The Swamp

rass wrote:Spicy bacon sconewich. Fantastic in its own right, but as a very late breakfast after a (very leisurely run) 5K, eff yeah.

They're open on Sundays now, too.

I appreciate this post given the context of the posts preceding it.

Brontoburglar wrote:

rass wrote:Spicy bacon sconewich. Fantastic in its own right, but as a very late breakfast after a (very leisurely run) 5K, eff yeah.

They're open on Sundays now, too.

I appreciate this post given the context of the posts preceding it.

Life insurance?

We just moved out of our temporary apartment into a slightly less temporary apartment and everything is on the opposite side now, where you used to enter the main room and the other rooms were to the left, they're now to the right. Before when I worked, I faced NNE with the train passing on my right and now I'm facing SSW with the train passing on my left. I'm on a straight line across from where I used to sit in the old unit; like I would be directly facing my old self ~200 feet away if all the walls fell down. Its incredibly disconcerting to be sitting still on the couch but feel like you're sitting backwards.

Two (Parkwood and Tropicana) of the three diners in our (ir)regular* rotation are in nj.com's top 10.

Would like to try Tops at some point, have heard good things about them from friends.

*we don't really frequent diners, just go out to breakfast at some point during weekends when my parents come up to visit

RE: walls...

I think I was casually leaning.

Anyway, it looks like they renovated at some point, so I'm sure the dank is gone.

And if a place that can be described using these terms: "...gleaming Brazilian cherry floors, comfy new stools and, perhaps most impressive, 18 flat-screen TV’s..." qualifies as a dive bar, mister d needs to spend more time in the hinterlands of Essex County.

I promise you there's no way you'd walk in and say "now this is a recent renovation".

And since I'm here, we had another great dinner here last night.

And since they had it on the menu at Paragon, I just learned not too long ago we have a meadery here in the U. I guess neat, though I've never been a big mead fan.

rass wrote:- Di Paolo's is pretty much right up the street from me, and is the only place I know of in the immediate area (other than Stop&Shop) that bakes their own bread daily.

-Lutz Pork Store is also on Stuyvasent, and is a very solid butcher. Their sausages are of the classic German variety and very good, as are their hot dogs and pretty much anything they smoke. You can bring in your own meat and they'll smoke it for you (I did that once with a whole turkey). I think they may have recently changed their coleslaw recipe (for the worse) which would bring them down a couple of points since they were my favorite place to get a sloppy joe based primarily on the great slaw. The guys who run the place and work there are all pretty young and hipsterish, so you should fit right in /2112'd.

Both closed, though the signs in Lutz suggest they may re-open at some point. Very sad face.

Impressive to kill off two places with recommendations in less than half a year.

mister d wrote:Impressive to kill off two places with recommendations in less than half a year.

Yeah. And they've both been around for fucking ever. Oops.

"I enjoy going to the shore and recommend others also do this."

rass wrote:RE: walls...

I think I was casually leaning.

Anyway, it looks like they renovated at some point, so I'm sure the dank is gone.

And if a place that can be described using these terms: "...gleaming Brazilian cherry floors, comfy new stools and, perhaps most impressive, 18 flat-screen TV’s..." qualifies as a dive bar, mister d needs to spend more time in the hinterlands of Essex County.

Look at Bunny. No way there isn't a brothel upstairs.

Great bahn mi (lemongrass beef) at this place this afternoon:


Even the kids liked it, though luckily (and under other circumstances this could be a criticism) the jalapeños were not evenly distributed so the front half of the sandwich that they sampled was pretty much pepper free.

rass wrote:Great bahn mi (lemongrass beef) at this place this afternoon:


Even the kids liked it, though luckily (and under other circumstances this could be a criticism) the jalapeños were not evenly distributed so the front half of the sandwich that they sampled was pretty much pepper free.

Holy shit, just last week I had a hankering for Vietnamese food while at my office, and this came up as the closest one. I passed, as driving past the Menlo Park Mall and 3 miles on Route 1 during the holiday season would have been a nightmare. I'll have to check it out now.

Been meaning to post for awhile, but a big shout out to Providence Liquors in New Providence. Went there for the first time a few months ago, never knew it was there (same parking lot at the NP post office, one block down Central Ave off of Southern, Best Western on the corner." Always seems weird seeing a Best Western in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. 2 young guys working were very knowledgeable and one guy was really eager to talk, even threw in a free can of Boulevard Heavy Lifting. The store is tiny, but I keep finding stuff that I haven't found elsewhere, like Stone Xocoveza. I went in a week or two after Thanksgiving and asked the owner, just making conversation, if he got any BCBS. He was clearly clueless, as he said he would call his distributor and order some for me. I was shocked a week later when he called me, saying my BCBS was in. He was very apologetic, saying he could only hold 3 bottles for me, as he only got a 12-pack, and 2 other customers asked. Talking to various stores, all of Union County got 12 12-packs. Some big stores like Stew Leonard's didn't get any.

if any of you north jersey denizens are anywhere near Edison and not shouting out for a pint (over at Hailey's, main street in metuchen).. then i'll just take you off my xmas card list.

Protests in Bayonne last night over a proposed Muslim community center.



"GO's"

I missed that post two weeks ago, ElFlaco. I've been to Edison once, I think, and it became my benchmark trip for how 8 miles can somehow take 45 minutes without much traffic around here.

Also, I'm with Bayonne. "STOP THE MOSK!!!" Fucking idiots. (Although it's making me consider how I feel about religion based community centers at all.)

mister d wrote:I missed that post two weeks ago, ElFlaco. I've been to Edison once, I think, and it became my benchmark trip for how 8 miles can somehow take 45 minutes without much traffic around here.

Also, I'm with Bayonne. "STOP THE MOSK!!!" Fucking idiots. (Although it's making me consider how I feel about religion based community centers at all.)

Route 1 and Route 9 are the worst. I'd be up for grabbing a drink, but I've been working from home a lot, and usually need to run out of the office to get the kids.

Westfield Trader Joe's likely getting torn down after its roof collapsed.

It should have been you, Urban Outfitters.

Liberty Science Center in Jersey City? Or a similar, indoors museum-y type place?

I've been to the LSC once with the kids. I guess they liked it, but I wasn't super impressed. Might depend on what exhibits they have open at any given time.

The Newark Museum is a common field trip destination. Again, it depends on the exhibits, but we've never gone there for a non-school related function, so...

My favorite area museum (not that I've been to all of them) for trips with the kids is the American Museum of Natural History. Huge, great location, dinosaurs, more stuffed/preserved/posed animals than just about any place on Earth. Plenty of kid-friendly stuff without being exclusively targeted towards kids.

4 year old too young for AMNH? Like lets assume we're going to do all of them eventually, which would make sense for 4 and which would make sense to wait a bit?

Just for you I searched through my emails and found the receipt from the first time we became members, and we've been going there a couple of times a year since our youngest was 4 and a half. If she's into animals and dinosaurs (and she doesn't mind that they're dead) I think she would like it. If/when you let her see the Ben Stiller masterpiece "Night at the Museum" she'll have plenty of stuff to look out for.

And like I said, you really can't beat the location. Go in on a nice day and if she gets bored walk across the street to the Park. There's at least one playground within a couple of minutes walk.

The day is Friday which doesn't look like it'll be a very nice day.

mister d wrote:4 year old too young for AMNH? Like lets assume we're going to do all of them eventually, which would make sense for 4 and which would make sense to wait a bit?

I've never been to LSC, but the kids have both been several times, and my wife took my son once. I think they loved it, but I don't know the target ages. The Morris Museum is supposed to be nice. AMNH is pretty damned spectacular. If your daughter likes animals, they have more than enough to keep her busy. You can go through the evolution section and laugh at the silly people believing the charts of when various animals existed and branched off into different animals. Meanwhile, the dinosaurs are 20 feet away, and no skeleton of a guy riding the dinosaur bones.

Natural History is great, but the one room just reminds me of that Interpol album.

mister d wrote:The day is Friday which doesn't look like it'll be a very nice day.

Ah, yeah. My wife and I are going in to see a show Friday night and I've been keeping an eye on the weather, if for nothing else to help make the "bus or train?" decision.

so putting it out there.... see who bites.

Although the season has started, i'm likely getting tickets for Red Bull -- I get my footie fix by watching Arsenal shit the bed regularly, plus selected La Liga, Serie A, Champions League and EPL games, teh occassional pick up game or training with my old team.. that plus heavy involvement with travel soccer (four games this past weekend!)...hit the bar for those 730a starts on saturdays.. but i do miss going to the stadium, and Red Bull arena is a fun place to go.

so.

anyone interested in going in on tix? i'm likely to ask you later anyway when the boy and the missus don't go - wed and fri night games for instance... but thought i'd ask.

respond here. or pm me or post on fb or send smoke signals.

Flaco Out.

rass wrote:And since I'm here, we had another great dinner here last night.

And since they had it on the menu at Paragon, I just learned not too long ago we have a meadery here in the U. I guess neat, though I've never been a big mead fan.

Maine Beer Co gets a lot of love in the Craft Beer Thread, so...

rass wrote:

mister d wrote:Are they regular donuts or the clever kind? I want the clever kind and I want it closer than 23rd St.

They are made to order, but I'd say more regular than clever.

This place looks pretty good.

Wayne? God dammit. Montclair Bread Co. is great and closer.

Any of yous guys been to Loaded Burgers in Garwood? One block South of North Street, near the Cranford border. Complete dive/lunch counter place, but the food was amazing. Everything is super fresh, burgers were amazing. The buns were the best brioche buns I've ever had, all the cheese is from a local artisan cheese place, and it's melted on by a high school kid with twin blowtorches. I think it's legit welding torches. Cheese fries were real cheese blowtorched on. They have a large smoker and make brisket, pulled pork and ribs. I was psyched for the brisket fries, but they were out of brisket. They also make waffle sandwiches. I gotta try the fried chicken waffle sandwich. It looks so good.

Nope, and you're a couple of months late. I was a block or two away from there once a week in Jan and Feb taking the kids to speed training.

cerrano wrote:and rass is right about my love for the union pork store. the nyt included them in a springtime tour of nj sausage houses. Jabby, the owner, is incredibly personable and loves to talk recipes and shoot the shit, and came around the counter to greet my wife the first time she came to the store. (it was out of respect) they smoke a ton of bacon with all sorts of rubs like coffee bacon, and "candy" bacon with a lot of sweet spices. he just started featuring smoked mutz of all things. they also have pretty solid dogs and excellent brats.

Finally got back here with intent this past week. The brats are great, and I picked up a couple of sausages to sample. I especially liked the chicken with chocolate, cherries and hot peppers. I was overwhelmed by and unprepared for the bacon options and will need to plan for that next time.

Hey mister d, are you still in the 'wood?



That is apparently Springfield Ave somewhere. Time for you to move again?

Unless Q starts going on her own and talking about how the best "hoagies" are from Wawa, I have enough distance from me to that site to not be affected.

And, if all things go well, in a month I'll have my grill back and I'll be hitting up that pork store. Might OD on nitrates the first weekend.

So, the wife, daughter and I are going to be tourists in NYC next week. Starting off in northern Jersey (Maplewood) with friends, but it doesn't look like I'll get free time to have beers or anything. My wife has an agenda for us in NYC, but if any of you have any great ideas for us, please do tell.

sancarlos wrote:So, the wife, daughter and I are going to be tourists in NYC next week. Starting off in northern Jersey (Maplewood) with BETTER friends, but it doesn't look like I'll get free time to have beers or anything. My wife has an agenda for us in NYC, but if any of you have any great ideas for us, please do tell.

damn, cold

Seriously, you're going to be within 5-10 minutes of at least three of us. If you get a couple of minutes free in Jersey send out a signal.