Rosie on Arthur Schwartz radio show

[Rosie]

Mark your calendar! I am scheduled to be interviewed by telephone by Arthur Schwartz on April 17

sometime between 12 and 1 PM. WOR radio 710 AM. Rosie

[Rail Paul]

Do you know the topics yet?

[Rosie]

I've been playing phone tag with his assistant. Any suggestions? What would you like to hear?

[Rail Paul]

I'd like to hear something about restaurants which don't overbook, do honor their reservations, and use seasonal menu ideas effectively.

You could also mention how some restaurants ask for credit card numbers to guarantee folks will show up.

My current interest is restaurant menus which have specific wine recommends for each entree item. Second trend is the grouping of wines on the list as Light, fruity red; Medium, dry, red, etc and cuing the menu toward the general categories. Making wine more accessible and the restaurant tab higher.

Alternately, we could see if Tommy will call in...

[Rosie]

All interesting. Where have you been that your reservation hasn't been honored? I can't remember the last time this happened to me.

Credit cards? Off hand I can think of one place. Have you had to give a credit card for a Sat. night reservation?

Wine? Do you like the concept of having wine listed on the menu? We have three new topics here!

[jhlurie]

A sneaky way to back-door into talking about eGullet...

Talk about how the Internet can help diners "compare notes" on restaurants.

Unless, of course, you've used that same "back door" every time on Schwartz's show.

[Rachel Perlow]

I thought one of the reasons you were going on the show was to promote eGullet. I figured that was the main topic of conversation and that you wouldn't have to back into it. Perhaps mentioning some of the activities done by the NJ, NY, Northwest (Seattle), and London board members (dinners, pub crawl).

[jhlurie]

Certainly Schwartz will let her give "plugs", but a good long discussion is always better than a simple plug, right?

And if she's talked openly about eGullet before, Schwartz could be tired of it as a topic.  That's why I thought that a "back door" method (and it's a valid topic anyway--as well as very pertinent to Rosie's entire reputation) was advisable.

Of course, the shenanigans of various eGulleteers are indeed quite amusing in the right light.  But simply mentioning the fact that we meet in person isn't all that thrilling, though.

The fact that we encompass a whole spectrum of people, from the mildly mentally retarded (tommy and myself) to the uber-intelligentsia on the other end--and that the worst thing that we argue over is whether or not Martha Stewart deserves to be mocked... well, that's quite an accomplishment right there.  

Oh yeah, and we are allowed to say "shit" instead of "poo".

[Rosie]

It's a telephone interview and I don't know how long it will be. Shenanigans on eGullet???  Where and when???

[Jason Perlow]

Rosie - I was setting up a tape to record you on the show today and reviewed Steven Shaw's interview with him from back in October. He praised Grand Sichuan International pretty extensively. Perhaps you could mention that seeing as how Steven plugged his favorite chinese in the city, you'd like to mention your favorite Chinese in NJ (I assume Hunan Cottage and China 46).

[Rosie]

What's with the new avatar?  Where is the real portrait of Jason?  

It's Arthur's show. I'll go with the flow.

[jhlurie]

Jason... you are not a number!  You are... well, never mind.

Watching those PBS re-runs of the Prisoner, huh?  Maybe you can start a discussion of what they eat on the Island?

Rosie: good luck (like she needs it!)

[Rachel Perlow]

I taped the show and we'll try to MP3 it for those interested, but it took most of the hour and may be too long. So I took notes and here's a summary of Rosie's appearance, in between segments were commercials and a conversation with Carol Berman about wine.

First Segment:

- The theme of the conversation was that NJ gets shortchanged, it is more than a suburb of NYC.

- A 1* Michelin chef is coming to NJ, at Stage Left in New Brunswick

- What are the trends in NJ food? Rosie came up with a great quote: "Every town, even the blue collar factory towns, now have a Thai restaurant!"

- Rats in Hamilton will be reopening soon. It is about an hour from NYC. Go, spend a couple hours exploring the sculpture garden and then have a leisurely meal.

Second Segment:

- Talked about how NJ is the "Garden State" and that a lot of the produce available in NYC is grown in NJ.

- Moonstruck is a good restaurant that is moving the Asbury Park, by the lake, as part of the revitalization of Asbury Park.

- Montclair as a great restaurant town: Epernay, Blue Sky and Indigo Smoke mentioned.

- Arthur brings up Maplewood as also a great restaurant town: Jocelyn's (very welcoming, like you are coming into their home), Verjus (Simple, quality French food), Celebrated Food.

- eGullet is mentioned! (five times)

Third Segment: includes Carol Berman, the wine guru for the show, on Wednesdays she presents the wine buy of the week.

- More discussion of Rosie's "Table Hopping" column

- Carol says that Jocelyn's is a favorite restaurant of hers and that she also enjoys Pierre's very much.

- NJ is a big BYOB state because there are a limited number of liquor licenses available.

- Rosie: "eGulleteers prefer BYOB, they can bring a $30 bottle that would probably cost $100 on a wine list, which is great"

- Amanda's in Hoboken has a very reasonable wine list, many selections at moderate prices, and they have good food and service.

Fourth Segment: He asked for calls in and gave the phone number, but never took a call.

- eGullet is mentioned again, specifically that Steven Shaw, the Fat Guy, is the NY moderator and that it is also international, so you can inquire about different areas if you have travel plans.

- Michael Corry ("his food reminds [Rosie] of Lupa") is moving to a new restaurant in Basking Ridge.

- Scalini Fideli is rated as the #1 Italian restaurant in NJ. Arthur mentions how hard it is to get a reservation there (the Chatham location, not NYC). Rosie says they are BYO and that they get all the details right. It is contemporary Italian. They also own Il Mondo Vecchio in Madison (I've been there and the Scalini Fideli in Chatham and they're both great - Rachel).

- NJ has a lot of ethnic restaurant: Union City for Turkish; Seven Hills of Istanbul in Highland Park is recommended. Two Cuban restaurants mentioned: Rebecca's in Edgewater (Rosie: "the coffee is wonderful!") and Marino's in Somerville, it has "a very lively crowd."

Final Segment:

- NJ Monthly restaurant survey closed on March 15th, the August issue will publish the results.

- Arthur asks Rosie what she likes to eat when she's alone: "M&Ms and Red Wine! If I don't have to cook I won't even scramble and egg!"

Great Job Rosie!

[Rosie]

Wow! Rachel did I say all of that??? :wow:

Thanks for the note taking. You're hired!  

It was alot of fun and the hour went so fast. I want to publicly thank Arthur for having me on the show.

[Rachel Perlow]

No, Arthur said a lot too! Did you realize you'd be on the whole hour? It sounded before like you thought you'd only be on one segment. I'll lend you the tape sometime if you want to hear yourself. Please forgive me if I didn't quote 100% accurately, I didn't relisten to it before posting, but I think I got the gist.

[Rosie]

I didn't know how long I was going to be on. Thanks for offer of tape. I made a copy and I'll check to see if it came out ok and will let you know if I need to borrow yours.

[Rail Paul]

Nice job, Rosie, and nice notes, Rachel!

There was a smooth segue from the commercial on Artisanal Bread and Cheese (Route 24 east in Chester) to Pierre's restaurant (both owned by the same person).

Another nice riff on how the citysearch.com posters have diced up Blue Smoke, with Schwartz's view that "these people don't have the credibility to review a restaurant." I thought Rosie touched on that point later by saying you hear a number of views, and get a more rounded understanding of a place.

Rosie slid in several references to New Brunswick's cultural life and restaurants, and opened a dialogue about Montclair's schools, shopping, restaurants, and diverse cultural features.

I fully expected somebody would say "The Far Upper West Side, but with better schools." I've heard that expression about Montclair several times

[Rosie]

Thanks Rail Paul.  Montclair has also been called the other Park Slope.

[=Mark]

- What are the trends in NJ food? Rosie came up with a great quote: "Every town, even the blue collar factory towns, now have a Thai restaurant!"

If that's the case, why do I have to travel from Monmouth County to Woodbridge to find a decent one?

[Rachel Perlow]

She didn't say they all have great Thai restaurants, just that they have Thai restaurants. I didn't necessarily agree with the statement, but it was a cute quote.

[Rosie]

- What are the trends in NJ food? Rosie came up with a great quote: "Every town, even the blue collar factory towns, now have a Thai restaurant!"

If that's the case, why do I have to travel from Monmouth County to Woodbridge to find a decent one?

I didn't say they were all decent!

[=Mark]

- What are the trends in NJ food? Rosie came up with a great quote: "Every town, even the blue collar factory towns, now have a Thai restaurant!"

If that's the case, why do I have to travel from Monmouth County to Woodbridge to find a decent one?

I didn't say they were all decent!

There are only 2 Thai places in Monmouth County that I'm aware of.  This constantly amazes and angers me given the number of great ethnic and regional restaurants found here, but then you turn around and they are opening another Italian or Chinese place.  What gives!  

Siam Garden in Red Bank is just too overpriced in my mind.  Granted the room is beautiful, but given the price I'd just as soon save my money and splurge on a meal at Vong in Manhattan.  The other place is a Thai Noodle shop in a strip mall on Rt. 34 in Matawan, it's not that great and the ambiance is florescent lights and formica tables.

I guess I'm stuck with riding the train to Woodbridge for dinner at Mie Thai (Which I did yesterday!)

[helenas]

Don't know if it was mentioned before, but Food Maven has a link to egullet on his Favorite Links page!

[Rachel Perlow]

I don't know how he ranks them, but they are not in alphabetical order. eGullet used to be way down the page (with CH nearer to the top), now we are like the 3rd link listed!

[tommy]

and yet again, i wasn't mentioned.