I opened a couple of bottles at my election night party. The wine had a great bouquet and full flavored fruity taste. This wine went down really well. Everyone at the party who tried it, liked it.

Here is Robert Parker’s review:

91 Points – Robert Parker (Wine Advocate)
“The 2005 Pazzo is a gorgeously hedonistic, flavorful blend of 73% Sangiovese and the rest small amounts of Petite Sirah, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and even a touch of the white varietal, Viognier. A fragrant perfume of sweet roasted herbs, kirsch, black currants, and pepper jumps from the glass of this supple-textured, fleshy wine. The ideal bistro-styled red, it will be fun to drink over the next 2-3 years.”

Here is the wine enthusiast review:

93 Points – Wine Enthusiast
Great Cab, but even at four-plus years, it’s young and dry, with gritty Atlas Peak tannins, so cellar it for four or five years and let it soften. Shows ripe blackberry, cassis and blueberry flavors, with a rich, spicy coating of new oak, and finishes thoroughly dry. Should develop for a decade and hold for another 10 years.

Here are comments from The Wine Library:

COLOR-dark; NOSE-very nice nose; a fruit bomb (raspberries, blackberries; plum, strawberries, cherries), but not over-oaked; TASTE-some greenness on the mid-palate (mint covered green peppers); this is Mint City, USA; menthol; Keebler Grasshopper; reminds me of Heitz Cabs; intense fruit, lots of blackberries, with a nice Junior mint action on the mid-palate; should last 8-15 years; a really good wine; WE-93; GV-90

I’m not exactly sure how to classify this place. Confusion may be the best term for it. It’s a sushi bar, steak house and I have even seen it described as a French Bistro on Open Table (that one I don’t get). The menu is all over the place, with ribs, burgers, asian accented dishes, sushi, etc. I believe that this restaurant has multiple owners and it seems like they all wanted their own individual restaurant with their own theme and cusine but decided to put it all together. Unfortunately none of it is good. I tried the calamari which was average, the tamarind ribs were bad, the salmon was drenched in sauce and the sushi with some kind of Korean sauce wasn’t very good. The food seemed like it came from a bad episode of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Even my glass of Proseco was flat and had to be sent back. On the positive side, our waiter was very helpful. Shame, we really do need better restaurants in Princeton. My recommendation, ask Gordon Ramsay to come, do an episode of Kitchen Nightmares and get the owners to figure out the restaurant’s identity and fix the food.

BTW, what the heck was the reviewer from The Star Ledger smoking?

I got to the restaurant pretty much right on time for my reservation, but the rest of my party was over 30 minutes late. This really has no significance apart from the fact that this is a tiny restaurant, holding only 16 diners seated along the bar behind which you can watch the chefs cook your food. So standing around waiting until everyone turned up isn’t a real comfortable experience, plus I just hate waiting!

The space is pretty cramped, but somehow it seems to add to the intimacy of the dining experience. It almost feels like you have been invited to a friends home to experince their cooking repertoire, seated around the kitchen counter while they whip up some incredible food.

The menu is all smal plates and pretty eclectic. They do have a tasting menu of 5 or 10 courses which are pretty reasonably priced. I ended up going with an a la carte selection. I love the idea of small plates because of the variety of things you can try. Eating just one appetizer and main course is so limiting and boring.

My meal started with the croquettes which were stuffed with short rib and potato. Unbelievably good. What a great start. This was followed by grilled octopus with pork belly and a citrus and basil sauce. The octopus was perfectly grilled, another amazing dish. After a slightly longer break, we were offered a complimentary chef special, rabbit soup. This was refreshing and hit the spot. Our hostess recommended the quail with figs which we all orderded, definately a must try. And then finally I had the Wagyu beef cheesestak. The beef was tender, flavorful and a great way to end this incredible meal. All the dishes were put together really well, everything was flavorful without being overwhelming and nothing seemed over prepared. There just seemed to be a nice balance of flavors. This really has to rank pretty high in my eating experiences.

Adding to the enjoyment of the food is being so close to the chefs and watching them prepare the food. You can see them working efficiently over each ingredient, putting your plate together as you build with anticipation and then finally getting to taste the complete dish.

Another great dining experience from Grace and her husband Jack,

Total Time: 35 Mins

Ingredients:

Two 1 1/2 lobsters
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large garlic cloves thinly sliced
3 tablespoons finely julienned fresh ginger
2 red thai chiles thinly sliced
Salt
3 1/2 ounces pea shoots or 4 ounce bunch watercress
1/2 cup finely shredded basil leaves

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add lobsters head first and cook until bright red, about 5 minutes. Transfer lobsters to a bowl. Pour out water, except 1/4 inch. Set a steamer basket in the pot, cover and simmer.
2. When lobsters are cool enough to handle, twist off the claws, then the heads and discard the heads. Using a large knife, cut the tails in half lengthwise and discard the intestinal veins. Loosen the meat in the tail shells, leaving it in the shells. Crack the claws so the meat can be removed. Remove the meat from knuckles too.
3. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Skim off the foam. Add garlic and cook until golden. Add ginger and chiles and cook over moderate heat for about 3 minutes. Season with salt.
4. Bring the water in the pot to a simmer. Add the lobster, cover and steam until heated through. About 1 minute.
5. Set a medium skillet over high heat. Add pea shoots and toss until barely wilted for about 1 minute; transfer to a platter. Top with lobster, garlic butter and basil. Serve.

Our core group includes the Pandya’s (Shailesh & Divya), the Mercando’s (David & Noreen), the Belgians (Leen and Johan) and us, the Patels. We usually have a guest or 2 or 3. This time Johan’s boss’ boss, Werner from Belgium was in town so we invited him to join us. I’d met him earlier that morning when we went to race cars on a track. He fit right into the group.

Our hosts for the evening were David & Noreen. Noreen, the tile grout looked really good, great job!

I’m not really a beer guy, just like I am not a white wine guy. Red wine is my drink of choice. Too many carbs & calories in beer with insufficient payoff in flavor for me. Though I do like Belgian beers which I discovered about a year ago at a get together at Leen & Johan’s.

We tried a number of different beers last night and as is usual, we rated them all. Onto the beer.

1. St. Pauli Girl (German) – 4 thought it was doable while Johan and I thought it was stinky. It was a pretty bland beer. The girl on the bottle promised so much and delivered so little, leaving me completely unsatisfied. Damn shame!

2. Samuel Adams, Octoberfest Seasonal Brew (US) – Considered doable/ok. Had a slight caramel like flavor, a little sweet, though not excessive.

3. Corsendonk Pale Ale (Belgian) – This is a cloudy beer and was voted as good by all. Best so far.

4. Corsendork Dark (Belgian) – Decent beer, but not as good as the pale ale. Considered ok.

5. Chimay Premier (Belgian) – Chimay is one of my favorite beers and was rated as good. There are 3 types of Chimay, I brought the red label and Leen informed me that I should have brought the blue label. I guess I screwed up.

6. Duvel (Belgian) – My favorite beer. This one got some mixed ratings, including 1 ok, 1 good and 3 very goods. It’s a pretty strong beer.

7. Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence (US) – This beer has chocolate. I was a little afraid to try it thinking it would be sweet. The concept just didn’t make sense to me. The first taste was a complete shock. The beer is dark and bitter, like a stout. Kind of reminds you of Guinness which I really like. I think the shock of the 1st taste made me dislike it but it grew on me and I ended up liking it quite a bit. We forgot to rate this one so I’ll say it was good.

8. St. Barnardus (Belgian) -Rated as a good beer.

9. Golden Carolus (Belgian) – David noticed a hint of molasses in this. 4 of the group considered it very good while 2 others thought it was good.

10. Franziskaner Weissbier (German) – A pretty mild beer and considered ok.

This was more of a Belgian Oktoberfest than a German one, but atleast it was beer. I am ready to move back to red wine after doing white wine and beer for the last 2 get togethers. Though I must say that the beers were generally pretty good and I don’t even have a hangover!

In terms of food, we had:

- Bratwurst – very good
- Squah soup – I didn’t taste this
- Goulash – very good. Best German Goulash I have eaten, but where were the fries Leen?
- Veal Schnitzel – I made this and liked it
- Selection of German cheeses
- Pear Cake – very good.

Another good evening, though a little tame by our standards. We even ended before midnight.

We had about 8 of us going to lunch. Kedar, Danielle and I left the office on time and waited, and waited, and waited for the others to turn up. Turns out Bill kept everyone waiting. I would have just left him behind.

Anyway, onto the food. We did the buffet which is the typical Indian lunch thing. The assortment wasn’t great. They had the typical chicken tikka masala which seemed watered down, a few vegetable dishes, tandoori chicken (usually the worst thing to eat in a buffet and Ganges did not disappoint). There weren’t any lamb dishes – what the heck! They did have masala dosa if requested, which we obviously did. But it took them forever to bring out the right chutney. I was done with my dosa by the time it came out.

Dessert was way too sweet as is usual with Indian desserts. We ordered the chai which was excessively milky and short on spices.

The others seemed to like this place somewhat more than I did. All I have to say is either they don’t know Indian food or their standards leave a lot to be desired. I for one will not return.

Service is perfection too. Service is attentive but not intrusive. Just the right balance. After all this is a Danny Meyer restaurant. The man really knows how to create and execute perfection when it comes to restaurants. His other restaurants Tabla, Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern rank pretty high on my list of favorite restaurants.

Moving on to the food, I had bone marrow crusted beef tenderloin with beef cheek. I was a little apprehensive but it intrigued me enough to order it. It was amazing. I haven’t been able to stop talking about this meal. It was cooked perfectly and tasted great. The amuse bouse was watermelon gazpacho. That was unbelievably good too. My lunch companion had the lamb sausage which she enjoyed too. We skipped dessert since we had a business meeting to run to, just coffee (decaf for me – you don’t want me on caffeine).

I think I need to return for dinner.

I tried the wine last Monday night with Johan while watching my sorry Jets lose to the Chargers. This wine was amazing. What great value. Here’s what Jay Miller had to say about the wine:

“The 2006 Marge is 60% Garnacha, 14% Syrah, 13% Merlot, and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon aged for 8 months in French and American oak. Purple-colored with a ruby rim, it has an enticing nose of lavender, violets, garrigue, cherry and blueberry which jumps from the glass. Smooth textured, spicy, and full-flavored, the wine has terrific depth and length. Give it 2-3 years to blossom and drink it through 2020.”

Here’s a link to the wine. Buy it if you can.

http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=41275

It was another great night, good wine, good food with good friends. We ended up spending 6 hours, the longest yet. I guess the conversation was highly entertaining, though I decided to steer clear of politics this time (I am the contrarian in the group with no one else sharing my political point of view). We even adminstered a sobriety test on Divya, I think she flunked but she denies it.

On to the wine:

1. 2005 Mercurey Premier Cru, Domaine Michel Juillot – this was a refreshing, decent, light wine with a long lingering flavor profile. We initially rated it as very good and after tasting the others we revised the rating to ok/good. Johan was a disenter, claiming that “this wine does not excite me”.

2. 2006 Bourgogne Blanc, Chardonnay – we finally agreed with Leen (probably the best wine palate in the group) that the wine did smell corked, though not in taste. This wine was fruiter and better than the first. Rated as good.

3. 2005 Mersault, Bouchard Pere & Fil – we were really looking forward to trying this wine and the first sip left us all disappointed. Noreen even hated this wine. We did go back at the end of the night and retried this wine and it was completely different. It was actually really good. The problem seems to have been that it was too cold originally which diminished its flavor.

4. 2004 Chablis Premier Cru, La Foret – Cheapest wine of the night and was considered to be good / very good. Best price value relationship.

5. 2004 Chateau Fuisse, Pouilly Fuisse – The most expensive wine of the night at $48. It had a fabulous bouquet and was rated as excellent. Best of the night.

6. 2006 Frederic Trouillet, Pouilly Fuisse – decent wine rated as ok / good.

The wine was paired with:

- Linguine with clams on the shell
- Shrimp
- Scallops
- Lobster with ginger, garlic, chilli butter and pea shoots

And since Leen and Johan are from Belgium I practically forced Leen to make Belgian fries with homemade mayo. Belgian fries are the very best! Somehow I ended up cutting the potatoes and doing the double fry. How the heck did that happen?

Another successful night. These really are the best neighbors anyone could hope for. Next up, we’re at David & Noreen’s beach house to experience Oktoberfest.

2005 North Coast Cabernet
The 05 cab needed a little time to open but for a young wine, it drank quite well. The majority of the grapes come from Sonoma so it’s no surprise this wine had a lush fruit profile. The aroma of berries was pleasing and a hint of vanilla and cassis added to its character. I thoroughly enjoyed the wine and the $15.00 price is a bargain for this quality. I highly recommend it.

2005 Lake County Zinfandel
If you’re a fan if zins you’ll enjoy this wine. You instantly delight in the peppery spice and earthy nature of this wine. Blackberry and red raspberry dominate this wines character and it finishes quite nicely. To preserve its fruity character the winemaker kept the wine in small oak barrels for a short six months. My first love is big, bold reds but I enjoy an occasional light and spicy red. This wine fit the bill nicely. I recommend it.

Reviewed by guest reviewer Rick

This place is quite simply amazing and amazingly cheap. It is a dive, decor and service aren’t anything worth writing about, but the food is just brilliant! If you like Pho, this is the place to go. Since moving to the burbs I have sought out other vietnamese restaurants but nothing really compares well. My typically menu includes fresh shrimp rolls, pho, shrimp with salt & pepper, fried spring rolls, beef with tomatoes and chicken with chilli and lemon grass. Obviously not all in one dining session, but I usually rotate through on my visits and we always go family style (except for the Pho).

I hadn’t been back for probably 2 years, but just last week had lunch with Pat here who I hadn’t seen for way too long. And I’m happy to report that the food is still as good as ever. I need to go back more frequently. I really had forgotten what I was missing. Lunch for 3 was $45. Great deal for the quality of food.

There are a couple of other Nha Trang’s in Chinatown. Go to the one at 89 Baxter Street, just off Canal. It’s the original and the best.

This time around we were at my place and we’d selected Bordeaux’s plus grilled food. We tried 8 Bordeaux’s and then hit my collection for an excellent Priorat (I love Priorats) and a Napa Cab. We did have 4 guest attendees, we usually do though the core of the group is the 4 couples.

My love affair with wine started just a few years ago and has been much more serious in the last 2 years. As a result I really haven’t made it around the wine world. I started on California Cabs and gradually moved on from there, trying different wines and developing my palette. The wine club has been a great way to accelerate the learning. I have never really tried much Bordeaux and I must say I like it, though not as much as I like Cabs, Rioja or my favorite Priorat.

Onto the wine (in order of tasting):

1. Chateau Cote Du Baleau, Saint Emilian Grand Cru, 2005 – Generally rated as good. It had an initial bitter taste and a very long flavor profile with the flavor moving from the sides of the tongue to the center. Leen thought the wine was a little corked, she probably has the most sensitive palette and sense of smell.

2. Chateau Saint Marie, 2006 – good, smooth, but the 1st wine was better

3. Chateau Pierrail, 2006 – good, best so far. It was a smooth cab like wine

4. Cheval Noir Grand Vin, 2003 – This was rated as just ok, a classification just above “doable”.

5. Chateau Saint Michel, 2005 – Considered to be good, almost very good. Thank you Shailesh & Divya

6. Chateau Du Moulin Rouge, Haute Med, 2005 – This wine was doable/ok. Not worth buying really.

7. Chateau Beaumont, Haut Medoc, 2001 – worst wine of the night, also the most expensive. Rated as stinky

8. Chateau Mont-Perat, 2003 – rated as doable

That was the Bordeaux’s. We still had some steam left in us so with help from my gorgeous neighbours (the women, not the guys – Divya was looking pretty hot!), we selected 2 more wines from my collection.

9. Masperla, Priorat, 2005 – this is a 94 point Robert Parker rated wine and it’s fabulous. If you’ve never tried Priorats you have to try them. The only downside is that they are expensive. It’s more of an indulgence wine.

10. Anderson Conn Valley Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, 2005 – This is another highly rated wine and is an excellent example of a good Napa Cab.

The Bordeaux’s ranged in price from $15-$25. That’s typically of our wine club selections.

The food last night was great too, nothing was bad. We had whole leg of lamb, jerk chicken, chicken kebabs, ribeye, cheesecake and watermelon.

Another fabulous night, good friends, good wine and food.

The food at Buddakan is asian, but modern asian – basically asian fusion. Buddakan also has locations in Philadelphia and Atlantic City. As is obligatory, I checked out the Zagat review just in case it was lousy, which it wasn’t. Getting a reservation 24 hours before dinner was pretty easy.

Buddakan is one of those cool, trendy places where the staff and patrons are pretty attractive. It seems to be more about the cool and trendy, a place to be seen at the bar rather than the food. The restaurant itself is a huge space, even the hostess space is like a trendy hotel lobby.

After a martini at the bar while we waited for Michelle, we were escorted to our table. From my other posts, you’ll know that I like to try a bunch of things rather than being boring and just having 1 thing so we ordered a number of appetizers and mains which we shared. Our waiter was extremely helpful in helping us decide what to order and we were not steered wrong. The steak, cod and short rib were all excellent – tasty and perfectly cooked. The steak was probably the worst thing we had and it was pretty good. The cod was outstanding. We shared a couple of desserts which too were good.

Overall the food was better than I had expected and it was also very reasonably priced – all in all a very good experience and one I will repeat.

I have only been once, way back in early 1993 and since then I have been hoping they opened a location in New York. There have been other restaurants by the same name but that’s all they were. Well, finally it looks like my quest is over. While Bukhara hasn’t opened a New York branch, a former chef from Bukhara has recreated the menu at Yuva and when I heard this, I had to go try it out.

A couple of weeks ago during Restaurant week, Kedar and I were looking for somewhere to go, some new restaurant to try. He sent me a short list of restaurants with brief descriptions and in that list was Yuva. As soon as I read that the chef was formerly at Bukhara, that was our choice.

We checked out the restaurant week menu and it looked good but after perusing their regular menu we both had to order the Yuva platter which included 2 types of chicken, 2 types of lamb, shrimp and afghani kebab. Basically this was a mixed grill. And…it was amazing. The meat was the most tender, ever and tasty too. At lesser restaurants, the meet is overcooked and dry and also overwhelmed by the spices. Not so here. Should I say it was perfect? We had another in our party who ordered daal and lamb in a cashew sauce – also amazing.

The restaurant itself is a little small and service is slow, actually too slow but these don’t detract too much from the food. Located on East 58th street it is next to Chola and Dawat, both good indian restaurants.

Yuva, along with Devi has become my favorite Indian restaurant.

It was late in the evening and I wanted to have dinner where I could sit outside and enjoy the weather. Mediterra is located just by Palmer Square on Hulfish Street in a great location so I surpressed my original opinions of the place and decided to go there. Mediterra bills itself as a casual, upscale restaurant serving food from the 21 countries surrounding the mediterranean.

We were three for dinner and were seated outside. The weather was just perfect. The only annoying thing was a lone diner on the table next to us who spent most of dinner talking loudly on his phone and then yelling across to some people he knew as they walked by. Boy was he annoying as hell. I think cell phones should be banned in restaurants, though I did get a call and quickly ended it, probably in under 30 seconds.

For once I decided to skip the appetizers and just eat the main course. I need to watch the calories! I ordered the Paella which was excellent. Just the right size portion and perfectly seasoned and flavored. One of our party ordered the cod which he said was excellent. The 3rd in our party wanted to go off menu and got a bespoke pasta dish which the chef was happy to do. That too was very good. I had a red wine sangria to acoompany my meal, very refreshing.

Live music was playing at the restaurant. It wasn’t too loud and quite pleasant. Our waiter, Pedro was very attentive and chatty. He took his job seriously which is what I like to see. He was so eagar to make sure everything was perfect. We skipped dessert and went somewhere else for some excellent ice cream. Dinner for 3 turned out to be under $70. Great value.

I may have to start changing my opinion of Princeton area restaurants.

http://www.terramomo.com/restaurant/mediterra/index.html

-Hama-Hama Oysters – A little fishy for us.
-Chiconteague Oysters – Good
-Blue Diamond Oysters – Good
-Salty Aire Oysters – Very Good
-Jorstad Creek Oysters – Doable
-Blue Bayon Oysters – good size and better than good.

Verdict the next time we will order the Salty Aire Oysters or the Blue Bayon.

Since we do not have a very large appetite we decided to share three entrees.
Isha tried the Fried Shrimp Platter which came with fries and a cocktail sauce. The shrimp was cooked just right and the batter was crispy the fries complimented the shrimp perfectly.

Meghan decided on the Crab Cake Duo which we also enjoyed but we felt we have had better at the Cheesecake Factory which will be my next review.
Lastly my wife Divya and I decided on the Miso Cod Kodiak Alaska, which I must admit we absolutely loved. The Cod reminded me of the Chilean Sea Bass and it was moist and flakey. It came with some crispy fresh leafy vegetables and a lemon flavored sauce to me mind it was the best dish we ordered. This is a very upscale sea food restaurant and I am sure we will visit it again soon.

Review by guest reviewer Shailesh.

While I have had some Rioja’s, I really haven’t had them since I started getting serious about wine. That’s the great thing about the wine club – it forces you to try different wines and appreciate the differences between them. We all look forward to these evenings which have now been going on for about 6 or 7 months.

My general feeling after Friday night is that I need to drink more Rioja’s and add them to my wine collection which is now around 150 bottles (mainly cabs and syrah’s). We tried a number of Reserva’s and Crianza’s, with the reservas being better than the crianza’s as they should be. I had never really appreciated how wonderfully complex and tasty rioja’s can be.

On to the specific wines:

1. Palacio Quemado, Reserva 2001 – soft, smooth, strong flavor and nose and rated as good. One of the best of the night.

2. Herederos Del Marques De Riscal Reserva, 2003 – we ended with all 4 couples buying this wine. This has never happened before. We decided to drink 2 and swap out the other 2. This wine had a strong nose, not as smooth as the first wine, bolder taste, a little smokiness. Was considered the favorite of the night by a few people.

3. Marques De Vargas, Reserva, 2003 – Strong bouquet, unbelievable legs, rated as good too.

4. Ursa Maior, Crianza, 2004 – a little sour, rated just ok.

5. Marques De Caceres, Crianza, 2004 – light body, not really memorable, just ok, not bad for casual drink.

6. Primavera, Bairrada, 2003 – not a rioja (we swapped it out for #2). Rated stiinky, the worst wine of the night.

7. D’arenberg McLaren Vale d’arry’s original, Shiraz Grenache, 2004 – this is an Australian winery that produces great wines which range in price from $15 to $100. This particualr wine was good, even folks who didn’t like shiraz’s liked this one.

8. Terra Barossa, Shiraz, 2006 – An ok wine, the D’arenberg was much better.

Once again we had a great eveining with friends, good wine and food. I really like this neighborhood – what more could you want?

The restauarant is nice and bright and very clean, though the tables are really small. I think they can barely fit 2 entrees and drinks. I went in a party consisting of my 2 kids, 2 neices and my wife. We all tried something different. The kids had chicken lo mein and hot & sour soup, the girls had fried sushi (i’d never heard of such a thing until this lunch – there’s something very wrong with having friend sushi!), I had traditional sushi, including a spicy tuna roll and hand roll and my wife had some thai noodles. The soup was good, lo mein was awful, the thai noodles not so good, the fried sushi was overwhelmed with a sticky brown, sweet sauce and my sushi was acceptable, though knife skills leave a little to be desired.

The servers were eagar to please though english seemed to be an issue for our waitress. I was worried I wasn’t going to get what I had ordered.

The restaurant was pretty busy for a late saturday lunch so it appears to have built up somewhat of a following pretty quickly. I’ll probably go back once to try the chinese items, but on current form we now have another bad chinese addition to New Jersey – like we need any more! For sushi, I’ll just stick to Whole Foods for now.

I picked up a case of this wine a couple of days ago, splitting it with my neighbors. I had read about it in an email from the Wine Library and it sounded worth trying, especially considering the price which was under $12 for a Napa Valley cab. I needed an everyday cab since I was running low in the sub $20 wines. I expected a decent wine, nothing to write home about but I was pleasantly surprised. It was more than I was expecting for $12. The wine is smooth, lots of fruity flavor – plums and berries, a little on the sweet side though not a great nose. This is a wine that compares well to wines in the $20-$25 range. It’s a good wine to just sip casually sitting at home.

Here are the tasting notes from The Wine Libray:

“Too good to be true? Think again! Yes, this is high quality Napa Cabernet for only $12! Ripe with great strawberry, raspberry, black currants, plums and black berry, with great tannins and a long, dusty finish. This is a must try! Fans of Twenty Bench and Franciscan will love this!”

Here’s a link to buy it:

http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=38933

So I finally got over to Stage Left last Friday to try their cheeseburger which is modestly called “The World’s Best Cheeseburger”. I heard about the cheeseburger at Stage Left in New Brunswick probably three years ago and since then I have been thinking about going to try it. The problem is that they serve it for lunch only and they are only open on Friday for lunch. Plus, it isn’t exactly conveniently located to my office so I can’t go and have lunch there unless I want to take a two hour lunch. Though I did learn that they serve it at the bar in the evening too.

I have always been on a quest to find a great cheeseburger. I love cheeseburgers but the guilt associated with the calories, saturated fat and the carbs (well you have to eat fries with a burger!) mean that I only eat a burger when I know that it will be good enough to compensate for the guilt. The problem with most burgers is the excessivelly sized bun where the bread overwhelms the meat, or an under-seasoned patty or something that is just a sloppy mess. My reigning favorite was the burger at Union Square Cafe but the Stage Left burger is probably as close to perfection as you’re going to get.

First off, this burger makes an entrance – it looks intimidating. The patty is massive. As you sit there contemplating it you think to yourself that there is no way this thing will fit in your mouth and how the heck can you finish it? Trust me you can, or atleast you’ll want to. It comes covered in aged cheddar and excellent bacon, onion, lettuce and tomato. The burger was perfectly cooked and perfectly seasoned. The bun was even perfect – not too big, slightly toasted and just right. From the first bite of the burger you just realize how good this burger is. Perfection extends beyond the burger to the fries. Calling them fries seems like an injustice. They are massive chunks of fried potato slices and boy are they good. The burger and fries are $16 and well worth it.

I have truly found my burger.

We tried a selection of 7 different wines. I got serious about wine about 18 months ago, starting with California cabs, syrahs and pinot noirs so have not really been familiar with red zins. The great thing about the wine club is that rather than being stuck with a particular type of wine, we end up trying a lot of different varietals based on everyone’s tastes. You end up really learning what you like and don’t. It’s a great way to explore the confusing world of wine. Also a great way to bond with your neighbours.

Onto the wine:

1. Cheyanna, 2004, Napa Valley – good, light wine. Great value at $10, make that amazing value. This wine had a 92 rating from Wine Advocate. Best of the night.

2. Hartford, 2005, Russian Valley – another good wine, but not as good as the first wine. Also much more expensive at $24.

3. Neal Family Winery, 2006, Napa – stronger, fuller flavor than the previous 2 wines, more like what I was expecting from a red zin. Another wine that cost $24. This wine was ok.

4. Earthquake, 2005 – A very heavy, strong wine. Even the bottle was heavy! Rated as just ok.

5. Cline, 2006 – This wine was $15 and rated the worst of the night. It was a struggle finishing this wine. Probably our first stinky wine of the wine club – sorry Johan.

6. Farleigh, 2004 – This wine has grapes from 2 counties in California, with 50% coming from Mendocino and the other 50% from Amador. This wine is decently rated though we thought it was just ok. It cost around $10.

7. Seghesio, 2006 – We rated this as just doable which falls below ok and above stinky.

The surprising thing is that the wines were pretty erratic in their quality, with price not really being a good indicator. The best wine cost only $10 and some of the more expensive wines were just ok.

We next meet at Leen and Johan’s in a few weeks. The plan is to try a bunch of Rioja’s.

The rodizio is only available on Wednesday evenings and costs $30. It includes a bunch of appetizers, the meat selection and grilled pineapple. Drinks and dessert are extra as is normally the case. Once we were seated the eagar, friendly waittress explained the process. We were given dials that are green on one side and red on the other. Green means bring it on and red means stop. We were given salads to start and than a selection of appetizers. The appetizers are tapas like and were very tasty. After this came the main event – the meat. We started with chicken and sausage – the cheaper cuts of meat come first. After that came pork loin, lamb, beef, ribs, etc. The selection was pretty narrow compared to Plataforma but everything was very good, surprisingly good. The meat is brought out on skewers by the wait staff. Unfortunately their cutting technique really wasn’t up to par, but what the heck it was still tasty.

The restaurant is located in downtown New Brunswick on Rt. 27 near the train station. It’s a pretty large space with a bar at the center of it. I had a very good martini while I was waiting for the others to turn up. The place is nicely decorated, trying to be hip, but just lacking a little something compared to places in major metro cities. It’s probably a busy bar scene on friday and saturday evenings, filled with a young, single, professional crowd.

Bottomline, I like this place. I’ll be back for the rodizio which will save me a trip into New York. I guess I should also try the other stuff on the menu.

Link to restaurant: www.terramomo.com/restaurant/novaterra/index.html

My review of Plattaforma: www.foodielifestyle.com/2007/12/10/churrascaria-plataforma-new-york/

Upon entering the restaurant you need to walk downstairs to the restaurant and bar, which is subterranean. The restaurant is pretty large though it isn’t much to look at, kind of like a nicer version of your local pasta joint. The place was pretty empty that evening. The table we sat at hadn’t been cleaned properly, there was some spilled oil where I was sitting. Our wonderfully helpful and friendly waitress cleaned it up without complaint, almost happily.

Their wine list is pretty interesting. They have a selection of South African wines from Olsen Wineries. The waitress informed me that the owner of the winery comes in for dinner a lot. We ordered their Pinotage which was only $38 for the bottle and pretty good. Great value. I’ve been looking to buy more of this wine but haven’t been able to find it. Bummer!

The food is definately the highlight here. We ordered an appetizer sampler which included a lot of stuff, including mussels, calamari, eggplant rollatini, etc., most of it very good. I had a pasta with italian sausage and broccoli rabe which was excellent, a great recommendation from our waitress. The others tried pasta with vodka sauce, veal and some of their vegetarian dishes. Everyone seemed to be happy with their meals. While the food tastes very good, it seems to have been prepared by a good home cook, not a professional chef – the food doesn’t have the refinement you would expect from a restaurant in downtown Princeton. BTW, the tiramisu was very good.

Overall, a good food for dinner and drinks. Definately worth going to again.

www.sotto128.com

I really enjoyed this wine from the very first sip. The wine had a beautiful dark purple color, and a great nose. As we drank the wine over a couple of hours it changed it’s character and tasted different but a good different. This is a seriously good wine with a nice strong, full bodied flavor – just the way I like my wine.

The wine was rated 96 points by Robert Parker for the Wine Advocate. Here’s his review “Aged in new and one-year-old American oak, and made in a completely different style, the 2005 Shiraz The Bogan (from 25- to 105-year-old vines) is a dense purple-colored effort displaying an exuberant nose of toast, blackberries, cassis, cherries, and damp earth. It is full-bodied and powerful with fabulous purity and texture as well as a blockbuster finish. This is a classic example of Barossa Shiraz at its finest. Enjoy it over the next 12-15 years.”

I picked this up at The WIne Library, here’s a link to the wine.

http://winelibrary.com/reviewwine.asp?item=33834

The restaurant is located in a sketchy part of town. I was a little apprehensive about parking my car on the street but was assured it would be fine. And it was. The restaurant itself is a dive. Basic wooden tables, I won’t even comment on the decor because there isn’t any! I love dives because they are usually the places you can find great, tasty food at low low prices. I love finding places like that.

The menu was somewhat surprising. I was expecting something more authentic and the menu has some of those but it’s a strange mixture of american, tex-mex and mexican. The spicy chicken wings made with habenero are a case in point. They were good, but strange and really spicy – made my lips burn. For the main course I ordered the Chipotle Shrimp which came with brown rice. It was a creamy jalapeno sauce, taste was good but the food was so unbelievably hot (in terms of temperature). It seemed like they had nuked the food for ages. It hadn’t cooled down for 20 minutes. The shrimp were massive and cooked just right. But why was the food so damn hot? Kedar tried the tacos with Chorizo and wasn’t too impressed. He really doesn’t seem to like much. BTW, portions are huge.

Overall I would say the food is decent. I’ve had better Mexican, but if the craving for Mexican with a twist grabs you, this place is worth the occassional visit.

The best thing at KC Prime is the beer which just about summarizes the place. KC Prime is located behind Quakerbridge Mall, next to a Gold’s Gym. From the outside the place isn’t much to look at, but heck, this is New Jersey.

Nothing seems to be quite right about this place. The first thing that struck me as soon as I walked in was that the hostesses all seemed pretty miserable. You want your hostess to be attractive, cheerful and look like they want you to come in and have a great time. Not exactly the welcome I was looking for. We were escorted to a booth in the back. The restaurant did look pretty busy. My seat was worn out and slightly ripped. The décor seriously needs to be updated. It’s dark, dated and run down.

I was planning to drink some wine, but the wine list is short and abysmal. The best wine they carry is Clos Du Val. What kind of steakhouse doesn’t carry a better selection of wine? That’s how we ended up on beer. They have a good selection of beers, especially the Begian beers, including Duval and Chimay (http://www.foodielifestyle.com/2008/02/10/belgian-beer-and-cheese-tasting/). I ended up ordering the Duval.

The spinach dip with artichokes was pretty good, as was the bread, but the main event, the NY Strip wasn’t very good. It was perfectly cooked but the quality of the meat was just sub-par. And at $28 I expected better. A word of caution, the KC fries are not fries, but instead potato chips – I was so looking forward to fries.

Based on the quality of the steaks we decided to skip dessert and instead decided to leave.

This place isn’t cheap but I’m not sure what I was paying for because it wasn’t the ambiance or the food. I’ve now been to KC Prime, tried the steak and I’m done. If I want steak in the Princeton area, I’ll stick to Witherspoon Grill (http://www.foodielifestyle.com/2007/12/03/witherspoon-grill-princeton-nj/).

This past friday was another get together for our monthly Wine Club, four couples trying a different food and wine theme every month, meeting at a different couple’s home each time. It was our turn to host again so I got to choose the wine and food theme. I decided on 2 wines, a premium Cabernet Sauvignon priced between $35-$40 and a second cheaper wine priced $15-$20. I wanted to see how the cheaper wines compared to the more expensive wines in our tasting.

We ended up with 10 different wines. Before you wonder how 8 people got through 10 wines, we did have a few extra guests attend.

Onto the wine, starting with the $35-$40 wines:

1. Conn Valley Vineyards Reserve, 2004 – this is an excellent wine, probably the best of the night. We rated it as Good, almost Great on our rating system. Very smooth, beautiful flavor. I just purchased 2005 futures from the wine library. Robert Parker rated the 05 at 94 points.

2. Stag’s Leap Artemis 05 – Rated Good. Strong bouquet. Would benefit from decanting.

3. Mount Veeder Winery, 2004 – Thick wine, loads of blackberry, fruity. Good / Great.

4. Sequoia Grove, 2004 – Rated as Ok.

5. Beringer, 2003 – Rated as Ok.

The $15-20 wines:

1. Mantra 2003 – Rated good. The best of the cheaper wines. This is 75% Alexander Valley and 25% Dry Creek Valley. This was rated Good. We thought this was the best value of the night. It did benefit from being decanted for 3 hours. I am a real convert to decanted.

2. Liberty, Paso Robles, 2005 – This wine seemed more like a Zinfandel rather than a Cab. Rated as Doable which is our 2nd lowest rating.

3. The Show, 2006 – Rated Doable, close to Stinky. Probably the worst for the night. Wine actually had a sour finish.

4. Coppola, Diamond Collection, 2005 – Rated as Decent, not memorable.

5. Benziger, 2005 – Rated Decent. Good value.

As far the food is concerned, we had a rack of lamb (I’ll post the recipe), spaghetti with red sauce, assorted antipasti, assorted cheeses with bread, belgian chocolate and chocolate truffles.

Our next meet is on the 25th, we might be doing red Zinfandels.

I flew in over the weekend and stayed with family where I was well and truly stuffed with good Indian and Thai food, plus way too much dessert. My family has a very sweet tooth, probably handed down from my grandfather.

In terms of restaurants, I went to a number of very different restaurants – modern British, seafood, Indian, pizza, Chinese, Italian and pubs. A nice little sampler for the week I was there.

Starting out I went to Wapping Food for lunch with a number of my American and British colleagues. What an amazing place! Wapping Food is in the old hydraulic power plant. They really haven’t updated the décor or changed the look and feel of the place. You feel like you are in a power plant – very cool. It also serves as an art gallery where they have art exhibits. The whole concept is so interesting, but at it’s core it’s reason for being is the food and if that fails then we have a problem. The food itself is innovative and tasty. It’s hard to pin down a label for the food, so I call it modern British. They use both modern and traditional ingredients like black pudding and serve it in an innovative fashion. There were 6 at lunch and the choices we made varied from steak to lamb to fish and everyone seemed to enjoy their meal. I myself had the figs wrapped in bacon and lamb. Both excellent.

If you want to try something different, good and cool I would make this a definite stop. www.thewappingproject.com.

London and for that matter England is known for it’s Indian food. I wanted to take my American colleagues to a good, traditional Indian restaurant. London has a lot of modern, updated Indian restaurants but I wanted the original thing so we went to Veeraswamy’s, London’s oldest Indian restaurant, being in business for 82 years. Thankfully in those 82 years it has gone through a number of iterations. I have eaten here about 4 times in the last 20 years and the food has been consistently good. The food is uncomplicated Indian food that just tastes very good. It’s located just by Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of tourist London. Everything we tried was good. The spices were well blended, the food not overly greasy. I would compare it favorably to Tamarind in New York which is the highest rated Indian restaurant in Zagat’s New York guide.

www.veeraswamy.com

The evening after Veeraswamy we decided to walk into Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill, a British seafood institution. It’s been around since 1916 and is actually located a few doors down from Veeraswamy. We ended up getting seats at the bar. The place was packed. I really enjoyed my dinner. I had smoked eel with potato pancakes and traditional fish and chips. Both excellent. The current chef, Richard Corrigan came to the restaurant in the 90’s and brought the place in 2005. After his purchase he restored the restaurant, keeping an eye to it’s history. The menu here is another great example of modern British food that blends traditional British with European and other international influences to create something unique and above all else good.

http://www.bentleys.org/home/

Strada is a chain of Italian restaurants in England. We went for lunch we a number of our British colleagues to the St. Katherine’s Dock location. St. Katherine’s Dock is such a beautiful part of London, with boats anchored, apartments, all near Tower Bridge.

I’m always skeptical about Italian food, particularly chain restaurants, but we were the guests so I went with the flow. This was obviously a favorite of our hosts and I can see why. The place was packed at lunch time. The Brits sure do like eating out – I guess that’s where I get it from too!

Strada describes itself a contemporary Italian restaurant serving authentic Italian food. I can’t claim to be an expert of authenticity but the food is really good. From the bread that starts off your meal to the seafood risotto I had, everything was excellent. This place reminded me why I used to like Italian food. A change from the spaghetti and tomato sauce you find in way too many restaurants here. BTW they also serve pizza’s.

http://www.strada.co.uk

Pizza Express used to be my favorite pizza chain in England. Apparently the Brits agree with me because these places are consistently packed. While I would consider the pizza good by US standards, it isn’t great. But if you are in London and craving pizza, this is definitely the place to go. There are a number dotted around the city. My pizza of choice is the Quattro formaggi with anchovies, mushrooms and olives.

http://www.pizzaexpress.com/

I have always loved the Chinese food in England. There is a very large Chinese community in London, predominantly from Hong Kong, which isn’t surprising considering the history of Britain and Hong Kong which was leased by the British from China until 1997. The Chinese food in Toronto and London is very similar since the origins are the same. A lot of Hong Kong Chinese moved to Toronto before handover back to China.

I always make it a point to eat some quality Chinese food when I am in London. The last couple of times my friend Bishop and I end up at Royal China after a couple of drinks in the hotel bar. Both times we’ve ordered one of their dinner packages which costs 30 pounds or roughly $60 at today’s exchange rate. This is good Chinese food. This is the food I have craved and sought for years in New York and New Jersey but instead ended up with heavily sauced, high calorie food that doesn’t do much for me. Until Joe’s Shanghai (separate blog entry) I was losing faith in the quality of Chinese food here. Places like Royal China were my standard. Now all I need here is to find a place that sells crispy aromatic duck – this dish is available everywhere in England, it’s somewhat like Peking duck, but I think better. I just can’t find it anywhere here. If anyone knows where I can find, please let me know.

http://www.royalchinagroup.co.uk/

Restaurants in London have come a long way. They are far from the misconceived notions that still plague many Americans. You can eat very well in England and try some fabulous food. The only problem is with current exchange rates, it’s too damn expensive for those of us earning in US Dollars. Recently The Wall Street Journal had a story on London restaurants. Their restaurant critic, Raymond Sokolov was in London, pretty much the same time I was and tried a number of ethnic restaurants. I think it makes a good complement to my blog. Here’s a link to his article.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120613490710855861.html?mod=2_1354_middlebox

I wanted to try something a little different for our recent Chianti & Italian food night. After browsing through 500 recipes I decided on these pancakes which seemed interesting and unlikely that anyone else would make these, though wasn’t sure how they would turn out. They actually were a hit with everyone, despite a slow start when people weren’t quite sure what to make of them. I think it makes a good, easy “finger” food for a get together with friends.

Ingredients:

1 small can of corn kernels
4 tablespoon butter
1 red pepper, cored, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup assorted mushrooms (ideally wild)
2 1/2 cups dry macaroni
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 egg yolks
4 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon paprika or cayenne pepper (optional)

Steps:

1. Boil the macaroni in salted water until cooked al dente.
2. Melt half the butter in a frying pan, add the peppers, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes and then drain with a paper towel.
3. Beat together the cream, egg yolks, flour, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and paprika. Add corn, peppers and mushrooms. Also add the dried (& cool) macaroni. Mix.
4. Heat the remaining butter and oil in a frying pan. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture, just like making a pancake. Cook until golden on both sides.
5. Serve.

Underground Cafe opened about a year ago in downtown Princeton, right across from Ichiban and near my favorite Witherspoon Grill. It’s owned by a former Bulgarian professional soccer player, Assen Tchongov. He grew up in the restaurant business with his father owning a number of restaurants in Bulgaria. The food is described as european with Bulgarian influences. You can pretty much smell the smokiness of the paprika in the air as soon as you walk in.

The restaurant was pretty empty that night, surprising for a Thursday night (well then again, probably not). We were sat down at a booth I think, not quite sure what to call it. The table was made of green glass. The web site proudly states that it was imported from Bulgaria to create the feel of a Bulgarian restaurant. Somehow I didn’t feel like I was in Bulgaria. It seemed like someone’s idea of quality decor resembles a cheap eastern european nightclub. A word of advice, if you get to sit at these corner “booths” sit in the middle, if you sit at the ends then the table is too far from you because the angles are all wrong. I ended up getting a chair to sit closer to the table.

The restaurant is BYO, but there is a wine shop around the corner with a decent, moderately priced selection.

Overall the food is decent, though not memorable. The appetizers are definately better then the mains. We tried the following:

- Spinach & Feta Croquettes – excellent
- Zucchini Croquettes – more like deep fried, greasy zucchini slices. Not good
- Chicken Paprikas Soup – Was returned after a couple of spoonfuls
- Mushrooms stuffed with sausage – good
- Penne Ala Vodka – Ok
- Hot Rocks – basically your choice of seafood, vegetables and meat (sausage, steak, chicken) searved on a sizzling stone plate. Huge portion. Kind of a fun thing to eat.
- Moussaka – a dud

We didn’t try desserts because the waiter said “you guys have eaten too much, you don’t need dessert”. What the heck was that? This waiter either thought he was funny or pretty much uninterested in serving. I choose the latter based on his performance throughout dinner.

So, I’ve tried it and can now say that I won’t be back.

Since I have moved to the states I have looked to re-create this experience with little avail. A couple of weeks ago I walked into Joe’s Shanghai and felt like I had walked back in time and into Lee Gardens. The restaurant pretty much looked the same, now all that remained was to see if the food measured up. And yes, the food was amazing.

The restaurant was pretty crowded. We were seated immediately, which I hear is pretty rare since there is invariably a wait for a table. We were seated at a table that already had a group of 6 others. We placed our orders quickly, the food arrived almost as quickly and we devoured it pretty quickly, saying very little, just focusing on the exceptional quality of the food. If you go there, you have to try the soup dumplings. I was expecting dumplings in soup, but no, the soup is in the dumpling! Be very careful eating the dumplings because they are delicate and the soup is so very hot. Everything we ordered tasted fresh, flavorful and did not resort to heavy sauces which is the failing of your more typical chinese restaurant – I hate that!

This is what good chinese restaurants are all about. Great, no frills food, efficient service, lousy decor and you’re in and out in 45 minutes – beautiful.

Our theme this month was Chianti’s and italian food. I really don’t know much about Chianti’s, being more of a cabernet sauvignon guy. The great thing about the wine club is that I get to try and appreciate so many different kinds of wines (and beer – that’s another blog  http://foodielifestyle.wordpress.com/2008/02/10/belgian-beer-and-cheese-tasting/ ).

Over wine this month we developed a new rating system – stinky, doable (this comes from Johan who was the spark for the new rating system), decent, good, great. I hope this gets across our feelings about each wine better then the number system I’ve used to date.

On to the wines. This month we tried:

1. Ruffino Riserva Ducale, Chianti Classico, 2004 – Oaky, nice nose. We rated this a decent wine.

2. Rocca Delle Macie, Chianti Classicao, Riserva 2004 – very light wine, everything was light including the bouquet, body and flavor. Rated decent though below the 1st wine.

3. Vigneti La Selvanella, Chianti Classico, Riserva 2003 – best of the night, light color, lingering flavor, oaky. Rated good.

4. Frascole Chinati Rufina, 2004 – worst of the night. May have suffered from being drunk after #3. This was rated as doable, but barely. Left a sour taste in my mouth.

5. Tiziano Gold, Chianti Classico, 2003 – Mild flavor, nothing really memorable. Rated decent.

6. Peppoli, Chianti Classico, 2005 - Strong nose, but too young. Rated doable.

7. Carpineto, Chianti Classico, 2006 – Very young wine. The label has a picture of the flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. I think an Italian wine with a flemish painter on the bottle is just wrong, even if he lived there. We rated this as doable.

8. Da Vinci, Chianti Classico, 2006 – We rated this as a good wine.

9. Falesco, Marciliano, 2001, Cabernet Umbria – Not a chianti, but I had to take along a cabernet. The wine had a dark, purple color. Wine had a fair amount of residue. We rated this as good.

We tried a couple of very good cheeses too, including Aged Piave which was has a very nice sharp flavor and Soltocenere with truffles. This was a milder cheese, but also very good.

Our Belgian couple, Johan and Leen brought along Belgian chocolate too. This was excellent. Good chocolate needs to be savored and stimulate so many senses. This chocolate did that. It’s from chocolatier Raets-Putseys, made in Leuven (also known as Loubain), home of the oldest and best known university in Belgium.

Another great night. Next month my place with premium cabernet sauvignon’s. Not sure about teh food theme yet.

Rt 27 has a number of South Indian restaurants in the area, serving the large south indian community that lives locally. Udipi is my preferred south indian restaurant and I’ve been coming here for the last couple of years. It’s all about the food because there really isn’t anything else to go for. It’s casual, very basic and to say that it has decor would be an over statement. The restaurant is basically a square room, probably painted 5 years ago with a bunch of formica tables all situated really close together. Even the tiles on the ceiling are yellowing and buckling a little.

The food is excellent, if you stick to the south indian delicacies. The dosa, especially the onion rava masala dosa is excellent. I tried the bhel puri this weekend, it was tart and spicy, just not great. They have a lunch special which is a “thali” that includes a bunch of vegatable dishes, lentils, rice and chappti’s. At $8.99 it’s amazing value and they will keep refilling until you say no or burst!

This weekend I noticed that all the staff are men. This is the case at one of the other south indian restaurants in the area too. Must be a south indian thing! The staff is friendly and eagar, but service is chaotic. There is so much hustle and bustle that you don’t quite know what’s going on. At one point the manager or owner sat at one of the tables in the small restaurant and called his travel agent to book tickets to india, while he was directing the wait staff and also checking on a catering order that was going out. But the food is great.

Blue Point is highly rated in Zagat’s and well liked by the locals. It’s a seafood restaurant with a very extensive menu. It’s owned by the same team that owns Witherspoon Grill. These guys really know how to build and manage excellent restaurants that deliver consistently great food and service.

Unlike Witherspoon, Blue Point is BYO which wasn’t a problem that night. I had just picked up (actually Lyle did for me), a selection of Australian Cabernet Sauvignon, Arrowood Syrah and Bordeaux from the Wine Library. We decided to go with the Cabernet which turned out to be really good. I’ll write a blog on that later.

The restaurant doesn’t take reservations, but you can call ahead and they’ll put your name on the list. The restaurant was packed with plenty of people waiting for a table. We had called ahead so only needed to wait a few minutes for our table. We were served by an excellent waitress, chatty, bubbly, friendly with really good knowledge of the menu. She did a great job guiding us through the large menu and made excellent recommendations. The wait staff can make the difference between a mediocre and great dining experience, and she just made it better.

We had:

- Jalapeno and andouille sausage calamari  – excellent, probably the best I calamari I have ever had, and I’ve had a lot.

- Scallops wrapped in bacon – perfectly cooked, beautiful taste

- Monkfish medallions – another hit

- Organic salmon special – perfectly cooked fish, just the right amount of seasoning

I did make the mistake of ordering dessert. I am not a huge fan of the desserts at Witherspoon, and both places share the desserts. I did try the chocolate creme brulee. Not good.

The restaurant is relatively small and not as upscale in it’s decor as Witherspoon. It’s actually quite a casual setting, which seems out of line with entrees costing upto $30. Despite that, and thanks to the BYO policy, dinner was only $118 for 3.

Generally Princeton area restaurants seem to have potential but under-deliver in food quality (read my post http://foodielifestyle.wordpress.com/2007/11/23/princeton-area-restaurants-dont-make-the-cut-except/), however after Blue Point I am starting to develop a better appreciation of the restaurants in the area. I will definately not wait 2 years before I come back.

Here’s a link to the restaurant’s site http://www.jmgroupprinceton.com/divisions/jmdivision5.html

Normally, I order the same spicy basil chicken stir fry (Gai Pad Gra Pow) dish at a Thai restaurant that I have not visited before.  I was a little disappointed that the Aroma did not have my favorite dish.  My disappointment would not last.  My friend and I decided to share 2 entrees that we both found interesting:

-         Yellow Curry with Shrimp – one word: AMAZING

-         Flat Noodles with basil and chicken – extremely good

The Yellow Curry came with a cup of rice…words cannot describe how good the yellow curry was – truly a memorable dish.  The curry was the right level of spicy (I like it hot) and had strong hints of lemongrass and coconut.  The shrimp were large and not overcooked.  I’m not going to lie – I’m sure the dish did not help out my cholesterol.  The flat noodles were also excellent.  Neither the noodles nor the chicken were dry.  The flavor that the basil added to the dish made me forget that I hadn’t been able to order the Pad Gra Pow. 

We finished both plates and were stuffed.  But then we saw another couple get dessert….so we decided to loosen our belts and give it a shot….and we were not disappointed.  We shared the fried coconut ice cream.  The ice cream is covered with coconut flakes and flash fried – so the coconut flakes are crispy.  The dessert was amazingly good – and although we were both stuffed from the entrees, we finished the ice cream.

Aroma has catapulted to the top of my favorite Thai restaurants (beats anything I’ve had in Chicago, New York or Atlanta).  Our bill came to about $40 with tip.  FYI…the place is BYO (table next to us came with their own bottle of Scotch!).  I will be visiting Aroma again soon – I hope my next experience is as good as the first. 

Review by guest reviewer Kedar.

The decor and set-up is pretty much the same at all the locations, starting with the concrete horses at the front door. The restaurant is noisy and has an upbeat energy about it, probably because it is packed and the wait staff is moving at a quick pace. Not exactly the kind of place to go for a leisurely meal. We were in and out in an hour.

I would say the food is chinese inspired. It has noodles, rice dishes, dumplins and the usual chinese suspects. I call it chinese inspired because it isn’t authentic, it’s chain food, though more upscale then the usual places that come to mind like Chili’s or Appleby’s. The food is actually pretty decent, though it depends on what you order. The portions are huge and there were lots of doggy bags going out, including from our table. We tried a bunch of stuff including:

- Hot and Sour Soup – decent, though not spicy enough. I added hot sauce.

- Chicken lo mein – very good.

- Chengdu lamb – sounded great on the menu but it had a sweet barbecue sauce which spoilt it for us

- Hot fish – very nice

We didn’t have space for dessert.

Service was great, very attentive and flawless.

Lunch was pretty reasonable at $45.

If you are looking for authentic chinese then this isn’t the place, but it is a good place to go with the kids and it fills a need. For a much better, authentic chinese meal go to Empire Seafood on Rt 1S in North Brunswick near Regal Cinemas. It is excellent. I’ll write a longer review some other day on them.

P.F. Chang’s seems to be the McDonald’s of this genre of restaurants, consistent, efficient, decent not outstanding, reasonably priced and you know what you will get regardless of which location you go into.

I usually order the same things when I go there. I know I should be more adventorous but I go so infrequently that I end up ordering the same things because that’s what I really crave. For Lunch I usually order the gop dol bipin bap which comes with all the little appetizers and miso soup and for dinner I usually share the pajun (seafood pancake) and korean barbecue of short ribs and beef. All these are excellent. I have eaten at alot of Korean restaurants in NY in Korea Town and Woojeon is up there with the best. If you’ve never had bipin bap, it’s basically rice, ground beef, vegetables and a raw egg on top all served in a piping hot clay bowl. You add a hot sauce which is provided separately and mix it all up. The heat of the bowl cooks the egg and you get crunchy rice on the bottom. So good! The barbecue is cooked at the table where a grill opens up in the middle of your table. A server usually places the raw marinated meat on the grill and then tends to it. You then take the cooked pieces and wrap it in a piece of lettuce and add a bean paste. It’s a great social experience. As is normal with Korean meals, you get an assortment of small plate appetizers at the start of the meal, including fish, kimchee (spicy cabbage), various veges. This in itself can fill you up, so be careful not to overeat. This is included in the price and they will re-fill as many times as you want. I’ve never had the sushi here but a friend once did and said it was very fresh.

The staff which is Korean is polite and helpfu, though their English seems to be limited. The decor of the restaurant is nothing to write about and there is a large banquet room in the back. Service is prompt and you can be in an out in under an hour, regardless of how busy they are.

This place is highly recomended.

I live in Belle Mead, just a few miles north of Princeton, a town that is seriously lacking in restaurants. The most popular place is Tigers Tale which is basically a bar that serves pretty lousy bar food. The place is packed which isn’t surprising despite the lousy food since it’s the only place with a liquor license in the town. Despite our lack of restaurants, we do have our share of pizza places with New World and Joe’s being 2 very good examples. Technically Joe’s is in Hillsborough, but barely.

Both places take a different approach to pizza, and both are very good. Joe’s Pizza puts out a very good, traditional style pie with a very thin base. The sauce is excellent and it has just the right amount of cheese. This is one of the best pizza’s I have had. They have a large eat in area which is consistently packed on Friday and Saturday nights. They serve a large variety of pizza’s, including an excellent cheesesteak pizza. They also have sandwiches and pasta dishes. This is your neighborhood family owned and run italian restaurant. It also does a roaring take-out business, though they don’t deliver.

By contrast, New World is more of your gourmet pizza with more exotic toppings. I love the mexican pizza with spicy beef, tomatoes and jalapenos. They don’t have any seating, being essentially a take-out and delivery place. This place is always busy. They do have other things on the menu apart from pizza, like sandwiches but this is mainly about the pizza. I am a big fan of New World, though my kids prefer Joe’s so we usually order from there.

Both places are examples of 2 very different but exceptionally good pizza restaurants.  

I live in Belle Mead, just a few miles north of Princeton, a town that is seriously lacking in restaurants. The most popular place is Tigers Tale which is basically a bar that serves pretty lousy bar food. The place is packed which isn’t surprising despite the lousy food since it’s the only place with a liquor license in the town. Despite our lack of restaurants, we do have our share of pizza places with New World and Joe’s being 2 very good examples. Technically Joe’s is in Hillsborough, but barely.

Both places take a different approach to pizza, and both are very good. Joe’s Pizza puts out a very good, traditional style pie with a very thin base. The sauce is excellent and it has just the right amount of cheese. This is one of the best pizza’s I have had. They have a large eat in area which is consistently packed on Friday and Saturday nights. They serve a large variety of pizza’s, including an excellent cheesesteak pizza. They also have sandwiches and pasta dishes. This is your neighborhood family owned and run italian restaurant. It also does a roaring take-out business, though they don’t deliver.

By contrast, New World is more of your gourmet pizza with more exotic toppings. I love the mexican pizza with spicy beef, tomatoes and jalapenos. They don’t have any seating, being essentially a take-out and delivery place. This place is always busy. They do have other things on the menu apart from pizza, like sandwiches but this is mainly about the pizza. I am a big fan of New World, though my kids prefer Joe’s so we usually order from there.

Both places are examples of 2 very different but exceptionally good pizza restaurants.  

We had dinner there last night for Valentine’s Day – perhaps our 50th dinner – and I am sad to report that the place is really slipping.  This report is not based on this last meal, but our experience from our last 10 or so meals. 

We sat right down to a half empty restaurant (ON VALENTINES DAY).  My wife, who is more in tune to this sort of thing, pointed out that it did not seem to be much of a local crowd at all.  Apparently the local crowd is over at Il Mulino, Bryant & Cooper, Besito, or one of the newer, hotter (and better) restaurants in town. 

The menu that I was handed was stained.  The flowers on the table were actually burned from the votive, the waiter was nice, but inarticulate and poorly groomed.  He never could have had that job five years ago. 

The bread basket, which used to be stuffed with all kinds of incredible, evil simple carbs, had a couple of pieces of italian bread and some flats.  Blech.

The menu, which used to change all the time with new, interesting dishes, has been the same for the last year or so – all solid food choices, but enough already.

I ordered the mesculin salad and wild atlantic salmon over mixed beans.  The salad had too much dressing and the salmon was okay.  It was fine. 

My wife ordered the gnocci and lobster and complained that the lobster did not taste fresh.  I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I have never known her to complain about lobster before. 

The wine by the glass was expensive and uninspired.

Diane’s is known for their deserts because of their affiliation with Diane’s bakery next door – an institution on the North Shore.  Unbelievable stuff (try the banana creme pie if you are in town – I only eat it there).  When desert menus came out we passed – both of us were bored with our food and ready to call it a night.

It gives me no pleasure to report that Diane’s has slipped to a B-level restaurant.  If you can’t get a reservation elsewhere, you can walk in there and have a decent meal for $80/person.

 Review By Guest reviewer Corry

The restaurant has been around for a while and had a lot of decent press. It was my first time here. The restaurant was packed. It is a little tightly packed but due to the set-up it doesn’t seem like you’re having dinner with the people on the table next to you, unlike Wolfgang’s where you’re literally at the table with them. 

The menu is pretty extensive and has all the staples you would expect from a turkish restaurant. I had trouble deciding what I wanted because I wanted to try a bunch of things instead of just 1 thing. If you’ve read my earlier posts, I like variety and frequently skip the main course to instead sample a bunch of different appetizers. I searched for a mixed grill on the menu but couldn’t find it. I asked the waiter and he said they could do it for me. I love that kind of flexibility and focus on pleasing the customer. Kedar went for the same. We decided to skip appetizers because a mixed grill typically has more food then you can finish. Lyle went for mixed appetizer plate which he said was very good. The mixed grill had chicken adana, doner kebab, shish kebab and lamb chops. All excellent, perfectly cooked, moist and tender. Just the way it should be. It also came with rice which seemed to be drenched in butter, but anything in butter tastes good, so of course I finished it.

We decided to be adventurous and ordered a turkish wine. It was only $36 so what the heck. I won’t be repeating that mistake again. That was not very good wine. We also ordered dessert which basically was a pound cake drenched in syrup. Way too sweet. Kedar had the turkish coffee. Turkish coffee comes in an espresso cup and has a layer of thick “mud” on the bottom, basically ground coffee.  I’ve had it in Turkey and enjoyed it. It has to be drunk with sugar. I don’t do coffee anymore since it gives me migraines.

Overall dinner was good and service was good too. With wine and tip our bill was about $40 per person. A real bargain.

www.turkishkitchen.com

I have to say that I am not a huge beer drinker. I do drink it on occassion but would rather have a good cabernet sauvignon any day. As a result I really don’t know much about beer, though if I do drink beer I prefer dark beers. So, doing a beer night for me was a major departure, but the point of our wine club is to try different things and spend quality time with people you like.

I have to say that after the tastings, I have developed a much better appreciation for beer, well Belgian beer. I can actually say that there are beers that I like and would seek out. We tried 8 different beers and a number of cheeses. Let’s start with the beer:

1. Duvel – lot’s of bubbles, yeast in the bottle, a very refreshing beer, golden color, almost champagne like. This was my favorite. A number of the others also agreed that it was the best of the night.

2. La Chouffe – we had 2 different La Chouffe’s that night. This was lighter in color, an amber beer. It was very good, considered the 3rd best of the night.

3. Lambic Kriek – this is a cherry colored and flavored beer. I didn’t try it but Noreen liked it alot. It’s a sweeter beer.

4. Saison Dupont – Golden color, quite good.

5. Chimay Ale, Grand Reserve – A dark Chimay. I beleive there are 3 types of Chimay. This was excellent. Considered the 2nd best of the night, though some preferred this to the Duval.

6. Corsendork, Abbey Brown Ale – this had a light body, decent beer. Suffered in comparison to the others.

7. La Chouffe – the dark variety. Again another good beer.

8. Paulaner – A german wheat beer whihc was considered average.

The cheeses:

1. St. Marcellin – a soft creamy and very strong cheese. Excellent

2. Fromage Des Clarine – Soft and mild cheese. Again very good

3. Besace Du Berger – A blue goat cheese, also good

4. Perrano – A dutch gouda like cheese but with a parmesan flavor. Very good.

5. Reblochen - Soft, creamy and excellent.

We also had fodue with bread and chorizo. I love fondue. It’s sucha communal and fun thing to do.

The beers can be found at Wegmans in Princeton and the cheese was mainly from Bon Appetite in the Princeton Shopping Center off N. Harrison Street. Bon Appetite is an excellent gourmet food store selling a very large selection of cheese, chocolate, bread, pastries, sandwiches and a bunch of other other stuff. Definately worth a vist.

Overall another excellent night. Next time it’s Chianti at The Pandya’s.

I have long been a big fan of non-fancy Mexican food – those same 5 or 6 ingredients mixed in so many different ways – it all works for me.

But fancy Mexican food has been a real eye-opener for me.  The menu at Besito is filled with all of your hard core favorites – the burritos and chimichangas and enchalatas… but they look beautiful, gourmet - with incredibly fresh ingredients.  They also serve great seafood – great cuts very fresh and prepared with light, tasty mexican-inspired spices and sauces that really complement the dish.  The guacomole is made at table-side and it is unbelievable.

The restaurant itself is a beautiful space.  It sits in one of these “dead spots” where the last three or five restaurants have failed miserably.  It is basically one big room, dimly lit, very modern decor with mexican accents.  The bar up front is usually 4-deep with locals waiting 15-30 minutes past their reservations.  The guacomole, chips and house special margharitas helping them pass the time happily.

Service is attentive, friendly and professional. 

May faves are the atlantic salmon (pretty much all of the fish dishes, actually), the house special frozen margharita (warning:  house special margharitas are like nipples – 2 is just enough – three is too many).

 In short, make a reservation for 2-months from now (the word has been out for a while) and look forward to an evening of relatively sophisticated local dining. 

Review by guest reviewer Corry.

The 2nd wine I opened was a 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon from Mantra which was 75% Alexander Valley with 25% from Dry Creek Valley. This wine was also really good. It had a dark purple color and a nice long finish. This wine is very smooth and went down very easily.

Michael’s is on 55th street and considered a power lunch place for the media crowd. I’m in the media business, working for The Wall Street Journal. There is another location in Santa Monica. The New York location has been around since 1989. The food concept is basically contemporary American / Californian cuisine.

The service at the restaurant is great, very attentive and timely. The restaurant itself is bright and open. This is a place to see and be seen.

The food which of course should be the star in any restaurant is also good. I ordered the Ravioli mushroom ricotta and parmesan with a fava bean butter sauce as an appetizer. This was creamy and beautifully flavored. For the main course I had the charred yellowtail hamachi with bok choy, mushrooms, pumpkin seed oil and mushroom beurre blanc. The fish was delicately cooked, very moist and tasted great. I love bok choy. I find it so refreshing. One of my lunch partners had the burger which is a ribeye ground burger. It looked really good and the bun looked great too. That’s what I wanted but since I had been to Wolfgang’s steakhouse earlier that week I decided to go with the fish. The burger came with an enormous mound of thinly cut french fries. Do they actually expect anyone to eat that? What a waste, I wish restaurants would stop doing that. Overloading the fries does not make it seem like you are getting good value. Potatoes are cheap! And no amount of fries will make a $33 burger seem cheap.

The mains are in the mid $30s to mid $40s while appetizers are arund $17.

The tables are well spaced and it’s easy to have a real conversation here and be heard without worrying about other tables hearing you. This seems to be a rarity in new restaurants that are trying to maximize their sales per square foot.

Overall, I liked this place, though the focus is more on the scene and less so on the food, though I did like the food.

Getting back on track regarding Wolfgang’s. This was my second time here for dinner. My impression from my first visit was that this was just like Peter Luger’s, just nicer, more convenient and they even take credit cards! This isn’t surprising because Wolfgang Zweiner was the head waiter at Luger’s for years. The steak is basically Luger’s as far as I can tell. The Park Avenue location is very nice with arched tiled ceilings which are beautiful. They also have a TriBeca location which I haven’t tried.

Corry and I were walk ins at around 6pm for dinner this past Wednesday. We thought that we wouldn’t need reservations that early, but the place was packed. We ended up getting a table at the back, barely. The tables are pretty close together and the restaurant is noisy. There was a couple at the table next to us and the guy was annoying, loud and constantly on his cell phone. People just have no consideration for other diners.

The steak here is fantastic. I think it equals Luger’s. I’ve only tried the Porterhouse for 2, and each time it was perfectly cooked and tasted great. We also ordered the Wolfgang salad which has shrimp, tomatoes, onions and bacon. We did order a slice each of the bacon – it’s sizzling canadian bacon and just amazing. You have to try this as an appetizer. The shrimp in the shrimp cocktail was great. Calling it shrimp doesn’t do it justice. For sides we had the musrooms and sauteed spinach. All very good. This really was the perfect meal.

This place isn’t cheap. With a bottle of wine and tip dinner was close to $300 for 2, but it is so worth it. This may just be my favorite steakhouse right now.

Here’s a link.

http://wolfgangssteakhouse.com/

I might catch some flack for saying this, but I think it is better than the original.

I challenge anyone to tell the difference between the food – it is the identical menu, wine list and preparation.  The main difference is the space – there is more of it. 

The NYC Il Mulino is famous for being incredibly cramped and loud.  People have overlooked these issues for years because of the incredible food.

Il Mulino on Long Island is a big, beautiful space.  They have a few different rooms so that each one feels intimate and the acoustics are excellent – you can not hear conversations a few tables down. 

They obviously shipped the staff in from the city because you don’t find waiters, busboys and bartenders like this on Long Island.  This is top-notch NYC help.

My only issue with Il Mulino on LI are the same as my issues with NYC:  I can’t eat there too often because I will weigh 300 lbs (the food is loaded with butter, cream and salt and all kinds of things that I’m not supposed to eat).

The restaurant is expensive (usually about $120 per person), but you get a lot for your money.  They start you off with an incredible assortment of the freshest, most delicious complimentary snacks – chunks of parmesian cheese carved off of a wheel at your table, slices of Italian salami, bruschetta, spiced eggplant (to die for) and breads that Dr. Atkins himself could not resist.  I am usually full by the time my appetizer comes – that’s why my wife and I usually share something. 

For the main course I have never had a bad meal:  the wild atlantic salmon, the jumbo prawns, the pastas, the osco busco, the veal chop are all among the best that I have ever had.  There is literally nothing that I would steer you away from. 

In short, it is has quickly become my favorite restaurant on Long Island.

This review was by guest reviewer Corry who will be writing about Long Island restaurants.