Hank

JHLurie, would you like to list a few Italian rest. in Bergen county that you feel deserve two stars. As far as the Big Red Tomato is concerned you are absolutely correct. We went once, also because of the ever present lines to get into the rest. and our only comment was that we would never go back. It was so bad it could not have had just a "bad night". Since then many of our friends have had the same experience. They did close in Fort Lee and opened in Englewood and are not doing as well there if in fact they are still there.

Well, six of us went tonight and we were all completely baffled how the reviewer could possibly give this restaurant three stars. Appetizers were nomally okay but the main courses were terrible including totally inept service that actually had us making jokes. Four of us ordered fish and two had chicken dishes which were all very overcooked and dried out, which we could only start to eat after we twice had to ask for silverware. Five friends sitting at a nearby table told us on their way out that they would not ever go back. Alas, my hope for a very good Italian rest. in our area is still kaput. Hopefully this is the last time that I will allow myself to be fooled by the Bergen Record reviewing staff. I will cross the bridge, spend $30.00 more but will speak for days about the wonderful meal we had at such and such and consider myself very smart to have driven the few extra miles.

This Italian restaurant was recently given three stars by Patricia Mack of the Bergen Record. Has anyone been and if so what are your thoughts? Ms. Mack supposedly called it a "gem". I pray she is right. Lord, we need a few gems around here. Enough already of mediocrity.

Sorry for the mix-up. Ofcourse I meant the NYTimes rather than the Record. Blame it on a senior moment.

IMHO David Corcoran is dead on in his revue of this rest. in this Sundays NY Times. Since we have known the owners for quite some time we went to the rest. shortly after it opened and were disappointed but we felt that maybe we should have waited a while, at least until they got their act together. After all, we do not believe they had any rest. experience before and wanted to give them the benifit of the doubt. So, after waiting 3/4 months we did go back and unfortunately had the same reaction as Mr. Corcoran, who rated the rest. a "good". Twice he mentions the word bland, then, tastes ordinary and the pastas tend toward the generic. He also states that half the main courses did not live up to promise and at $18.00 to $26.00 those odds are pertty bad. It has been mentioned that this is the best Italian rest. in the area, (Fort Lee, Englewood, The Cl;iffs,Tenafly, etc.) and maybe it is, but PLEASE, will someone tell me how and in what bracket the rest of the Italian rest. in this area fall into if D.C. only gives this one a good? Personally I and many other people would love to not have to cross the bridge for very good food but this one will not stop us.

Rosie. I am clueless. If Presto is as bad as Glenn reports it to be why even bother about whether they are BYOB or not? I feel very strongly that that should never be a criteria to go to a restaurant unless it is reported that the food is very good.

Oceana has been one of our favorite seafood restaurants for many years and we were quite shocked to hear that Rick Moonen was leaving to open his own restaurant, RM, to which we have gone twice and liked it very much. But, we went back to Oceana the third week Cornelius (call him Neil) Gallagher took over the kitchen and we are going back this week for the fifth time. This is one very fine and very well trained chef who more than deserves the three stars that the NY Times gave him today. He has completely changed the menu and his style of cooking is totally different from Rick Moonen and I cannot tell you how much we love it. Aside from the restaurants mentioned in the article he has also worked at El Bulli in Roses, Spain, where he worked, IMHO, with one of the most innovative of chef's and also at the three star Michelin L'Esperance in Vezelay, France. Not bad credentials for a kid born and raised on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx. We truly believe that Neil is very special and will make a name for himself in a very short period of time. My advise. Run, do not walk to get a reservation to experience his cooking. Yes, it is an expensive restaurant but more than well worth a wonderful dining experience.

After going over the list of best restaurants of NJ and knowing something about most of them from either personal experience or from what I have read on eGullet and other sites I am more convinced than ever that 9 out 0f 10 times when eating out I cross the GW bridge. I would rather not elaborate but some of them are an absolute joke to be called "best".

Rachel, When you go to France you will notice that there are bakeries that sell only bread with just a few fruit tarts and some dry cakes and then there are bakeries that sell only very fine cakes and pastries and cookies and very little bread, if any. I believe that Balthazar is doing just that. They have made a name for themselves with their fabulous breads and as an aside sell a few tarts (which are wonderful but to me very expensive at $4.00 for a few bites) and some dry cakes that need to be eaten with coffee, milk, etc. They have their niche,(bread) have become very successful at it and that is our reason for shopping there.

Right on Rosie. Just too many things happening on your plate. First heard about Matisse from eGullet a couple of years ago and went there at least 3/4 times and liked it very much. Then suddenly the chef/owner got the idea that more is better and he lost us. Also, almost all his appetizers and entrees began having a sweet touch to them. Raisins, figs, mango, cranberry, etc.etc. and we don't very much care for that style of cooking and it definitely kills your wine. Too bad because this man has talent.

Rosie, speaking of Cafe Matisse, how come no one listed this rest. as one of their favorites. I left it out for reasons I would rather write about another time but this is a very good restaurant and it's BYOB.

All this talk about Corcoran and any other reviewers brings up the age old point about how much weight do we put on what a reviewer says and what your friends tell you about a restaurant. Whenever my food and wine friends recommend a rest. to me we are at least 95% of the time very impressed with the rest. With reviewers I have been many times (from Mimi Sheraton to Grimes and etc.) very perplexed both on the positive and negative side. Their power of suggestion to most readers is enormous. I shall never forget, quite a few years ago, Mimi gave Claude's, a very popular french rest. on east 81st (he has a very successful rest. now somewhere in B.C.) a one star rating which killed him both mentally and financially I happened to walk by the following morning and told Claude how bad we all felt about the one star. He showed me the top of his refrigirator. There were 21 artichoke appetizers that had been prepared the morning before for that evenings dinner and before the review hit the street. Mimi had said in her review that she could not see what all the fuss was about this dish and that she disliked it. VOILA. Not a single person ordered his signature dish artichoke appetizer that evening. The power of the press. So, I have learned to not read too much into reviewers but rather judge for myself. Ofcourse you lose some and win some and when a Zarole comes along I win big.

Rosie, because of your good looks, charming personality and wisdom you can even bring a chateau plunk.

I don't remember Corcoran creaming Zarole since someone at the Record gave it a very favorable review when it first opened, but, even if he did it must have been quite a while ago. This chef, owner has really found his way. We have taken friends there the last 4 times we have gone and everyone liked it very much and all said that they would definitely be returning and some already have. Please let Rosie know that it is BYOB. If she and Lowell will meet me there and she brings her beloved Turley I'll bring the Hermitage. (Oh, and my wife.)

Though no one has mentioned it my favorite restaurant is Zarole in Ridgewood (a must try for serious food) Rebecca's Bennies Saigon Republic (thanks to Perlows, a real find) Wild Ginger Epernay 28 (in Montclair and never on a Fri. or Sat. night) China 46 (stopped driving to Chinatown)

wOULD YOU KNOW IF THEY SERVE ANY FISH AS A MAIN COURSE BESIDES SHELL FISH?

No question about that Tommy but I can name you 6 right now that I and lots of other foodies would gladly go to any time. Too bad that I can't say that (and believe me I would love to) about B.C.

Any time after 6:00 Tommy and I'll even open two bottles. By the way I can't believe that I mis-spelled believe in my previous post.

R$osie, After your remark about the restaurant Papillion and many other Italian restaurants in NJ how about your take on things recently said on the Vecchia Napoli post. Would love to hear your take on what I believe to be a big problem in B.C.

Rachel, your question and comment about Ciao Bella is exactly what bothers me so much about B.C. restaurants. This restaurant is very successful because it caters to people who just want to take the family for what they think is Italian food and mom gets the night off from the kitchen. Great. The restaurants formula is very simple. Serve a couple of different pastas,pizza, some veal and chicken, and most important of all, give the restaurant an Italian name. Boom. Some people have told you it is quite good. Well, I'll bet them anything they want that they will not find (besides possibly management) a single person who is either Italian or has trained in a good Italian restaurant in that kitchen. (I go there with my grandchildren for Pizza and they ain't talking Italian.)Throw some spaghetti in a pot, boil, open up a can of tomato sauce and charge $12/15 and you're serving Italian food. Sheee. We do it at home for a hell of a lot less and we make our own sauce. On a lighter note Rachel, my wife and I have just finished making a huge pot of pasta fagioli soupa. (Honest, cross my heart). Tomorrow I go to Balthazar in Englewood for some of their fabulous country rye bread, open up a bottle of Barolo and make beleive we are in Italy. Sorry. No checkered table cloth.

First, allow me to explain myself. By upscale I was referring to the food served and not to the decor or the price of the meal. Secondly, Tommy, you got it quite right. There just are very few decent Italian restaurants in Bergen County that come even close to the food I can get in NY, as per Babbo, Le Madri, Oesteria Fiamma, and Lupa just to name a few of my favorites. Third. Jaoson, sorry to pick on you today but Caruso's is absolutely no different or better than any other pseudo Italian restaurant in B.C. My long standing question is why we can't get an "upscale" NY style restaurant in this area. And please don't say its the money because there is plenty of it around in Englewood Cliffs, Tenafly, Alpine, Cresskill and etc.,etc. to support restaurants that serve authentic food, Italian or otherwise. Fourth, If anyone goes to a restaurant just to put food in their belly, well that's great and nothing wrong with it, and please, enjoy yourself. But there are also lots of people out there who want to go to restaurants for fine, innovative and serious dining and wine and B.C. offers very little of that. I won't say that there are none but there are far too so many that are mediocrity itself.

This is a restaurant that has been around for quite a while and we always question that with a big why and how. Do most people who go to such restaurants truly no nothing about good Italian cooking. Jason, you said in your post upscale. Sorry my friend but this definitely is not upscale. We went once and the second time by invitation and eah time found the food to be mediocre, the service though friendly very amateurish and nothing on the menu that could be called innovative or interesting, even by a long shot. Very ordinary and not cheap. I keep saying this and I know that I rub some people on this forum the wrong way for saying it but if you live in this part of Bergen County and want good italian food go across the bridge. A few minutes longer drive and you pay for parking but at least you get a bang and wonderful pasta for your buck.

We went to Aix the other evening with two other couples and we were uniformly very disappointed. Almost everything we were served was judged "bland". The salt and pepper shakers were kept quite busy. Not a good sign. My appetizer of canelloni stuffed with crab meat in a red pepper sauce read wonderfully but had absolutely no taste whatsoever. My main course was a combination loin of lamb and shank. The loin portion was quite tender but the shank meat was very dry and inedible. The consensus among the six of us was that none of us were anxious nor had a reason to return. Twelve orders and not a single wow. We were also mistaken in thinking that with a name like Aix (as in Aix en Provence) the menu would have Provencal dishes on it. Not a single one to our knowledge. Physically, the restaurant is very well conceived (three floors), seating was very comfortable and service most professional, but the bottom line for me was that the preparations of the food lagged far behind the beautiful presentations. For $175.00 a couple I expect at least somewhat memorable food.

We have now gone there twice since they started selling retail and will be forever grateful that we do not have to go to NY any more for this quality bread. In one word, "fabulous". We bought their walnut bread (amongst 4 others), bought some cheeses at Jerry's and had a lunch fit for a King or Queen for that matter. Why eat cake when you can have such wonderful bread and now fortunately for us, in our back yard.

THERE IS A BAGEL SHOP WITH TABLES JUST A FEW STEPS DOWN FROM THE SILVER POND CHINESE REST. ON MAIN ST. IN FORT LEE. AGAIN IN FORT LEE THERE IS A BAGEL SHOP WITH A SEPERATE AREA WITH LOTS OF TABLES ON LEMOINE AVE. RIGHT PAST THE FIRE HOUSE.