Jerry's Osteria in Tenafly?

[Jason Perlow]

Yesterday on Arthur Schwartz he mentioned a new restaurant in Tenafly, Jerry's Austeria (proper spelling?) that was owned by the same people who run Jerry's of Englewood, the big italian grocery store.

Anyone try this place yet?

[shugga]

Yes, this past spring, before going to John Harms.  The food was very good.  The host had a slight attitude.  We went early, but did not have reservations.  He acted like he was doing us a really big favor seating us.

I think they advertize on Arthur's program.

It's Jerry's Osteria.

[Jason Perlow]

Yeah, sometimes its hard to tell the difference between an advertisement and an actual restaurant recommendation...

[Rosie]

Jerry's in East Rutherford got 1 star from the Bergen Record.

[shugga]

Different restaurant, different owners.  

Jerry's in E. Rutherford has been around for very many years.  I remember going there about 15 - 20 yrs. ago, when my kids were small.  They used to have a lot of decent food.

[Jason Perlow]

Rachel and I finally made it to Jerry's Osteria for our 6th anniversary on Tuesday the 23rd. We wanted to go monday as it was our real anniversary date but it was closed.

Jerry's Osteria 50 Prospect Terrace  Tenafly, NJ (201) 894-1211  

Jerry's is near the corner of County Road and Prospect Terrace, about 2 blocks up from Charlie Browns. The restaurant provides free valet parking.

Jerry's is a charming restaurant although it looks more like a bar and grill or steak place in terms of decor, I presume that the location was taken over from a restaurant of that genre. According to the menu, the objective is to reproduce a real italian "Osteria" which is a small neighborhood cafe or a restaurant in someone's home with a limited set menu and very homey kinds of dishes.

Jerry's menu  however is anything but limited. We started with a mixed antipasto platter, which had six items that we hand picked from the comprehensive antipasto bar, all delicious, including a cold egglplant and ricotta layered thing in a marinara sauce, quiche, marinated artichoke hearts, a fried square of saffron risotto and a mixed seafood salad with shrimp and calamari, all excellent.  I also had a rustic potato and leek soup, which had chunks of potato and chopped up leeks, as well as deep fried leeks floated on top. Tasty, but it definitely needed a bit of salt. A generous portion too.

Rachel's main dish was a chicken scarpariello, which was in a light brown sauce, cut peices on the bone with mushrooms and sauteed italian sausage -- the chicken was cooked perfectly, tender, and one of the better examples of this dish I have tasted.

I had the veal osteria, which was essentially pounded veal tenderloin medallions alla marsala with sauteed prosciutto and shitakke mushrooms added. I was pleased and very tasty but it was a bit too similar to rachel's dish, although I would add it was not as sweet a marsala-type dish as I have had before at other italian places which tend to be on the cloying side, so I would say this one was executed particularly well.

Both dishes were served with potatoes (not pasta) and large brussel sprouts that were sauteed in olive oil, very good and an unusual pairing by american standards considering what you normally get.

In addition to about half a dozen meat and fish entrees plus another or so dozen chefs special dishes,  theres another or so half dozen fresh pasta dishes which the place prides itself on that I definitely want to try when I get back there.

My only negative experience with the place is that the bus and junior waitstaff is badly trained and don't speak english, and we had more than one occassion where we told them not to do something and did it anyways, such as peppering of food, water glasses, etc. Our main water however was very attentive and very knowledgeable about the menu.

I'll also add that Jerry's has a lot of wines by the glass in case you want to try different wines with your food. I had two glasses of prosecco which I enjoyed tremendously (I ordered one but the waitstaff screwed up, they let me have the extra :) )  

Definitely a local restaurant that we'll be returning to often.