[Rail Paul]

Avenue is a year old place in the former Mangia Questa location, at 558 Bloomfield Avenue, opposite the intersection with Lakeside.

Good, well thought out menu for lunch and dinner, decent selection of wines and bottled beer. Broad happy hour menu with lots of $6 items.

Lunch today included soft shell crabs over linguine with a butter wine garlic sauce. Good, but not overly filling. Priced to move at $12.95. An offering of six mini crabcakes was well spiced, but a little bready. Served with a citrus salad, spring greens, chopped red and yellow peppers. Very colorful, but could have used more pop, IMHO. Also, $12.95. Other items included a lobster burrito, chicken satay, mac n' cheese (with fusilli), and several burger combinations.

There's a 20 under $20 deal for wines which has been up for a while. J. Lohr Riesling, Principessa Gavi, Jacobs Creek, etc for $20. There are others on the list, with most wines under $50. Nice place, good food. The lobster burrito is next on the list,


Down the street and around the corner on Park Place is a tiny ice cream shop owned by the family which once owned Bond's ice cream in Upper Montclair, South Orange, Verona, etc. There are glasses for Bond's Awful Awful servings, old pictures of the stores, articles on the walls, etc. The ice cream for the current store is made by several vendors, although Nasto's seemed most common. $3 for an overflowing cone of cappucino, cherry vanilla, or lemon, etc.

Unfortunately, the name Awful Awful, and its ingredient sequence, is now owned by Newport Dairy, which purchased the rights to Bond's many years ago. The current store offers an excellent and very tasty product.

[Anónimo]

Avenue Bistro Pub Report

Wednesday evening, May 13, we joined two old friends for dinner at the Avenue Bistro Pub in Verona, NJ.

We were very pleased with almost all aspects of our meal. The service was informal but very professional. Our well-informed waiter was amiable and helpful, but not overly familiar. It was just the right balance of casual and friendly service without sitting in our laps nor calling us "guys". I never learned his name, an omission which does not bother me. :-)

Our friend Charles started with a single-malt Scotch on the rocks.

Besides the complimentary basket of pretty good bread and seasoned olive oil, we ordered various apps. My wife and our friend Charles each had a salad of mixed greens with mango and a mango vinaigrette. Ravenna and Charles both had a Shrimp Margarita, consisting of grilled shrimp hung over the edge of a Margarita glass, which unfortunately had an excess of salt around the rim. Ravenna was not fond of the sweetish "Margarita Sauce". This appetizer was a clever concept that just didn't work well. The shrimp themselves were very good.

I had two mini crabcakes with a swet red pepper remoulade. The crabcakes received 4 stars out of a possible 5 from this crab, your reporter. The remoulade sauce was o.k. but needed more zip for my taste.

We shared a California Cabernet from the list of $20 bottles. (Not being an oenophile, I can't relate from which vineyard it came. All I remember is that it was "Coastal". It was suitable to accompany our varied main courses.

Charles ordered one of the specials of the evening, a Cashew-crusted Grouper Filet with grilled pineapple. It was pleasant but so sweet that he said it could have been a dessert.

My wife, Susan went for the soft-shelled crabs. Normally they are served over capellini, but she requested a vegetable and our waiter graciously obliged and she had very nice spinach. The two ss crabs were nicely done with a fresh basil leaf garnish.

Ravenna chose the Lobster Burrito, which was presented as two oblique-cut mini-towers with, by request, the chipotle mayo on the side. She enjoyed it very much. The burrito had avocado and tomato as well as large pieces of lobster.

I knew, even before I entered the restaurant, that I wanted a steak frites. On the menu were a filet mignon and a hangar steak. I chose the hangar steak, requesting French Fries instead of the mashed potatoes. This was a very satisfying dish. There were sauteed minced shallots on the perfectly cooked, medium rare steak. The FF were abundant and good, but a bit over seasoned. It appears that the cooks have a generous hand with the salt shaker and pepper grinder. A small flaw, but one which did not stop me from eating every bite.

Dessert? Sure. Why not?
Charles had the Wildberry Pie, served with both vanilla ice cream and a cloud of whipped cream. I had a bite, and it was good, but not great, IMO.

I ordered a Coconut Creme Brulee, with pineapple. It was tasty, but I the combination was somewhat of a textural error. The appeal of a good creme brulee is when you break though the thin, caramelized top shell into the rich, creamy custard below. The coconut taste was great, but the pineapple layer lent it a sort of fibrous texture that was at odds with the concept of "creamy". Not bad, but not a dessert I would order again.

I had a couple of well-made espressos as a digestif.

The bill was impressive, but fair for the good food, wine and excellent service. I would return often to the Avenue Bistro Pub if we lived nearby, and I was a regular lottery winner.

[Rail Paul]

Avenue Bistro Pub Report-------

Ravenna chose the Lobster Burrito, which was presented as two oblique-cut mini-towers with, by request, the chipotle mayo on the side. She enjoyed it very much. The burrito had avocado and tomato as well as large pieces of lobster.

I'm glad you enjoyed Avenue. These guys do a good job.

I may hit there for lunch today or tomorrow, the burrito sounds too good to miss if it's on the menu.