For a good long while, there were only two Shanghainese restaurants in North Jersey (or at least there were only two that people could find): the late, great, China 46, and Petite Soo Chow in Cliffside Park.  While I never warmed up to Petite Soo Chow, I almost cried when China 46 closed. It was truly an exceptional restaurant.

I missed those soup dumplings especially, with their delicate, thin skins. Fast forward to 2018, and soup dumplings are everywhere. But, too often they have thick, doughy skins. I'm pleased to report that the soup dumplings at Soup Dumplings Plus in Fort Lee are as good as any I've had. And the rest of the stuff seems tops, too.

We started with an order of Braised Fish Shanghai Style. The server warned me that it was on the bone, which of course is fine with me. I was hoping it would be challenging in some respect. Kinda wish the server would have also noted that it's served cold. Well I wanted something different and I sure got it. The fish is braised in a slightly sweet sauce, and was quite enjoyable if you're into that sort of thing.

Up next was the Pancake with Sliced Beef. Basically a scallion pancake stuffed with beef flavored with Chinese five spice (or similar). Really super, and quite filling.

The soup dumplings, as noted above, were outstanding. Thin skins, that big pork meatball in the middle, oh man. All wonderful. There's black vinegar on the table and they give you a shallow bowl of ginger. Marry those two things and go to town.

One of my favorite Chinese dishes is the simple yet delicious beef with hot peppers. A simple stir-fry of tender beef, some soy sauce, some sugar, maybe some ginger/garlic, and sliced hot peppers. They're summer peppers (summer hot, some not so hot), and add a wonderful, fruity heat. I've been thinking about this dish since we had it.

The menu has pictures of most of the dishes, which is quite helpful. Usually that's a bad sign, but not in cases like these. And it was filled with all sorts of dishes that I wanted to try.

Service was pleasant, with tea being refilled several times. The place was filled at lunch time during the week.

Soup Dumplings Plus is my new go-to for Shanghainese food.

If you go: The entrance is in the mall (no entry from the sidewalk-facing door), and there's a small parking lot below the little mall.

Soup Dumplings Plus : 1550 Lemoine Ave : Fort Lee, NJ : 201.944.0901

My friend was annoyed that they put some sort of "special sauce" on his burger on his prior visit. "They should tell you that they're putting sauce on it," he complained.  I noted that the menu states that there is special sauce, so that's on him. In fact the menu says there are two special sauces. What my friend lacks in reading comprehension skills, he makes up for in restaurant recommendations. He told me to meet him at Dullboy on a recent night, and being the good soldier that I am I Ubered alllll the way to Jersey City.

Dullboy could be described as a exceptional cocktail bar that happens to serve some (very good at times) food, including one fine burger. Indeed the first thing I noticed was the array of interesting spirits behind the bar. And, of course, fresh fruit, fresh herbs, tinctures, bitters, infusions, etc. I dug right into the list.

The cocktail list includes a good number of the classics, and an equally good number of originals. Lots to choose from here, and I'm not even sure I saw a single vodka drink (although I tend to simply ignore those boring concoctions when I see them).

I'm about 15 years late to the sous vide party,  but if you know anything about me, you know I stay really really late at parties, so it all balances out.

The big benefit of sous vide is you can cook a piece of meat to the temp you want from crust to crust. None of that band of gray, dry meat with just a little m/r in the middle. This appeals to me, and it should appeal to everyone.

Curiosity got the best of me, and I figured I'd sous vide a steak. I didn't have one of those fancy devices, but I did have an instant read thermometer, a pot, and a stove.

I got myself a beautiful piece of beef tenderloin from Sal at Westwood Prime Meats, threw that in a vacuum sealer (these things are great and every cook should have one), and got my situation situated.

The challenge of sous vide cooking without one of those fancy devices is keep the water at a constant, and correct, temperature. After some fiddling, I found it was quite easy to dial in the temp. While you might be tempted to rely only on the knob of your stove to nail that temp, you might have an easier time using the combination of a very low flame, and moving the pot off the flame a bit. This way you can just nudge the pot back onto the flame a tad, or off, if the temp starts swinging.

Heck I had good results at a friend's house with a pretty crappy electric cooktop and an old analog thermometer.