certainly hope so." I believe that you are. Nothing I have said (or not said, as the case may be) in any way guides the reader to one specific conclusion or another about the situation at the Inn. And while I appreciate your confidence in my ability to sway public opinion, I think you've grossly overstated my influence. People will draw myriad conclusions from my information; some will take it very seriously, some will ignore it, some will think I'm a lying SOB. Those conclusions will have myriad effects; it will lead some to flock to the Ryland Inn, it will lead some to conciously stear clear, and it will lead some to remain blissfully appathetic. I'm pretty certain that the relative percentages of each group will stay fairly consistent to the pre-closing level. Here are a couple of pieces of information about the restaurant industry that may not be widely known: (I mention these points not in specific relation to the Ryland Inn, but simply for general knowledge purposes) #1 - That a restaurant is always full and has a high check average can have very little relation to it's ability to survive. Success has alot more to do with food and labor percentages as compared to that check average than the civilian public thinks. People assume that because a restaurant is doing well that they must be making money hand-over-fist. Unfortunately that's not always the case. There are alot of other costs involved that can eat away at the profits #2 - "Water Main Break" is a long standing euphamism in the restaurant industry that is used to cover a variety of other causes for closing. ("Closed for Renovation" is another favorite) If every restaurant that claims water main problems actually had them, I'd be more concerned about the failures of our public infrastructure than of our restaurant community. That being said, there are restaurants to whom this really does occur - case in point is a well known, long famous restaurant in Manhattan that is struggling with this. A delivery driver from my company walked in one day and saw water pouring from the ceiling. So it does happen, just not as often as claimed. Let me also make clear that I did not in any way claim in the intial post that there wasn't a water main break, and I apologize if that was the implication. Rather, there are/were other problems that (when taken in combination with any infrastructure issues) led to the closing. I truly hope the Ryland Inn reopens, and I wish them all the luck and success that I can. If it doesn't, then I hope that Chef Shelton re-emerges with bigger and better projects. He has earned every well-desreved accolade that comes his way, and he is a great asset to the New Jersey dining scene. ← I appreciate your answer to my post but how in God's name can we not infer that there is something drastically wrong with either Shelton personally or his Inn when you say"more problems afoot and out of respect and to preserve the good name and reputation you will not elaborate". Sorry, but you opened the can of beans/ worms and by not letting people know of why he had to close a very fine and successful restaurant you will have to eat your words. As a chef you must very well know how even the slightest possibility of a major problem (and I assume this may be one) can destroy a restaurant and or chef. Some things are much better not said until the truth becomes public knowledge from all sides and we and Shelton can all make our own decisions. To me your original post is no more than a teaser/gossip and I am sure that Shelton does not appreciate it in the least.

I am very happy to learn of the misrep. I know you long enough to know that you would never post anything hurtful about anyone as unfortunately David has done. I have been to the Ryland Inn often and they deserve better than that. If they have problems I am sure that they will work them out. Shelton is one smart dude and an excellent chef. So far this year I have been very nice and will certainly continue to be nice so that we can share one of your Turleys. Maybe at Blu which has become one of our favorite restaurants this side of the GWB.

David said in his post that there were other probelms afoot and that coming from a pastry chef. So Rosie, did you "ditto" that also? It seemed that way to me.

Many years ago I learned that if you don't want to spill the beans then don't remove the lid. I do believe that that is exactly what David and Rosie have done and in all fairness to the Ryland Inn they have done a huge disservice to the restaurant/owner. By their remarks they now have many people wondering and doubting what exactly is the problem. Was it a sanitation problem similar to the restaurant in NY a few weeks ago (rats) or one of a 100 other horrific reasons why a "money making" restaurant that was always packed (had to make reservations way in advance and charged quite a bit for the right to eat there) had to close. If they re-open I am certain that many people who have read these posts will think twice about going back to the Ryland Inn until they know exactly what the reason was to "preserve a name and reputation". Hopefully there is a very simple explanation for their closing but then again if that were so David would have no reason for not mentioning it. So, David and Rosie, I truly believe you have hurt the reputation of a chef rather than protecting him for whatever your personal reasons. Am I wrong? I certainly hope so.

I must have asked Cecil a hundred times to do this and did mention it in a couple of my earlier posts. Finally, he has seen the light. I only hope that he will get more people to come without that rediculous stand at the door. Yes, the food is as good as ever but he is still very slow whenever we go there.

Nish for the most sarcastic owner,chef in NYC.

Englewood Cliffs, and about an 1/8 mile south of Palisades Ave on Route 9W.

admin: threads merged We live within 10 minutes walking distance from this restaurant and finally decided to try it earlier this evening as after a month the rough edges should be smoothed out. My thoughts for whatever they are worth. 1) Very pricey fast food Mexicann, no more, no less. 2) Extremely noisy. (A very young crowd having a good time screaming their heads off drinking pitchers of Sangria and not caring or knowing what the food is about.)) By 7:15 an extremely loud Mexican band showed up to add to the already unbearable noise. Could not wait to leave. 3) Sangria, also a faux Mewxican rest. about a mile up on 9W closed about 5/6 weeks ago and we were hoping that we would finally get an authentic Mexican restaurant in our area as true Mexican food can be wonderful. Wrong. Think Zocalo or Maya in NYC to name just 2. 4) Service was pleasant but very amateurish. Don't greet my wife and I with: "Hi guys. What are we drinking tonight." (At 70 plus we are no longer guys.)Also, at these prices I don't want to be asked if I want my very dirty cutlery changed. To reopen old wounds and posts, why can't our area of Bergen County be blessed with serious restaurants such as what Montclair, Ridgewood, etc. have to offer.

they have three cuts, per their website: porterhouse, sirloin, filet mignon. i'd be very surprised if their filet mignon is coming from a USDA Prime-graded carcass. since that grading relates to marbling, it's almost pointless anyway, as filet has very little fat. my understanding is that the filet from the best USDA Prime carcasses ends up in porterhouse steaks, where it rightfully belongs. the problem with a blanket proclamation like "all of our beef is only the finest USDA Prime" is that there's a good chance it's not true, and if it's not, people like me will point it out. ← Bravo to you Tommy. You are one of the few people that I know outside of the meat processing business that understands why there is virtually no prime fillet mignon unless you are just lucky enough to get one without anyone knowing it, including the processor. Will explain further to anyone interested but it does become a bit complicated though not too difficult to understand. Also, there is just not enough prime meat around to satisfy the many thousands of restaurants across the country that claim they only serve prime steaks. One big reason why some restaurants and butcher stores pay a high premium for true, legitimate prime meat and even then there is a high and low end.

I am a bit confussed. Would you consider Montclair as part of North Jersey?

Any idea exactly where it will be held?

My wife and I went on Saturday evening because of the very positive reviews I have been reading and they were right on. Thanks guys and gals. We had a wonderful meal and can't wait to return. We arrived at 7:00 without a reservation and were promptly seated. The rest. at that time was fairly empty but by 9:00 it was almost full and this is not a small room. I just cannot say enough about the service. Perfection itself. (How often has surely and unattentive waitstaff spoiled an otherwise enjoyable meal). This young lady appeared magically every time we needed our wine to be poured or water glasses refilled. She was very knowledgable about all the different preparations so we had an easy time chosing our dinner and therefore getting exactly what we thought we would. No unwelcome surprises. The spacing between courses was perfect. Who needs to be served one dish on top of another. I won't bore you now with our menu but all I heard from my very critical wife all evening was "this is fabulous" and I will second that. Since we opted for cheese instead of dessert we received a pre-cheese amuse and it had to be one of the best things we have eaten in a long time. A piece of very creamy goat cheese with very finely grated peppercorns on top. A wonderful piece of bread and our wine to accompany and we were in Mad heaven. For our 3 piece cheese course that we choose from the menu we went for all cheeses from Switzerland and they too were excellent. I certainly hope that Mr. Humm goes humming along for a long time at 11 Mad. We love the space (you have got to see it as it is a glorious room and our NY favorite) and the food is worth every penny and also the ride from NJ to lower NY.

So I gather from your earlier post today you cannot substantiate any of the above. Rather, it is a supposition as to how the Rao family runs their businesses. They would be very unhappy with your post and I would think that before you make any more statements of any kind you should first get the facts. Three posters including myself know that they do in fact own and totally run their food products business and it is not as you claim "just a piece of the action." Without trying to insult you sir, you have put your foot in your mouth and a bit of research before posting goes a long way.

Until my retirement we did a lot of business with the Rao family. The nicest and hardest working people imaginable. I would love to know from Menton 1 where he got his information from as to their licensee agreements. We were always under the impression that they were quite involved in that aspect of their business and a very successful one at that.

The answer to it being underappreciated is quite simple. Their prices are very high as is the noise level (check out their site) and their food is not worth it. The NYT gave it a "good" rating some time ago and it has not improved a bit since. The bar scene is really something else. Packed.

Went last evening for at least the 5th time and can most happily report that we experienced "no dip". Everything from service to food was as always, exceptional. For my wife and I and our family and friends it has become a destination restaurant and for good reason. Not to open old wounds and discussions but if only Northern Bergen County had anything even close.

Did you or are you going to notify the management, ownership of your horrendous experience. I am certain that they will take the appropriate action so that this will not happen again. No restaurant can afford to have three people walk out when they had more than enough tables to accomodate you. You will also do a big favor to future clients who would like to eat there. and don't want to pay up front for a table.

i would think that'd be a catering event not to be missed. ← Right or wrong I have not gone to any of the eGullet organized events but I would definitely go to this one ← i was kinda hoping for a private one. ← Perfect. We'll put you in the corner with your Bud while we sip our DRC.

i would think that'd be a catering event not to be missed. ← Right or wrong I have not gone to any of the eGullet organized events but I would definitely go to this one