tommy:eats

Rosa Mexicano: Hackensack, initial impressions

We took a walk by the chain restaurant trifecta that recently opened at the Riverside Square mall. 

There's a Maggioni's or something like that, whose awning claims "PRIME STEAKS."  Plural, as far as I can tell.  I took a look at their menu, and only one steak is "prime", and it's not even suggesting that it's USDA Prime (it also claims "aged", which I assume means that it was sitting in a Cryovac wrapper for a while.  Yay).  I guess what they meant by "PRIME STEAKS" is that they have several of those steaks. 

There's also PF Chang's.  I couldn't get past those enormous concrete horses.  I'm sure I'm missing some sort of cultural significance, once again illustrating the depth and breadth of my ignorance. Seriously, they're kidding, right?...

...and then there's Rosa Mexicano.

Ridgewood's Blend: gone (yay!), but coming back (awww...)

Update (11/22/08):  More doins at Blend reported on the Bergen Record's blog.

Blend opened up several years ago, taking up what seemed to be an entire block of Ridgewood's somewhat quaint downtown area.  Then it closed a few months ago, bankrupt.  But not before I spent some quality time at this restaurant-cum-dance-club-cum-live-music-venue.

During one of my first meals, on what was a guys-night-out sort of thing, my strip steak came to the table in the form of filet mignon.  I sent it back and waited.  And waited.  The manager, who was very nice, came over and apologized, explaining that they had my new steak ready and were bringing it out but the server dropped it on the stairs, so they were making yet another one.  I appreciated her honesty, we all had a good laugh, and we still chuckle about it today.  The steak?  I don't recall it being notable in the least.  But a good time was had by all.

On another visit, I spent a lazy afternoon at the back bar talking to the bartender (Steve, at the time), about cocktails and tequila.  He set up a little tequila tasting for me, and we had a grand ol' time.  The burger, not all that exceptional.  But the experience?  Wonderful.

But beyond those two visits, Blend just didn't do it for me.  The food was simply not very good.  And if I went at night to soak in that nightclub thing they had going, I'd find myself looking around, wondering who all these people were and from where they came.  They sure didn't look my neighbors and friends.  

That was indicative of my biggest issue with Blend:  it didn't serve the community. And to top off the perceived insult with tangible injury, its valet service seemed to take up about 90% of the only large parking lot in downtown Ridgewood.  Pre-Blend-opening, you could always get a spot there for 2 bucks for the whole night.  In a post-Blend-opening world, that parking lot was practically useless...unless you were going to Blend.  Or should I say, unless you were pretending as though you were going to Blend.  Many a time I would drop off my guests at our restaurant of choice, pull into that valet lot, hand over my keys, walk in the back door of Blend and right out the front.  2 dollar parking just turned free.

But my craftiness isn't what I came here to share.

Recent: Jersey Burgers

For the love of Pete where the hell have I been?  Weeks since the last post.  Months before that.  You're all worried sick I know.  Well I've been eating burgers.  Mostly mediocre, some downright horrible, but a couple of excellent burgers as well.  And here ya go:

First, one from home.  Good.  Loose patty.  Freshly ground beef. Exceptional bacon.  Good burger to bun ratio.  Exceptional cheese.  So what's so hard about that?

2007: let downs

Right now, 10's of people all over New Jersey are wondering, "When is t:e coming out with his lists!?!!?  I can hardly wait!" they say.  But damn if I wasn't so busy putting together my 2007 lists that it's already 2008.

Some background first.

2007 was a funny year for t:e.  Not "ha-ha" funny, but strange funny.  Not strange "weird", but strange unusual.  I visited very few restaurants, although for about 6 months I ate out every single night.  I guess I stuck to the old standards, which are for another post.

But for this post, I'm going to focus on the negative, the places that sort of let me down for one reason or several.  Oftentimes it was because expectations were set too high.  Other times the food was just plain not good.

<quick aside>Anyone who reads this blog (you two know who you are) knows that I don't focus on the negative:  I try to find the interesting stuff, and I like to share it.   If you want to hear people complain about some server who made them feel less of a person, or some other restaurant-goers who were acting so horribly as to ruin their meal, or about the chef who was clearly out to get them, go to egullet or nj.com or one of the hundreds of websites seemingly devoted to the lowest common denominator, negative, nasty discussion that is just so darned easy to generate.  Go now, don't let me stop you.  Please.  I'm simply not going to be able to give you what you want.

For my part, I'll say I didn't like something, and I'll explain why.  And usually it's not because someone hurt my feelings.  </quick aside>

So here they are, the let-downs of 2007:

Chef Anthony LoPinto lands again! CRAVE: Fairfield, NJ

Edit (02/12/2008):  Update here (click)

We all cheered when Chef LoPinto landed at Earth in Totowa.  And then we cried when the whole thing fell through.

The good news is that we Chef LoPinto has found a new home, this time at a brand new place called CRAVE in Fairfield.

CRAVE will exist where the old Tuscany Grill used to live, across from the airport over dere on Passaic Ave.  Chef tells me they'll have a liquor license, a lounge, plenty of parking, and outdoor dining.  I'm hoping to see Chef LoPinto's fingerprints all over this place.

They're not open as of this post (7/27/07), but are shooting for September.

He's back!

Smith Brothers in Ridgewood, NJ: Fire

UPDATE (Summer of 2008):  Smith Brothers is reborn as Smith Brothers Chophouse, or something like that.  I visited for a quick burger and mention it here (click).

Smith Brothers in Ridgewood, NJ, burned this morning, June 18.  I'm not sure of the extent of the damage or if anyone was hurt, but I'd imagine an actual news organization will report on that.

Suffice it to say it will be closed for some time.  It looked gutted. 

Smith Brothers is definitely not a place I go to eat, but I do enjoy a beer there every now and again.  It's a real Ridgewood classic, and the spot of many a post-funeral drink-up.  I hope to see it back in operation real soon.

Restaurant L: Allendale, NJ: First taste

The sexiest picture of a sign at night taken on a cell phone ever you've seen

Restaurant L opened less than two weeks ago (it's 11/1/06, as I type this) in the old "Turnpike" space on Franklin Turnpike in Allendale.

Driving by the long-abandoned Turnpike building for the past 5 or so years, I've had visions of buying it and opening a BBQ restaurant.  It was a real shack.  It looked like a shack.  It looked old.  It looked like it should have BBQ.

Well some other people had different ideas, and weren't as gun-shy:  they moved in, and totally redid the whole building.  Probably down to the foundation, where none even existed apparently, according to a brief conversation with one of the principals.  Suffice it to say, they did a lot of work on the place.  The result is a sharp-looking "New American" restaurant.  Our recent visit suggested that we were not the first ones to notice that the sharp-looking place opened.

Going all the way: 3 times

If you're not from north Jersey, you probably don't know what "all the way" means.  At least as it relates to hot dogs.  "All the way" means that your dog will be served with mustard, chopped raw onion, and chili "sauce."  Additionally, if you're not from north Jersey (or Cincinnati), you probably don't know what chili "sauce" is.  I'm not really sure either, but I'm relatively certain that it has little-to-no meat or beans.

Living in North Jersey (the hot dog capital of the world) affords me the luxury of choosing any number of about a gajillion hot dog places that make these "Texas Wieners", as they're called, for lunch or dinner or breakfast or late-night dinner.  You want to love them all equally, but there comes a time in every man's life when he has to rank his local hot dogs.   

My goal for this particular exercise was to visit 3 local places, one after another, for comparative purposes.  All very scientific-like as you might imagine.  Additionally, I wanted an excuse to have 3 hot dogs at 3 places for dinner.  Off I went to River View East (Elmwood Park), Goffle Grill (Hawthorne), and Johnny & Hanges (Fair Lawn):

Red's Lobster Pot: Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

If you're visiting Point Pleasant, many people will tell you to go to Spike's for seafood.  Those people must like to wait in lines.  Or at the very least they must like you to wait in lines.

When I'm in Point, I go directly to Red's Lobster Pot, to sit on the dock in their outdoor seating area, watch the fishing boats go by, have a lobster roll and some clams, and wonder how hungry all of those people standing on the sidewalk on Broadway outside of Spike's must be.

Panevino: Livingston, NJ

When I heard on Mano a Vino that the people who own Naples 45 in NYC (well, the restaurant group who owns Naples 45) had a pizza place in Livingston NJ, I got all kindza excited.  Naples 45 makes some of my favorite pizza in NYC. Neapolitan style.  Neapolitan pizza, to me, suggests that the crust is just about the most important part of the product:  if the crust falls short, nothing can save the pizza.  It's really all about the bread, though I'm sure most don't agree with me.  Hoping that Panevino shared my philosophy, I high-tailed it out to Livingston that very night.

The Porter House: Montvale, NJ

My quest for exceptional burgers in New Jersey brought me to the Porter House in Montvale, NJ.  I had reviewed their website for months before actually making the trek.  I'm not sure why I didn't go sooner, but I guess it was the whole "Irish pub" vibe that I saw on the website.  That's not to say I don't like Irish pubs.  But I just didn't know if it or its burger would pull through.  Both did.

The strangest thing I ate: this week

Oceanos in Fair Lawn, NJ: hitting its stride

Intro:

From our first to our most recent visit to Oceanos, we've noticed a continuous refinement in the cooking, and the overall approach.  It might be our imagination, but it seems that Oceanos is blossoming into what it wants to, and should, be:  a Mediterranean seafood restaurant with overtones of a classic Greek estiatorio.  At first I thought the combination could lead to, or was an indication of, a lack of focus.  Judging by what has evolved here, I clearly had no reason to worry.

Varka: Ramsey, NJ

Varka is one of those restaurants that just begs you to eat at the bar.  That's not to say the dining room is uncomfortable or overly-formal or stuffy, but the bar just seems so right.  Maybe that's because you can do very well at Varka with a couple of appetizers and a couple of glasses of Greek wine.  Or a martini if that's your thing.  Or maybe it's because you get these jammin olives at that bar:

We've eaten at Varka probably 5 or 8 times since it opened about a year ago.  We were certainly early adopters of the place, and never thought it was unreasonably pricey or anything less than very good all-around.  We still think that way, and we're happy a  bunch of others do as well. 

Here's what you need to know:

Brady's at the Station: Ramsey

Brady's used to be called something else.  The Trackside maybe?  I'm not sure if the place changed hands (confirmed:  new owners) or just changed names, but, sadly, the menu remains the same.  And when I say the same, I mean that my menu had stains on it that were clearly older than this incarnation of the restaurant.

It's the type of place that really should be good.  It should be great.  It's large, and it has a bar.  There just aren't many bars in Bergen county.   To my mind, it could compete on several levels:  family-friendly, bar scene, pub grub, entertainment.  But, alas, it really falls short.  A recent meal went something like this:

Elysian Cafe's lobster roll: Hoboken

I rolled into Hoboken in about 1986, young, wide-eyed, and sober (when I left I was, of course, old, jaded, and drunk).  That was a long time ago as far as Hoboken's recent history goes.  A lot has changed since 1986.  At first, for the better, then, I suppose, a bit for the worse.   Hoboken went from a somewhat run-down former shipping port, to a vibrant city, filled with artists and musicians and funky bars and restaurants (and more recently into more of a generic mall for young professionals).  A lot of those bars and restaurants were hold-overs from Hoboken's old days.  The Elysian was one of those bars.

The Elysian was presumably named after the Elysian Fields, which used to include the several blocks between the restaurant and the Hudson River.  That field was where the first organized game of baseball was played.  Don't let those people in Cooperstown tell you otherwise.  And for years, it was one of the few old-time bars left in uptown Hoboken.  It was a place where musicians and artists often hung out, along with some old-timers as well.  The crowd was always a bit older than the average post-college crowds at other bars.  Blues bands would often play in the back room.   The drinks were cheap.  The atmosphere was dark and hadn't changed in years.  My kind of place, and a usual stop before and/or after a show at Maxwells.

Much to my surprise, the Elysian went bye-bye.  Even more to my surprise, and somewhat to my dismay, the people who own Amanda's were opening a restaurant in the space.  "Great," I thought, "another upscale restaurant taking the place of a beautiful room that has a lot of history."  Good thing I was wrong.

What the owners of Amanda's did do was keep the room true to its roots.  It's obvious they did a lot of work to the place.  From what I understand, it was utterly and totally ripped apart.  Down to the studs.  But, somehow, the beautiful ceiling and mural paint on the interior wall remain intact.  They've brightened up the place with windows, yet it didn't lose its homey feel.  They totally removed the old bar, refinished it, and put it back in place. The back room still hosts live music and is bright and elegant.  A lot of the detail was left as is (although the nicotine was scrapped off the walls and ceiling).  The patrons are still a bit older than 22.  There are even some musicians and artsy-types spending time there.  And it turns out that it's still my pre/post Maxwells show stop.  And, they have what I think is the only french bistro in Hoboken.  This is all a lot better than what could have been.  Of this you are assured.

Oceanos: Fair Lawn, NJ: first impressions

For months now, I've been going out of my way to drive past what was soon to be a new restaurant in Fairlawn:  Oceanos.  Peter's Whale, which closed on that site last year, was never one of my favorites, although it was certainly a favorite with a lot of people.  So i wasn't that upset to see it dark.  In a few months the sign for Oceanos showed up, and I started getting excited.  The sign, you see, is very sexy.  I have gone as far as to proclaim that this will be my new favorite restaurant, even before trying it.  Very wishful thinking.  The doors opened for the first time this week on wednesday.  It was my duty to check out my new favorite restaurant by thursday, which I did.