Jersey City and Northern NJ

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#101 Post by **cjsavino** » January 18th, 2015, 9:15 am

Paul Jaouen wrote:Chris, great value. Nicely done.

More notes here from one of the attendees:

https://www.cellartracker.com/event.asp?iEvent=27106

#102 Post by **Steve Manzi** » January 18th, 2015, 3:09 pm

How long have they allowed people to do these dinners there? I'm shocked that they allowed it. I'm glad they allowed it and worked with you, but it really does surprise me.

Just one question more: Did they let you use the $219,000 table from China???

#103 Post by **cjsavino** » January 18th, 2015, 4:24 pm

Steve Manzi wrote:How long have they allowed people to do these dinners there? I'm shocked that they allowed it. I'm glad they allowed it and worked with you, but it really does surprise me.

Just one question more: Did they let you use the $219,000 table from China???

Pretty sure there would have been an up charge for that table. Really not sure on their byo policy, but I figured it could not hurt to ask and work with our group. The staff seems young and energetic, we were very sharing in our wines for the night with our waiter, manager, and when the chef came it.

#104 Post by **Peter Shurman** » January 18th, 2015, 6:36 pm

Steve Manzi wrote:
Peter Shurman wrote:great food

good stemware

http://sorrentoristorantenj.com

Has this restaurant ever changed ownership? I remember dining there back in the mid 80's to early 90s when I raced horses at the Meadowlands. Was always solid food. Nothing fancy, but always fresh and good quality.

not sure about the ownership Steve, we've only been there a few times over the past couple of years.

Robert Boudreau · #105 Post by **Robert Boudreau** » June 10th, 2015, 7:06 am

Jay Miller wrote:The Kitchen At Grove Station

A new restaurant opened a month ago right near the Grove St. Path in a spot that I remembered as being a lousy lunch place back in 2002.

Arnold and I split:

Watercress salad with baked cheddar, apples, almonds and fig wrapped dates
Cauliflower soup with crabmeat and Uni
Duroc Pork Chop with sweet potato, farro and kale
Brook Trout with mushrooms, pea leaves, ginger, cauliflower truffle mushroom broth

All were excellent and the total bill with tip was about $42. And free corkage! Bring glasses. This one is a keeper.

Not quite a keeper as they intend to get a license. It is excellent though.

#106 Post by **Jay Miller** » June 10th, 2015, 7:33 am

Robert Boudreau wrote:
Jay Miller wrote:The Kitchen At Grove Station

Not quite a keeper as they intend to get a license. It is excellent though.

They will have a corkage fee once they get the license. The chef told me they hope to hold it down to $15.

Did you try the spicy pea soup? One of my favorite things on the menu at the moment.

#107 Post by **Jay Miller** » August 18th, 2015, 8:14 am

We just tried Broa on Grove St. over the weekend. Portuguese tapas. Nothing fancy but very good, satisfying, homey food and a very enjoyable meal. Service was casual, friendly and just the right amount of attentive.

We especially enjoyed the head-on shrimp, the heart and gizzard stew and the custard tarts. The octopus salad was good but a touch too vinegary for us. Mango salad was a perfect, light, refreshing summery dish. We'll be back.

BYO, bring glasses.

#108 Post by **Jay Miller** » November 28th, 2015, 12:35 pm

Just had a great lunch at Xunta, a BYO tapas place in Caldwell

#109 Post by **Gil Bauer** » November 28th, 2015, 1:36 pm

Jay Miller wrote:Just had a great lunch at Xunta, a BYO tapas place in Caldwell

What did you get? I was not particularly impressed the one time we did takeout. FWIW, this place is 5 minutes from my house.

#110 Post by **Jay Miller** » November 28th, 2015, 4:47 pm

Gil Bauer wrote:
Jay Miller wrote:Just had a great lunch at Xunta, a BYO tapas place in Caldwell
What did you get? I was not particularly impressed the one time we did takeout. FWIW, this place is 5 minutes from my house.

The squid in squid ink, the skirt steak, the prawns, the chicken empanada

#111 Post by **Gil Bauer** » November 28th, 2015, 7:03 pm

Jay Miller wrote:
Gil Bauer wrote:
Jay Miller wrote:Just had a great lunch at Xunta, a BYO tapas place in Caldwell
What did you get? I was not particularly impressed the one time we did takeout. FWIW, this place is 5 minutes from my house.
The squid in squid ink, the skirt steak, the prawns, the chicken empanada

Thanks. I will have to try those.

#112 Post by **Jay Miller** » November 29th, 2015, 5:28 am

Gil Bauer wrote:
Jay Miller wrote:
Gil Bauer wrote: What did you get? I was not particularly impressed the one time we did takeout. FWIW, this place is 5 minutes from my house.
The squid in squid ink, the skirt steak, the prawns, the chicken empanada
Thanks. I will have to try those.

Fwiw, Not sure any of them would be improved by taking out.

Michael Mahle · #113 Post by **Michael Mahle** » December 12th, 2015, 1:12 pm

Please add Saddle River Inn (Saddle River) to the list. Also Cravings in Ridgewood.

#114 Post by **Sherri S h a p i r o** » January 4th, 2016, 10:43 am

Had a very nice experience at Osteria Trevi in Madison.

#115 Post by **Ethan Abraham** » January 7th, 2016, 6:43 am

Does anyone have recs for decent places in eastern bergen (tenafly/closer/etc)? We are considering a move to the area and I'm a bit worried that it's a culinary wasteland.

#116 Post by **Jay Miller** » January 7th, 2016, 6:49 am

Ethan Abraham wrote:Does anyone have recs for decent places in eastern bergen (tenafly/closer/etc)? We are considering a move to the area and I'm a bit worried that it's a culinary wasteland.

All I know of is Mitsuwa in Englewood. Great Japanese market with lots of Japanese restaurants. Not BYO of course. You might try posting the question in Epicurian Exploits.

#117 Post by **Jay Miller** » January 10th, 2016, 10:00 am

Starting Tuesday the excellent Turkish accented restaurant Dolma will be open for dinner. Had some lamb chops with a fantastic green sauce of some sort for lunch on Saturday.

BYO with decent glasses though if you're as picky as me you'll bring your own. Small restaurant but very welcoming staff.

RMolnar · #118 Post by **RMolnar** » January 12th, 2016, 5:07 pm

Jay Miller wrote: All I know of is Mitsuwa in Englewood.

Edgewater?

#119 Post by **Jay Miller** » January 13th, 2016, 7:01 am

RMolnar wrote:
Jay Miller wrote: All I know of is Mitsuwa in Englewood.
Edgewater?

Oops. Wood, water, I get confused easily

RMolnar · #120 Post by **RMolnar** » January 13th, 2016, 5:41 pm

Jay Miller wrote:
RMolnar wrote:
Jay Miller wrote: All I know of is Mitsuwa in Englewood.
Edgewater?
Oops. Wood, water, I get confused easily

I know--everything around there is glen, wood, rock, river, ridge....

#121 Post by **Sherri S h a p i r o** » January 16th, 2016, 3:27 pm

Had a good meal last night at Tillie's, a new rustic, farm to table restaurant in Millburn. BYO with Nice stemware too. It's a bit loud in terms of acoustics (tin ceiling and long thin layout don't help), but I liked it.

There's another farm to table opening soon in Millburn too, called common lot, which is also going to be BYO. That one looks a bit more upscale.

#122 Post by **C Prince** » January 19th, 2016, 7:53 pm

Really loved a new place in Morristown called South and Pine. It's on South st at Pine, near the Mayo. Food was terrific - loved an appetizer of spicy lamb meatballs although it was too spicy for the chard that we brought. It's totally BYOB - $0 corkage which is hard to beat!

Brian Maxwell · #123 Post by **Brian Maxwell** » January 20th, 2016, 8:59 am

Great Wood Fire Pizzeria called Aquilan in Little Falls. Awesome pizza...

K e v i n B. · #124 Post by **K e v i n B.** » January 20th, 2016, 9:15 am

C Prince wrote:Really loved a new place in Morristown called South and Pine. It's on South st at Pine, near the Mayo. Food was terrific - loved an appetizer of spicy lamb meatballs although it was too spicy for the chard that we brought. It's totally BYOB - $0 corkage which is hard to beat!

glad to hear, this has been on my list of places to try in the area.

#125 Post by **Jay Miller** » January 21st, 2016, 1:33 pm

Brian Maxwell wrote:Great Wood Fire Pizzeria called Aquilan in Little Falls. Awesome pizza...

Free BYO or is there a charge?

#126 Post by **Sherri S h a p i r o** » February 3rd, 2016, 5:28 am

C Prince wrote:Really loved a new place in Morristown called South and Pine. It's on South st at Pine, near the Mayo. Food was terrific - loved an appetizer of spicy lamb meatballs although it was too spicy for the chard that we brought. It's totally BYOB - $0 corkage which is hard to beat!

I was there a couple months ago and enjoyed very much. I had the short ribs and they were delicious.

Brian Maxwell · #127 Post by **Brian Maxwell** » February 18th, 2016, 6:49 pm

Jay Miller wrote:
Brian Maxwell wrote:Great Wood Fire Pizzeria called Aquilan in Little Falls. Awesome pizza...
Free BYO or is there a charge?

Free BYO.. no charge.. Jerry, the owner is a stand up talented guy. If anyone want to meet me there i will bring some decent wine..

Bring stems.....

#128 Post by **Gil Bauer** » February 18th, 2016, 6:55 pm

I would be happy to meet here sometime. It is about 10 minutes from my house.

#129 Post by **cjsavino** » March 2nd, 2016, 7:16 am

http://www.reduxnj.com/

Anyone try this yet, BYOB that opened in Madison last Fall.

Ramon C · #130 Post by **Ramon C** » March 13th, 2016, 12:03 am

We've grown to like golfing at Jersey City's newish Skyway Golf Course and right after yesterday's round we ended up at Ahri's Kitchen neat Grove Street PATH station for our post-golf lunch. Full corkage-free BYOB with serviceable stemless tumblers, not the good thin kinds. The appetizers didn't impress me, but my bulgogi rice bowl was quite good. Others liked their more complete bibimbap and rice bowl. Not the best Korean that I've had, but it's not bad, plus it's cheap.

http://www.ahriskitchen.com

K e v i n B. · #131 Post by **K e v i n B.** » March 14th, 2016, 11:29 am

cjsavino wrote:http://www.reduxnj.com/

Anyone try this yet, BYOB that opened in Madison last Fall.

I went this past Friday Chris. I really enjoyed it. Nice mix of small plates and full size entrees, good service. They have a chef's table set up as well, however we opted for the dining room. Definitely a nice addition for the area which tends to have too many standard Italian fare places....

#132 Post by **Jay Miller** » March 15th, 2016, 8:38 am

R Cabrera wrote:We've grown to like golfing at Jersey City's newish Skyway Golf Course and right after yesterday's round we ended up at Ahri's Kitchen neat Grove Street PATH station for our post-golf lunch. Full corkage-free BYOB with serviceable stemless tumblers, not the good thin kinds. The appetizers didn't impress me, but my bulgogi rice bowl was quite good. Others liked their more complete bibimbap and rice bowl. Not the best Korean that I've had, but it's not bad, plus it's cheap.

http://www.ahriskitchen.com

Thanks Ramon - we'll give it a try.

Ian Dorin · #133 Post by **Ian Dorin** » March 22nd, 2016, 10:55 am

Sherri Shapiro wrote:Had a good meal last night at Tillie's, a new rustic, farm to table restaurant in Millburn. BYO with Nice stemware too. It's a bit loud in terms of acoustics (tin ceiling and long thin layout don't help), but I liked it.

There's another farm to table opening soon in Millburn too, called common lot, which is also going to be BYO. That one looks a bit more upscale.

Alarming that I had no idea that Tillie's was there.

Common Lot looks nice from the outside. I know they are doing their soft opening now.

#134 Post by **Sherri S h a p i r o** » May 6th, 2016, 5:25 am

Ian Dorin wrote:
Sherri Shapiro wrote:Had a good meal last night at Tillie's, a new rustic, farm to table restaurant in Millburn. BYO with Nice stemware too. It's a bit loud in terms of acoustics (tin ceiling and long thin layout don't help), but I liked it.

There's another farm to table opening soon in Millburn too, called common lot, which is also going to be BYO. That one looks a bit more upscale.
Alarming that I had no idea that Tillie's was there.

Common Lot looks nice from the outside. I know they are doing their soft opening now.

Tillie's was reviewed in last Sunday's NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/01/nyreg ... .html?_r=0

Ian Dorin · #135 Post by **Ian Dorin** » June 15th, 2016, 11:31 am

Updating about Common Lot. I know that fellow board member Jon Lawrence may have been there more times than me, but I've been there 11 times since they've opened, and have 3 more reservations on the books in the next two weeks (starting with tonight!). The food is flat out incredible, and the restaurant itself is absolutely beautiful. The wait/host staff does a tremendous job too. The concept has gotten sharper too, and they are really ramping up. Menu is about to change over too. Stemware is solid, but the menu is super food friendly.

Never have to twist my arm to go here! Sadly, reservations need to be made well in advance. Worth calling after 3 pm the day of, as they seem to get a lot of cancelations (was told that stems from making reservations up to 60 days out, and people forget they made them)

K e v i n B. · #136 Post by **K e v i n B.** » June 15th, 2016, 1:29 pm

Ian Dorin wrote:Updating about Common Lot. I know that fellow board member Jon Lawrence may have been there more times than me, but I've been there 11 times since they've opened, and have 3 more reservations on the books in the next two weeks (starting with tonight!). The food is flat out incredible, and the restaurant itself is absolutely beautiful. The wait/host staff does a tremendous job too. The concept has gotten sharper too, and they are really ramping up. Menu is about to change over too. Stemware is solid, but the menu is super food friendly.

Never have to twist my arm to go here! Sadly, reservations need to be made well in advance. Worth calling after 3 pm the day of, as they seem to get a lot of cancelations (was told that stems from making reservations up to 60 days out, and people forget they made them)

I also recently dined at Common Lot about 2 weeks ago... very nice restaurant, and really like the design inside as well.. agree the stems were really nice, and most of the food we had was very good. one (not insignificant) quibble though was the $80 dry aged rib-eye for two that one diner and I ordered medium rare came out more medium to medium well... other entrees were fantastic though.

#137 Post by **Ethan Abraham** » August 9th, 2016, 6:03 am

Not at all fancy, but we've been eating a bit recently at Europe Cafe in Tenafly. Excellent Turkish food, better than our old standby in NYC (which I thought was very good). Nice baked stuffed pides as well. Glasses suck, as you might expect.

JeromeHan · #138 Post by **JeromeHan** » September 13th, 2016, 11:58 am

Ethan Abraham wrote:Not at all fancy, but we've been eating a bit recently at Europe Cafe in Tenafly. Excellent Turkish food, better than our old standby in NYC (which I thought was very good). Nice baked stuffed pides as well. Glasses suck, as you might expect.

I've eaten there (along with gotten delivery) many times. Hits the spot whenever I want Turkish. Not as good as Samdan, but also not as expensive.

Ian Dorin · #139 Post by **Ian Dorin** » November 29th, 2016, 4:53 pm

Any one have anything new to report?

JeromeHan · #140 Post by **JeromeHan** » November 30th, 2016, 11:02 am

I can't believe no one has mentioned Prime & Beyond yet in Fort Lee. It's a butcher shop in the morning and steakhouse at night. They dry age their meat in-house I believe. No corkage fee but stems are hit or miss.

Also, I'm not sure if Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood is still byob but I used to go there often. Great food.

#141 Post by **TGigante** » November 30th, 2016, 7:47 pm

JeromeHan wrote:I can't believe no one has mentioned Prime & Beyond yet in Fort Lee. It's a butcher shop in the morning and steakhouse at night. They dry age their meat in-house I believe. No corkage fee but stems are hit or miss.

Also, I'm not sure if Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood is still byob but I used to go there often. Great food.

Picnic on the square is closed. Blu sushi coming to its spot

Lots of BYOB in Ridgewood. Novo is supposed to be a winner. We usually hit up Due or Pearl. Across the street from each other on Broad

JeromeHan · #142 Post by **JeromeHan** » November 30th, 2016, 7:51 pm

TGigante wrote:
JeromeHan wrote:I can't believe no one has mentioned Prime & Beyond yet in Fort Lee. It's a butcher shop in the morning and steakhouse at night. They dry age their meat in-house I believe. No corkage fee but stems are hit or miss.

Also, I'm not sure if Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood is still byob but I used to go there often. Great food.
Picnic on the square is closed. Blu sushi coming to its spot

Lots of BYOB in Ridgewood. Novo is supposed to be a winner. We usually hit up Due or Pearl. Across the street from each other on Broad

Ah, that's too bad. I used to love Picnic.

#143 Post by **Ethan Abraham** » December 1st, 2016, 3:57 am

Had a great dinner at Prime and Beyond a couple weeks ago. Wet aged filet was off the charts, even better than the ny strip. I find they slightly undersalt, which you can make up for with the scallion sauce (not a bad thing). I brought a half bottle, which they had never seen before. Ha.

Another recent addition is viaggio in wayne. Great real Italian food (ie not marsala/piccata/parm), good stems, great service.

Steven Brown · #144 Post by **Steven Brown** » December 2nd, 2016, 6:00 am

We ate at Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen in Morristown earlier this year. Great food and service in a beautiful setting. Highly recommended.

#145 Post by **Jay Miller** » December 2nd, 2016, 12:12 pm

Steven Brown wrote:We ate at Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen in Morristown earlier this year. Great food and service in a beautiful setting. Highly recommended.

Corkage policy?

Steven Brown · #146 Post by **Steven Brown** » December 2nd, 2016, 2:02 pm

Jockey Hollow charges $35/bottle, one bottle for every two guests at the table.

JeromeHan · #147 Post by **JeromeHan** » December 2nd, 2016, 2:09 pm

Steven Brown wrote:Jockey Hollow charges $35/bottle, one bottle for every two guests at the table.

ouch. That's steep.

#148 Post by **Gil Bauer** » December 2nd, 2016, 2:20 pm

I finally made it to Turtle + the Wolf in Montclair. Tried their "large format" fried chicken meal. For $45 everyone gets a salad, then, family style, 3 sides (in this case oven roasted/fried potatoes, brussels sprouts, and swiss chard gratin) fried chicken (1/2 chicken/person), very good biscuits, and one dessert per two people. I thought it was excellent. Undercooked brussels sprouts were the only "miss" and the chicken was great. BYO.

#149 Post by **Ethan Abraham** » December 3rd, 2016, 4:11 am

JeromeHan wrote:
Steven Brown wrote:Jockey Hollow charges $35/bottle, one bottle for every two guests at the table.
ouch. That's steep.

Meh, that's still less than a lot of places in NYC. With a liquor license in NJ so expensive and rare, and great BYO restaurants so common, I don't begrudge the places with licenses trying to make some of the money back.

Also, look at that wine list! Prices are reasonable and the majority of the reds are back vintages at reasonable prices.

#150 Post by **Jay Miller** » December 19th, 2016, 6:35 am

We happened upon Jack's Lobster Shack when going to the movie theater yesterday. We usually come from the south but were driving from the north this time, passed it, and decided to give it a try.

Very good quality seafood, well prepared and delicious. Loved the steamers, Connecticut lobster roll and snow crab legs. Key lime pie was good. Lobster bisque was the only disappointment. We'll be going back.

It's a small place and according to Yelp it can be hard to get a table. We went at 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon and were one of only three tables. By the time we left at 4:00 they were almost full. Street parking only.

The table next to us brought wine so I say this with assurance - bring your own glasses!