Rocca, a new restaurant in Glen Rock

[Blondie]

Thanks, GoodEater. I should know my way around NJ better than I do, but I always find the highways relentlessly confusing.

I have to be in Northvale some time in the next few weeks so I was hoping to combine the trip with some good food. China 46 will be my backup

[lalaland]

Tried Rocca for the second time tonight and it was great...My husband had the shrimp spiedini, and though it wasn't what he expected, we both loved it--it was seasoned quite well tonight (and I'm a total salt/seasoning-seeker, Goodeater) and I really enjoyed the sage polenta. It was a nice combo with the grilled flavor of the shrimp. I had the fennel orange salad which was quite refreshing, then we split the spaghetti with sausage bolognese for a mid-course--maybe the best bolognese I've had outside my mother-in-law's kitchen .

For entrees, I had the grilled veal with a great risotto and he had the filet again, which was done perfectly. No room for dessert, but we took home an order of their homemade truffles which I will probably be snacking on in an hour or 2 .

Edited July 29, 2004 by lalaland (log)

[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.

[lalaland]

NB: The truffles are incredible! My favorite was the Grand Marnier one...We'll be going back for more of these soon!

[Mangia Mangia]

Just wanted to add some input about this new Glen Rock restaurant " Rocca". We have been there about four times and every meal was very good. We tried the PEI smoked mussels. Pan fried mozzarella house made. sause was great with the mozzarella. the fennel salad with orange a real refreshing dish. For dinner we ordered Sea Scallops and Salmon with fennel ,excellent. other times we had the Grilled pork chop,very good portion , tender and delicious.the beef tenderlion with the blue cheese and crushed walnuts was a real treat. Desserts are one thing I just can not wait for. Hence Mangia Mangia . The warm chocolate cake and ice cream was ordered by my wife, I got to try a bite. I ordered the Cannoli with the citrus and Grand Marnier mousse, lite and delicious. I could go on,but it stopped raining and the lawn must get done. So to everyone that reads or posts on egullet ,thanks for letting me post and Mangia Mangia.

[Nikki809]

Hi, I'm new to eGullet, and thanks to the great reviews on this board, had an excellent dinner at Rocca Saturday evening.

We were lucky enough to have not one, but two waiters--one of whom admitted she was a "trainee." This posed absolutely no problem and we enjoyed the added attention for the most part. Only minor slip-up was no sugar or artificial sweetener on the table at coffee time, but this was easily and quickly remedied. There was perhaps a drop too much attention by the bus staff to remove our plates rather promptly (hey I happen to LIKE finishing the whole thing;) but other than that it was an absolute pleasure.

We each had the salad with fennel and cheese (?)--not sure of the name of it. My date had the Garganelli and mushrooms--I had a taste of it and agree that it could have been a tad saltier/spicier, but I do understand that they have to please a variety of palates.

As for me, I had the Mint Love Letters with Spicy Lamb Sausage. It was absolutely to die for. Mint Love Letters are sort of like a ravioli stuffed with a minty/cheesy concoction that was just amazing. The red sauce, containing the sausage, was scrumptuous.

We skipped dessert, being too full from dinner, but intend to try it next time.

Thanks again for steering me towards such a great little restaurant. We'd originally planned on going to one of the many restaurants in Ridgewood, but I'm glad to have discovered something a bit more accessible (easy parking, no wait to get in.)

Very glad to be here and looking forward to sharing more restaurant experiences.

-Nikki

[tommy]

the number of new posters raving about this restaurant is reaching epic proportions. one would think it's the only restaurant that members of egullet have ever praised.

[ghostrider]

Must be that mysterious location factor.

I wonder if the Rocca folks had a feng shui consultant check the place out before they decided to open there.

[Rosie]

No room for dessert, but we took home an order of their homemade truffles which I will probably be snacking on in an hour or 2 .

WE NEVER GOT TRUFFLES.

[tommy]

No room for dessert, but we took home an order of their homemade truffles which I will probably be snacking on in an hour or 2  .

WE NEVER GOT TRUFFLES.

dija order them?

[lalaland]

I think the truffles were on the specials menu the night we had them...Sorry you didn't have the joy of trying them!

[Rosie]

No room for dessert, but we took home an order of their homemade truffles which I will probably be snacking on in an hour or 2  .

WE NEVER GOT TRUFFLES.

dija order them?

They weren't on the menu. I thought they were a lagniappe.

[Rosie]

Despite some shortcomings in our one visit, Rocca will become a destination restaurant in NJ. The very talented Chef/owner Craig Levy has a tempting menu which he executes with finesse. Try this restaurant ASAP before it gets reviewed, as then it will be hard to get a reservation.

Service needs to be refined. Our waiter seemed to have a hard time multi-tasking. The waiter at the next table was on the ball and did all the little things that our waiter didn’t do. For example, we were not offered fresh pepper for the fabulous herbed olive oil; we had to ask to have our wine opened; then our wine was never poured. I think it was the manager who came around when we were almost finished with our entrée and asked if we wanted more bread.

When we entered the restaurant we were shown a small table for two. I wasn’t thrilled with the location of the table and asked about the table for four but was told it was not available. It was a Saturday night and I knew that the restaurant needed the table for four so at that point I accepted the two top. However, although there were empty tables for two when the next couple came in, they were offered a table for four. There were still empty tables for four when we left an hour and a half later. Not a big deal but just an example where service could be refined. Also, there were two tables that remained unbused for 10 to 15 minutes creating an unsightly view.

The food is good—very good. Actually, our main courses were exceptional and I certainly would like to dine here again. We started with a chopped salad with crumbled goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. It was a perfect light summer appetizer served on a chilled plate. Neither Lowell nor I liked the creamy dressing on the Caesar salad with focaccia croutons, roasted peppers and parmagiano. The roasted peppers were missing. Both salads were huge.

The whole grilled bronzino with orange braised fennel and lemon oregano jam was the freshest, tastiest, most delicious rendition of this dish that I have had in a long time. Ditto for the “do not miss” spicy two-minute calamari Sicilian lifeguard style that is now on my “favorite dishes of the year” list. The exceedingly tender rings combined with an exuberant tomato sauce over Israeli couscous could not have been improved upon. We also had a side of sautéed escarole with roasted shallots which I highly recommend.

The one dessert we had was disappointing and even more so as the restaurant has a pastry chef. We had what was described on the menu as a lemon cake with whipped lemon-white chocolate cream and blueberry compote. The cake was cardboard dry and tasteless and the whipped lemon-white chocolate cream tasted like whipped cream. Coffee was fair. With tax and tip the bill was $90. Phone: 201-670-4945.

[pnapoli]

we had a very good dinner at rocca on saturday. i know you're all sick of hearing about how great this place is, so i'll try to keep it short .

we started with the mussels (discussed above) and a white bean soup that was on the specials menu. the soup was delicious, flavored with truffle oil and garlic. it struck me as more of a 'winter' soup, but given that it was kind of chilly that night, it was actually perfect. the mussels were also good, although to be honest i found them to be on the skimpy side, size-wise. the last two times i've ordered mussels (at landmarc in NY and at marco & pepe in JC) they've been unusually plump and succulent, so i guess i've been a bit spoiled...

for entrees, we ordered another special, housemade penne pasta with monkfish, baby spinach, and artichokes in a tomato-garlic broth, and the much discussed spicy calamari. as much as i enjoyed the pasta, i could not stop sampling mr p's calamari. as rosie notes, this is a 'do not miss' dish.

since i want to be a pastry chef when i grow up, i almost always order dessert. rosie had warned us away from the lemon cake, so i went with the tiramisu, not expecting much (since no one makes it better than i do, ha ha..). anyway, i was pleasantly surprised by their nontraditional take: it was composed of a layer of very light, moist chocolate sponge cake, topped with a thin layer of chocolate mousse, and then a layer of espresso cream. it really worked.

service was attentive, if somewhat formal (our server addressed us as 'lady' and 'gentleman'). i had a nice chat with one of the owners who came over to fold mr p's napkin when he got up. for those who live or work in the area, he mentioned that they've recently introduced a prix fixe lunch.

btw, i just read on another website that they've apparently applied for a liquor license.

[Rosie]

Gee---no one folded my napkin nor Lowell's. I told you I had the waiter from hunger!

pnapoli--did you get truffles?

Liquor license---Ugh--not happy to hear that.

[tommy]

btw, i just read on another website that they've apparently applied for a liquor license.

i knew it was too good to be true: a reasonably priced local place serving good food. now they're going to ruin it with a liquor license. it will be crossed off my list soon after (unless they are doing something special with the list, a la otto, et al).

although i question the source. liquor licenses are not easy to come by in glen rock from what i understand.

[pnapoli]

pnapoli--did you get truffles?

no truffles, rosie. and i don't recall seeing them on the specials menu. maybe next time...

although i question the source. liquor licenses are not easy to come by in glen rock from what i understand.

yeah, i know...i almost didn't post about this given that i have no idea if the source is reliable. it was on the website for beekman wines (they're in glen rock too). here's the site if you're interested.

[tommy]

well beekman's is certainly a better source than something like nj.com, that's for sure. and that's unfortunate. i was really hoping it was some sort of wild speculation.

[Rosie]

If a restaurant opens as a BYO it is very hard to make the switch to serving liquor.

[tommy]

hard from a legal standpoint? or hard because people like me won't go back.

[Rosie]

Hard because many people like you won't go back.

If you start off with a liquor license the perception is different. Once you are able to BYO at a restaurant many people don't want to pay for a bottle of wine.

[chefdavidrusso]

It definately sounds like I am in the minority here, but I don't think it's such a big deal for a restaurant to have a wine list instead of being BYO. Granted, BYO makes the experience that much less expensive. But in a ceratin way it also makes it more limiting...you can't make a food and wine decision that is in concert. You've already choosen your wine and are now stuck with it redardless of what you decide to eat.

Since it is more often than not just my wife and I dining together, my prefered style of wine service is a vibrant "by the glass" system. That way I can let my wine choices shift with my food and my mood. But unfortunately resaurants don't generally have great "by the glass" offerings.

I guess my point is that a strong case can be made for each system and that a restaurant shouldn't be written off for choosing one over another, especially if the food is as good as it sounds like it is at Rocca. Let's face it, they're just trying to make a buck, which is hard enough to do in this business without removing liquor sales from the mix. But I do agree that the restaurant then has a degree of responsibility to offer good wines at resonable prices. They are ceratinly out there, but I think everyone up the "wine chain" gets lazy and takes the wine path of least resistance.

So there!!

[tommy]

right. and i would urge Rocca to put as much thought into their wine program as they have their food. in my experience, this rarely happens.

if they don't want to, i will. for free even.

[adegiulio]

the advantages of BYOB have nothing to do with cost, for me at least. Most restaurant wine lists are so weak, it hurts me to have to give them my money. When restaurants put even a little thought into their list, I am more than happy to buy. As for the issue of having your menu choice limited to the wine you bring, the same is true of restaurants that offer wine. Most people (I would think) buy a bottle of wine versus trying to navigate the even weaker by the glass list. If you don't bring the right wine for the menu, you should bring more wine!

We actually do bring both a white and a red quite often. We just don't drink it all (though I try)

[tommy]

i agree with anthony on all points.

as far as BYO being limiting...i've eaten at Rocca 5 times. each time i've brought a bottle of prosseco and a bottle of red. i've never felt limited. in fact, i felt that i was receiving better options than i would have from a mediocre/standard list. and obviously for a lot less.