tommy:eats

Butchering a pig: Jeffrey Ruhalter, a video

I saw this video on Gourmet magazine's website, gourmet.com, and was fascinated.  It's one of the best demonstrations and explanations of pig parts that I've seen.  Even though you will likely never butcher a pig, I think it's helpful to understand where those chops and ribs are coming form.  Putting it all into context may help you make better decisions.  And to refer back to a rant I had earlier, you'll see there's no mystery meat on a pig, just as there's none on a chicken.  Or you, for that matter.  It's all very clearly defined, and very good.  

Take a look! (click me).

And of course, if you want to butcher a cow, there's a related video for that, and all kinds of other good stuff.

MIL report: Swiss Pork Store in Fair Lawn open on Sundays

From the MIL Report files:

Marco Polo: Glen Rock, closed

I was walking over to Glen Rock's Rocca Market, for a very good sandwich, when I noticed Marco Polo's sign has been covered with another sign which reads "Glen Panda."  

Beef: Ribs, BBQ

I'm not sure why I haven't posted about this deliciousness yet.  In fact I'm not sure that I've posted about any deliciousness recently.  Today's (or technically tomorrow's, I suppose - 5/24/09) article in the NY Times Magazine reminded me that I should.

Fire & Oak: Montvale, NJ

Walking out of Montvale's Fire & Oak after our recent meal, I felt a feeling that I hadn't felt in quite some time.  I had just given someone 100 bucks, and I wasn't pissed off about it.  I felt like I actually got my money's worth.

Granted, this was just one visit, but my experiences at South City Prime, the now defunct restaurant which begat Fire & Oak (the "Prime" concept wasn't going to fly in this economy, so the owners scaled back their existing restaurant in Little Falls and the two they had planned to the more casual "Fire & Oak"), were always pleasurable, and I would like to assume Fire & Oak is on the same track.  

Wendy's: "Center cut" chicken breast

Americans, by and large, small and large, enjoy bland meat and are turned off by any flesh, muscle or organ that resembles something that might have actually come from an animal.  So it's no surprise to see "all white meat chicken" promoted in everything from soup to fajitas, and found on every "Italian" (actually, "Italian-American"...there's very little that is "Italian" about these places) menu in New Jersey, which generally offer 10 different flavors of chicken breast, none of which seem very Italian.

But Wendy's is taking this one step further.

Morton's Steakhouse: and their blog and silly claim

Morton's Steakhouse now has a "blog".  The blog is called "The Best Steak Anywhere", which is their (new?) registered trademark.

Really?  The best steak anywhere?  It kinda makes you wonder if they've ever been to Peter Luger, or Florence.  

I suppose they are guided by the same principle that so many are:  if you say it enough, well then it just has to be true.  They lie.  It's not.  How am I so sure?  

Pepperidge Farm: Slider buns

Pepperidge Farm (until this very moment, I always thought the company name was something that sounds like "Petrich Farmz") will have you believe that they remembah, and they might very well remembah.  Who could challenge that statement.

New Jersey Farmers' Markets: it's almost time

2009 Repost:

It's that time of the year. 

To find a farmers' market near you, let the government help you:  click.

For heirloom tomato transplants, hook up with Catalpa Ridge Farm.  They're always at the Ramsey market the Saturday after Mother's day.  We had excellent luck with their transplants last year.  Once you grow and eat your own heirloom tomatoes, you'll never eat a supermarket tomato again.  Come to think of it you shouldn't have been eating them in the first place.

Zen Den Bar and Grill: serving "prime choice" beef

I've complained about it before:  restaurants butchering language, in general ("grille", "pizza's", etc.), and worse than that, butchering language to the point where they are possibly misrepresenting the quality of their beef.  e.g., using words like "prime" to describe their steaks or burgers, steaks and burgers which are most likely not USDA Prime.  "Aged" is a good one, and near meaningless unless prefixed with "dry-" or "wet-", as well.

But Teaneck's Zen Den Bar and Grill ("Grill", thankfully, without the "e" at the end - EDIT:  although in other parts of the website, it does have an "e") puts a whole new twist on the butchering with their: "Prime choice Rib Eye".  

Random: cell phone photo of the week

Taken at Bottle King, Glen Rock, NJ...

Jersey Burgers: Ramsey, NJ

A reader of t:e, "Tentman", prodded me for months to try this small hamburger place in Ramsey called Jersey Burgers.   Of course, I was skeptical.  It took months before I made time to give it a whirl, but I'm glad I did.

Generally, I try to have some sort of story or something vaguely interesting to say before I post about a place that I like.  Blog posts consisting of nothing but pictures with captions like "we liked this" and "the best ever" bore me, and I'm sure they bore you as well.  But I've been sitting on this for long enough, and can't come up with anything, so...

Do you: subscribe to the Bergen Record?

I don't, either.  Why is it, then, that every couple of weekends I wake up to a monstrous green-colored bag (green colored, not to be confused with green environmentally conscious), filled with 1 ounce of their newspaper and over 2 pounds of advertisements and circulars?  Surely the Bergen Record knows that I don't subscribe, since, well, I don't, and I've called them several times reminding them of this fact, and they don't seem to deliver their paper to me any other day of the week.  The reason to my mind is simple...

Brick oven: Thermapen

Updated with results of cooking an actual pizza...

I've been wrestling with various approaches to getting high temps in my oven, which might approximate those of a wood-fired brick oven.  For Neapolitan-style pizza, obviously.

Some of the methods have been relatively successful, and I'll be sharing those with the class soon.

Yesterday's experiment didn't go so good, though.

Steak Paradises: A Second Helping: On the Travel Channel

Every time I see the program Steak Paradises:  A Second Helping, on the Travel Channel, I scratch my head.

Vietnam: Spring Valley, NY

A couple of commenters on this BOM (blog o' mine) have been mentioning Spring Valley's Vietnam restaurant for some time now.  It's been on my list, and we finally took the drive up to see what all the fuss was about. The fuss, it was merited.  

The Orange Squirrel: Bloomfield, NJ: Some initial thoughts

As we fall deeper and deeper into this recession, with little hope of recovering from before I'm almost at retirement age, I'm getting more and more annoyed at handing over 125 dollars to restaurants for mediocre experiences.  In the past, I'd just chalked 'em up to a learning experience.  But not so much these days.  It actually goes a bit beyond annoyance, and slides into bitterness.  "How dare they take my money for that?!??", I stew.

Which brings me to Bloomfield's The Orange Squirrel.

I bought into the online hysteria, which made the place sound like...well, read for yourself:  

"The Orange Squirrel is one of the good ones."
"Run, don't walk, to the Orange Squirrel."
"The Orange Squirrel doesn't disappoint...it surprises."
"Speciality cocktails..."
"BEST EVER...gnudi"
"wood fired pizza"
"they have drinks named after squirrels"
"they serve cute squirrel chocolates at the end of the meal."

And those are just from Baristanet.com

"dinner was truly delicious"
"rivals those [restaurants] of NYC...a must try"
"brick oven pizza"

Don't get me wrong.  When we walked in we weren't expecting The Spotted Pig, so I wouldn't blame the following on unreasonable expectations.  But when we walked out, we were just shaking our heads, annoyed, let down, and that feeling of just losing all hope for the NJ restaurant scene came over us.  Is this the best we can do?

OK, getting to it...

Peach bitters: messing around with bitters

When I started cooking as a serious hobby, there was a point right away where I thought I could do no wrong.  I think that point comes with most of my endevours endeavours (like spelling).  But as fact would have it, I'm usually not as good as I think.  With cooking, it took quite a few years to really acknowledge that I was doing a lot wrong, and that I needed to step back and focus on the simple aspects of cooking:  ingredients, technique, blah blah.

What age and experience has afforded me is the ability to quickly recognize this fact.  It is true:  I am a buffoon.  So, with my new hobby of cocktails, I'm pretty damned sure I'll be making lots of cocktails that I'll look back on in 10 years and think "oh, dear, what was I thinking?!?!!"

But that won't stop me from dicking around with my recent shipment of bitters from Fee Brothers, like a confused and over-excited child with a new toy.

Here's what I did to make this particular mess.  Sharpen your pencils, it's really complicated:

Smoked: Italian Sausage

I've been like a school girl all hopped up on Pixie Stix since my Weber Smokey Mountain smoker came off the UPS truck a few weeks ago.  Barely a day goes by that I don't wish I had half a day to commit to cooking something on the thing.  

I've been lucky enough to be able to reclaim a few hours from my schedule, to commit fully to smoking. This weekend I was able to do some baby back ribs.  But, more to the point, I also threw some Italian sweet sausage on as well, just to see what would happen.

Oh boy did something happen.

A Mano in Ridgewood: back on track

As soon as t:e reader "Ev" tipped me off that A Mano's original pizzaiolo, Roberto, was coming back to train the staff, I had visions of A Mano returning to its past glory.  Under Roberto's command, A Mano was producing wonderful Neapolitan style pizza.  The place was a treasure, and a great addition to the area's mostly cookie-cutter restaurant scene.  After Roberto's departure, however, the place slipped quite a bit.  This was evident in the service (which was never stellar to begin with), the management, and most importantly, the pizza.

Roberto is/was indeed back, if only for the short term.  From what I can tell (and I'm not a reporter, so I don't generally ask owners or managers many questions on this stuff), A Mano is now part of Associazione Pizzaiuoli Napoletani, which is one of the several professional organizations whose goal is to preserve and promote Naples' prized product.  Part of A Mano's association with the associazione involves training, and I'm guessing Roberto was sent back to sort them out.

And sort them out he did...

Pizza: at home

A few of my first posts were on pizza, espousing the virtues of making it at home.  That was, I can hardly imagine, 3 years ago.  I still believe that you should be making pizza at home.  However, in those 3 years, I've made probably 200 pizze, and my methodology has been tweaked and refined.   It took that 3 years to get to the point where I thought I had something halfway meaningful to share, but I think I'm actually there. The biggest change:  I now make the dough instead of buying it from a pizza shop. 

Making dough gives me a sense of satisfication that I cannot fully put into words.  The next step would be to make my own mozzerella, and I suspect this isn't far behind.  But on to the dough...

In my attempts to make Neapolitan-style pizza, I tend to make a dough that's quite wet;  dough with a "high hydration", as they say in the pizza-making world.  This means a higher ratio of water to flour.

I use King Arthur bread flour.  Let us not forget that we're making bread here.  

Jerry's Gourmet in Ridgewood: closed?

From the t:e rumor mill...some unsubstantiated stuff for your consumption...

Fairway in Paramus: a video tour, of sorts

t:e reader John from Paramus (that's what I call him anyway), sent me this cool link.  It looks like Fairway in Paramus is becoming a reality.  They're talking about aged Prime beef, kosher meats, freshly baked breads, produce.  Right there in the Fashion Center.  Yum, o.

Click me for the tour!

For more info on Fairway, go to discoverfairway.com

Steak: a nice change in approach

 

Steak at Ristorante Tasso, Sorrento, Italy

One of the key elements of the classic American steakhouse is girth.  We love big steaks, and steakhouses know how to cook 'em:  charred on the outside, and medium rare inside.  I'm certainly of the opinion that a steak needs a good "char" on the outside, which adds to the flavor and texture of the meat.  A thick cut of meat and 1800 degree broilers help to make that char possible while still keeping the inside at a medium rare temp.  That's the steakhouse approach, and one to which I fully subscribe.

But on occasion I've had steak that doesn't fit into that paradigm:  steaks with little to no char, and much thinner than 2 inches thick.  And they were phenomenal.  We had a steak in Sorrento (pictured above) a while back that fell into this non-American steakhouse category.  And it was wonderful.  The Italians know a bit about food, and a bit about steak as well.

Inspired by that steak, I went off to the Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, NJ, and figured I'd get a nice thin strip to duplicate the experience.  Well they just don't have them cut thin (they'd do it if you ask, I suppose).  But not wanting to ask for a special cut, and feeling  a bit defeated, I grabbed a couple of 1.5/1.75 inch thick strips, figuring I'd fall back on what I know best:  high heat, char, etc.

The bun: as important as the meat, and a thank you to the Spotted Pig

Clearly I like burgers.  Clearly.  It's a beautiful thing, the hamburger is.

Since most restaurants have no idea how to make a good burger, I spend a good amount -- probably an unhealthy amount -- of my time thinking about and making hamburgers at home.  I never buy pre-ground beef (except from Fair Lawn's Swiss Pork Store, where they grind to order), use only high-quality interesting cheeses (most of the time at least), really good bacon, rarely ketchup, tomatoes only when in season or Campari tomatoes if not.  And as for the bun?  Well hell, I'm not a baker, and we don't have many options in north Jersey for fresh baked buns or brioche.  So I have to concede and use store-bought mass produced buns. 

Rosso: pizzeria + wine bar: Santa Rosa, CA

A friend of mine from out west told me about a great pizza place in Santa Rosa, CA.  "You have to go to this place for pizza when you come out here.  It's called Rosso."  A very smart man, even though he also said they put corn meal on the bottom of the crust, which is simply not the case.  But that's a subject for another argument.

After some briefing googling, I found Rosso's website.  It took me about 3 seconds to know that I was, in fact, going to be eating at Rosso.  How did I know so quickly you ask?  Well let's see, where do I start: Rosso's approach includes a focus on local food, Neapolitan-style pizza, a wood burning oven, wine bar with wines by the glass, quartino, or carafe.  They had me at "Rosso".

Cocktail of the week: Revival

This week I've been thoroughly (and I mean, thoroughly), enjoying a cocktail out of the Food & Wine Cocktails 2008 book called "Revival".  This cocktail, per the book, is from the bar manager from Monarch, in St. Louis.  I think I want to go to St. Louis

Here's how it reads:

Smart Lidz: Greatest things, ever

Smart Lidz.  These sound like the greatest things ever.  If every one of the readers of this blog could send me 1 dollar, I'd almost have enough to buy these 10 dollar lids, and then I could provide a full and detailed review. If you're not willing to send me a dollar, I might just go ahead and do it myself. These lids seem amazing.  After the jump, you will see what I mean...

Cocktail of the week: Kentucky Colonel

A few of Dale DeGroff's books came down the chimney the other day, and just in the nick of time. This new-found appreciation for cocktails has kept me quite busy, but I can't help but come back to the Manhattan time and time again.  At this point, it is, to my mind, the perfect cocktail.

But there's a whole world of cocktails out there, so these books will help my expand my horizons. Tonight, my horizon expanded, if only slightly...

Oxo tongs: comparison with Edlund tongs

Dirty counter.  Yuck.

There's a thread over on Chowhound, quickly deteriorating into idiocy, as open forums tend to, discussing Oxo's gadgets.  The thrust of the initial post is that Oxo makes really good products, with the OP (original poster, in internet forum-speak) wondering if there was anyone unhappy with their Oxo gadgets.

I didn't really read much of the thread, as I don't care what other people think, because in general, they don't think.  But since someone asked, and I know that I don't care for my Oxo tongs, I thought I'd throw something out there, for the greater good.  Who knows, I figured, maybe someone would even ask "why" or "how" or want to actually discuss or learn something about someone else's experience.  But that didn't happen so much.

So, instead of wasting any more energy there, I figured I'd just post about the tongs here, as I've planned on doing for some time.

Bottom line:  I don't like my Oxo tongs.  Both sets of 'em.

And here's why...

Tongs should be an extension of your body.  Like really strong heat-resistant metal hands.  They should be able to pinch, grab, push, pull, and feel...at the very least.  You shouldn't have to think too much about tongs, just as you don't think about how to get your hand to your mouth when you're licking something tasty from your fingers. My Oxo tongs just don't provide that level of service.

Dish of the week: tea smoked ribs: Chengdu 23: Wayne, NJ

Every week so often, a dish moves me to the point that I proclaim it "Dish of the Week."  The last Dish of the Week was easily taken by Cedar Grove's Chengdu 1, whose preserved pork dish blew my mind, man.

This week the notable dish came from the unrelated Chengdu 23, in Wayne, NJ.  Unrelated in ownership, but related in name, geography, and approach to Chinese cooking.

Is it odd that the only two times that I've proclaimed a "Dish of the Week" that they happen to be from Sichuan restaurants?  Maybe, but probably not.  The fact of the matter is that these are two exceptional restaurants, serving fantastic Sichuan-style Chinese food.  I'm not surprised when I'm blown away at these places.  Can't say that about 99% of the other restaurants in the area, or anywhere for that matter.

Burger King: ooo, ooo, that smell

Burger King is selling a bottled scent that is reminiscent of the Whopper.  Mmmm, Whopper.  Tasty.

I'm guessing it's more reminiscent of the complete lack of self-respect that would drive someone to go to Burger King in the first place.  Mmmm, complete lack of self-respect.  Sexy.

Brilliant marketing though, I'll give them that.

Disclosure:  I do go to BK on too many rare occasions, although I bathe and scrub myself all OCD-like afterward to, you know, clean off the self-loathing . Make mine a double, with cheese. 

Chengdu 23: Wayne, NJ: dim sum

Chengdu 23 in serves some awesome Sichuan-style food, food which I eat several times a month.  I've mentioned the place here.  In addition to a regular menu, they offer dim sum service on Sundays (maybe Saturday?).  We recently stopped in for dim sum on the way to the new Wayne Corrado's, and were really happy with the meal.

You'll essentially be ordering off a menu, but they do have carts that roam around with tasty looking dishes that you'll have a hard time refusing.   The dishes range from 3 to 5 dollars, give or take.

Warning:  cell phone pictures ahead...

We Can't Let This Bank Fail!

We food bloggers spend a lot of time with food.  Eating food.  Complaining about food. Experimenting with food.  Over-thinking food.  Traveling for food.  Food, for many of us, is a hobby.  

But for an awful lot of people, food is simply a necessity, and one which is hard to come by. This situation isn't getting any better.  

Some stats, from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey:

• More than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, either live with or are on the verge of hunger. - USDA, Household Food Security in the United States, 2006
• The number of families coming to churches and food banks trying to get help to feed their families has increased approximately 20 percent. - National Anti-Hunger Organizations, 2008 Blueprint to End Hunger
• According to a recent survey, 6 percent of Americans said they or someone in their immediate family has gone to bed hungry in the past month because they could not afford enough food. - 2008 Hormel Hunger Survey
• One out of every five New Jersey families does not earn enough to afford the basic necessities – housing, food and child care – although 85 percent of these households have at least one family member who is working. – Poverty Research Institute, June 2008
• In New Jersey alone, an estimated 250,000 new clients will be seeking sustenance this year from the state’s food banks. – “No Food on the table,” By Judy Peet, The Star-Ledger, Oct. 23, 2008
• At the Community FoodBank of New Jersey (CFBNJ), requests for food have gone up 30 percent, but donations are down by 25 percent. - CFBNJ
• Warehouse shelves that are typically stocked with food are bare and supplies have gotten so low that, for the first time in its 25 year history, the food bank is developing a rationing mechanism. - CFBNJ  

 

Spearheaded by a New Jersey blogger at Jersey Bites, over 100 New Jersey bloggers have gotten together today, 12/15/08, to raise the awareness of the hunger issues in New Jersey.  Bruce Springsteen is lending his voice as well (he's not a blogger, as far as I know, but we let him in anyway).  We're blogging out hunger!

Really though, 100 narcissists bloggers posting about the issues food banks are facing doesn't actually help.  But you can help.  Contact the Community Food Bank of NJ, or any food bank for that matter, for details on how you can help. Watch the below clip to find out more about the current situation, and how you can help.  Whether it's by getting involved in a food drive, or just donating a buck at checkout when you're shopping for that dry-aged steak that you love so much.  Click on The Boss's face above and print out the donation info. Helping is easier than you think.

The bloggers who are part of this campaign (after the jump):

Profound thought of the day: Rye whiskey goes great with

chocolate.   Chocolate covered pretzels, during this particular test.

Enjoy.

tommy:eats: googled some more

I've said it before and I'll say it again:  I'm amazed at the google searches that bring people to this little ol' New Jersey dining/food blog. 

On the off chance that you'll be amazed, or at least mildly entertained as well, I offer you, the searches (and some commentary):

Brisket: BBQ experiment

My 2 attempts at smoked brisket have ranged from pretty good (the first time), to dry and not done enough (the second time).  Since I was messing around supermarket brisket, I decided that instead of continuing with this Micky Mouse shit, I'd go for the real thing:  a whole brisket, also known as a "packer cut".  It includes not only that overly-trimmed, lean piece of meat you usually see posing as "brisket" (the "flat", as it's called), but also the more fatty piece that is on top (the "point").

The first time.  Pretty good.

I called The Market Basket in Franklin Lakes, NJ, and they had one in Cryovac.  Just what I wanted.  While I expecting something at about 10 pounds, what I got when I picked it up was a 19 pound brisket.  Holy enormous cow, Batman.

8 inch knife, for reference purposes

I trimmed off about 3 pounds of fat, which put this thing at 16 pounds.  According to everything I've read, that's about 16 hours worth of smoking.  There's simply no choice but to do this overnight, so away I went to my gas grill.  Purists, you might as well stop reading here, if you haven't already.

3 pounds of beef fat, and 20 pounds of cat fat

The only other prep on the meat was a good, healthy rub of fresh cracked pepper and salt.  A whole bunch of pepper, and only slightly less salt.  A lot of this is going to come off during the cooking process, and even if it doesn't, we're still talking about 16 pounds of meat.  Not 16 ounces, which is a nice sized steak.  But 16 pounds.  Pounds baby, pounds.

stretch-tite is awesome, and might very well be the only plastic wrap on the planet that actually works

The size of this brisket is only part of the challenge.

Rye whiskey: in northern New Jersey

Did you wake up this morning thinking "damn, I wish I knew of a place around Bergen/Passaic counties that stocked a bunch of rye whiskey."  No?  Well I sure did.

The only rye that I've been able to find 'round these parts has been Jim Beam.  It's a fine product, I'm sure, but I'm looking to branch out a bit.

A few hours later I found myself at Shoppers Vineyard in Clifton.   And holy moley.

Deep fried: Turkey

In my world, deep frying a turkey is not a passing fad.  It's a highly effective and quick method of cooking a delicious whole turkey.  A method which very likely has deep and long roots in southern cooking.  That sounds pretty darned American to me, and since Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday, well.  

It's also dangerous, as it can burn you and your shit up in the blink of an eye.  Which is why I'm including this very official disclaimer:  don't try this at home, especially if you're drunk or stupid or, God forbid, both.

Five Guys Burgers: = round Wendy's?

Five Guys burger:  yucky lettuce

Another joint where the hype outweighs the food.

There's no doubt that this is the type of burger I should like:  fresh ground beef (although, I'm not sure if it's freshly ground), that whole roadside stand style of burger that I love (messy, wet, etc).  Hell my first hopes that were it would be a more accessible Shake Shack burger (although I need to get back to Shake Shack to make sure that I actually like their burger...I'm sure I do, as Danny Meyer is no slouch).  And I do like it, but come on, it's not all that exceptional.

Corrado's market: Wayne, NJ

Civitavecchia, not Wayne

When I first heard that Clifton's Corrado's was opening another store in Wayne, and the excitement generated by this prospect, I was nonplussed.  Corrado's in Clifton has never really impressed me.  It's always seems crowded, and not in an exciting and energetic open air market in Civitavecchia I can grab a beer at the market bar to take a break way, but rather in that get-me-the-eff-out-of-here way.  I suppose the prices on the produce are good, but the savings aren't worth my time, digging through the less-than-fresh-looking stuff.  It is what it is, but I've not found much reason to go. 

However, it's a new day, and there's a new Corrado's in Wayne, and on my first visit all I could say was "WOW!"

Firstly, the place is spacious and a pleasure to move around in.  It's bright.  It's clean.  There were an adequate number of checkout lanes.  And it has everything.  In fact, I made it a point to make a mental note to myself:  "Note to myself:  this place has everything.  If you ever need something, and don't know where to get it, it's here.  At Corrado's.  Dried chiles.  Pork skin.  Pork belly.  Dry-aged beef.  Prime beef.  Olives.  Cheeses.  Sausage casings.  Chipotle in adobo.  Fresh mozzarella.  Mozzarella curd.  Pork butt.  Italian bread.  Chicken feet.  Ox tail.  French bread.  Desserts.  Sandwiches." 

The list goes on.  The place could very well have the most comprehensive inventory of interesting and hard-to-find foodstuffs in all of north Jersey.

Want a huge chunk of provolone for 55 bucks?  Here is is.

Need pork belly?  They've got lots of it.  Although the skin still had whiskers.

The dry-aged beef is supposedly USDA Prime.  At about 20 bucks a pound, it's a good value, and certainly in line with Franklin Lakes' Market Basket's pricing (an obvious competitor).

The non-dry aged beef (about 14/lb IIRC) looked excellent, and had nicer marbling than the dry aged stuff I got.    

And most notably, the produce looked really fresh and in good shape.

As an aside, I realized that if you're serving steak and potato and greens, and you're pre-slicing the steak, it's easy to just serve everything on the board, instead of dirtying more plates.  

As another aside, I did a side-by-side taste test of Corrado's San Marzano DOP tomatoes and Cento organic, and the Cento was the clear winner.  I have a feeling both would lose if up against Muir Glen, which I feel are some of the best canned tomatoes out there.  A reminder to taste your ingredients!!!

Corrado's Market : 201 Berdan Ave : Wayne, NJ 

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.

Savini Restaurant: Allendale, NJ

This place still has no website.  For real. 

Do people actually go to restaurants without first consulting with their website?  I sure don't.   And judging by the lack of info on the internet in general about this restaurant a lot of other people don't, either.

I guess they're tring to keep the place a secret-secret.  I hope that works out for 'em. 

Vito's Deli: Hoboken, memory lane

Just a quick throw-away post about Vito's in Hoboken.

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.

The Star Ledger review: and the specter of Chef Needham

EDIT [20090415]: Silver Oak has closed.

The Newark Star Ledger gave Ridgewood's Silver Oak Bistro 2.5 stars today. The reviewer goes on and on about Chef Needham who, as far as I know, hasn't been working at the restaurant for almost a year. So what does this all mean? Either Chef Gary Needham is back, which would be nice, but I think unlikely, or the reviewer didn't do any sort of follow-up, which I find unlikely (or scary), or the reviewer was told something that's not true by someone at the restaurant, or Chef Gary put on a happy face and told the reviewer he was still there. Perhaps he's still acting as "executive chef", which can be next to meaningless. Any other explanations that I missed? The review can be read here.

Beef: found

I don't normally regurgitate news here, because that's boring.   But I'm really impressed with this feat:

This man has found the beef.  Although, I'm not sure where he put it. 

That's incredible.  Where's the video?  In this age of youtube no one captured this for all the world?

Meanwhile, the medical experts over on Roadfood.com are chiming in.  *sigh*

Green chile: cheeseburgers

Once again I found myself emailing iamnotachef about food instead of posting on this blog about food.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not under the impression that there's a collective minion out there who are hanging on my every word, but every now and again I feel the tinge of responsibility to actually keep this blog going, rather than just shutting it down completely or let it sit out there dormant.  For today, my choice is to keep it going with another post.

I emailed iamnotachef a few mornings back telling him that I've been really into making green chile stuffs, which are way better than ketchup.  About 10 minutes later, he's got this post about how mustard is the "new ketchup".  OK, well, first off, he shamelessly stole my idea.  Second, he's wrong:  green chile stuff is the new ketchup.

In-N-Out Burger: Eh, I'm not convinced

Here on the east coast, we don't have In-N-Out burger.  So we discuss it on food blogs and Chowhound poetically, fantasizing, lusting,... remembering.  I'm guilty of the same.  I had my first (and until recently, only) In-N-Out experience about 4 years ago in Las Vegas.  You know what Las Vegas is.  I don't have to link to Wikipedia.

<remembering fondly>Twas a hung-over afternoon in Vegas, and I knew there was only one thing to do:  call a taxi and have the driver bring me to In-N-Out burger.  About an hour and 50 dollars later, I devoured a double in my hotel room, thinking it was pretty gosh darned good.</remembering fondly>

Fast forward a few years and I remember it as one of the best burgers in my life.  Complaining that we don't have one around here. 

Red and green chile sauce: beef and shrimp, a la Rosa Mexicano

I was exchanging emails with iamnotachef yesterday, as we sometimes do, discussing bourbon and absinthe and the state of New Jersey dining -- you know, things that two people who are complete strangers would talk about over email -- when it occurred to me that instead of telling him what I'm making for dinner, I should probably blog about it.  He concurred, but said that I should only blog about it if it's very good, or very bad.  I tend to agree, but the other reason I sometimes blog about the things I cook is so that I can remember what I did. I'm horrible at keeping notes for repeat performances, so this blog sometimes doubles as a dumping ground for those semi-successful meals that were thrown together.  Trust me, this blog thing and those dinner posts aren't about trying to impress people.  Of this you are assured.

The discussion started with a mention of the opening of Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack's Riverside Square mall.  What I said to the fella was this: