Felice: Oradell, NJ

It's been open for a few years now, but I've never had much of an interest in going to Felice in Oradell (same owners as Regina's Steakhouse in Teaneck, which serves wet-aged steak, contrary to their website's claim of dry-aged steak, and Le Jardin in Edgewater).  Reports on the internet and my sixth sense for this type of thing suggested to me that this was yet another red sauce Italian-American place, and one with a liquor license ta boot (I'd rather bring my own most of the time, especially at basic mom-and-pop places).

But curiosity got the best of me the other night after spending some time on their website and looking over the menu more carefully.  I figured that there's a chance they're actually serving good pasta, even though they might not be aiming for the stars.  I'm happy to report that this seems to be the case.

We sat at the bar (almost always preferable) instead of the cozy looking dining room.  The bar seats about 12 people or so, and more than a few people were enjoying dinner there.  It's roomy and comfortable, and it's got a coupla TVs. 

Most people seemed to know each other.  There's definitely a locals-vibe here.  This can be a bit polarizing when you're a new face, but I'm a big boy and can handle it.  In fact it's sometimes nice to not know anyone, as you can just kinda sit back and take it all in.  And there was plenty to take in, what with the colorful discussions of politics and family and everything you'd expect to hear at a bar full of regulars. 

"Hey Jimmy, how ya doin'.  Good ta see ya.  How's Cheryl.  The kids?  Great, great.  Give her my best."

"I got three days off coming up.  That means I can get drunk three days in a row!"

The website has a wonderful picture of "Gamberoni e Calamari" (shrimp and calamari), which was really the impetus behind the visit.   The picture shows a couple of head-on shrimp, and heads on shrimp are almost always preferable to heads not on shrimp.   Unfortunately, the actual dish didn't look much like the picture.  It contained a couple of headless shrimp and a good portion of calamari rings in a very tasty white wine/oil olive sauce with hot pickled peppers.  The unexceptional bread was used to sop up some of the left over juice.  Had the bread been exceptional, you could make a meal of out this appetizer (12 bucks).

In an effort to not waste food, and to, for once, approach a meal with some common sense as far as portions and price go, we decided to share that calamari and shrimp dish, and then share a single pasta dish.  This was plenty of food for two normal-sized appetites.  I think this is my new approach.  This type of thing is easy to do when bar dining, because there really are no expectations on the part of the server when bar dining.  Boy do I love bar dining (and people having no expectations of me).

We chose the fettuccine bolognese.  The bartender offered to have the kitchen split the dish.  Very accommodating.  This was a fine rendition of bolognese.  Not too creamy, not too meaty, not too tomatoey.  The pasta was not overdone, which is so often the case.  Certainly a great value at 12 dollars. 

The practice of serving grated cheese from a bowl of pre-grated cheese should really be retired, at any level of restaurant (I've seen it at all levels).  I can't help but think that dirt and dust will get into an open bowl, not to mention freshly-grated cheese tastes much better than pre-grated, especially if, God forbid, the restaurant is actually buying the cheese pre-grated.  *shudder*

We were not very impressed with the selection of wines by the glass.  The missus called them "airplane wines."  They're basically the wines you get served on an airplane.  The by-the-bottle list, however, had some very reasonable choices.  Now, don't go expecting a huge selection of artisanal wines and first-growths.  This is just a basic wine list.  However, it's probably the most reasonably priced wine list that I've ever seen.  The markup appeared to be about 100%.  We ordered the ubiquitous (and quite decent) Antinori Santa Cristina sangiovese from Tuscany.  It's a fruity plummy easy-drinking wine with some decent acidity to make your mouth water (which in turn makes your food taste better).  A very reasonable weekday choice.  Hell it carries its own on the weekends, too.  This wine retails for about 10 dollars in NewJersey, and it sells for about 21 dollars at Felice.  A bargain.

In addition to the great prices on the wines, they're apparently kept somewhere that's reasonably chilly.  That is to say, they're served at what I would consider a pleasant and appropriate temperature.  I'm talking about 64 degrees or so.  Just perfect for me.  Now, it's March and maybe they're stored in a shed out back, and that 64 degrees might turn into 84 when summer comes around.  But I'm hoping that's not the case, and I doubt it is.

The bartender asked if I wanted to try the wine.  This tells me that she didn't know the purpose of trying a wine (this is not the fault of the server, but rather a management/training issue - it's also way too widespread and a pet peeve of mine).  The answer is obviously "yes" because you're checking, at the very least, to make sure the wine is not corked.  This one was.  Sending back the corked bottle turned into a 10 minute transaction, involving several servers and people sniffing the wine, inspecting the cork (why?), and making guesses as to why this might have happened ("It's cold where we store the wine, so maybe that has something to do with it").  "Do you want a different wine"? (why would I want a different wine?)  I assured the bartender that it was not the restaurant's fault, and that yes I definitely wanted a bottle of the same wine.

Second bottle arrived.  Presented.  Perfect.  Chilled.  Uncomfortable transaction complete.

<tommy:rants>
Every restaurant has a little sign in the restroom that reads "Employees must wash hands before returning to work."  I think that every restaurant should put about the same amount of effort into wine education for their staff.  In fact maybe even a sign in the restroom that reads:

"Every bottle of wine should be presented to the customer for a taste so that customer can ensure that the wine is not 'corked' - no, it's not to see if they 'like it'.  'Corked' doesn't mean that there's cork in the wine (although you should try to avoid this, if at all possible).  'Corked' means that the cork and wine is tainted with a chemical that you can't see and it makes the wine smell like your wet poodle.  This happens to about 1 out of every 20 bottles of wine, so don't be surprised, and don't think the customer is "just being snobby."  Just bring the bottle - and glass - to a manager if you're not sure, and then get another bottle (and glass) for the customer.  It's OK, really.  And you can tell your manager that he can probably even return the bottle to the distributor for a credit.  I swear."

</tommy:rants>

I probably wouldn't drive more than 20 minutes for a meal at Felice, as it's really not a destination spot.  But it's a fine addition to the neighborhood if you're looking for some Italian-American comfort food.  I probably should have tried it years ago.

Felice : 279 Kinderkamack Rd : Oradell, NJ : 201.261.9500

Comments

[chefdave]

I am there every so often because I do alot with the Bergen County Players, whose theatre is just across the street. Usually it's for nothing more than drinks after a show or rehearsal but sometime I have a little food. I've never been overly impressed with most of the menu, but the pizza is a good choice....usually above average (but not a whole lot more than that.) The biggest knock against them is the speed of their service...it can be terribly slow in the dining room. THe bartenders are always very pleasant and generally speedy, although they do sometime suffer from the syndrome of chatting it up too much with the regulars, to the detriment of the non-regulars.

All in all, my impression has been that if they tightened things up just a little, they'd come much closer to getting the ever ellusive "it."

[menton1]

Pass this place every day, and have never eaten there. Closest I got was to walk in and almost choke from the smoke in the room.(Before the smoking ban). Left immediately.

It's sad that in New Jersey we often have to choose a restaurant based on its level of mediocrity, but that seems to be the case, especially after reading about Felice here. I seem to remember a much better experience at Ciao Bella in Cresskill, just 5 minutes from here, for "red sauce" food. But also mediocre.

I have become quite an Italian-food snob after going to Italy every year, so I have stayed away from this type of restaurant completely. And nothing was said in this review to make me change my mind! It's either Babbo or Italy!

[Don]

Too many times we become, in our own mines, critics and loss site of what a local resturant should offer. Living at the doorstep of the finest eating establishments in the world, NYC, we hold our local eateries to a higher standard. To Felice's credit they offer local residents everything they ask for. Affordable wine list, quality consistent food, friendly service and a Cheers atmosphere. Least we forget we are on Kinderkamack road and not Soho. Marco's has his Risotto down cold. A dish which is a labor of love which most chef's fear. Most small towns in Bergen County search for an identity and to many the local watering hole is it badge of honor. For many years Hagler's occuppied the corner of Ridgewood and Kinderkamack. Known for its home fries and the no-menu breakfast, Felice's has taken eating out of the 50's time capsule and as Emerle would say "bring it up a notch". What you will get is consistent food, attentive staff, fair prices but most important when you leave and you tell the staff "see you next week" you really mean it

[tommyeats]

Don, I think local restaurants should offer good and interesting food above all. Unforuntately, menton is right: most restaurants are mediocre.

Anyone who eats at a restaurant is a "critic" in the sense they're going to critique their experience (if they care) and apply a value assessment. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

Soho or Kinderkamack, a restaurant should be able to prepare food well. It would be even better if all of the ingredients don't come out of cans and boxes. That's not the case at too many places. That fact actually drives this blog. I try to point out places that are exceptional in one way or another. It's quite challenging sometimes, and believe me, I don't post about 8 out of 10 meals I have out. I hope that ratio goes up (down, actually, i suppose) in the next few years.

[chefdave]

I think we let local restaurants too far off the hook if we simply shrug and say, "What do you expect...it's the suburbs." Not to say that suburban restaurants have the same acccess to Suburban restaurants (especially suburban NYC restaurants) have the same access to high quality specialty ingredients as any restaurant in Manhattan (I know...I sell them). If we the NJ dining public demand it of our local restaurants, pretty soon they'll get the message. But I think that we are a good bit to blame for asking too little of them.

To be fair, I also think it is our responsibility to understand the kind of restaurant that we're at before we order....in other words, don't be disapointed with the rib-eye steak if you choose to order it while at the local diner. Know what a diner does well and stick to it. There's plenty of room for restaurants of all stripes and styles.

In Felice's case, they seem to present themselves as something more than just a "local watering hole", as Don says. I don't think that's what you get. I think what you get is consistently average food with a staff that doesn't appear to have been trained properly. It might come at a "fair price", but I think it's still too high.

[tommyeats]

i agree with chef dave on most points.

however, there is a big difference between the average diner in manhattan, and the average diner in the burbs. it's just a fact, and one that i won't defend or attempt to prove. and from that follows that restaurants will not be the same and will likely be a bit more conservative (you're not going to sell much bone marrow in Fair Lawn. you're just not). however, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't do whatever they're doing well.

BUT, yes, i feel we let restaurants off the hook. and chef dave has an excellent point about expectations.

and let us not get on the service issue too much. Felice's service was at least at the level of, if not a bit above, most restaurants that i go to.

i think there's room for improvement on the wine education across the board, and used my experience here to sound off on it. it's probably unfortunate that this may have tainted the impression that readers get. i'd urge everyone to re-read my thoughts on Felice. i think you'll notice that i was rather flattering, other than the wine education issue which is, again, universal, and not isolated to Felice. Hell, it's not isolation to NJ...i've found questionable wine service at all levels of restaurants in Manhattan, including a time at Veritas when a bottle was opened before being presented. That was completely unacceptable.