Lreda

www.anamericangrill.com That should do it. I'll be at work by 4:30. Introduce yourself eitherbefore or after dinner. Lou

Look for Fossil Farms. The offices are in NJ and they have farms in Penn. Ask for Lance. If you have problems contacting them email me and I'll find his email address. D'Artagan carries Wild Boar also. Lou

I can do either.

Fascino's Thursday Feb 26th. 7PM Who's in? Sue and I are in. I'll call and see if we can get a tasting menu. Do they have a liquor license? If not I'll be in charger of the red wine for the later courses. Lou

Hate to say it but from Wayne we're 20 minutes if that. Probably the same distance to Montclair. Tell the boys from Facino we're coming. Most likely after Valentine's day. Tommy, Rock, Ganz, Rail, Rosie, etc. I think we're due for another dinner. I'll bring some wine. Rock's goota drive though. If the boys from Facino have been up by me I wish I'd known. As we all know, egulleteers always introduce themselves after dining. Right Suzy

my definition consists of a place with a bar and a bunch of decent wines by the glass and a decent list on top of that. not easy to find in northern nj for some reason.

Was this the one about the two guys who took a year and a half to open a litle bar/sandwich place in Brooklyn? They also showed successfule restauranteurs like Nierport, Sirio, etc. This was a good movie.

Shit, this might be the best quote I've seen in while. I really fuckin like it! Right up my alley.

Tommy, you have a natural talent for poetry. Words slide off your tounge like Robert Frost.

Thurs afternoon, chilly, we deciding whether to go to Craft or Craftbar. Craft is 1/2 full at 2 pm, Craftbar, 4 tables and us at the bar. 2 glasses of Cable Bay Chard from New Zealand, $12 per. OK wine but not much of a choice in the $9-$15 range. Couple of Sav Blancs at $10. Bartender attentive early on, we recieve water and no hustle of whether we'd like still or sparkling. Apps: A delicious soup of winter cabbage, pastina, chicken broth. My SO has a salad of greens with mustard dressing. Soup is great, salad good. Middle course of salumi : Cappacola, proscuitto, duck proscuitto, speck, etc. Some were a little oily which ran into the dryer pieces. A large assortment for $19, but the running of the oil meant we had to eat quickly. Main course: By now there are two wine salespersons and a cheese salesperson selling the sommieier at the bar. I always like to look from the outside to see how salespeople aproach the buyers from restaurants. We order 2 glasses of Chassagne-Montrachet (sic), food arrives, I had veal meatballs which were served in a light tomato based sauce, $19 delicious. My SO has a panini of arugola & proscuitto which is very dry and tasteless save the bread which is tasty. My water glass has been empty for 15 minutes as our bartender is now tasting cheese and wine. I know it's 3 pm and they're slow at this point but we're the only ones at the bar and we're three seats from the tasting. The managers are now coming over from Craft for the tasting and no one looks in on us for at least 20 minutes. I leave one of the three meatballs as I'm full and my SO leaves 1/2 the panini, no one asks if we want to take it with us or if everything was allright. Dessert & cordial list is dropped but as I feel they want to move on with the day and the paperwork they've been taking care of with 5 people from management behind the bar we decline and hit Starbucks. I'd go back as I've been there in the past and never had a problem and don't feel anything that happened was so bad that I have ill-feelings. I'd just avoid the deadly 2pm-3:30pm dead time in the middle of the day.

If you're looking in a 60 mile area, I'd be willing to listen to an offer for my place. Soooooo, would every other owner in the tri-state area. I wish you luck in your search. Godspead! Lou

Anyone been lately? Went yesterday and found it uneven.

Funny thing though, I don't have any Turley. Thursday is good for me.

Me too. Let's try Feburary though.

I've been meaning to get to this and will expound as soon as I'm through with work. We had the tasting menu last year which was very good, not excellent but very good. We ordered off the menu this year and what a mistake. I should have gone with the pasta tasting menu but I had eaten at 2pm and we sat at 5:30. It was simple put, average. The sommieier led us to a 93' Barbareco that I waited to open up and never did. Good thing I had 4 quartino's at Otto earlier. I'm going back in Feburary and will sit at the bar and have the tasting menu.

What is egullets policy of selling or trading wine? I've got some California & Italian wines that I will not be able to sell in my restaurant. To tell you the truth, I can't afford to drink them all. If you know me, that won't be a problem but it will be with some regret. I have 4 children between 9-13. College is around the corner.

While I have carried Zenato brands, Pinot Grigio & 83' & 85 Amarone for some time I don't sell a lot of Italian wines ( American restaurant) I am looking to bring in some lower priced selections. What would you all suggest

I have a service I use called Master Grinding. They rotate my knifes. All my chef's have two sets and they are sent out weekly so they have a fresh set each week. Master Grinding has two locations, Rockaway on some side street I can't remember and Rt 53 North in Denville. Ask for Chris or John.

1st of all we smoke, but we plan to stop for the 46th time Jan 3rd. If it's me alone I like to hang at the bar and read, I find it relaxing and you usually will strike up a conversation with the barkeep and eventually he'll remember you and make sure you're taken care of. 2nd, if I'm with Sue and we're in the city, we get to hit a couple of places and maybe have apps in one place and move on and have more apps or a main course. Having a restaurant and only one day to ourselves, we want to get as much bang for the money as possible and I find apps are a sure indictive of a restaurant as anything. 3rd, I'm a bit of a lush and Sue doesn't bitch as much as when we move and she gets a taste of everything. 4th, Sometimes we just pop in a place we're inetersted in just to get a glimpse of what's going on and then decide if we'll return. 5th, Most of the egullet gang that's met me will tell you that I march to the beat of a different drummer and just act on a whim. Best, Lou. P.S. I hope you got the gift certificate in time.

O.K. here goes NJ 1. Strip House Livingston (Excellent service, great steak, wine list needs to be a little more user friendly especially with Calif wines, no Syrah, no Meritage. Big bonus points for moving tables in the lounge so we can smoke and watch the football game) 2. Kyoto (Florham park sushi house with excellent fresh fish and somewhat unusual roll that work most of the time) 3. Luigi's Roxbury ( It helps that I know them well but Aldo & Carlo when encouraged to off the menu never fail to please) 4. Sonoma Grill ( Wonderful hosts who handled a party with soooooo many critics well and came through with flying colors) 5, South City Grill Mt Lakes (A place I hated originally. Have really turned the food around over the last year, music's a little loud but I'm getting a little old. Sucks that I'm off Thursday so if we go there I have to get the fuck out before the kids and the techno start) NYC 1. Beacon. $30.03 meal was the best I had all year. Steak surcharge was $6, so it's actually $36.03. Great arugola salad, Steak was kickass. Souffle for dessert, perfect. 2 1/2 bottle by myself at the bar certainly didn't hurt. 2 Otto My favorite munching place in the city. Bartenders friendly and once you're recognized they hustle to get a seat at the bar quickly without fighting the NYU students slightly buzzed. Pizzas good, not great. Cold poached fish, cheese & saulume always top notch. 3. Gotham Bar & Grill A good stand-by when Sue and I can't think of where to eat. We got to know Mark the Bartender over the last few years and he's always done us good steering us through the menu. Also a place where customers are friendly, mostly drunk and a lot of fun 4. Blue Smoke. Favorite place to knosh on Brisket, 3 styles of ribs, numerous beers to go with taht smokey flavor. Excellent place to sit at the bar and watch a golf major. 5. Morimoto Philadelphia An outstanding meal and a close 2nd to Beacon but only because of price. 9 courses at $120 and $60 for booze, it was sublime. I look forward to some buddies of mine and myself taking the Amtrak to catch a Mets-Phillies game in their new stadium and perhaps a little sidebar to Moromoto. An ellegant, hip, engaging looking restaurant with great tiny lounge upstairs. Misses for 2003 1. Legal seafood Short Hills Mall I don't get it. I ate there twice and it was barely medicore. Not worth the tariff 2. Babbo. Had the tasting menu last year and should have had the pasta tasting menu this year but went Ala Carte. I just didn't enjoy it and I had a $250 Gift certifiacte, it didn't cost much out ofmy pocket. Sommieier, steered me to a 93' Barbaresco that never opened up. Had potential but was limp an hour later. ( I finished it of course. 3. Shakers Eff em' Lou

I have to give this a little thought as this was probably the 1st year I dined in NYC more than Jersey. I'll give a list for both.

Don't forget those magical test tube elixar's that Ganz & Rock enjoyed.

The wine was good enough to knock Sambuca right off the bar. What the hell did we drink that night? Jarvis '93? And thanks for bringing back a oldie but goodie, eff shakers

Comments huh, Oh, Oh!!! Better stop cocktailing in the afternoons. If my comment and outlooks are that memorable, chance are I was slightly iniberiated.

i'll see you at Otto. I'll be there between 3:45 & 4:15