wfnugent

Another nod to Jason - His review of Stickey's will be in the NY Times tomorrow. It isn't often that another man makes me salivate at 6:45 in the morning but Jason's eloquent words did just that. <Sing-Song> Guess where we are going for dinner...Guess where we are going for dinner...

"Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese -- toasted, mostly." Robert Louis Stevenson Dairy...Daily...Delicious (or Delightful, or Delectable) Wipe Your Chin << the kids like this one "It's what Mom says" Sandwiches and Shakes - Day and Night

Mmmmm Moghul Express for lunch. If I hit the lights right, three minutes from the office. Watch them make my chicken dosa through the window. People have been abducted by UFOs smaller than this dosa. So good, such a good value. I've read about it here and elsewhere, looked it up on the net a dozen times, I can't believe I waited so long to actually make the trip. They have a regular customer now. White Rose, White Diamond, Galloping Hill, Syd's and others may see a marked drop in revenue.

Sushi is very much part of the Korean menu. The pieces tend to be larger than in Japan and less artfully presented, at least in the mom and pop shops I went to in Korea and Japan. The top end places at the good Korean hotels were on par with Japan. Something I did not have in Japan that was served in Korea was live octopus. They chopped the tentacles off in front of you and you eat them while it is still wriggling. I have a photo somewhere of the tentacle wrapped around my nose. I did that once - that was enough.

"Many's the long night I've dreamed of cheese -- toasted, mostly." Robert Louis Stevenson ...and now I know where to find it. The whole Nugent family awaits the grand opening. My kids think I am really cool now.

Genius may be too strong a word. Extraordinarily mediocre but devilishly handsome and with a deep affinity for high calorie dairy products served immediately adjacent to fried goodness and too much time on his hands at the office might be a better, wordier description. I kind of liked Hot Buttered Fun, but if you guys like MELT, I defer to the greater egulletness of this esteemed body of experts. All I ask in return is a sandwich and a shake to guide her by.

I like it simple and to the point Glenn's - For Hot Buttered Fun or simpler still.. MELT like Craft or March

Tommy is just fishing for compliments about his meat. My wife stopped at MB yesterday - the steaks were 6.99 per and they were delicious. (T - Seeing KP for lunch tomorrow BTW)

Has anyone tried the new(ish branch of Brooklyn's Pizzeria in Ridgewood yet. The place in Hackensack is quite tasty - I was wondering if they have been able to carry that over to the Town of 65 restaurants and 66 parking spaces.

Innsbruck on our honeymoon - It was late and we had just arrived and checked into the hotel. Wandered out for a late night bite, bith of us being famished. Wife and I wandered into this piano bar cum restaurant and sat at a high table to the bar. The waiter arrived with two glasses of beer and German menus. We asked for English as the last time I ordered off the German menu (mere 24hrs earlier) I ended up with the entire hog's hoof on my plate - hoof and all (I thought I was ordering chicken.) No English menus but his English was as passable as my German. I asked him to bring what he would have - he nodded and disappeared. Along with two more glasses of beer, he brought out two platters of hash browns, done in about a pound (0.45 kg as we are in Switzerland) of butter with 10mm thick slices of marvelous smoked bacon on top and then covered in melted cheese. My wife fretted that she might be a widow after only one week - I was shovelling so fast she thought I might have a heart attack - then she tasted it and thought I might get away with only clogged arteries and an aneurysm. It was good really good. That meal is still 10 years later refered to at the Hash Browns of the Gods.

For dessert - The Strasburg Creamery for a handmade sugarcone. My wife issued a guttural moan as she bit into the spicy crisp cone and fresh blackberry ice cream. The old lady next to us said "I'll have what she's having." Or maybe that was a movie, but the ice creamand the cones kicked. The Creamery Our weekends in and around Amish country usually means days spent with Thomas the Tank Engine or in barns full of antiques - both noble pursuits mind you - but not necessarily Dad's choice. Dinner usually involved beer - Dad's choice. We had a nice meal and very good beer on the deck at Bube's Brewery in Mount Joy. I understand some of the beer dinners and events they do there are quite fun. More Beer

The bakery is right around the corner from our pediatrician's office. You have never seen kids so eager to go to the doctor, when they know Mom is stopping off at the bakery on the way home. The sticky buns and the chocolate muffins are regular faves and there is a loaf of sourdough on the counter as we speak. If I had more hands, I give it four thumbs up.

I have always been reluctant to send something back because of stories my wife tells me from her days working at various better restaurants in Manhattan and the Hamptons. The kitchen staff were not always kind to the food they sent back to the table.

"Butter makes it better...," so said she. It doesn't make this day any easier. Glasses and forks are raised around the world today in honor of a woman who taught us all to love the experience of preparing and sharing good food.

I spent two years on and off in Korea - the food goes soooo far beyond the standard bulgogi and galbi. Stuffed chicken, pork, vegetables, sushi, mandoo, so many different types of gimchee, soup, soup and then more soup.... I didn't love it there, but I did love the food. This blog is a gem. One time I was flying to Korea and we stopped in Anchorage to change crews. As we were landing, the flight attendants asked if anyone on the plane was a medical doctor. Needless to say, our departure was delayed - 30 min, 60 eventually 3 hrs. Finally, after re-boarding and taxiing away from the gate, the same attendant, in broken English, apologized for the long delay to their honored guests because of the very sick, dead passenger. She never said if he had the Western or Korean meal.

The Ciaobella store in the Menlo Park mall closed a few weeks ago, only days after I found it and made it a regular stop. Little settles your stomach after a lunch time session at White Rose System like a little gelato. Apparently they have relocated to New Brunswick.

My wife and I discussed just Saturday night, at a restaurant recommended highly on the boards where we ran into a fellow EGulleter who shall remain nameless, how EGullet has changed our dining experience. If the waitstaff seems approachable or if the chef or owner comes by the table, we regularly tell them how we found out about the restaurant, what we think, what we have heard, etc. Without fail, this has been a positive experience. (Then again, we are not eating in the places that got dragged through the mud either.) Our hosts have on a one or two occasions comp'd us a small amuse bouche or a dessert to share, or just as enjoyably sat with us and talked about their place, their plans, etc. I trust that this is a sign that they appreciated our business, would like to see us again and liked what we had to say. One such a discussion led to an absolutely magical dinner on our first visit on a slow night to a local BYO. The chef came to say hello, we told him how excited we were to be there and how many good things we had heard. He came out a few minutes later with platters and platters, pulling out the stops, and then he and his wife joined us at the table for dinner. Great food, great company and fortunately we had extra very good wine in the car. Needless to say, we go back frequently. Please understand that by no means has this treatment been solicited or expected, but I believe, and I may be getting a bit corny here, it is a function of a community forming among smarter consumers (literally) who want better dining experiences and smarter businessmen who know that these consumers represent their bread and butter (again, literally.)

Veering a bit further off topic and hopefully not falling off my deck in a stupor, I want to try the 4 hour pork shoulder printed in the Times two weeks ago. I may need a case. To pull this jalopy of a post back on to the road, I will serve corn with the pork. Time: About 4 hours 2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons black pepper 2 teaspoons cumin 2 teaspoons mild chili powder, like ancho or New Mexico 2 teaspoons paprika 1 pork shoulder, about 5 or 6 pounds. 1. Start gas grill, using burners only on one side to achieve a heat of 250 to 300 degrees. Put a couple of handfuls of wood chips in a tinfoil pan, and set it over working burners. While grill heats, mix together dry ingredients, and rub them all over pork, including under skin as best you can and in any crevices. 2. Put pork on cool side of grill and cover. Check about 15 minutes later to make sure chips are smoking and heat is below 300 degrees. Check every hour or so in case heat escalates too much or chips need replenishing. 3. Pork is done when it reaches an internal temperature of about 190 degrees, about 4 hours later (less time if you used a smaller piece of pork, more if larger). Meat will be very tender. If you like, raise heat and grill meat to crisp it up a bit. Serve immediately, or refrigerate overnight, slice and grill (or pan-grill) individual slices. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

My timer comes in a brown bottle. Corn on grill...open beer....drink beer...turn corn...open beer....drink beer...serve corn. The corn and I are roasted to perfection.

Growing up, Mom would boil the bejesus out of it and the corn would always come out stale tasting as all of those sweet sweet sugars had had turned to something akin to a substance best used to stiffen shirt collars. The first time we threw it on the grill, it was an epiphany. A number of recipes/cookbooks suggest soaking the ears in water or sugared water for a time before grilling. If the corn is fresh, there is no need. Also, if you pull it off the grill, peel back the husk and find that it is not quite done, throw it back on huskless and let the kernels carmelize and take on a smokey taste. It just makes it better. Some of the ears are bursting. A white juice works inside. Cornsilk creeps in the end and dangles in the wind. Always--I never knew it any other way-- The wind and the corn talk things over together. And the rain and the corn and the sun and the corn Talk things over together. Excerpted from Laughing Corn by Carl Sandburg

This post is rated NC-17 - Nibbling Corn 17 waking hours Hot, salty and buttered. Throw it on the grill, turn at 12-15 min and take off at 25-27. Shuck, eat and smile. also, corn bread, roasted corn salsa, corn ice cream and roasted corn creme brulee. If Homer ate corn instead of donuts....Mmmm....Corn. Is there anything it can't do? I bet corn bread donuts would be pretty great. Have to break out the big fryer.

The family went to Stickey's last night after an appt in Englewood. Service was great - very quick, friendly and attentive. My daughter loved her ribs and said "Dad, this macaroni salad is the best." It was good. Both Larry and his wife came over for a long chat - get that guy going about the merits of mesquite versus white oak sometime. Didn't matter that I couldn't get a word in edgewise as I just kept grunting for some more beef and pork. They really could not have been more pleasant. My 5 yo son asked Larry "Are you Stickey?" to which he answered "Only on occasion." The pork ribs were great - my fave but a little dry. The beef ribs were very good. Coleslaw and mac salad very tasty. The service was excellent. For reasons that astound me, the kids did not want to try the deep fried oreas Larry sent out. That just meant more for my wife and I.

The article is on line, sans pictures of the dogs. NJ.com

My wife and I have been to March twice and were not overwhelmed each time. The food was good, not great; the atmosphere was nice, not super romantic like we had hoped. A great special occasion place is the Culinary Institute in Hyde Park -CIA - we have to each of the restaurants there and never been disappointed (though the French restaurant was a bit too classic for me.) We went once for lunch at American Bounty and had a peach melba for dessert. My wife made a "Meg Ryan in the Diner in Harry Met Sally" noise that I hd never heard her utter before. I had to stab her in the hand with my fork to make sure I got some of the dessert. It is fun, different and the food and the drive to get there are wonderful. There are some very good bed and breakfasts in the area if you can sneak away for an overnight. Good luck Bill

My wife and I like Joel's Malibu Kitchen in Ridgewood. Funky laid back BYO, interesting if a tad ornate presentations. We always enjoy ourselves there. There are a number of threads here re Joel's.