valmar's Profile
Cor-J vs Mastic Seafood
I used to own a summer house in East Quogue and would always go to Cor J's for fish, but the Hampton Bays location, not the Westhampton one. They always had a huge selection of the freshest fish.
By the way, I live a few miles from John's Farms and always go there for fish. The selection, freshness and prices can't be beat.
April Trip to Rome
Thank you! That sounds like great advice. I just bought your apps for Rome and Florence. So looking forward to trying as many places as we can manage.
April Trip to Rome
My DH and I are heading to Italy in April. We will be landing in Rome at 10:30 on a Friday morning. I am figuring that we will get to our hotel (near the Trevi Fountain) at around 12:00 or 12:30. Any suggestions for lunch? I am assuming we will be pretty tired and very hungry, so would like something kind of close to our hotel.
Our plan for after lunch is to do some wandering and exploring, until we are too tired to keep going. Do you think we will have the energy for dinner that first night?
Thanks for the advice!
Got closed out at Babbo...
My husband and I will be in the city on Saturday, 2/18 and are looking for someplace great for dinner. We are at a hotel in Soho, although we don't need to stay in Soho for dinner. I tried for Babbo but by the time I got through this morning, there were no reservations left. Any suggestions for someplace else that would be special? We eat out a lot and eat anything (although we are not thrilled with French food).
Any recommendations for someplace that has an interesting menu with outstanding food? Not worried about price.
Thanks!
Binghamton Area Help - Any hidden gems?
My daughter will be starting at SUNY Binghamton this fall, and we just made the first of many trips to Binghamton. Can anyone help with some different non-chain restaurant recs? I have read all of the recent posts, but am hoping to find some more foodie, ethnic recommendations.
We ended up having Italian food one night at J Michaels in downtown Bing. We were hoping it would be old style red sauce type Italian like some of the places we remembered from our college days in Schenectady and Albany. Unfortunately, it was just pretty bad. Another night was at Lost Dog Cafe. It was just okay.
Hoping to try the Korean place on Vestal and Mekong Vietnamese on another trip. Both were closed when we tried to eat there.
The restaurant that has been recommended most often is Number 5, but since we are not big steak eaters, we didnt't try it. Is it really the best in the area?
Help! Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
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Mekong Vietnamese Restaurant
29 Willow St, Johnson City, NY 13790
Number 5 Restaurant
33 S Washington St, Binghamton, NY 13903
Lost Dog
222 Water St Ste 101, Binghamton, NY 13901
Indian in Hicksville
House of Dosas for vegetarian; Diwan for non-vegetarian.
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House of Dosas
416 S Broadway, Hicksville, NY 11801
Anything new in Long Island, healthy or seafood oriented?
Neraki, Main St in Huntington. Large selection of fresh fish, grilled Greek style. Very good!
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Main St Cafe
6 N Main St, New City, NY 10956
Rehearsal Dinner Suggestions for Nassau County, Long Island (plainview/woodbury area)
La Famiglia on Old Country Rd in Plainview has nice private party rooms and some reasonably priced options. Also, Baldinos in the Plainview Residence Inn does a nice party for a group that size. Angelinas II in Syosset is another possibility.
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La Famiglia
641 Old Country Rd Ste A, Plainview, NY 11803
Question about Scotchies Ocho Rios
I will be in Ocho Rios for a day on a cruise stop in a couple of weeks and would really like to try Scotchies. Although the rest of my family loves spicy food, one of my daughters won't eat anything spicy. Will there be anything for her to eat there?
Thanks!
Restaurant for Christmas Eve Bethpage LI
How about The Carltun in Eisenhower Park? I haven't been there in a while, but the food used to be very good. And it's very pretty and probably beautifully decorated for the holiday.
Dim Sum on Long Island?
Why would you assume I made that statement without having had that experience?
I have been to the Orient many times and do believe they are capable of making excellent food, but am frustrated that they assume that most causcasians want the same americanized food. I base this on the fact that the only time I truly got the same food that is offered to the Asians was when I was there with my brother-in-law who lives in Hong Kong and is fluent in Chinese. He convinced Tommy that we knew the difference. Of course it helped that he was able to read the Chinese menu.
As far as dim-sum, I have been there twice. Both times, we were seated at a back table and the carts seemed to give priority to the Asian tables. In addition, the variety of dim sum pales in comparison to the offerings at Norhtern Manor or any of the places I have eaten at in Flushing.
But you are correct that the Orient does have a loyal caucasian following, especially at dinner. And the restaurant caters to those tastes.
Dim Sum on Long Island?
I second the vote for Northern Manor. Great variety and very fresh.
I have given up on LI dim sum. Agree that Fortune Wheel has gone downhill, and got tired of being treated like a second class citizen at The Orient because I am caucasian.
Disappointing Dinner at Scotto's Wood Fired Pizza in Westbury
I was so surprised to see that Newsday write-up after our experience the other night. And I usually agree with Newsday's restaurant assessments. So maybe it was an off night, or maybe Scotto's was once better than it is now. But I won't be back there to find out anytime soon.
Disappointing Dinner at Scotto's Wood Fired Pizza in Westbury
Had dinner tonight at Scotto's (used to be Luzzo's) near the Source Mall. The food was consistently tasteless. The breadbasket contained cold, hard garlic breadsticks and supermarket quality italian bread. We had a salad that was a special tonight - greens, cherry tomatoes, avocados and asiago cheese in a lemon vinaigrette. Nothing special - the flavors did not complement each other, and the dressing was creamy, not a vinaigrette, with absolutely zero taste.
Then we moved on to a hero special - prosciutto, fresh mozzarella and arugula. The hero was made on the same supermarket quality white bread, and again, nothing in the sandwich had any tase. I can only assume that they did not use high quality ingredients in the sandwich, becasue how else could you mess up something that requires such minimal preparation?
We were still hopeful that the pizza would be good since pizza is the focus of this restaurant, and a wood-fired oven should make it taste delicious. Well, disappointed again. Our margherita pizza was not particularly hot and was terrible!! The sauce tasted like it was from a can, and the cheese did not taste at all like fresh mozzarella. Most surprising was the fact that there was no wood-fired taste at all.
One other notable fact about this restaurant - it smelled like baby wipes. Very strange. And there were no babies nearby. Not a good smell when you are eating.
Has anyone else eaten here? I thought I had read some good reviews, but can't say I would agree.
Best bagels and/or coffee near Syosset
Can't say I agree about Bagel Master in Syosset. Their bagels are pretty ordinary.
The original Bagel Boss in the Staples shopping center on the corner of Woodbury Rd and South Oyster Bay Rd is the best in the area. It is actually in Hicksville, not Woodbury. They also supply bagels to many of the local delis and supermarkets as well.
Zero Otto Nove - Arthur Ave.
Ate at Zero Otto Nove with my family today after a visit to the Bronx Zoo. We all loved it! The pizza was delicious, and an appetizer of stewed octopus was memorable with one of the best sauces I have had in years. Everyone enjoyed their entree - a veal, fava bean and mushroom dish for me, a bracciole special for my husband, pork chops for one daughter, and risotto for my other daughter. For dessert, we shared a wonderful chocolate cake with gelato.
We've had some disappointing meals on Arthur Ave in the past, but we will definitely be back to eat here again. Glad I read about it on this board.
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Zero Otto Nove
2357 Arthur Ave, Bronx, NY 10458
Need Italian Restaurant Recommendation
Thanks, that looks great. But can you suggest anything else that has a bigger fish selection?
Need Italian Restaurant Recommendation
My husband is running the NYC half marathon this weekend, and we will be staying in the city with our 2 teenagers. We need a recommendation for a casual Italian restaurant for Saturday night where my husband can get some really good pasta, but nothing too formal or heavy. We are staying in the East 50s, so preferably something in that area.
Thanks!
Aruba Restaurant Report
We must have similar taste in restaurants. I really wanted to get to Casa Tua (no reservations available) and Linda's pancakes (never had a chance to get there). I will have to try them on my next trip, and Bingo's too.
One other thing about Restaurant Indo - it's all about the food. Not much atmosphere - a typical hole in the wall type of place. But great food!!!
Aruba Restaurant Report
I just returned from a week in Aruba with my husband and 2 teneage daughters. We had some great meals and some awful ones:
1) Wacky Wahoos - This was our favorite restaurant of the week. The food was so fresh and nicely prepared. We had delicious ceviche and fish chowder. They had several fresh fish choices - kingfish, wahoo, mahi-mahi. We opted to have the fish pan-fried aruban style which was great. We loved the restaurant so much that we immediately made reservations to go back on our last night in Aruba. Delicious again!
2) Moomba Beach Bar - my husband and I had enjoyed rijstaffel when we were last on the island, 26 years ago. I had heard that the only rijstaffel available on the island now was the Wednesday night Rijstaffel buffet at the Moomba. So we tried it. While it was not awful, I would not recommend it. The food was very mediocre and didn't seem all that fresh.
3) Sawaseeda Thai - we had trouble getting reservations this night because the island was getting so crowded (it was Christmas week). So we opted for thai food. I had read reviews elsewhere on line that said this restaurant was pretty good. This was, by far, the worst Thai food I have ever had, and I've eaten a lot of Thai food. Some people actually walked over to the nearby Wendy's and brought some food back for their group. Not recommended at all!
4) Gari and Wasabi - After leaving the thai restaurant hungry (yes, it was that bad that we didn't really even eat), we went down the road to a sushi restaurant that I had read about. We were a little nervous because the place was empty. But it looked really nice so we decided to give it a try. Glad we did! The food was delicious. We had 2 kinds of ceviche, both of which were great. Then we had a couple of rolls. The plantain roll was absolutely delicious. It was a bit expensive though, with rolls averaging about $15 each. The restaurant also had a really cool outdoor bar in front, so maybe it gets a big late night crowd.
5) Yemanja Grill - this is a wood-fired grill restaurant in Oranjestad. The food was really nicely prepared and delicious. My husband had a delicious fish dish, I had chicken, and my daughters had scallops and steak. All were very good. And they serve sides family style - wood-fired garlic mashed potatoes, brazilian beans, stir-fried veggies and basmati rice. My only criticism is that the menu could be a bit simpler. The food gets such a nice flavor from the grill, that they don't need to "sauce up" every entree. We also had a dessert sampler that was delicious.
6) Nos Cunucu - This has been named repeatedly as the best Aruban cuisine on the island. We enjoyed it, but I can't say that it was great. We started with aruban fish soup and conch sausage which were both ok. My husband had goat stew which he loved, I had cucumber stew which I really did not like at all. One daughter tried the keeshi yena, which was interesting and the other had a steak dish -just ok. All came with traditional sides - we liked the pan bati the best. I am really not sure if the reason we did not love this restaurant was that we just didn't like the type of cuisine, or if it was not that well prepared.
7) Salt and Pepper - This is a tapas-type place on the strip in Palm Beach. We enjoyed this more than we thought we would. It was a great place to sit outdoors and people watch. It is definitely nothing fancy and a lot of items on the tapas menu are not really tapas, but more like small plate items. We enjoyed the carafe of sangria for about $20 as well! They also had some full entrees, burgers and salads on the menu. This is also a great place for families with young children - easy and casual.
8) Indo Restaurant - This was our favorite find of the week!!!! It is up the road from Wacky Wahoo. I had seen other posts looking for surinamese food, but no responses. So when my husband and I came upon this restaurant while looking for something different for lunch, it was a great surprise. We had roti with chicken curry, and a delicious noodle dish. Sooo good that we came back with our daughters another day. We then tried a dish that had amazing chicken sate served with yellow rice and a cabbage type side with the best peanut sauce I have ever had. We also had a fried rice dish and roti again. The owners were so nice and friendly too. This will be a definite place we return to on our next trip!
Luzzo's Coal Oven Pizza - Westbury
Agree. The pizza is not nearly as good as it used to be.
Three aces in Hampton bays
It's been about 5 years since I ate at three aces, but the most memorable thing about it was that it smelled like a damp basement. And the food was really ordinary. Maybe it has improved since then?
ARUBA - Snack Trucks, Local Food, Rijsttafel
I have not been to Aruba since 1983, but I remember really enjoying rijsttafel. I am going back in December and would love to have it again. Do any restaurants on Aruba still serve it?
Need Lunch Recommendation
Can anyone recommend a restaurant for lunch tomorrow, somewhere between 44th and 2nd and penn station? Light Italian (pizza, salads), new american or any type of asian would be great.
Thanks!
18 Bay - Bayville
We had the same reaction about the wine. Very expensive wine list. I did notice that another patron brought his own, so we are planning to find out about the corkage fee before we go again.
18 Bay - Bayville
No one answered my request for recent info on 18 Bay, but we went for our anniversary dinner anyway. Glad we did! What a wonderful meal. The chefs cook using local products as much as possible, and the menu shows the source of the local ingredients. It is a bit expensive, but so worth it. Also, a very pretty but low key place - easy to have a conversation, and you can watch the sunset on the beach across the street. We will definitely go back.
Sushi in Syosset / Woodbury / Plainview
I think the sushi is good at both Ruby and Kumo, but Ruby has some interesting appetizers and rolls that I really like. It also tends to be a bit more relaxed - less crowded and noisy.
Sushi in Syosset / Woodbury / Plainview
Also try Ruby Sushi in Plainview. And I agree with the post about Kumo.
