NJ Restaurants I Want To Try This Year

[Rosie]

What restaurants are on your list to try in 2004? I'd like to try some of the new restaurants in Asbury Park. Other places on my list are Anton's At The Swan, Cafe Sorriso (Branchburg), Stockton Inn, Christians (Teaneck), Trabelli's Ristorante, (Old Bridge) and Lila (Frenchtown). Ideally I would love to work my way down my "openings" list on Table Hopping With Rosie.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year.

[steakas]

Saddle River Inn

Moonstruck, Asbury Park

Mignon, Rutherford

Frankie and Johnnie's, Hoboken

Kinchley's Tavern, Ramsey

Whispers, Spring Lake

Rat's, Hamilton

Happy new year everybody!

(edit: I forgot Rat's)

Edited January 1, 2004 by steakas (log)

[tommy]

the only one i'm really looking forward to is Fascino.

[glenn]

You better book now if you wanna get in this year.

[Rich Pawlak]

What restaurants are on your list to try in 2004? I'd like to try some of the new restaurants in Asbury Park. Other places on my list are Anton's At The Swan, Cafe Sorriso (Branchburg), Stockton Inn, Christians (Teaneck), Trabelli's Ristorante, (Old Bridge) and Lila (Frenchtown). Ideally I would love to work my way down my "openings" list on Table Hopping With Rosie.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year.

Rosie, first off, Happy and Healthy New Year!

I hope your list will grow to include :

Mambo's , fabulous Puerto Rican in Trenton

Chambers Walk Cafe and Enzo's in Lawrenceville

Goodfella's, a surprisingly good Italian chain op in East Windsor

Chapala, very good Mexican in Hamilton

All 5 were very good experiences, repeatedly so, for me this past year.

[Rosie]

Thanks for the list. Been to Enzo's and thought the food there was great.

[jhlurie]

Rosie... have you tried Felice in Oradell yet? It's run by the guy who runs the excellent Diner in Oradell.

steakas - get thee to Kinchley's!

Rosie, I'd like to hear the scoop on Christian's. All I know about it is that every few months somebody posts about it like it just opened up or something.

[Rosie]

Haven't been to Felice. It's on my list. Ditto with Christian's. Last week we tried many new restaurants (all were very good) and this week I am paying for it by spending as much time as possible on the treadmill.

[jo-mel]

Rosie -- slightly off-topic. Do you know why Ocean King, in Livingston, (which replaced North Sea Village) didn't reopen in a new area, ----when that block of stores closed down?

They had some good Shanghai dishes, and their Lion's Head Casserole meatballs had just the right texture that I like in those meatbals. I had them recently at China 46, and the texture was simply like a meatball -- not that special gelatinous density that I have come to expect. Ocean King also had a noodle dish with a gravy-like sauce that was great.

I was sorry to hear that they left, but didn't know if they plan to reopen in a different area.

Would you know anything about it?

What is it with my fav restaurants? Another one that left, was Empress Garden in Essex Green shopping center. They had a Beef with Pickled Mustard that was wonderful. They made their own pickle and it was a great dish. I haven't seen the dish anywhere else. It's probably out there somewhere --- just not the places I go, I guess.

[Rich Pawlak]

What restaurants are on your list to try in 2004?  I'd like to try some of the new restaurants in Asbury Park.  Other places on my list are Anton's At The Swan, Cafe Sorriso (Branchburg),  Stockton Inn, Christians (Teaneck), Trabelli's Ristorante, (Old Bridge)  and  Lila (Frenchtown). Ideally I would love to work my way down my "openings" list on Table Hopping With Rosie.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year.

I must also add the new Capital Rotisserie ( a really awkward name), across from the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, a terrific restaurant featuring rotisseried meats and fowl as well as some fabulous other dishes from ex-Yardley Inn Exec Chef David Cunningham. A truly sensational, quirky restaurant.

[Rosie]

Rosie -- slightly off-topic. Do you know why Ocean King, in Livingston, (which replaced North Sea Village) didn't reopen in a new area, ----when that block of stores closed down?

They had some good Shanghai dishes, and their Lion's Head Casserole meatballs had just the right texture that I like in those meatbals. I had them recently at China 46, and the texture was simply like a meatball -- not that special gelatinous density that I have come to expect. Ocean King also had a noodle dish with a gravy-like sauce that was great.

I was sorry to hear that they left, but didn't know if they plan to reopen in a different area.

Would you know anything about it?

What is it with my fav restaurants? Another one that left, was Empress Garden in Essex Green shopping center. They had a Beef with Pickled Mustard that was wonderful. They made their own pickle and it was a great dish. I haven't seen the dish anywhere else. It's probably out there somewhere --- just not the places I go, I guess.

Haven't heard a thing about Ocean King.

[coughy]

I would like to work my way through Montclair. There are so many new (and old) restaurants that we have not tried.

[fascino]

Restaurant Nicholas

Le Fandy

Ixora

Rat's

[rozrapp]

...Anton's At The Swan...Trabelli's Ristorante, (Old Bridge) 

We ate at Anton's many years ago, not long after it first opened. Nice place, but the food was very disappointing. I'll be interested to hear what Rosie has to say when she goes there.

As I mentioned in the SamVera thread, we stopped into Trabelli's a few weeks ago to try it for the first time. But, since there were several tables of extremely loud holiday partiers, we decided to leave and try it another time.

First time in '04 restaurants:

Fascino

Le Fandy, Fair Haven

Navesink Fishery, Middletown

Ristorante Mediterraneo, Marlboro

Stage House Inn

Zoe's by the Lake

Whispers, Spring Lake

A restaurant we've been to before but has a new chef: Two if by Sea

Restaurants that we haven't been to in such a long time that they’d be almost like new:

Frog & the Peach -- Though we did lunch several times in ‘03, we haven't had dinner there in at least 15 years.

Joe & Maggie's Bistro, W. Long Branch -- Went once after they first opened. Found the food unimpressive. I keep hearing how great it is. Need to see if I was wrong.

Posillipo's, Asbury Park -- Last there 25 years ago.

Ryland Inn -- Can't remember how long ago. I never loved the food. Need to go back to see if that's still the case. (Is it still up for sale?)

[Helena Robinson]

Now that Ken has received a job offer (yay!!! ), we can begin to think about catching up on restaurants.

We'll be celebrating at Stage Left this evening; especially since I'm about to begin taking a drug that may keep me from enjoying wine. (Awaiting word from my doctor about this.)

For now, I'll divide this Wish List into two parts:

Restaurants To Try For the First Time:

Restaurant 89

Fascino

An American Grill

Lawrenceville Inn

And hopefully (at least) one of the newer places that have opened in Wesfield and Cranford.

Restaurants To Return To:

Restaurant Nicholas

Frog and the Peach

Soho

Ixora

There will no doubt be others, but we'll be happy if we can even make a dent into these lists.

[Rosie]

Helena--WHAT WONDERFUL NEWS ABOUT KEN. THANKS FOR SHARING. And be sure to give us a report about Stage House.