So...where'd you eat this week?

[E.L.A.]

Wanted to get some activity here...so where'd you eat this week? New, old, good, bad, same as last time?

 

Just a quick two (more later) -- I grabbed lunch/burger at the Dutch House (Fair Lawn, review later) and had dinner at Zorba (Wayne). The Dutch House was "not good" -- fair at best. Just a regular, average, so-so burger. They used to have very good burgers -- very good. Maybe they still do and this was an off-day. I was disappointed, primarily because I had always enjoyed their burgers a lot.

 

Zorba was very good, as usual. I get take-out from them often, and everything is always very good to excellent. Last night I ate in and it was very good.

 

So...how about you? Where'd you eat?

[ngatti]

Grange--Excellent Butternut Squash Lasagna special. So good to see Christine.

 

Fink's--Also excellent. particularly the Pork Belly Gumbo and Baby Backs.

[Rail Paul]

Escape in Montclair. I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and had it on my list for a while.

 

Liked it a lot. Small menu, good prices ($15 for 3 lunch courses), with a friendly vibe. Comments to follow.

[E.L.A.]

Escape in Montclair. I'd heard a lot of good things about it, and had it on my list for a while.

 

Liked it a lot. Small menu, good prices ($15 for 3 lunch courses), with a friendly vibe. Comments to follow.

 

Sounds good...looking forward to hearing about it.

 

I ate out a lot this week and have a few to post. Just been busy playing catch up. LOL.

[Rail Paul]

Dutch House may have been having an off day, or things may have changed.

 

I've been there twice in the last two months and thought it was about the same. Pretty good. I know they used to get a proprietary meat blend from the Swiss Pork Store across the street. Don't know if that has changed.

[Rail Paul]

Grange--Excellent Butternut Squash Lasagna special. So good to see Christine.

(snip)

 

Nice picture of the butternut squash lasagna on the Grange facebook site

 

https://www.facebook.com/Grangewestwood

[E.L.A.]

Dutch House may have been having an off day, or things may have changed.

 

I've been there twice in the last two months and thought it was about the same. Pretty good. I know they used to get a proprietary meat blend from the Swiss Pork Store across the street. Don't know if that has changed.

 

I hear you. Just not sure. I haven't been there in a while, but I used to really enjoy their burgers and most of the people who I went there with -- including me, thought they were very good. That said, this burger did not taste like their burger. It was bland, lacked flavor and any good taste, etc.

 

I could be wrong, but I think they may have been frozen patties. First, they were much thinner than normal. Second, they were perfectly round and the same throughout. Third, like I said, no real flavor or taste, just a simple, plain, whatever you want to call it ground-beef. It wasn't a quality blen or mix. I know they used to get their meat/blend across the street but this wasn't it.

 

That's what lead me to believe that this was not just an off day.

 

I'll give it another shot of course. I've had a lot of very good burgers there in the past, so I am not giving up yet, LOL.

[E.L.A.]

Grange--Excellent Butternut Squash Lasagna special. So good to see Christine.

 

Fink's--Also excellent. particularly the Pork Belly Gumbo and Baby Backs.

 

Oh, I hear you about Fink's...he's doing some excellent stuff there now. His daily "cutting board" specials are fantastic. I might not like what the daily special is, but for those (whoever I've gone with) that do, they think it's excellent.

 

He's trying some new things as well, here and there, but you never know what might pop up as a special. When they are well liked and popular they can make their way onto the menu.

[menton1]

A really excellent restaurant in the area is Quinta Steakhouse, in Pearl River. (The Irish Riviera!) One of the few non-Irish pubs in PR, this place always satisfies. Not a true "steakhouse" (in spite of the name) the place really does well with the non-steak dishes.

 

A very attractive place, decorated like a place in the Portuguese countryside. Nice posters on the wall, and subdued lighting and a see-in kitchen makes the place very comfortable.

 

The chef and management are Portuguese, so a lot of the dishes have a Portuguese flair to them. Sagrès beer is also served here, as well as some really good Vinho Verde. Ate here a few days ago with some other folks. Among the memorable plates were Appetizers-- Cod fritters with smoked paprika aioli, Caldo Verde soup, and a wonderful Portuguese sausage, Chorico. Mains were Mussels Basquaise, Shrimp ajillo, and a Cod special with a roasted pepper aioli on top and underneath some cubed potatoes with kale.

 

Excellent stuff!

 

Prices-- a dead bargain, based on the high quality of the food, service and ambience.

 

A really nice experience in the area.

 

http://www.quintasteakhouse.com/index.php

 

Note: This place is NOTHING like the Portuguese pretenders in the Ironbound. This is the real deal.

[E.L.A.]

Anyone else? This weekend?

 

I had a few other spots -- but I want to hear from others.

 

I'll throw one out there...Cuban Pete's in Montclair...had a nice casual lunch. Wasn't that crowded which is a plus. Sometimes at night the place can get rockin' (LOL). Anyway, ordered a few tapas/type appetizers, small plates, just to nosh on. All pretty good. The cuban sausage dish was very flavorful. I'd order that again when I go back. One of the chicken appetizers was so-so -- it was kind of like a lollipop-type wing style -- eh, so-so. Not my speed.

 

Some people stuck with sandwiches for lunch, but most went with entrees -- all pretty good. Their different versions of paella were interesting, and good. Overall, pretty good. Nice theme, environment, etc. I hear it gets crowded for dinner and the place can really get going. I might have to be back there for dinner soon so we'll see.

[menton1]

I disagree about Cuban Pete's-- overpriced, extremely noisy, and so so food IMO. For a MUCH better Cuban experience, next time head to Rumba Cubana in North Bergen. Miles better in every way.

 

http://www.rumbacubanarestaurant.com/

[double 0]

15 Grand in Montvale. Its in the old diner across the street from the bowling alley. Small menu of excellent burgers . A few sandwiches of which I liked the shrimp Po boy, Two or three pastas, Mac and cheese, Steak frites, couple of other entrees(That we haven't had yet) and 4-5 salads. Its BYO and reasonably priced. The room is nice and the ownership is right there to take care of your needs. We also went to Gen Sushi in Woodcliffe Lake. This had been my go to sushi place for many years. A few years ago they opened a place in Ridgewood and doubled the size of this location. This started an instant decline as the owners, who were always on site devoted their energy to the new location. We stopped going. We went back for the first time last Thurs. They seem to have returned to some of their previous highs. My only complaint is that they discontinued some of my favorite dishes.

[E.L.A.]

15 Grand in Montvale. Its in the old diner across the street from the bowling alley. Small menu of excellent burgers . A few sandwiches of which I liked the shrimp Po boy, Two or three pastas, Mac and cheese, Steak frites, couple of other entrees(That we haven't had yet) and 4-5 salads. Its BYO and reasonably priced. The room is nice and the ownership is right there to take care of your needs. We also went to Gen Sushi in Woodcliffe Lake. This had been my go to sushi place for many years. A few years ago they opened a place in Ridgewood and doubled the size of this location. This started an instant decline as the owners, who were always on site devoted their energy to the new location. We stopped going. We went back for the first time last Thurs. They seem to have returned to some of their previous highs. My only complaint is that they discontinued some of my favorite dishes.

 

I've heard a few good things about 15 Grand. Haven't been though. I was in the area and in the mood for a burger, so it was Davey's for me! LOL. This sounds interesting though.

 

Keep us up to date on Gen Sushi...thanks again.

[Rail Paul]

I know that I've become much more demanding in what I expect of a burger these days.

 

The grind of the meat, the perceived quality of the meat and bun. Depth of the sear, etc. I thought about that in the context of the discussion on ELA's recent burger at the Dutch House. In the real world, even an average burger at Dutch House would be better than 95% of all the burgers in the world. But when you start applying standards and high thresholds, the focus sharpens.

[E.L.A.]

I know that I've become much more demanding in what I expect of a burger these days.

 

The grind of the meat, the perceived quality of the meat and bun. Depth of the sear, etc. I thought about that in the context of the discussion on ELA's recent burger at the Dutch House. In the real world, even an average burger at Dutch House would be better than 95% of all the burgers in the world. But when you start applying standards and high thresholds, the focus sharpens.

 

I agree, completely. I am not a fast-food burger kind of guy. I enjoy burgers and like many, I like what I like. You are right -- even an average burger at the DH would be better than most burgers anywhere else. I wouldn't even consider fast-food as a comparison. Not sure where else you might look -- at a diner? I'll pass. The DH average burger would be much better.

 

In the non-chain world, I like Davey's. Excellent burger. I also like the burger (off the menu) at JD's and the Porter House. I used to like the Iron Horse but no longer do (and I wouldn't go back there unless it was unavoidable). I remember a very drastic change in their burgers from one visit to the next, albeit many months apart.

 

I like the burger at Dinallo's and at Finnegan's as well. Seems to be some very good options in that Montvale/Westwood area. I always liked the Dutch House. I think my first time there was in the late 80's or early 90's -- and then fairly regularly in the early to mid 90's. Always an excellent burger. Like I said, I will go back. I've had far too many excellent burgers there to jump to a conclusion. Off-day, ran out of regular stock, who knows. Like I said, they had a pig roast going on. Who knows if that had an impact. But I will go back. No way would I give up on the DH, LOL.

 

I agree about the standards. We like what we like. Everyone has their likes and dislikes. But one can become sensitive to the masses when high standards are applied. Today, in the Bergen County area, there are also some excellent options out there now with the "chain" type places -- Bobby's, BuCu, etc., and more recently and more coming. LOL.