tkrongold

Hi. Passed this place today on Valley Rd. Has anyone tried it?

Bella Napoli (the original on Bloomfield Ave) used to be great. I remember going there 20 years ago & having wonderful clams oreganto, veal valentino, & great canoli for $15/pp. I felt when they opened the second place on Broad St, both went downhill. It is kind of weird that the original place keeps opening & closing.

thanks, Rosie. i'll ck the other posts. i found out that Cafe D'Amici is the old Bella Napoli on Bloomfield Ave in Clifton. I called & they told me that the woman who had been the owner for the last 2 yrs left & new owners took over. since the quality had gone down recently, they felt it was better to change the name. they told me that all the original cooks have come back. might be worth a try again.

There may be another thread on these already, but has anyone tried these & if so, what's the consensus? Oyster Bay in Fairfield Osteria Giotto in Montclair Cafe D'Amici in Clifton Thanks.

thanks, Rosie, but i think my husband would kill me if i went without him! we'll catch up with the group at the nxt outing. thanks.

Hi, Lou. Loved dinner at your restaurant. Sorry it took me so long to post - I've been down with a cold all week! Anyway, we really enjoyed it & were going to bring some friends this wk but I wanted to wait until I was feeling better. Everything was great - the food, service, atmosphere. Thanks for the invite. We'd love to join an eGullet outing.

Thanks, Lou. We'll be there at 6 tonight. Terry

hi. i've been trying to find a website for "An American Grill." I know Chef Lou is a frequent contributor to the NJ board & i know it consistently gets raves so we thought we would head out to Randolph for dinner tonight, but i was wondering if there is a website so we can check out the menu. thanks!

This is why I love egullet - reliable answers & information to all your food issues! Thanks for all the recommendations.

thanks. i was just reading about the Solis Maestro.

it works well for a little while & then you literally have to shake it to move the beans down into the burr. the old Krups (non-burr) from years ago worked better.

Hi. Need to buy a new burr grinder. The DeLonghi we bought about a year ago only works now if you "shake" the grinder to move the beans down (not very good!). Appreciate any & all recommendations. Thanks.

Has anyone been here yet? Comments?

staying in. my husband & I are having friends over for a dinner of lobster tails (with Prosecco), coq au vin (with wonderful red wine brought by our resident wine guru), & double chocolate souffles for dessert; with Schramsberg champagne at midnight. definitely agree with the Yogi-ism previously quoted!

Just returned from a wonderful week in Vienna; the highlight of which was dinner at Steirereck. We had the 5-course menu with accompanying wines. The food & the service were fabulous. Thanks to Charley & the rest of the e-Gullet folks for recommending it. We also went to Korso in the Bristol Hotel which was very good. Of course, being a dessert freak I had to go to Demel & as many other cafes as possible. Loved the ambience of Demel (& the Sacher Torte was great), but the service left a little to be desired. I was disappointed we didn't get to Cafe Hawalka for the nighly Buchteln, but it gives me a reason to go back! Had a great casual dinner at Konigsberg (I think that was the name), a couple of blocks from the Bristol. Great Weiner Schnitzel. Sampled many Gruner Veltliners. We loved Vienna. Thanks for the recommendations. Terry

many thanks for the great suggestions. TK

yes, would love to hear the other suggestions. thanks.

Need to meet some friends from South Jersey in the Red Bank area this Sunday. Has anyone been to Two if by Sea? Menu on their website looks good, but would like eGulleter's opinions. Thanks!

We were also at the Tasting menu last week. Really great atmosphere. Loved the branzino & the ravioli. Though the lamb loin was good, Ryan's rack of lamb beats it by a mile. The streudel was the best. I agree with adegiulio that the DePersio family knows what they're doing here.

Had an outstanding dinner (again) last night at Fascino. There were four of us in our party - two of us had the ravioli appetizer (with the braised beef), one person had the squash soup & the fourth had the squash blossoms stuffed with crabmeat. Winners all around. For the main course, three of us had the rack of lamb coated with majoram - fabulous! The fourth person had the salmon coated with olives (which I've had before & it is great). Oh, & a side of the terrific polenta fries. Desserts consisted of two of the molten chocolate cakes with hazlenut ice cream & two of us had the apple crostata. Really wonderful. We had 6:30 reservations & the place was mobbed when we walked in. Basically, there was not an empty table all night. Nice to see a restaurant with great food, good service, & nice people really take off.

We went to Jefferson's last week. My husband had the biscuits & grits, which he said were good. I had an omelette which was pretty good. Service was good.

we're going this Saturday & can't wait to try the polenta fries. we haven't been in about a month & polenta fries weren't on the menu last time.

Rosie, Thanks for the tip about Jefferson's in Montclair. We love southern breakfasts & will ck it out. TK

Try the Crema Amaretto - wonderful after dinner drink (you can only get this at Jerry's).

Allie, I know what you mean about good breakfast places (& not diners). I am constantly on the search for this. On Watchung Ave in Montclair there is a place called Bluestone. The coffee is great (they roast their own beans on the premises); the breakfast food is good (not great), but at least it's not a diner. It has a nice coffee house-type atmosphere. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Raymond's on Church St in Montclair. Each time I've been, the food has been mediocre & the service worse, but it's mobbed all the time, so I am probably the only one who has had this experience there. Had breakfast at Fink's a few wks ago & it was very good. I went to Smokejack's in Burlington last year & it was really good. Please post if you try any of the recommendations already posted or if you find any new places. Thanks.