GoodEater

I'm so glad they listened to me lalaland! But seriously, I'm glad you have a great meal there as Glen Rock needs a good high-end place like Rocca.

[ To me, leaving that last segment on the tail in a soup, stew, pasta or whatever is an abomination. What that means is that I have to mess up my hands to get the last bit out and it is an awkward operation at best. In my mind, unless you are dealing with boiled shrimp, fried shrimp or whatever, peel the damned thing all the way or nothing. 99% of the dining population do not want to eat shrimp shells. The habit is just dumb. Cute is fine as long as it doesn't make my dining more difficult. After that, cute is just an aggravation.] Fifi- You said it perfectly. It is inevitable that this happens when you have on a white shirt and you are eating shrimp with a dark red sauce- How AGGRAVATING!!!

Wow- This restaurant looks and sounds great. Have to get there soon! Only one problem - saying the name of the place could get you into trouble in the wrong circles!

Hey Britcook- I was just kidding about being off-balanced. I only had two glasses, which is not that much for me. I was at work by 8:00 AM this morning earning an honest living.

If the wines were so out of balance they would not sell and the producers would be forced to modify their techniques. My taste in wine has changed over the years and I really like a full bodied powerful wine. I think the big reds zinfindels go extremely well with spicy foods and beef dishes. Of course- everyone knows that a great deal depends on what food is on your table if a wine will work with it or not. Perhaps their is some snob appeal to drinking European (read French) wines and they simply are not competing as well against the Californians. Especially in the $10 to $15 "table" priced wines. For everyday table wines they simply cannot compete in price, quality and taste- especially with the Euro being so high against the dollar. Edit: Last night I opened a 2001 Ravenswood (Lodi) Zinfandel. Cost $13.98 including tax. Very nice wine indeed. This morning the only thing off-balanced was me!

Glen Rock is west of Northvale. It is around 15 or so miles west of Manhattan. Very close to Paramus. (You might know this town because of all of the shopping malls there.) Take Route 4 West to Route 208 North and you run into Glen Rock. To get to Rocca take Route 4 West to Route 208 North. Take the first exit for Maple Ave. (This first exit will send you towards Ridgewood) Follow Maple Ave for about 1-1/2 miles until you come to Glen Ave. Make a left onto Glen Ave and follow to the traffic light. This is Rock Road. Make a left onto Rock Road and the restaurant is in the first building on the right. Normal travel time (without traffic) from the 40's and the West Side Hwy is around 35 minutes (without speeding). I hope this helps you out. Let me be the first to welcome you to the rural countryside known as northern New Jersey.

Yes Larry- your rep is totally ruined! As punishment- the only places you will be allow to eat at are Chuck E. Cheese or Medieval Times!

Casa Vasca- YUM! One of the best in the Ironbound section.

Checked out Rocca last night. Started with the Grilled Shrimp Spiedini. This dish was uninspired. Three little shrimp that were grilled well but the polenta on the side had no taste. Added salt and that helped a little but this appetizer was not a winner. Split this dish with the wife. Moved on the pasta and shared the Garganelli with mushrooms. Really good- Pasta was fresh and cooked perfectly. Mushrooms were great. Sauce was a little flat. Adding salt, pepper and cheese helped out a great deal. Could have used a little more garlic flavor for me as well. Main courses- I had the Beef Tenderloin. Cooked rare. Wonderful dish- Topping melted on top of the beef was a mixture of blue cheese and walnuts. Served over sauted slices of potatos ( cut in the style of steak fries) and also over some excellent brocolli rabe. The wife had the Scallops with Israeli Couscous. He dish was very good. Excellent sauce (must have been made with fish stock) The only problem was that she hit some sand in the scallops. At the $23 price range for her entree this should not have happened. They really should do the salted water and cornmeal purging of their bivalves for a few hours to make certain that they are clean (inside and out). Service was very very good, but there were only two other tables occupied as it was getting "late" in Glen Rock, so it was a different experience had their been more people in the place. One of the owners (Mike) asked us how everthing was at the end of meal and we told him that we were looking for some more flavors from the Spiedini and the pasta. He was really nice and told us, in effect, that they have to be careful as to not overwhelm the average diner with too much flavor or salt. I understand their predicament as they have to cook toward the "middle level" of taste/flavor as they are trying to please a range of people. This is my problem as my wife and I are "flavor-seekers" and many people complain because the food can overwhelm them. Italian food should be made with passion and , unfortunately, the public can sometimes hold them back from really doing things that way. Forgot to add that we were too full for dessert- another time as they have a pastry chef.

1/2 bottle of wine for two - If a full bottle is 5 glasses than a 1/2 bottle is 2-1/2 glasses. 2-1/2 divided by 2 = 1-1/4 glass per person. According to my math -- - I don't think I'll be buying any 1/2 bottles soon. (Except dessert wines!)

I took a chance and wasted a meal. I can look at this as research/recognaziance for E-gullet! It was better than most fast food but I could have picked up some really good cold noodles in sesame sauce for about 1/2 the price I paid for my noodle dish. Fortuantly for me this research only cost $20.00 . With some of the prices restaurants are charging I go away easy on this mediocre meal

I ate at the Wild Noodles in Ridgewood and I was not too impressed. My wife had a rice noodle dish that had no flavor. She added soy sauce and the red chili paste they had on the table and that helped her dish. I had the Bangkok Peanut Noodles and they had more flavor than the rice noodles but the problem was that it was swimming in oil. I got an extra bowl and poured off several extra tablespoons of oil. Everything is stir-fried in woks and I guess the "chef" thought the more oil the better. The ingredients were fresh and the place was clean-but it is true what LJC was saying about trying to be all things to all people. It simply doesn't work most of the time and sadly that is the case with Wild Noodles. The set-up is that you place your order at the counter, they give you a number that you place on a stand on a table and then food runners bring the food out to your table. Soft drinks and iced tea are self-serve from a fountain station. The runners were very hospitable as they offfered to refill drinks and asked if they could get you anything. The design and set-up of the restaurant and service is very kid friendly so that might be their saving grace as parents can bring kids of any age here without worry.

Their pizza is very good- but coming from the New York/ Northern New Jersey area their are many places around here that are just as good or better than Pizzaria Bianco. I waited 1-1/2 hours the first and last time I went there and it was not worth the wait when I could get pizza as good around home without any wait for a table. It is certainly not the best pizza in the country. I think the problem is that most of the country does not have good pizza so when people try a good pizza for the first time they are suprised at how good it tastes. This is like comparing a McDonald's Big Mac to a really good 100% sirlon burger cooked perfectly rare at a good pub/steakhouse place- simply no comparision. It's easy to blow away Pizza Hut/ Domino's/crummy mom and pop places by just putting in a little effort to get better ingredients and cook the crust so it is not just like regular soggy taste-less bread.

Throw it out or use it for firewood. You want a flat board so things stay where you put them. Also your knife could slip in an unexpected way if it hits a "raised" area of the warpped board. Don't risk cutting yourself over a few dollars. Spend a little bit more on the next board that will last for years to come. There are some other theads in the site about cutting boards but I did not see one about unwarping a board. It is interesting to read about how wood boards are safer to use than plastic in terms of cleanliness and bacterial contamination.

I love a good falafel! The only problem with eating them is that many joints and carts put the falafel balls/ patties in the bottom of the pita; then put in all of the vegetables; then finally pour tahini on top of the vegetables. This means that you are eating the items separatly many times. A properly cooked falafel need some of the tahni sauce to add the right amount of moisture back into it. I would like to give suggestions to all falafel makers out there- (1) please look at making several layers of falafel, veggies and sauce in the one pita bread so that the different ingredients can be enjoyed throughout the sandwich. Often I will reassemble it the sandwich to make the ingredients fit my preferred arrangement. (2) Patties are much easier to eat than balls as they can be arranged better. I also think that patties cook quicker than balls so this tends to give you a crispier/ less oily end product. The patties also tend to not fall apart and push out of the sandwich as you are biting down as is the case with falafel balls. I am just a home cook and I know that trying to make these sandwiches quickly to handle high volume might make the assemble process I prefer difficult as it would add additonal steps in the process. This is just feedback from a long-time falafel eater. (My first on was way back in 1974!)

My wife and I were cleaning our boat and she got a drop of On/Off boat cleaner in her eye. We should have been wearing googles but we weren't. The cleaner is a mix of hydrochloric and Oxcylic (sp?) acid. Very nasty stuff for removing scum from the bottom of the boat. She took out her contact lense, we rinsed her eye with water and then called my father who is a doctor. He told us that before we headed to the hospital that we should put some olive oil into her eye as this would keep it lubricated for the 20 minute trip. We were out of olive oil so we used some regular Wesson oil. We got to the hospital and they immediately flushed her eyes out with a sterile solution. She got lucky as she had no major damage ( the contact lense helped to block out the cleaner). However, the inside of her eyelid suffered minor burning and irritaion. We don't know how much the oil helped but in an emergency it did keep her eye properly lubricated. I never would have thought to use oil and would not have done so without professional advise. Who knew? The one caution is that you should not use butter on any burns on your skin as it can increase the infection risk.

I can't tell you in any detail yet because I only had the one take out dish. But based upon on curry dish and just looking at the presentation of the meals brought out to the diners it seems to be a little more refined cooking in terms of overall plate presentation and the chef's knife skills (especially with the veggies). Freshness and flavor was very good at River Kwai. Wondee's is usually very good as well but I will let you know more after I have additonal dishes. I am going for next week to try some more dishes and I can then give you a more complete comparision. I will definitely be going to both places as I work in Fairfield and I have a relative who lives in Hackensack. So I will simply be FORCED to patronize both places. Some of us have to SUFFER!

Smoramarco got insulted real easily. She doesn't get the New Jersey sense of humor. She should have played Tommy's fun game. Could have been some great back and forth.

I had a Thai curry (take-out) for lunch. It was the Gang Keow Whan. This dish is green curry with bamboo shoots, Thai eggplants, Thai basil , red pepper and coconut milk. It was just the right spiciness. Price was $7.35 with tax -There was a choice of beef, chicken or Pork (Shrimp or Calamari was $2.00 extra). It came in a pint sized container with a 1/2 pint of white rice on the side. This was a really very good dish. Vegtables we fresh and we not overcooked. Sauce was a thin coconut sauce that could have used a bit more curry flavor- but overall it was a very good Thai dish. I asked the woman working there a few questions and she told me they opened on July 4. I also found out that the restaurant is owned by the same family that owns Tuptim in Montclair. I am certain that I wll return with my wife for a more complete dinner sometime soon. On a previous post I said from a quick look that the place could hold 50-60 people but it is more like 38 people ( I had time to get a good chair/ bench count while I was waiting.) Also saw some really nice looking dishes coming out of the kitchen to dinners in the restaurant. Plating technique looks very good. This place has a good background (Tuptim) and it is great to have it so close to Fairfield. Thanks all for now

I heard some comedian on the radio say: " Camping- what a stupid vacation- I work all year long so I can pretend I'm homeless for a week." Just having fun with all you campers!

River Kwai is open. I drove by yesterday and they had a grand opening banner out. As I already had dinner planned for yesterday I did not pick up any food. But I am going to get lunch there today. I picked up a menu and it looks to be fairly complete with around 132 dishes listed. Menu headings are: Appetizers, salad, soup, Thai favoirtes, Thai curry, Thai Barbecue, Thai seafood, Thai duck, River Kwai Chef' s specials,Thai noodles, Thai fred rice, Vegitarian menu, rice, dessert and beverages. They have split the menu between lunch prices and dinner prices on all of the dishes. The menu states right on the front, " No Lunch Menu On Weekends & Holidays." From a quick look it seems as if they can seat around 50-60 people. They had paper table coverings over all of the table so it is a very casual enviroment. Front wall of the place is all windows as it is in many NJ-type typical small strip mall. The overall look of the place is clean and uncluttered. (Some fancy Thai restaurants look like Thai shrines/palaces-as I sure most of you already know) Price range looks to be moderate for a Thai place. Apps range from $4.95 to $6.95 and dinner entrees range from around $7.95 to $16.95. Lunch entrees run from $6.95 to $14.95. On the bottom of the menu they have printed in red ink a small red pepper and right next to it "MEAN SPICY". This reminded me of another thread about funny misspellings on menus. Of course they meant to say MEANS SPICY. But hopefully their hot dishes are "mean spicy" because I prefer a great deal of heat in a dish that is supposed to be spicy. This could be a new saying for me- "WOW! That's mean spicy." Let's hope it is. Well after all of this I hope that the food is better than good. I will send a report soon. The address is Totowa Plaza- 400 Minnisink Road, Totowa, NJ. Tel # 973-812-8488 or 973-812-8489. It is BYOB and they accept Visa and Mastercard. To put everyone's mind at ease- I have NO affiliation with this restaurant but I just love Thai food ( but I guess could say that about all foods that are well prepared and well presented!!!)

You may want to add a Talisker Single Malt 10 Year- From the Isle of Skye. This one has a very distinct smokey flavor that you will either love or hate. Either way I'm certain that you'll find someone who will drink it if you don't like it. It's not too hard to give away scotch!

As to my last post I forgot to mention that there is a sign up on the window of River Kwai which says, "Coming Soon". I only drove by and saw the place from a distance. I will walk up to the place soon and take a closer look to see how far along they are with the construction.

Sorry to not carry on the thread but I could not post a new one. Just want to pass along new info on to everyone- A new Thai restaurant is coming to Totowa! Location is in the small strip mall right off the exit ramp for Riverview Drive off Route 46 West. It is just behind where the Applebees is and in the same plaza as Soprano's Pizza. They have a sign up which says "River Kwai Thai Restaurant". As of yesterday they still had paper over the storefront window. I pass by here almost every weekday so I will keep you posted on the progress. I have had many good meals at Wondee's and I will have to try Thai Chef sometime. It will be terrific to have a Thai place so close to my office. Note: Split from Thai Chef topic.

Oh Boy- did I mess up the italics on that last post or what: Sorry about that I never tried to use them before on this site. GE