seal's Profile
Mo' Greens Roast House BBQ in Manalapan
Anyone been lately?
I called today to see if they were open and got a recording saying the number was not in service anymore.
Jersey Shore Food Truck Wars
Reading all these posts makes me glad I rushed us out the door and got there early. We were done eating by 12:30 and out before 1 after listening to some music. Shame it turned into a nightmare as we had a nice time.
thoughts:
Have three times as many trucks next year and break it down into three separate areas.
Bring in some of the stands from the local farmer's markets, especially the ones who also sell breads.
Have a separate fee for those who want to also come into the track so as to eliminate the bottleneck line to pay to get to the food.
Jersey Shore Food Truck Wars
And the winners are:
( well, at least IMHO)
Red Hook Lobster - lobster blt w chipotle mayo was off the (red) hook!
Wafels & Dinges - I had the pulled pork, crazy good on a waffle. The kids loved the ones with ice cream and gobs of sweet stuff
Rickshaw Dumplings - chicken and thai basil!
Didn't see The French Quarter truck.
Thai truck had a very weak papaya salad.
Lots and lots of people eating! Go NJ economy!
Friday night in Red Bank
We arrived at The Cheese Cave around 5 with our cold pack full of beer. For only $5 per person, the spread they put out is impressive - a well rounded tasting of excellent and expensive cheeses with bread, crackers, honey, and jams. A half hour and two beers each later, we relinquished our seats. This amazing bargain goes on like this every Friday.
We walked about two blocks and sat outside at Beasty Burger. It was great weather and we made the most of it enjoying watching all the people as we ate. We shared a Fun Guy burger and some chicken tortilla soup and both things were very good. Then, somehow, we found room for a nutella and toasted marshmallow shake - the warm marshmallow contrasting nicely with the cold shake.
On our way back we stopped to buy some cheese and the Cave was packed. This is no secret, so go early if you want to avoid the crowd.
Also, we heard someone mention that the wine shop across the street gives a 20% discount if you tell them you are going to the cheese tasting. I love this town.
Beasty Burgers - Red Bank
Had a really good burger here. Don't have time for a long post, but the cliff notes are:
fresh, juicy, comforting.
Great addition to my favorite town.
Jersey Shore Food Truck Wars
Going Sunday without a doubt.
Taking the whole family and looking forward to my afterpost.
Scalini Fedeli -Chatham
I like this place a lot and try to eat there whenever we visit the Short Hills Mall. Only reason I never post about it is they get enough press and I don't get there often. If they have the special chocolate dessert, get it. Enjoy.
Red Bank Flavour Festival ~ May 6th?
Lol. I had just the opposite reaction.
I also liked the beans and lamb, but I loved the korean tacos and also the scallop sliders and a lobster roll or two. I also really liked the music and the laid back vibe of the place.
I parked by North of the Border and got some take home things from there and also from the Cheese Cave. Nice, nice day. I am looking forward to going on one of the foodie walks this summer through Red Bank.
Help please with Amsterdam trip?
Tyvm for your replies linguafood. We will likely try Balthazar's Keuken.
And ty to all for the great suggestions. Just a few more weeks and we will be eating very well it seems.
Red Bank, pre-Basie dinner
We dined at Via45 last night and the food was excellent but the service was indeed slow.
Temple is what it is. Please don't go expecting anything but americanized chinese food. However, I must confess that I like their food a lot - reminds me of a higher end version of my childhood chinese memories.
It is possible to have a really good meal at Red. Get the filet mignon appy and a sushi roll or two or the excellent chicken sandwich.
Finally the low end options still stand out - El Norte de la Frontera is only a few blocks towards the train station, and the aforementioned Cheese Cave now does nice sandwiches.
Help please with Amsterdam trip?
Thank you sooo much for your replies ultravox! Reap the wild wind.
Are there any places at all that have nicer dinners that you think are worthwhile?
Also, have you ever taken a night boat trip down the canals that also serve dinner? They seem very romantic albeit expensive.
Again, tyvm for your time and trouble.
Easter in Amsterdam
Hi dutchgrub
Tyvm for replying. I've been through much of your website and it is a great resource.
Anything new that we could eat that we won't have to dress up for? We don't plan on taking much nice clothes.
seal
2.5-hrs to deliver very mediocre food and poor customer service
As long as we are talking about ordering delivery online...
I have rarely had any problems with this process from Sultan Wok. Granted they are not gourmet, but they are reliable.
Help please with Amsterdam trip?
We are long time hounds on our first trip to Amsterdam this Easter. From our research it seems like we should just skip trying to have even one expensive dinner during our five days there and just eat well and cheaply. We'd welcome any and all advice from local hounds.
A Little Bit of Cuba Dos
Tyvm for the review jsfein.
I'd been meaning to try this place but somehow always end up eating at Ibby's when I am downtown. Maybe next time we will switch it up.
Easter in Amsterdam
Thanks for reading.
We are two adults who will be spending Easter and five surrounding days in Amsterdam. It seems like many restaurants are doing business as usual both Good Friday and Easter Sunday, but is this really true? By us, those restaurants that are open usualy have some kind of buffet instead of their regular menu.
By contrast, some local places have special dishes or feasts that they only serve at certain times of the year. Are there any foods that we should eat that are only available during or around Easter?
For the record we are both foodies and will eat any and all types of dishes and we both don't care if the place is a hole in the wall or a fancy dining room.
Disappointed by Nicholas
Tyvm RGR!
It's not like I am accusing Nicholas of doing anything wrong... Maybe I was spoiled when EMP took such good care of me that I thought I might be able to get those same, "Anything you like" kind of answers locally.
So what happened was that all our celebrations are now in the city. Besides EMP we are also having the burger at DB Bistro and the Dover Sole at La Grenuoille (sp?) as well as an unstructured walk through my favorite foodie areas in the city.
Disappointed by Nicholas
Tyvm to all for the birthday wishes.
Joonjoon, I really wasn't asking for anything special. According to their website, the chef's table at Nicholas is a private, personal experience with a special tasting menu created just for the guests. I simply wanted to include a truffle course or two in that menu. And, I would have been fine with a quick, "no" or something along those lines. The part that galls me is that I feel like I am dating again and was just strung along for three months.
Disappointed by Nicholas
Big birthday for me this year and as part of my celebration I wanted to have a special dinner for 4 at Nicholas. The birthday is in two weeks so I took no chances and began my inquiries near the beginning of November. I wanted truffles as part of my meal so I told them I would be flexible with the date - any time between then and now would be fine.
The short of it is that we went back and forth through November and December with nothing accomplished. I couldn't get a straight answer from them. Finally a few private emails to the chef also went by with me no closer to having any kind of answer.
All I wanted was a nice meal, maybe at the chef's table, with at least one truffle course. After trying again for the last time with no luck again I was forced to make other plans. I can't believe such a simple request from a regular customer would have been hard for them to do. This was a really big deal for me and they dropped the ball. I am beyond upset.
Need Business Luncheon for 20 near Short Hills
I've had some really nice lunches at Scalini Fedeli while the family shopped at Short Hills. It's easy to get to and the beautiful old building has plenty of room for a party of 20. I love their ravioli in truffle cream sauce.
Momofuku (which one) or Jungsik - not sure which to choose
I love Ssam and the menu is really good now, but I would not call it Korean food. If your intention is to sample some Korean cuisine, go to Jungsik. If you just want a great meal, either place will do.
-----
Momofuku Ssam Bar
207 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10003
What NYC food item do you send to 75 people from out of town - other than bagels?
I know it's not trendy or cool to say so, but I love the corn cookies and the blueberry cookies there and my family devours the compost cookies at a prodigous rate.
What NYC food item do you send to 75 people from out of town - other than bagels?
The easiest thing to do this with is baked goods. Ruling out what you can get elsewhere, I would go for some of the more unusual items from Momofuku Milk Bar. My second choice would be Levain, likely a few cookies. I don't think they would travel well or I would also throw some macarons into the mix.
-----
Levain Bakery
167 W 74th St, New York, NY 10023
Momofuku Milk Bar
251 E 13th St, New York, NY 10003
It's time to reassess the Red Bank dining scene.
jsfein - sorry to confirm that Willy's is indeed gone. With all the good options in Red Bank I must admit that I hadn't been back there in quite a while and I guess I missed them closing.
I also like Peking Pavillion a lot for the same reasons I like Temple and as confirmed already, it is the same family. Now I have to get to the Trattoria for that pizza ;o)
Foie Gras in Old Bridge!?! New "JUST Restaurant" opens on Route 9
Well, we had an opportunity to have an early dinner locally last night so I thought I would splurge and TOFTT. The short of it is that while the prices, the presentation, and perhaps the freshness of the ingredients are in line with Nicholas, alas, the cooking is not.
To begin at the beginning...The space is nice and I like what they've done with it. I was told they have plans to create a "lounge" area and have music on the weekends. With a fully stocked bar, this sounds like a good idea to me. I also liked the red and black color scheme that ran all the way to the servers' uniforms, but when I had to unwrap my napkin from its cardboard holder that also said "Just" in red and black I thought it both too much and a bit tacky for a fine restaurant.
We started with one order each of the sliders, duck risotto, caeser salad, and tuna tartare. When the plates arrived there was hope. To a one, they all looked beautiful and you could tell a lot of thought and work went into making a nice presentation. The salad was wrapped up in a cage made of the croutons, the tuna was layered just so, etc. But the crucial next step was not a WOW, in fact not even a wow, more like a nod of the head and a quick, "that's alright".
For mains we had three different fish dishes and one wagyu strip steak with bone marrow. Again the plates looked wonderful - too pretty to eat was one comment. I had the steak and thought the marrow bone was perfectly roasted and the steak a beautiful medium rare as requested. This was the best thing I ate all night and even the sauce ( a demi with shrooms ) was very nice. But this was a nice piece of wagyu beef covered with marrow and I still couldn't muster a wow for it. All the fishes, a branzino, a cod, and a char, were decent enough as well with none of the "I must have this again" we usually coo at even Le Fandy.
Most of us are restricting sugar, so we all shared one struedel for dessert with our coffees. This was a nice piece of pastry with a scoop of nice cinnamon ice cream on top. It left me with the feeling that their pastry chef may be fairly talented, but not enough to want to clean the plate.
With one bottle of wine, a drinkable Dr. Loosen Reisling with an acceptable 75% ish markup over what I paid for the same bottle retail, we spent over $300 for the four of us, making the prices right in line with dinner at Nicholas or Le Fandy. IMHO, too much to pay locally for a decent, but not great meal.
Best early Saturday lunch
Thanks for the great suggestions! So far I've looked at Bouley and Ai Fiori and am leaning towards Bouley if we go fancy.
Still thinking about those truffles though. Any other thoughts for a nice plate of pasta with truffles?
Asian Food Market coming soon in Marlboro
Went this morning and the short of it is, I am impressed. In scope alone they compare well with the biggest and the best. I found a package of korean rice cakes that I paired with some dried fungus and black mushrooms, about a pound of their house roast pork and some thick black soy, garlic, and ginger. My family is enjoying them as I type.
Also impressive is their steam table. I got some fried fish filet in salt, garlic and hot pepper and I think it is as good as either of the Matawan places I usually get that dish. Also got a 3 lb bag of teeny mandarins for only about $4 and the one I tried was perfect.
They had so many varieties of ready to cook buns in the refrigerated section as well as many kinds of noodles in plastic as well as those rice cakes. The meat and seafood looked nice and well set up with many asian favorites. Next time I get the fish balls.
This looks like a very good thing.
slice of cake
Whenever I am up near the east side of the park with my kids I always take them to la maison du chocolat on madison ave near 78th. It is more spacious than you would think and a quiet table for 1 is easy to find. Lots of great menu choices including a killer chocolate cake.
Foie Gras in Old Bridge!?! New "JUST Restaurant" opens on Route 9
Is it possible this is the place that went in next to the international market behind Delta Gas? I always assumed it would be russian food but ...
Best early Saturday lunch
Any area of the city, any price point, just has to be noon or before on a Saturday. We wanted to go to Keen's but they are not open for lunch on the weekends. Still considering truffles at EMP. Also thinking about a burger at Minetta Tavern. Having the Dover Sole at La Grenouille for dinner earlyish so not thinking as much about fish, but nothing is off the table.
Ooops, looks like EMP isn't open for lunch Saturday either. Darn, some white truffle pasta would have been nice.
TIA
