Rosie

You may be talking about Il Forno at 199 Bellevue Ave Upper Montclair. However, he is changing the place and I am not sure if he is keeping the gourmet foods. Phone: 973-744-2665. If there is no answer they are still remodeling and you can call the restaurant which is at 18 S Fullerton Ave, Montclair at 973-233-0800.

They don't serve lunch.

Stretch's 18 E. Mt. Pleasant Ave. Livingston 201-994-4043 BYO

The way these things work one person takes charge and picks a date.

I wanted to clarify that Nicholas Harary is the chef at Nicholas and has always been the chef there. He is at the restaurant by 10 AM braising pigs, putting on stocks and sauces, rolling out dough for the agnolotti, etc. Many nights, his day doesn't end until 4:30 AM when he gets home from picking out fish in the Fulton Fish Market. Corey Heyer was chef de cuisine. Although a chef may have a chef de cuisines it is still the executive chef and in Nicholas’s case the chef/owner who receives credit and acknowledgment the cuisine.

Actually I thought that the Washington Inn would be more formal than it was. I didn't find it to be stuffy. We were there mid-week off season so I don't know if things are different during the summer.

Eastbound or Westbound side?

Both restaurants had an extensive wine list. We had a bottle at both places --one night a shiraz and one night a reisling. Both very good but I don't remember what we had. Also, the Washington Inn has the largest wine list in the area. I was very impressed to see a Veraison and a Turley for a very reasonable $75 on their list.

Zen Japanese Cuisine 277 Eisenhower Parkway Livingston Phone: 973-533-6828 It's in the shopping center by the Livingston Circle.

We had a delightful few days in Cape May. Stayed at the Virginia Hotel which I can highly recommend. This boutique hotel with 24 rooms has won many awards including “best hotel dining room” from New Jersey Monthly magazine. Breakfast is included in the price and will be brought to your room or you can dine on the porch or in one of the parlors. The continental breakfast included a bowl of breads, muffins, croissants, and coffee cakes, yogurt, fresh fruit, jelly, butter, cream cheese, juice and coffee. More than enough to fill you up. We had dinner at the Ebbitt room which is connected to the hotel. Executive Chef Andrew J. Carthy and his staff do an excellent job. We started with an amuse of carrot soup topped with tuna tartar that was served on a porcelain spoon. Appetizers were a beautifully presented an artichoke, olive and fresh herb salad with sweet peppers, crisp parmesan and oregano vinaigrette; fennel dusted sea scallops with crisp polenta, tomato marmalade and scallions and fabulous crispy calamari with organic greens and lime-ginger aioli. We particularly liked the crunchy tempura type of batter used on the calamari. Entrees were a perfectly cooked halibut with butter poached shrimp and spinach and potato gnocchi; and one of the best pheasant dishes I have had in a long time. The pheasant was not overcooked or dry which is often the case. A lemon tart was a light perfect ending to our meal. The next night we dined at The Washington Inn where Chef Mimi Wood oversees the kitchen and does a great job with sauces. This was also a memorable meal that started off with a sea scallop stuffed with a lobster salad. Appetizers were a squash sweet potato soup and a dandelion/raddichio salad. I loved the addition of sweet potato to the squash soup and found the dandelion to be an interesting addition to the salad. It wasn’t as bitter as I expected and wouldn’t hesitate to order this salad again. Entrees were a scrumptious black sea bass with clams and a delicious roasted salmon with an artichoke sauce. We were stuffed and had some sorbet for dessert. Pictures are here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=mo...&album=306&st=0

10/31: http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=e...UVFeXk2NjA2MzQ2 You may need to register to see this site. Takes a second.

Jason has an excellent write up of "Mo'Pho Vietnamese Noodle Soups and More" in the NJ section of the NY Times. p. 12. Congratulations. Is that your picture also?

I goofed. Sorry and thanks for pointing out the mistake.

Sorry about that. Closing are not necessarily listed the exact month the restaurant has closed. I will talk to my editor about the openings and closings but I have no control over the layout of the page.

I prefer Stretches in Livingston which has a more extensive menu. We don't like the Chicken Savoy as it is too acidic. Can recommend the Chicken Murphy and their special pasta with cheese (it's not on the menu). Stretches is BYO.

Origin is BYO.

Restaurant 89 is not BYO. Origin in Somerville. Limestone in Peapack.

Click Here: http://www.njmonthly.com/rosie/rosiemain.html

I usually pick a few wines and point them out to the sommelier. I have had sommelier's tell me that if I like those wines I would be happy with such and such wine that is of a lower price. I don't feel I am being steered wrong when this happens. I believe this was the case at Nicholas Restaurant in Red Bank. I also found Terri Baldwin from The Bernards Inn to be especially helpful in picking out wines and not steering us to a more expensive bottle. Also, the wine list at Amanda's in Hoboken is very user friendly and the manager Jeff is very helpful. They have three price points with a list of $22, $28, $38, $48 and a reserve list with many choices. This way you can zoom in on the price you want to pay. Their early bird special offers a bottle for $15. At restaurants where I have dined often and the staff knows me I tell them I would like a certain wine, in a certain price range and have them pick it out. Always do this at Zoe's By the Lake in Sparta. The owner worked at The Rainbow Room, NYC before opening this restaurant and has always been on target. We once had three bottles of the same wine opened at a NJ restaurant and the cork broke off all three times. We kept the third bottle because we were embarrassed not to. (I know--we shouldn't have) and the wine was horrible. The wine captain made no effort to suggest another bottle. It seems that the restaurant inherited the wines from the previous owner. Needless to say we never returned. Also, many years ago we were offered port during a prix-fixe dinner. We assumed the port was included in the dinner. It wasn't and the price of a small glass was almost as high as the food bill. Now we ask.

There are so many great places in Montclair which is right next to Clifton.

Use of garlic is hefty and although the food is good I don't think I would drive from NYC to dine there. They serve an addictive garlic dip with the bread. I checked my notes and the last time I was there was in 1997.

You know I drive by Dim Sum frequently and have never been. I was wondering if it was a take-out as it doesn't look like a sit-down place from the car! Never been but I think that it is a "regular" Chinese restaurant. We like Hunan Cottage on Rt 46 in Fairfield.

Perryville Inn received 3 1/2 stars in the Star Ledger 10/24/04. Has anyone been here recently?

Chakra received a VERY GOOD from David Corcoran in the NJ section of The New York Times 10/24/04

Tommy--Where did you go for dinner on Tuesday 10/19?