just got back from austin for graduation week. also was there about 2 months ago. here are places i really liked.
sway - upscale thai food. i personally like authentic (inexpensive) thai but sway was great. every dish was salty, sweet, spicy, crunchy and all different flavors. great balance. beat my expectations.
la condessa - wasn't looking forward to this place, also upscale but mexican. once again, i prefer a hole in the wall but everything was really good. i think i would get some other recs and do hole in the wall tex mex in texas instead.
swifts attic - doesn't seem to get a lot of love but a nice place and a great menu. small plates and very inventive.
barley swine - loved the food at odd duck truck a couple of years ago and the food here was just as good. very creative. but no reservations and the wait can be a killer. we showed up at 9 pm and was told the wait was 90 minutes. but there was a table outside that is first come first serve and we grabbed it. highly recommended.
bbq - we preordered franklins so i didn't have to wait. terrific. but i wouldn't wait 2 hrs for it. last time we ate la barbeque and it was excellent. but i would recommend driving to lockhart just to experience it. we hit up blacks, smitty's and kreutz just to try them. just order a little at each. great experience. and the beef rib at blacks is great.
bangers - 100 craft beers on tap. need i say more. and a lunch special of a beer, sausage and something else for like $8.

fyi, i hadn't been to dipalma bros. for a few years but always liked it. i went a few weeks ago and everything was between just ok to not so good. very disappointing. so please try la sorrentina and let us know! and i guess you should try the mussels

has anyone used their services and what do you think?

i think most people who order wine by the glass are not really that into wine. it's a drink. sometimes it can be very difficult to tell if a wine is corked unless you are familiar with the wine. some barnyard off smells are correct. i once had a wine at a restaurant that was not only corked but brown. they didn't want to take it back until i made a scene. no wine steward and they just cared about the $. last year i went to le bernadin and the wine steward tasted the wine and went to get another bottle. when i asked him if the first bottle was corked, he said yes. i asked to taste it, a learning experience, and it tasted fine. a second taste showed a tiny off flavor. i never would have noticed it. i told him that 19 out of 20 people would not notice anything, he said probably 99 out of 100.
once i ordered an aglianico, never had it before, and it smelled like a barn but tasted terrific. i asked the waiter if that was right and he asked the bartender. there was no wine steward. he said yes and i drank the wine. i enjoyed the taste but the smell was off putting. was it bad? was it corked? i've had many aglianicos since and none have smelled like that so i think it was a bad bottle. but it was drinkable.

i went to village green in ridgewood last month. food was very good, not inventive or creative but good. i prefer food that is a little more unique so i won't be back for a while. but it is a great place for a dinner with friends. not too loud, good spacing of tables, good service and good food. a bit upscale but not crazy. i had the 5 course prie fixe and dinner took 2 1/2 hours. most patrons just ordered off the menu.

thanks. was going nuts trying to remember. a mind is a terrible thing to lose. i don't remember lucy but her son was a little pretentious. when they moved, there were tuxes and black tie staff. he said he used to work at babbo and was trying for the babbo vibe. not quite, but i always liked that place. not too many places serve offal, even tripe. it's too bad when a place tries to be what it isn't. i feel the same way about arturo's. in midland park. 20 years ago it was a nice family run byob. they always tried to upsell - pushing the overpriced specials and asking if you want a tricolore salad without telling you a salad was included in the meal. but the food was always good. when they expanded and added the bar, it wasn't the same. it still gets good reviews but i just couldn't tolerate it anymore. even after i had been there 20 times, no reservations accepted but if uncle johnny's friend came he got the table before me. still, they are still open so they must be doing something right.

no. trovato's closed a few months ago. this place moved off rt. 46 about 10 ago. it was open in the residential area for about 3 years and has been closed for over 5 years.

It used to be on Rt. 46 next to a Dunkin Donuts. Then it moved to a place in a residential neighborhood surrounded by homes. It had a private parking lot. Excellent food at reasonable prices. After it moved it tried to go upscale and didn't survive. They always served hot italian peppers as a complimentary plate. Realy hot peppers. What was it's name?

thanks for the heads up. sounds good. i tried boomerang's in hackensack yesterday. $5 mondays. jerk chicken, rice & peas and cabbage. pretty tasty and a great price. not real jerk but i didn't expect it. grilled chicken, dark meat on the bone, the way i like it, with a jerk sauce. a little spicy and a little sweet. rice was a little dry but good. nice coconut flavor. i tried to order collards but they had no greens yesterday. was going to try the oxtail next but i think i'll try this place instead. i wish they had a menu online.

Jamaican? Trini? there are a few in teaneck/englewood and i see one in bergenfield. any good? i ate at a jamaican place on central av in hackensack a few years ago. not bad and i don't know if it still exists. i see online a place called teela's in bloomfield/montclair. anyone know? i'd love a good roti without having to go to nostrand ave or liberty ave. thanks.

i also loved jose enrique. best meal of the vacation by far. everything was awesome. braised pork cheeks, the special fish, even the flan.
also enjoyed bodegas campostela. VERY expensive but excellent food. i thought it was a tapas place but it is a high end restaurant. mains average in the $40s. they do have a large selection of tapas which most people eat before the meal. we made a meal o the tapas. also expensive but excellent.
after reading all the rave reviews on this site, we were very disappointed by la estacion in fajardo. nice concept, go green, eat local, etc but it is a bbq place. ribs, lobster, chicken etc and everything is burnt. try something else.
we spent most of our time in dorado. all the restaurants were ok, nothing special. katrina's - good enough local food. greenhouse - fancier than it looks. ok. grappa - tasty italian food but just ok. metropol - there are about 5 of these around the island. i like this restaurant the most. maybe because we went on a saturaday nite and they had lechon. same basic pr/cuban food but good.
finally, we ate at #20 in the luquillo kiosks. very good. grilled rabbit and good large shrimp. mostly older americans who rent condos but a fair number of locals. and they usually have a band playing at night. after we ate, they had a 4 piece jazz band playing and they were good. and beer was $! during this.

just went last thursday. got there at 6:10 and waited 50 minutes. the placita is just down the block and we got a drink. the hostess took our cell # and called us when our table was ready. easy. and it was terrific.

i don't know teterboro but when i go to the meadowlands i get something from annabella's salumeria. excellent fresh mozzerella and good sandwiches. right off rt. 17.

i have to agree, there is no "can't miss" around here. i don't know where you are coming from but there is a good, not great, mexican in town. maravillas del tulcingo. terrific sopes. if you are coming from a place with good mexican, don't bother. if you are coming from new hampshire, it's pretty good. i would also recommend brooklyn pizza in hackensack. if you are not from around here, it will be great. i also like so kong dong in ft. lee. korean soft tofu. just soft tofu soup and bbq short ribs. not something you find everyday and very tasty. i also like yakitori 39 in teaneck. unusual and very tasty. and the sushi next door is excellent. you can order from either restaurant. noy your run of the mill places but i expect that is what you had in mind if you are on this site. also, don't be surprised if you are the only non mexican at maravillas, the only non korean at skd, and the only non japanese at yakitori 39.

Has anyone seen these for sale? Whole Foods had them last year for a short time but I haven't seen them around this year.

good to know. any one recommended? next time i play golf at rockleigh, it's right there. which one for some wings and a beer? or are they takeout places only?

i was in both places for 3 nights in may. we really liked csalogany 26 in budapest. it's on the pest side. nice menu, 4 courses with wine for under $50us. and they make an effort. recommended. i also ate at bock's bistro. also good. a little more full of themselves but it was all good.
in prague, we ate at lokal. pretty good but no a/c and it can get really hot. very low key. just realize that people go out to eat and spend the entire night out. a 3 to 4 hour meal is common. i saw people go thru an entire pack of cigarettes in 1 meal. the place that we really enjoyed was hybernia. terrific food and an outdoor patio. very big, lots of seating both inside and out, and they respect reservations. it doesn't get much play on this board, we found it out from a local, highly recommended. the tartare was better than at lokal and the smoked knee was terrific. my wife and i liked it so much we ate there twice! good food, cold beer, and a patio. and mostly locals.

torico's ice cream. bet you never had ubu ice cream before. and taqueria has terrific fish tacos and posole on weekends. laico's is a trip, very jersey. but why would you go to the lighthorse tavern? it's good, but not unusual. i think you might prefer the vietnamese places on newark or the indian on newark ave. and soul flavors does have amazing fried chicken. compare it to pies and thighs and let me know. i haven't been to thirty acres yet but it sounds like a place that fits right in billyburg.

bergen county is awful for true mexican food. last saturday i went to maravillas del tulcingo in englewood based on some reviews from this board. rt. 4 east to grand ave then north to the main street. make a left and go over the train tracks. so this is the other side of the tracks! just go past the blue moon with it's nachos and you will find this place. i had the goat special, cabrito tulcingo which was very good. nice sauce made with different chiles. the goat was a little tough and a little sparse but a good dish. they also had chivo barbacoa, goat, and consomme but only on the weekend. so had the skirt steak with nopales, cactus. excellent. they have a salsa verde and salsa rojo which were both tasty. and lots of rice and beans. also ordered the sopes with chorizo which were terrific. made from fresh masa with real crema and queso. too much food but i wanted leftovers for the next night. home made tortillas too. and i had a agua de tamarindo which was very good and so had a juice of carrot/beet and orange. fresh fruit/ veggie juices and both tamarind and horchata available. huge menu and good food. glad i found this place and i'll be back. they also have 2 places in passaic if that's closer to you.

nothing is really that good but i still think you should enjoy it. chicken savoy and chicken murphy, ask for it with potatoes, pasta with pot cheese, it's all good but you are not going just for the food. it will be a memorable experience.

ever? have you ever been to italy? a review like that deserves a few !!!! at least. i was going to go to the city this weekend but i've already eaten batali's and benno's food so maybe i'll go here instead. i'm sorry, maybe i shouldn't be so sarcastic. i'll just say thank you sicily815 for such an in depth review.

i don't tweet. i don't belong to facebook. why would i call the restaurant and speak to the hostess who did not seem interested before. and the email is only for booking an event. i just want to write them about my lousy experience. i wrote a letter and mailed it. hopefully they scan this site too. please don't try to defend such an egregious offense. i did not comment on the food. i wish i could.

i went for lunch yesterday with a business associate/friend i hadn't seen in while. we showed up at 1:15 and were seated immediately as they were not that busy. the server brought us menus immediately and we ordered within 10 minutes. they took our drink order, club sodas, and they came right away. my friend and i were catching up and enjoying each others company when the server came over and said our food would be out shortly. after another 10 minutes we realized it was 2:20! an hour and 5 minutes and we hadn't been served anything! i had a 2:30 appointment so we left immediately. the server appologized with a quick sorry and as i left, i told the hostess what had happened and that this was ridiculous. she didn't care and basically said "oh".
i would like to complain to someone at the restaurant about this experience, not that i think they really care. most websites have a contact us link, but not the john dory or the breslin. don't ask, don't tell?
what a joke!

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The John Dory Oyster Bar
1196 Broadway, New York, NY 10001

just got back from a week in sjd. first time here and we rented a car. easy place to navigate. tried to find the marisco place near the airport because we were hungry when we landed but there was no way to find it. there are lot of places that sell marisco so we gave up. on the ride into sjd heading south i saw a place as you just get into sjd, on the northbound side, that is called the best fish tacos in los cabos. it was in spanish with the english underneath. it was abot 3pm and there were a number of people there so i did a uturn and we ate there. excellent little place. fish tacos were 17 pesos. they also had scallops, squid, smoked marlin, etc. we also had a 1/2 order of aguachile. they have a huge selection to pile on in the middle of the restaurant. the usual guacamole, pico de gallo, salsas , cabbage but also fried onion rings, jalapenos, salad. really cheap, fast and good.
we then hit the mega, i love that place.
that night we drove into sjd and it was dark and i had no idea where i was. we ended up just short of the zocalo so we ate at habanero's. it was all tourists and i was not happy but wtf. i had a chicken stuffed with hualtacoche, it was good but i didn't expect it to be deepfried. most everyone else was eating ribs and usual fare. not bad but not worth seeking out.
the next night we at at barrio del tango. argentine meat place. very local. loved it. they had a menu translated into english. the sangria with nuts was terrific. the queso melted on the grill with mushrooms was great. and the vacia argentino was an amazingly tasty and tender piece of meat. i brought back half of it for tacos for lunch the next day.
went to csl the next day and lasted an hour. horrible. we ate at tacos gardenia and again, all tourists. it was good but not like the first place.
we had a beer at baja brewing co and i'm glad we didn't eat there. good brews but only pizza and burgers.
we took a day trip to todos santos and it's nice litle arty town. lots of expats. beware, the rroads are being fixed and it took over 2 hours to get there. horrible ride. nothing to rave about there but on the way home, we went north towards la paz and cut across the mountains. longer trip but at least we moved and the mountain ride was beautiful. we stopped in el triufe(?) the first town when you cut across on a recomendation from some expat in todos santos. an american baker opened a little place there, it is atown of about 200 and he sells pizza! and it was really good. it also cost about 220 peso which is about $18us. in the middle of nowhere. we had an arugala and prociutto pizza. amazing world we live in. if you go, it's the ONLY restaurant in town.
the next evening was deckmans. excellent. upscale casual with very tasty food. more expensive than fish tacos but we had more than enough food, mostly delicious with cocktails and wine and the total for 3 was about $130. highly recommended and don't miss the octopus with pork belly. great service and drew deckman came out to meet us after dinner. interesting guy and i wish him luck. he told us it was just their 1 year anniversary and coincidently, so did the people ay barrio del tango.
the next afternoon we wanted tacos so we tried to find the hangman. i even drew a map from their website but it was not to be found. where i expected to find it was a birria place. and it was crowded so we ate there. birria is a goat stew/soup. this place was sooo local and it was very tasty. spicy, meaty, delicious. be daring and try it. birria, con chivo.
that night we went back to barrio del tango and had some cheese and empanadas because we were still full from the birria. and some more sangria.
on the way home we went back for fish tacos at the first place and it was great again. so please use my recs as a guide but be daring and don't eat at the places all the tourists go to. it will be much more memorable.

I enjoyed my dinner this past saturday evening but it felt just ok. are my expectations too high? when i go to a 3 star michelin restaurant, shouldn't i be wowed? we enjoyed the tasting menu but there were no standout dishes. all the fish were cooked perfectly. like butter as they say. all the broths they were served in were delicious. but they all were so similar. same cooking method. i expected a fish with a crispy skin. none. there was no texture to the meal. the langoustine was delicious but the foie gras with it was so small i felt it added nothing to the dish. the sea beans with the escolar were minisule and again added nothing. the tuna tartare and the butter poached lobster and the celeriac soup in the amuse were highlights. so was the egg, which we requested. but the salmon was pedestrian, i get tastier fish from whole foods. if you changed the broth from the salmon with the one from the bass, they would work equally well. and again, the meal needed some crunch, some texture. the octopus was very tender but had at least some chew. but i expect when you order 5 fish dishes that they are not all a 1 x 3 piece of sous vide tender fish that have the same mouth feel. btw, the wine steward was excellent and answered many questions.

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Le Bernardin
155 W. 51st St., New York, NY 10019

asecondhelping.com. chef janet is a personal chef. she will come to your house and cook for a small gathering. it's not catering as she doesn't bring the food in but rather will cook at your house which is better imho.

blu on 28th st is close to msg. they have a terrace restaurant with skybar.

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Blu
127 W 28th St, New York, NY 10001

i live in re and i've never eaten at taste of greece, and not for the lack of trying. every time i go, it's packed. it's very small to begin with and the problem is they flood the media with discount coupons. valpac, town news, etc. so everyone thinks they're getting a deal. since it's always busy when i try to go, dinnertime, i guess they're succeeding. too bad because taste of greece in westwood has gone downhill in a big way. it was just terrible the last 2 times i went and it's off my list now. babylon in re also was just terrible. these days i just go to olympia or arek when it reopens and get some fresh pita and olives and feta and make a salad at home. buy some baba, mouhammrah, taramosalata and open a bottle of red and i'm set.

after reading the mostly negative review in the nyt, was it bruni's column?, i had no interest in this restaurant. i have been to wd50 and alinea and was underwhelmed by the food at both. although alinea was an experience i would suggest for any foodie. one of the highlights there was the wine pairings. i see that adara is a dry restaurant and the site has nothing about byob. any incite? also, how long was dinner? i expect like the ss minnow, a 3 hour tour.

jerry's hasn't changed in 50 years, including the waitresses. and the patrons. and the carpeting and wallpaper. the food is still good but nothing to go out of the way for. the atmosphere is though. when someone asks for a classic nj experience, this place or the belmont tavern are it.