Recent NJ meals

[mikec]

12-29-01

Met some friends for dinner at Mojave Grill in Westfield.  It was a last minute thing and I expected to wait for an hour.  Instead the place was empty.  I chalk it up to the cold weather and the upcoming NYE celebrations.  

I've eaten at Mojave Grill many times before, yet we hadn't been there in a few months.  Sometimes too much of a good thing can turn you away for a while.  Highlights included the spicy ribs appetizer which I sampled.  My appetizer was the mushroom and goat cheese strudel.  It was very good, but not that Southwestern.  For an entree I had the black bean ravioli with roasted corn, etc.  I tasted all the entrees at the table and for me this was easily the best on the table.  I also enjoyed the salmon with the lentil, mango salsa, but not as much as the ravioli.

Matching wine with southwestern food is usually a waste of time.  I've gone with all sorts of reds and a few whites.  This time I brought the 98 Nigl Piri Privat Reisling which was as close to a match as I've gotten.  Delicious Reisling, but I think that a beer will still be the reigning champ. :)

12-31-01

Dinner with friends at Blue Sky Cafe for NYE.  I'll start off by saying that it was an "experience".  We got there a few minutes late for our reservation which had been confirmed that afternoon.  We were told that the reservation had been cancelled.  What???  The staff was gracious enough to make room at what turned out to be a very good table from a location point of view.  There was a small problem in the fact that the table was better designed to seat 7 people and we were eight including my pregnant wife and my 6'5" friend.  We were seated about 30 minutes late.  

We were having the 6 course price fixed NYE menu.  The kitchen was kind enough to accomodate two picky eaters.  The food itself was pretty good.  I enjoyed my cheese ravioli and the shredded duck salad.  I also thought the other four courses were good too, not great, but good.  The service was terrible though.  After ordering all six courses, we got our first course 45 minutes later.  The second course came 30 minutes after we were done with the first course.  The third course came 5 minutes after the 2nd course was served and then the rest of the course were spaced out over a long period.  We expected to be done by 11:30 in time to get back to our friend's house where we would celebrate the NY.  Instead we finished dinner around 1:15AM.  It wasn't even that big of a deal since we were having a great time catching up with old friends, but still there were babysitters who were expecting us back at a specific time.  Also, when we quietly mentioned to our waitress that the food was taking a long time , she asked us if our second course had arrived yet.  Wouldn't you think our waitress would know what courses had been brought out?

I will go back to Blue Sky Cafe because it is not fair to judge them on such an atypical evening as NYE.  The food was enjoyable and we all had a great time.  There is one thing that was unacceptable though.  Once the coat check is full, they put the "coat overflow" on hooks in one of the bathrooms.  First, this is sort of gross.  Second, my friend's cell phone was missing after the meal.  It was certainly a shock when I opened the bathroom door and saw my jacket hanging in there.  The staff told us they had "another place" for the coat overflow.  I certainly didn't expect it to be the bathroom.  As far as the cell phone, my friend should have never left it in his coat, but it still doesn't change the fact that it was missing when he got his coat back.

The wine highlights that night included the 99 Nikolaihof Vom Spiedel Reisling, 95 Gallet Cote Rotie, and the 96 Sean Thackery Orion.

1-4-02

We are trying to get in some great meals before we have our baby.  Friends of ours had told us if we liked French food we would love Chez Catherine.  We got together with these friends and another couple this past Friday night.  One of the couples is friendly with the chefs/owners and I was looking forward to this meal.

The first thing that struck me was how small the room was.  I was even more surprised to see how nicely spaced the table are given the size of the room.  We had a table for six that could have easily accomodated eight.  The food at Chez Catherine was as good as I've had in NJ.  It was served in what I call a country manner.  Attention was paid to plating the dish, but more concern was shown to how good it tasted.  My duck entree was succulent and cooked to perfection.  I would highly recommend Chez Catherine.  I'll try to write more  tomorrow.

Wine highlights were the 97 Raveneau La Foret Chablis and the 91 Mondavi Cabernet.  Both were great.

Take care,

Mike

[Rail Paul]

Interesting reports.

We dined at Mohave in mid-November, similar experience (good steaks, well prepared, dining room absolutely empty at 7pm). Pints of Bass Ale went well.

Blue Sky seems to have hit a rough spot. We were there before Christmas, didn't have the sense we were guests, more like we were keeping the staff from doing something they wanted to do. Food was fine, courses were delivered in a timely fashion. I'd contrast that to Deja-Vu, across the street, or Liberte, where there's a more hospitable atmosphere.

Best wishes on your baby, get those meals in now...

[bill h]

My partner and I discovered Blue Sky recently and have enjoyed several great meals there.  This year some old friends were visiting for New Years from San Fransisco and we decided to ring in the New Year at Blue Sky Cafe after calling around to see what other Montclair restaurants were offering.  We arrived at 8:30 and were seated promptly in the main dining room.  There was such a wonderful buzzzz of energy that night and the room had a beautiful glow to it.  We have always loved the comfort of the Blue Sky atmosphere.  We were all  impressed by the ambitious 6 course tasting menu and we were not disappointed.  We started with amazing shrimp cocktail and delicious oysters with champagne mignonette.  The duck & apple salad with aged sherry vinegar was nothing short of amazing.  I don't recall the fish course, but the duck, pousin and venison were all ourstanding.  As we have always found at blue sky, the kitchen has an amazing touch with their sauces.  You can tell they take great care and pride in their preparations and execution of dishes.  While there may have been some lapses in service on New Years Eve, we can over look these because it is an atypical evening and we enjoyed our company far to much to notice the time between courses.  At other times, service has been nothing but friendly and effecient  and we have had some great laughs with their staff and owners. Dessert was chocolate, what can be wrong with truffles.. MMMMMMM!!!

We have dined at most restaurants in Montclair and as one of our friends says, service at one of the restaurants your mention is "Glacially Slow".  At one of the others you mention we were told by our waitress when we asked where our food was, and we quote "you will be lucky if get your food soon and even more lucky if it's hot".  BUT WE WILL BE BACK TO BLUE SKY CAFE!!!!

[mikec]

Bill,

As I previously mentioned, the food at Blue Sky Cafe was good.  Also, I don't want to condemn the service based on one bad experience that came on New Year's Eve which is clearly an atypical kind of day.  I suspect that their staff wasn't prepared to cook and serve the six course meal.

The three main problems that I had with the restaurant were as follows:

1.  The mishandling of our reservation.  It was rectified to our satisfaction though.

2.  The poor service.  Our waitress although very nice should know what courses have been served and should see how long we've been waiting.  The mid-level near the kitchen where we were sitting wasn't that big.  

3.  Our coats being hung up in the bathroom.  This is just not right.  If that's going to be the case, don't say..."we have another place for coat's when the coatcheck is full."  Although technically correct, I wouldn't consider the bathroom "another place".  I assume that another place isn't accessible to the public.  If I had known that I would have probably hung my coat over my chair or since we parked right out front gone and thrown the coats in the car.

As far as the service at Mojave Grill and Chez Catherine.  All I can say is that I had perfect service at Chez Catherine.  It was formal French service, yet our waiter wasn't overbearing which made the service very comfortable.  

I have eaten at Mojave Grill many times.  The service there is fine.  The staff is attentive and friendly.  I couldn't ask for much more.

On any given day one can encounter varying service levels.  Plus the differences in how people perceive certain things can easily color how we view subjective things like service and food quality.

I would be interested to try Blue Sky Cafe again.  Like I said above there were many positive things to like about BSC.  The only negative that I can't attribute to a wierd night like NYE is the coatcheck.

Take care,

Mike

[Rachel Perlow]

mikec - your post got me curious about  Chez Catherine, but you didn't mention where it is located. I assumed Montclair from the context of your post, so I did a search. I think I was wrong, is this the location? Jason and I will have to try it soon.

Chez Catherine

431 North Ave W

Westfield, NJ

(908) 654-4011  

[mikec]

Rachel,

Yes, that's the location.  I was finishing up my initial post as I was running out to a meeting and couldn't elaborate on the restaurant.

Chez Catherine offers a ุ three course prie fix menu.  There are several options that require a small supplement.  They are not a BYO.  One of the people we are dining with is very close with the owners of the restaurant and thus we were allowed to bring our own wine.  It is a small menu so picky eaters should beware.  Although I will say that the menu is well rounded and I'm sure that even the pickiest eaters will find things to choose from.  It is an intimate room that had surprisingly well spaced and sized tables.  My one complaint with the room was that it was almost too quiet.  I felt bad if we were talking too loudly.  It is old school, and thus a bit of an older crowd.

We started with an amuse bouche that was a veal and pork patty with raisins and what I would call middle eastern spices.  It was very good.

I then had a blue cheese fuillaite (sic?) with a salad of mache.  It was melted blue cheese combined with puff pastry on a bed of tender greens.  It was very good, but I would have liked the blue cheese to be a little more runny.  Other very appealing appetizers included a lobster "pillow" which is essentially a large, free form ravioli stuffed with lobster.  I was torn between the two appetizers and while mine was very good, I had a bite of the pillow and it was even better.

As an entree I had the duck two ways.  The breast was seared to a perfect medium rare and the leg was done as confit.    I didn't taste anyone elses entrees although there was a red snapper special and a buch of different types of steak on the table.

Desserts were great looking.  I only tasted mine which was the lemon tart that left me practically licking the plate.  We were also given the candied jellies that I love so much.  The are basically French "chuckles", but so much better.  As a finishing touch, each couple was given a small red box with chocolate truffles to take home.  

Chez Catherine is old school French food served in a caring manner.  Is it as well plated as Jocelynes, probably not.  Were the entrees as interesting as the rabbit civet with cocoa tagliatelle that I had at Le Rendezvous, probably not.  But the overall meal was very, very good.  To think that it's located in a Best Western in Westfield, New Jersey is kind of weird.

[FoodLoverNJ]

Have had some great meals lately at Due Amici (450 Main Street at Eagle Rock in West Orange).  Great service if you get either Doug or SOnia.  Italian dishes are authentic and tasty --if you like spicy, just ask.  Desserts are to die for.  Also, they are giving out their new website address. I think it's www.jasonamiller.com/dueamici