Colors

[coughy]

I passed by Colors yesterday. I was going to stop to look at a menu but I didn't see any in the window and the shades were drawn. Has anyone tried this yet?

[Jason Perlow]

What town is it in and what kind of place is it?

[tommy]

west caldwell italian chophouse.

[Rosie]

When a menu reads USDA steak I always wonder if it is prime or choice. Noticed on their wine list that they have:

Bin #280

Shiraz, Boonaroo

Glass - $7.00

Bottle - $24.00

South-Eastern Australia

and I saw that wine for sale last week for under $7 a bottle.

[tommy]

When a menu reads USDA steak I always wonder if it is prime or choice.

i don't wonder at all.

although since it's not really an "official" website, i won't give it too much credit. however, it's probably their only web presence, and good business practices would suggest that the menu read as well is it can. that would, of course, suggest including "prime" if the meat is prime, or at the very least "choice", which while not very exciting, seems to be on plenty of menus. i mean, does anyone serve anything less than choice?

Edited August 18, 2004 by tommy (log)

[adegiulio]

Oh, this is what we need, an Italian Chop house serving overpriced wines. Someone should just put this one under "Closed Restaurants" now and save us all the trouble...

[Lreda]

When a menu reads USDA steak I always wonder if it is prime or choice. Noticed on their wine list that they have:

Bin #280

Shiraz, Boonaroo

Glass - $7.00

Bottle - $24.00

South-Eastern Australia

and I saw that wine for sale last week for under $7 a bottle.

Just to lend a different point of view. That wine that was for sale at under $7 a bottle was most likely from a Bottle King, Gary's, etc. They buy in bulk. They buy wine on a 10-50 case purchase package. By buying 50 case they pay $6.00. They sell that wine and only make 25 cents a bottle. This is done to bring you in to get a bottle or a case for a light price and hope you impulse buy and pick a bottle of Grand Mainier where Bottle King makes a $10 profit. Restaurants may purchase 1-5 cases and pay up to $10 a bottle and with the cost of our licenses and insurance we double the cost to the customer. We have to mark up the lower cost wines to make money. On the otherhand, you're more than welcome to dine with me and drink a Burgess Cab '94 at $90 a bottle. I paid $25 in '96 for this bottle but I coddled it and took care of it for your dining pleasure. Good deal.

As far as Gary's & Buy-Rites and the such, they're in business and I have no love for them nor the liquor houses we buy from. Example: I'm off and cooking at home. No desire to set foot into The Grill and need some white for before dinner so I head to the local Bottle King where I look and find Flower's Chardonnay for $19.99. Good deal but a problem, I paid $25.99 to put in on my list. 2nd problem, the price listed in the beverage journal thet we use for pricing listed it at $25.99. This is against the law. I buy 2 bottles because the price is cheaper than I bought it for. What's to stop me from buying at Bottle King and selling in The Grill? Against the law. I have a liquor license that I paid a huge amount for and have to oblige by it.

I call the company and after avoiding me and my calls because I know they can't sell and Bottle King can't buy unless they buy at the listed price they tell me Bottle King mispriced the Flowers'. 2 months later......still $19.99.

[Rosie]

Lou, $7 a glass and with 4 or 5 pours means that they are making $28 to $35 for a bottle that I can buy for less than $7.

[GoodEater]

Hence the reason so many people love BYOB places!

It certainly makes going out more affordable for the average person.

Only for a business lunch/dinner setting is a restaurant with a liquor license my preference.

[Lreda]

Lou, $7 a glass and with 4 or 5 pours means that they are making $28 to $35 for a bottle that I can buy for less than $7.

Actually a bottle of wine is 750 ml. That's 24 ozs. I use a 8 oz glass. That's 3 glasses from a bottle with a slurp left over. Yes, you can buy this bottle for less than $7 but WE don't pay that price. We pay almost $10. The Buy Rite's pay $7. So, in my case I'm doubling the cost of the bottle of wine.

[Rosie]

Lou--I know you give a very generous pour and that is one reason I am happy to drink at your restaurant!

[Rosie]

The menu at Colors, 1090 Bloomfield Ave. West Caldwell says, “Simplistic, quality food, which will paint your palate.” Whether it will “paint your palate’ is questionable but the food and service were very good but the menu wasn’t exciting. There weren’t any dishes here that aren’t available at the other thousand plus Italian restaurants in NJ. But if you live nearby and don’t mind a non-BYO then do try this place. When seated decent Italian bread, olive oil and a bowl of cheese and olives are placed on the table. We had the following for dinner:

Shrimp Arrabbiata: pan fried rock shrimp sautéed with olive oil, garlic, white wine, plum tomato, oregano, red pepper, parsley, and butter

Peppers and Potatoes: hot and sweet peppers sautéed in olive oil and garlic, with fried potatoes

Sausage and Rabe: hot and sweet Italian sausage with sauteed broccoli rabe in olive oil, garlic, and plum tomato

Belmont Salad: escarole and sliced radishes; dressed with olive oil and fresh lemon

Eggplant Rollentine

Linguine Vongole: linguine with whole steamed clams in an Italian style white clam sauce;

Pork Tenderloin: pan roasted and served over a white bean and wild mushroom ragout

Atlantic Salmon: sauteed with garlic, fresh plum tomato, basil, calamata olives, capers, white wine, and butter

Chicken Mezzanotte: pan fried pieces of chicken on the bone; with romano cheese, garlic, fresh parsley, red wine vinegar, and demiglace

Chicken Parmigiano: pan fried, breaded boneless chicken breast; baked with mozzarella, provolone, parmigiano cheese, and marinara sauce

Veal Chop: Grilled loin veal chop with fresh sage topped with homemade potato chips

With two desserts, some coffees and two bottles of wine the bill was $50 per person including tax and tip. For reservations call 973-244-4443

[hitmanoo]

Don't know if this helps or not, but I dined here a few months ago, and the food was fairly non-distinct. So much so that I've never gone back.

Don't get me wrong, the food wasn't bad, but there really wan't anything special. In fact, I can't really remember what I ordered, or what the table ordered in general. I went with my wife and my parents, and I sampled most of the dishes, and there wasn't anything that excelled more than any other dish.

I live close enough to this restaurant--my parents even closer--that this would be in the regular mix if it were anything better than average, unfortunately, it's really not special.

As a sidenote, this place is owned by Mr. Panico. He's the gentleman who owned Mezzanote (now Luce) on Bloomfield Ave in Caldwell. Mezzanote was, and Luce is, a better restaurant than Colors.

[menton1]

Lou,  $7 a glass and with 4 or 5 pours means that they are making $28 to $35 for a bottle that I can buy for less than $7.

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Actually, this is a standard practice for most restaurants with liquor licenses. They usually mark up a bottle 3-4x and glasses 5x. In New York City, the average wine by the glass is $9-$10. With the liquor licensing laws in NJ producing all the BYOBs, we are spoiled about wine prices!

[bobferdon]

I passed by Colors yesterday.  I was going to stop to look at a menu but I didn't see any in the window and the shades were drawn.  Has anyone tried this yet?

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a review of Colors can be found here. Scroll to Oct 7th

http://www.winostuff.com/BofBQ404.htm