TheBoatMan

Ahh, Louies Backyard. Nothing beats dining on the patio, overlooking the ocean as the sun sets. One of the most romantic restaurants in southern FL. Been there many times, always request the patio as im sure you know. Enjoy.

Thanks Varmint and Holly Moore. Great site by way the Holly Moore, I love it. I didnt realize lexintgton/charlotte were that far off 95. I thought it was more like an 1 1/2. Maybe we will have to put those plans off to summer and do a dedicated barbeque road trip. I guess we will do skylight or wilburs (thats the one by the airport I read somewhere, right?) which will keep us within an hour of 95. Any specific recommendations for breakfast within a hour of 95 in the southern nc or sc area? Thanks again.

Thanks varmint! We wanted to hit a couple of barbeque places, so we were plannning on getting to NC around late afternoon and trying either lexington #1 or Skylight in Ayden. Figured we stay somewhere in that area that night. That way we can hit some SC barbeque places the following day for lunch. Have seen a lot posted about the coffee cup thats all. But if you have some other breakfast recommendations closer to 95, I'd love to hear them. Biscuits, grits, country fried steak, fat back, YUM! Thanks for any help you can provide. Figured we'd try sweatmans in SC. What do you think?

Hi, We are driving to Florida from NJ in the next few weeks. We had planned to stop at the coffee cup for a great southern breakfast. Do you know if the place is re-opened and is it as good as before? Thanks for the help!

Has anyone tried the new bistro menu at the ryland inn yet? I read about it in your article Rosie but am curious if you or anyone else has tried it out yet. Thanks.

You can see on lobels web site that they sell many cuts of Wagyu, their version of Kobe beef.... Their wagyu ground beef can be had for a mere 17.00 a pound Wagyu Filet Mignon - Wagyu Tenderloin Roast - Wagyu Chateaubriand Roasts - Wagyu Boneless Strip Steaks -Wagyu Center Cut Sirloin - Wagyu London Broil - Wagyu Skirt Steak - Wagyu Boneless Rib Steaks - Wagyu Boneless Rib Roast - Wagyu Brisket - Wagyu Short Ribs - Wagyu Pot Roast - Wagyu Beef for Stew - Wagyu Ground Beef

Appears DB is trying to up the ante in the burger war with his trumped up troufle burger... *edited to omit material posted in violation of copyright*

All you cynics out there are ruining the fun. Sure you can tout that it’s all about flower, chocolate and greeting card sales. You all should lighten up a bit, its Valentines Day. So restaurants pull out the special menus and hike the prices, its all part of living in America. I see the Ryland Inn and Nicholas are both offering valentines tasting menus. I would find it hard to believe these restaurants will do anything less than provide an extremely fine dining romantic Valentine dining experience. But then again you could stay home, cook your own meal and be smug in the fact that you're too smart to be taken advantage of by price gouging. So bust out of your mold folks and surprise your loved one, take them out to eat somewhere special. You are on this forum because you like to eat out aren’t you? "To the romantics and sentimentalists of the world, February 14th represents a day to reflect on love, friendship, romance, and maybe even a little lust. To the skeptics and cynics, Valentine's Day is nothing but a reason to stick your head in the sand and loathe those who believe there is something to celebrate."

Ill go to the wine library when they have sales to check out what they have, otherwise their prices seem high to me. Same goes for Gary's, very friendly and helpful staff, great bread from sullivans, great store set-up, interesting wine and gourmet items to browse but their pricing isnt all that great. A few years ago I bought the Roederer L'Ermitage Brut from Gary's and while shopping at the local liquor store in stirling found the same bottle for almost 10 dollars less at Stirling World Of Liquors (note this isnt the liquor store next to dunkin donuts but is across the street from the shop rite and right next to the Thai Thai Cuisine restaurant, which by the way serves some decent thai). The Stirling store has a nice selection and a new small wine room and have some great deals but probably not worth the ride from bergen county.

I do a lot of shopping at Wegmanns. Mostly for meat and produce. There is a difference even between the Princeton and Bridgewater locations. The meat selection is far better at the Princeton location. I do not know the reason for this but if you visit both stores and pay particular attention to the meat section I am sure you will agree. On another note, my mother grew up in Woodbridge and I visited my grandparents throughout my childhood in Woodbridge. I love Woodbridge and almost purchased my grandparents house after they had passed away but Like it or not it is a different demographic than Princeton. I'm not sure what the store will stock but I think Rail Paul raises valid points about how the store will be set up. I'm not sure why some are so quick to assume the worst about peoples comments on this board some time.

Thanks so much for the replies.

Has anyone ever been to La Casa Bianca in Whitehouse? They have a web site at .La Casa Bianca -- Click Here Curious about what others have heard. Thanks

He might mean Harding township. I'm not sure I would call it as northern NJ. Between Basking Ridge and Madison, close to the great swamp. Anyway, I know of no decent butchers in the area. Sorry. I used to live a couple towns away and faced the same issue. Best you could do is Wegmans in Bridgewater and even that is pushing it. Kings meat in my opinion has gone way down. Except for a limited few finding a great butcher in any part of NJ is a problem. Have to go to the city in my humble opinion.

Thanks for the info. 15.00 seems reasonable enough for a corkage fee. They are probably wary of causing any disturbances with their loyal diners.

Unfortunate to me, maybe not to others buy it appears Scalini Fedeli is getting a liquor license. I called to secure some coveted holiday reservations this afternoon and was informed they will most likely have the license by than. We usually go at least once a month but havent been in a while do to house moving and were quite surprised by the news. I'm afraid we wont be able to make it there quite as often with the added cost of booze on the bill. This won't stop us from going entirely just not as much as we'd like. Anyway, just thought I'd let the others know about this news. Maybe Rosie can confirm the date when they will be getting it.

Or the comatose lobster! I went to the Morton's in Orlando once when I was on business. Told the guy I've seen the "presentation of meat, etc" many times and asked him to skip it. Said he'd get in trouble if he didnt do it. Go figure.

Not positive but think it may mean the sour cream was added to the table after the potatos were served.

Great review, what detail! Thanks. I probably would not dine at Morton's in NJ only because I think there are better choices for steak around. I know by Tommy's frequent posts he doesnt agree but I still believe The River Palm is the best for steak in NJ. When on business and not familiar with the area I have eaten at Morton's on many occasions, they offer consistently good steak, albeit way overpriced.

Does that make it ok? Makes me feel ill

Tommy, I know you said North Jersey but I posted about a cheesesteak review a few months ago. A reporter from the courier news tried different cheesesteak places from mainly around central NJ over a course of 2 months. He then crowned a winner. He's from Philly, states he's been eating cheesesteaks since 1971 and kept stating how nothing compared to the Philly cheesesteaks. He doesnt have good things to say about Pats and Ginos as well. Its an interesting read and he did a special about his favorites in Philly as well. http://www.c-n.com/c-n/cheesesteak/ His Philly favorites: http://www.c-n.com/news/c-n/story/0,2111,5...,549327,00.html

I read all the posts in the various forums here regarding Wegman's "irradiated ground beef" but has anyone actually tried it yet? Curious about how it tastes. I used to eat my burgers rare but have been successfully scared into ordering them at least medium well at restaurants. When I desire a rare burger at home, I break out the food grinder.

My wife and I dined at Epernay this past Thursday and we thouroughly enjoyed our meal. We have been eager to get to Epernay and try the cote de boeuf ever since reading Rosie’s post about it. We made it to the restaurant without incident using the website’s (http://www.epernaynj.com) directions. It’s about a five minute drive from the #148 gs parkway exit. Parking can be a bit of a problem but a few trips around the block yielded a prime spot. There were outdoor tables set up but with the heat we decided to sit indoors. Tables inside are very close together but as this is supposed to be a bistro atmosphere this did not bother us in the least and added to the experience. It never got to crowded while we were there but could imagine it could get quite noisy on a packed evening. As soon as you sit down a yummy baguette is placed directly on the white paper lined tables. Our server promptly arrived with menus, opened our wine (byob) and recited the "plat du jour" (special entrée of the evening), although I did have to ask the price. Menu selection did not take long as we knew we wanted the cote de boeuf special which was 56.00 for two. The cote de bouef is an aged bone-in cut of prime rib for two. We knew the entrée would be plenty of food for us but had to try some appetizers. We definitely wanted the mussels, which come in two sizes appetizer or entrée, and in 3 different sauces, we opted for the garlic and white wine. My wife also spotted the steak tartare, which she loves but rarely sees on menus, so we had to have that as well. Appetizers arrived and we immediately knew we were going to have a lot of food. Mussels came piping hot in an overflowing cast iron pan. They were thoroughly clean, not a trace of sand, about medium sized and the broth was so good I almost wanted to drink it. Steak tartare was served with toast points, some field greens and gerkins. It was excellent and a hearty portion as well. Nicely timed wait between appetizers and entrée. The cote de boeuf arrived sliced on a large platter with the rib bone separated, roasted garlic still in the clove and a light brown almost kind of au jus. You are given a plate with rosemary steak frites and field greens as well. You could definitely taste the aged beef flavor and all I can say is it was fantastic. We ate and ate until we could eat no more and had the leftovers including the rib bone wrapped up to take home. Had no room for coffee or dessert so cannot comment on that. Two very minor complaints... Our server never checked back with us after the appetizer or entrée was delivered. I think it is imperative, even more so when the specialty of the evening is meat, to check with the table to make sure the meat is cooked to the diners liking, that the order is correct and everything is ok. She did not seem to be "in the weeds" (busy or overwhelmed), maybe she just forgot? Cant know for sure on that one. Second minor complaint was we had ordered the meat MR and it came to the table an undeniably rare. Maybe the chef couldn’t bear cooking it more than the traditional rare, not sure on that one either. It was so good it didn’t make a difference though and I could have summoned the server if we wished to have it cooked more. Otherwise, service was excellent, prompt greeting, ordering, good timing, offered dessert menus without having to ask, quick check drop and pick up, and inviting us to come back soon. We will definitely be going back and are eager to try the other “plat du jours”. Food bill with two appetizers, the special entrée, bottle of sparkling water and tax was roughly 90 dollars. Thanks to Rosie for making us aware of Epernay.

Quoted from epicurus "Fine butchers and meat purveyors dry age all of their fresh USDA Prime meat to perfection by holding it in coolers at a temperature of 34-38 degrees F. They age beef for four to six weeks. Veal and lamb are young, delicate and tender, and are hung in our coolers for no more than a week. Aging produces beef that is naturally tender and flavorful. Nothing the cook does to add flavor in the kitchen is a substitute for starting with properly aged meat. There are two types of aging: Dry aging and wet aging. Dry aging is the choice of the discriminating chef. The wet aging process involves sealing meat in airtight Cryovac bags. Wet aging does less to enhance flavor and tenderness than dry aging. Dry-aged meat is increasingly difficult to find because the process is expensive and time-intensive. During dry aging, the meat´s natural enzymes act as a tenderizer, breaking down the connective tissue that holds the muscles. At the same time, the evaporation of moisture improves texture. Dry aging continues until a thin coating develops on the meat surface. The coating seals in flavor and juices during aging, and is then trimmed off. Loss of weight results from the evaporation of moisture and from trimming, and both of these processes add to the cost of dry aging meat. "

Extremely kid friendly. Not great but decent, well prepared fresh food at reasonable prices. I would not clasify them as a chain although they are owned by the same corporation being Growth Enterprises. Willies Tavern: Bedminster - Morris The Store: Basking Ridge - Morris Thirsty Turtle (more of a bar/restaurant): Bernardsville - Morris Link: http://www.growthrestaurants.com/

For bacon lovers, here is a bacon of the month club link: http://www.gratefulpalate.com/ Heard Mario on the food network raving about it.