jolivore's Profile
Osteria Procaccino - Kingston
Not much to write home about. I was looking forward to Procaccino's—I live down the street—but the pizza I had was disappointing. The heart of any pizza for me is the crust, and this one was diet thin, needed salt and lacked flavor; the cheese was almost non-existent, the tomato was good, not too sweet (and not a sauce, for those like me who care about such things) but salty, the sausage was ground and didn't have much fla vor. I liked my arugula salad. The place was a racket—a live album of Italian disco rock on the system, mostly applause, and the staff listened to talk radio. Eat outside if you can.
Chinese Food Recommendations - Central NJ [moved from Tristate board]
I've lived briefly in the capital of Sichuan, Chengdu, and my relatives have eaten here with me. We all thought it was very good, authentic. I've only seen Chinese here. My one beef is when they use firmer tofu for the mapo, which requires silken. I think they run out of the silken.
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Sichuan Spring Chinese Restaurant
1167 State Highway 27 N, Highland Park, NJ 08904
Chinese Food Recommendations - Central NJ [moved from Tristate board]
A Chinese family member explained it to me. THe old Chinese restaurants are dying because the ambitious kids went to med school and don't want to run restaurants. I guess they don't care about us….
Princeton to New Brunswick Corridor (Rt 1, Rt 27, Rt 130)
My gas guy who is from Monterrey swears by Mariachi on Olden Ave in Trenton.
Princeton to New Brunswick Corridor (Rt 1, Rt 27, Rt 130)
Szechuan Spring in Highland Park on 27 has authentic Sichuan food, very well done.
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Szechuan Garden Restaurant
270 State Rt 23 Ste H, Franklin, NJ 07416
Princeton to New Brunswick Corridor (Rt 1, Rt 27, Rt 130)
Tomato pies are dull-crust wonders. Try Patsy's in New York or Sette Luna in Easton, PA.
Princeton to New Brunswick Corridor (Rt 1, Rt 27, Rt 130)
It wasn't much good as Shanghai Park; the one in Princeton is dead on its feet.
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Shanghai Park Restaurant
301 N Harrison St Ste 33, Princeton, NJ 08540
Rhong Tiam, Plainsboro, NJ
I've been twice. Lovely room, sweet people, a bit disorganized: their system, where everyone waits on everyone, means that I was always being asked if the food was good, and if I'd given my order. A pain.
The food was mixed: duck bins absent both times, the dumplings good but the listing is for six different kinds and only one came. The gha soup terrific, ditto the beef salad, but the mango sticky rice awful: the mango hard as a rock (not like a papaya salad, even: HARD) and the sticky rice hard and stiff, not fully thawed, certainly not freshly made and wonderful as it can be. Still I'll go back; the food is serious; only the serving is bad right now.
Favorite Americanized-Chinese dishes??
It's still there: Ginger House, dark wood walls, low prices and flavors of old days, but no Char Sui Ding or Pressed Duck.
A GOOD THAI RESTAURANT ?????????
Not my experience, which was disappointing enough when I went six years ago that I never returned. Crude and heavy-handed, I'd say. There's more to Thai than heat.
Thai Tida Lambertville NJ
They've been there a while. I find the American owner/waiter intrusive, ignorant and in a hurry, the Thai staff are pleasant but they give him his head, and the food so-so; the coconut soup (tom yom goong?) downright poor: coconut milk straight up, but the fried whole snapper very good.
Thai food in Central Jersey
Gabbeh, FYI: Aroma is I would guess that different style of Thai from a different part of the country. (It's a big, long country, and Aroma's food is from the cooler part, so saucy and warming. (All those Chiantg Mai restaurants are in homage to a city in the north.) Most Thai we get is Banghok style, sophisticated, often with French influences (Origin is that, in spades), both of these in contrast to Phukey (yeah!) on the coast in the south. I find Aroma dull foood-wise, the people attentive as Thais usually are.
Metairie dining
Bozo's, great oyster poor boys, meh gumbo, good everything else. Been there forever.
BLT Fish Review
A theme park for the moneyed under-thirty set, even upstairs on the expensive dining floor. Ordered a glass of Gevrey-Chambertin, which was closed and bitter at the beginning and never changed to that velvety beauty which a good burgundy has. When I mentioned this to the waiter, offered to have him taste or smell the half-empty glass I never finished, he said he'd had a taste of another bottle months ago and it was "fine." So much for my $25! The shellfish platter was ok, too meager, though, for these prices. I had the best swordfish I've had in a long time, but my companion's tuna was fresh enough but innocuous, ditto the peas on the side. The service pretty poor, too: waited half an hour beyond my reservation time for a table on a Tuesday night in August! The bussers were poorly trained, intruding, asking if they can take away plates I'm still eating off of, because I'm not eating right then. Pain in the ass. I wouldn't recommend BLT Fish, though the food wasn't bad. It's too expensive, and too loud for eating.
Any suggestions for a good D.C./Bmore restaurant for meal and wine pairing?
I'm shocked at the universal plaudits about Komi. I had a uneven meal threre Friday. The best suckling pig I've eaten and a spaghetti with sea urchin I've been thinking about every since. But the place is like some precious cook's playpen, one badly-conceived little dish after another—such as beautiful scallops rimmed with, and ruined by, curried mayo, foie gras enclosed in a stale brioche which overwhelmed the goose liver, and caesar salad dressing enclosed in a closed pastry, to be eaten in one bite—ugh. $300 (with 2 glasses of wine, and tip) for the tasting menu; if you didn't have it, you were forced to have the same pasta and the same entrée. I'd pass on the place entirely until they get their act together.
Tosca for RW
It's very formal, suits for the men in general. I was molto disapppinted in what I ate, from the pappardelle with rabbit which was little bits of hard to taste rabbit drenched in butter, too rich to finish; a sardines and mullet appetizer which seemed a bit flat to me, and terrific grilled octopus. Also great bread, the squash blossoms were tasty, and clumsy desserts (such as fruit cobblers with nubbins of undercooked dough. I'm not a local, and this place made me wonder about DC.
Any Belgian or Country French Restaurants in Northern NJ or area?
Resto in Madison, not a Belgian restaurant by any stretch, is still a work in progress, with many things (the service, desserts) amateurish. But I've never had better swordfish anywhere (I mean it!) and the shrimp was also well handled. The pork tenderloin was tender and moist, and the foie gras was a knockout.
best restaurant in east hampton?
I forgot the pasta course, because it was forgettable: the gnocchi in a thick tomatoey sauce, awful; we split it but left most of it.
best restaurant in east hampton?
Nick and Toni's and the old Laundry (on Railroad Lane) used to run neck and neck. But I spent a meal and $200 at Nick and Toni's and it's down a notch. The menu is pared-down, less ambitious and less inventive. It's always been uneven, but this time nearly everything topped out at just-okay. Even the bread I look forward to has changed, still tasty but not what it was. The high point of our meal was the first courses: the squash blossoms, the whole plant (with the zucchini as well as the blossom) stuffed with a little cheese, dredged and fried) were a tasty delight, and the pork belly with a frisée was not bad but dry, the meat overcooked. The swordfish was tasteless, the butterflied chicken ditto, and the almond cherry tart was innocuous, more like a marzipan custard; I could see the cherries but not taste them.
Where's the edit button?
I've gone to several place sites to post something and the instructions are to press the edit button to add a post. But there's no edit button. I'm logged in. I went to Mia Dona today, I Sodi in the past.
Mia Dona recs
On a summer Tuesday night it was full but not busy or noisy. Savvy waiters, bar man. Everything was novel, interesting: white asparagus, tomatoes, nuts as a appetizer. Gnudi (usually a cliché these days) with surprising accompaniments. Bronzino was meaty, perfectly cooked. I found the halibut poached in olive oil a bit dry, not oily at all, but I find halibut boring. The desserts was fabulous, not too rich or intense, but just what I want from dessert: a finale. Portions were sane, a pleasure not to be stuffed. And I'm not a big eater. Only the not-cold white wine was an error, and they fixed that. I'd go back.
anyone gone to i sodi or sheridan square?
Bright stylish noise place with excellent food, not-low prices. I had a fabulous Soave Classico (didn't know there was such a thing!), perfectly cooked and almost perfectly fresh bronzino and absolutely autentico antipasto. Friendly staff; I'd definitely return.
"Push button to edit"
Button doesn't exist. "Place" called I Sodi has had no posts since March 18th. Check it out. The reason is there's no way to add anything. I wrote this feedback after I was there and couldn't write word one. Doesn't anyone read this stuff?
Green Sparkling Water
For those of you who don't want to puncture the greenhouse any more than it already is, asking for sparkling water is a big problem. Otherwise estimable places offer nothing but San Pellegrino or Lurisa or maybe the double-fizzed Perrier, 3000 to 5000 miles of shipping for each little bottle. Asking for "local" usually brings a blank face or a knowing nod: No. But if you keep doing it, the rising tide which is drowning this planet will even make a dent in your fav restaurant.
For now, the alternatives are seltzer and club soda, and a local water: Saratoga Water, from upstate. The taste is not bad, and while they seem to be missing a bet by not sending their salesmen downstate to take orders, if you ask for it, you might be making a contribution to earthhealth in the most delicious way possible—by eating it!
L'ybane Review...OUCH....
Thank you all for your service to humanity, for putting your bodies and wallets on the line for us equally insane food mavens!
Has anyone but me eaten at L'ybane?
Yelp has an enthusiastic review. Why don't you tell us what it was like?
Looking for a good lunch in Princeton
Princeton is justly and famously a desert for good eating. You might try Ajihei, a sushi place, pretty authentic, and quiet, too. On Chamber's St not far from Palmer Square.
Looking for a good lunch in Princeton
Finally had a meal at Tre Piani. Their Slow Food involvement is misleading: if the food is poorly done, you can't eat slowly and with pleasure—you just want to leave. The pasta was overcooked and dull, and the special soft shell crab was inedible. Even the decent bread they served gratis had been cut too long before and was stale, and the wine not properly chilled.
Daisy May's BBQ satisfies...
Atmosphere in a ribs place??? But I wish the place made you feel you could hang a while longer. Those small, hard chairs and the harsh lights make you feel you're eating in an operating room. The day I went, the ribs needed 2 more days in the smoker; I went looking for another fav.
Brooklyn Pizza Recommendatons
Franny's pizza is up a notch. It tastes like they're letting the dough rise longer: it's still thin but more tasty, not just a matzoh. But pricey — oh, my! $18 for so-so sausage, on top of the pie. The place is noisier than a bandbox, and is child-care central on Saturday afternoons. I was there yesterday and the day was beautiful but the garden was closed.
