JohnF's Profile
great ricotta cheesecake in westchester county ny
I have the book which is out of print but few people have recipe listed -just google polly-o cheesecake cookbook
Best Pizza in N.J.
The Star Ledger did an extensive "Best Pizza" in NJ and it looks pretty accurate for the ones I've been to. Wonder what y'all think? The place in Belleville looks amazingly like the Spumoni Gardens pie in Brklyn. Can vouch for "The Star" in Orange. The whole article with a great video is on following link -
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/dining/index.ssf/2010/01/pizza_patrol_names_best_pizza.html
their summary:
Best plain pizza: DeLucia's Brick Oven Pizza, 3 First Avenue, Raritan NJ;
Best sausage pizza: De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies, 530 Hudson Street, Trenton NJ;
Best Margherita pizza: La Rustique Cafe, 611 Jersey Avenue, Jersey City NJ;
Best Sicilian pizza: Mr. Bruno's Pizza & Restaurant, 439 Valley Broad Road, Lyndhurst NJ;
Best thin-crust pizza: Star Tavern, 400 High Street, Orange NJ;
Best specialty pizza: La Sicilia Pizza & Ristorante ("the Palermo, a heavenly blend of fresh mozzarella, marinara, garlic and grated cheese"), 155 Washington Avenue, Belleville NJ;
Orange Squirrel in Bloomfield,NJ- has anyone gone? Other Options?
3 of us ate there tonight -very creative, good quality. Some portions good size, others small - little expensive, but good value. Room is small, noisy, limited staff. Whole Branzini fish great, polenta with mascarpone side dish very good, ravioli very good, octupus excellent, pot pie, very tasty, perhaps a bit thin but still large and filling, salads good, cheesecake exceptional.
Good Restaurant in Paramus Area for night before a wedding?
For price, Andrea;'s and I Gemelli are good - Gemelli is a BYOB - we ate there Saturday night and it was really outstanding. Have come across no advertsing or reviews for this place, and yet they were packed through word-of-mouth - seemed like everyone there had been there before. Would highly recommend.
Pepe's Pizza Yonkers Location
Was there today Nov 15, 2009 - just opened 2 weeks ago. At 3 PM on a Sunday the wait was about 10-15 minutes. Built 2 replicas of the ovens in New Haven. My wife and I had a clam and a plain pie with half sausage - could have closed my eyes and would have been on Wooster Street. Great location - cuts my commute from northern jersey from 90-120 minutes to 30-35 minutes. Parking in lot, also some on street.
Pizza-deprived in Canada seeking best pizza in Brooklyn . . . Help!
Went to Sam's on Court Street based on a lot of what I read here - did not dissappoint - in fact the pizza was one of the better ones we've eaten and we go anywhere for a good pie. What I couldn't understand was why it wasn't crowded at 7:30 on a Sat night? A place with pizza that good should be packed. After we ate there, we drove down to L&B Spumoni Gardns for dessert - a couple squares (sicilian pie slices) and pomegranite ices and, what else spumoni. doesn't get any better. That place is an experience -
New Haven - Fairfield 1 Night Dinner Rec
Don't know how you can go to New Haven without going to Pepe's
http://roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/318/pepes-pizzeria-napoletana
My wife and I don't go anywhere in New England from Jersey without detouring to Pepe's for both a clam and a regular pie. It is an institution. There are some who prefer Modern or even Sally's, but Pepe's is the best.
Burlington/Lake Champlain vacation advice and suggestions
So many great places to eat in Burlington/ Colchester area I'm ready to move from Jersey to live there. New place between Burlington/Colchester - Bluebird Gastropub open 2 weeks has great menu of very unusual "small" plates designed for sharing. Their burgers were probably the best I or my family HAVE EVER eaten. Sneakers in Winooski has good breakfast. Saturday Farmer's Market in Burlington has plenty to sample. Sadie Katz's deli is good if in the mood for it. Bove's in Burlington was part of a Bobby Flay challenge. Black Sheep Bistro in Vergennes was fantastic. Need a month to hit all of the places to eat that are good.
Detour for Dinner on the Way to Vermont
Glens Falls has Sutton's on route 9 which has very good basic food and is kid friendly and has an interesting gift shop area and bakery to stretch your legs in. Across the street from the amusement park is Martha's for homemade ice cream the kids will love.
Road Food on I-87
In Glens Falls on Route 9 (exit 21 I think) there is Sutton's which has good basic food and a great bakery/ cookies. Nearly across the street is Martha's that makes their own ice cream that is terrific. Always a stop when we go from Jersey to Burlington, VT. They are very near an amusement park on route 9.
Vermont
3 Squares Cafe is new name -used to go there for healthy-type food, hope is unchanged. Agree with all of above espec Black Sheep, Mary's. Burlington has many, many places. Three Squares Cafe is a new name for place in middle of dowtown Vergennes where we would stop coming/ going from NJ that had healthy type of food that was pretty good. For a great but unhealthy experience, go west from Addison to the Lake and find Goodies Snack Bar on route 17. $.85 for a "baby" portion of soft serve that is huge (and good), lots of grilled food, Michigans (hot dogs with chile), and even poitin (fries with gravy and cheese). Cheap, decent, an experience. There ice cream dishes are amazing.
Del'Arte Ristorante in Orangeburg
We went there last night and it was very, very good. They didn't have the Sicilian pasta dish that was on their website, but the papparadella with scallops was silky and delicious, the salmon stuffed with crabmeat also very good, and the breaded veal cutlet ith arugula had a nice crunch to it. Place has been there for 15 years, yet I live 10 minutes away in Bergen County, and have never seen it advertised or written about. Room was nicely decorated. Very relaxed dining, nothing pretentious about it. Dinner for 2 with wine $90 - I would recommend to friends
Del'Arte Ristorante in Orangeburg
Came across an ad for this restaurant that I checked on-line and had great Sicilian-based menu on their website, but could find very few reviews on Google and none on Chowhound. Anyone know anything about it? Haven't seen pasta with sardines and fennel on a menu for a long time. This is their website http://www.delarterestaurant.com/index.htm
Bergen County Italian
It's a couple towns farther than you mentioned, but Bellissimo's in Montvale offers nice food with the advantage of being bring-your-own which keeps costs down for a big group. Had 3 very good meals there and our dinner partners were also happy. Gnocchis were excellent. The following is the County newspaper review.
http://www.northjersey.com/food/Specials_with_a_twist_at_Bellissimo.html
Middle Eastern/Turkish in Paterson, NJ
forgot to mention, if you did go to Toros, there is a Turkish Bakery called Taskin's across the street at 103 Hazel that makes some terrific Pida bread - I get the large ones - they stay in the frig for literally weeks - either eat them as bread, or I grill them like a pizza - they supply the bread for many of the restaurants in the area.
http://www.taskinbakery.com/
Middle Eastern/Turkish in Paterson, NJ
I'm not an expert on Turkish cuisine, but I've been to Toros, enjoyed it, and lots of people talk positively about it -
Here is Toros website - I like the Hazel St location http://www.torosrestaurant.com/
In Paterson, there are tons of other middle eastern.
Here is a whole list of Turkish in the area, more than you need to know about.
http://turkishconnection.com/restoran.htm
