No Yawns at Highlawn [Pavillion]

Under food:

Highlawn Pavillion

Eagle Rock Reservation

West Orage, NJ

(973) 731-3463

http://www.highlawn.com/

Yup, it was a really busy weekend for the Ultimate Fun Club. We capped it off with a lovely birthday dinner at Highlawn Pavillion. The place is fancy-fancy, but hey, you only turn 35 once.

Bread basket. It came with three types of bread.

We got the seafood sampler, sweetbreads and the oyster appetizer, a great start. DJKung ordered a bottle of merlot suggested by the waiter. Don't remember what it was, but we agreed it was rather forgettable. Later on, we ordered wine by the glass, and were happier with our selections. It should be mentioned that the wine list was extensive, although pricey.

Samples from the sea. From top left: jumbo shrimp and some white fleshed fish in cocktail glass; charred prawn in little glass; snow crab legs (shells; I was too slow with the camera), oyster, vinaigrette.

Martha's Vineyard oysters with tarragon mingonette. I was disappointed these babies looked rather sunken in their shells, but they were quite fresh, briny and minerally.

Sweetbreads. This was a special that day. Thyroid and other organ meats were either braised or broiled with a meaty sauce. DJKung never tried this before, and he was very pleased. It reminded him of head cheese and innards. JBean, our adventurous friend, had a bite and said it was surprisingly sweet!

For our main dishes, all of us tried different things. DJKung and his pops got the cote bu boeuf. I ordered the cod. Tikoy got the pork tenderloin and JBean ordered the striped bass. We finished every bite.

Striped bass. It looks like it was broiled and laid on top of some tender veggies (asparagus, mushrooms, potatoes).

Apricot-stuffed pork tenderloin with Armagnac sauce. Served with green beans.

Cote du boeuf. They were rather particular as to how it was cooked and brought out the steak for DJKung to check before cutting it up (a big piece that was for two). Although it was cooked divinely, it was kinda disappointing that the portion was kinda small. I guess every place makes this differently; other spots make it stew-style.

This was my dish, Chatham cod with french white beans, mushroom and chorizo with basil sauce.

For dessert, we got the chocolate bombe, apple tart and creme brulee.

Top: chocolate bombe with raspberry sorbet and dark chocolate sauce. Middle: apple tart with vanilla ice cream. Bottom: creme brulee three flavors (very light): vanilla with raspberry, vanilla, and dark chocolate.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FURRY FACE!

Woo-hoo for Wondee's!

Under food:

Wondee's

296 Main St

Hackensack, NJ 07601
(201) 883-1700

http://www.wondeenj.com/

Wondee's has been a mainstay of the SUPERROTATION for quite some time now. We are hardly ever disappointed when we come here. It was quite packed last Saturday night. If you've ever been in downtown Hackensack after dark, the area is pretty dead. This is one of the few vibrant spots in town.

DJ Kung was not too hungry, so he ordered the chicken wings (being mindful of Chibby) and pad ped (duck salad).

Fried chicken wings. I dunno, it looks rather generic to me. DJKung assured me that it is good. He IS rather picky of chicken, and we do have a 1-10 ratings scale. He rates this as a "6 1/2."

Pad ped (duck salad). DJKung really likes the duck salad here. Notice how generous the vegetables are---very healthy.

I ordered the papaya salad and the pad thai. I think the kitchen is pretty mindful of the local palate, because they've been easy on the spice. The best papaya salad I've had included A LOT of bird's eye peppers and was sweet, salty and mouth-puckeringly sour. Wondee's version is much milder, with most of the elements toned down. I love how crunchy the julienned papaya is, and how the papaya juices meld with the limes, sugar, peanuts and fish sauce. You bet I was slurping the bottom of the plate!

Papaya salad. It's a pretty healthy serving too; I was full after finishing this!

Everyone makes pad thai differently. I think Wondee's base uses soy sauce.

We were too full for dessert. I do remember at one time we ordered fried ice cream. This was such a novelty to us---an abberation within the laws of physics. It was actually a ball of hard packed ice cream in a thick, deep fried batter. So. Mystery solved.

Pho Bang for your Buck!

Under food:



Pho Bang
157 Mott St
New York, NY 10013
(212) 966-3797

I was of two minds whether to write about Pho Bang. It is not that we did not like it, but we were just so ravenous that everybody started picking at the food before I could take pictures. So by no means are the following images representative of what you would get there.

Pho Bang's menu is not too extensive, focusing mostly on pho and rice dishes. Alas, there was not a lot of seafood, which what I was looking forward to. We started off with some goi cuon (fresh spring rolls with rice noodles, mint, shrimp, served with a peanut sauce; no pictures taken). The sauce was a bit starchy; I think it was from a mix.

DJKung ordered the house special pho. Universally, it is the first thing (no. 1) you see on the list of pho (rice noodles in beef broth). I took a picture of the small bowl DJKung used to share the pho with his pops. I got the pho without meat (no pictures taken; looked the same as the regular pho).

DJKung found the broth a bit gamy. I thought that the kitchen was very light on the traditional spices used (star anise, lemongrass, cinnamon *i think*), so the beefy goodness was prominent. They also provided the herbs on the side (bean sprouts, Thai basil, lemon).

Pho # 1. The actual portion is featured on the top right of the image. I think we got the large size.

We also ordered the baked squid. I think it is a typo, because this is the deep fried battered squid that you find in most Vietnamese restaurants. The sauce was pretty good.

"Baked" squid. As you can see, it has been demolished before I was able to take the picture. Needless to say, it was good.

It should be noted that this place is pretty cheap and the dishes we got were pretty solid.

Mmmmm Mitsuwa Food Court

Under food:

Mitsuwa Marketplace

595 River Rd

Edgewater, NJ 07020

(201) 941-9113

http://www.mitsuwa.com/

Mitsuwa is a Japanese supermarket chain that has a food court, a travel agency, a patisserie and a coffee shop. The food court boasts a ramen joint, a chinese food stall, a noodle shop and an ice cream parlor. They also used to have a grill joint, but for reasons unknown removed it. (Sigh.)

The Kanaba stall has rice and noodle dishes. Like with the other stalls,, they have the cute plastic models of the dishes they serve, so you know what you are getting.




Display at Kanaba. It's mouthwatering!!! The bento boxes are a great deal.













We ordered the mini-tempura soba and the tempura set. The food court has free tea (bland) and ice water.





Clockwise, from top left: soba soup, mixed tempura over rice, tamago (egg), mini tempura soba, clementine slices.

For apps, we picked up some supermarket sushi. FYI, they get marked down at the end of the day!

From top: futomaki (aka "Omega roll"), hamachi kama and the lady's special. DJ Kung loved the hamachi kama.

Of course, no meal is complete without oban-yaki. This griddle specialty tastes like a crispy pancake with sweet red bean filling.











Oh, and yes, Mitsuwa is great for stocking up on essentials: ice cream, soba, and sake!!!

Country cookin' at the Country Pancake House

Under food:

Country Pancake House

140 E Ridgewood Ave

Ridgewood, NJ 07450 (201) 444-8395

www.countrypancakehouse.net

This place offers 112 varieties of pancakes. This figure does not include the french toast, Belgian waffles, eggs, omelettes and fritattas that are on the menu. The servings are ginormous.

Bread basket. This is complimentary, and includes cornbread, wheat bread and corn bread with chocolate chips (DJKung's fave). My advice is not to fill up on the bread, no matter how tempting it is.






















Since we were having dinner, DJKung ordered chicken noodle soup, which tasted homemade.

















Cup of chicken soup.

I ordered the farmer's fritatta, which was ginormous. It was stuffed with asparagus, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese. Home fries and two pancakes on the side. Ginormous! As I had unwisely scarfed down too much of the complimentary bread, the leftovers served as my lunch the entire week.

Farmer's fritatta.

DJKung got the country platter. This came with fries, fried shrimp, chicken tenders and coleslaw. The coleslaw was crunchy and sweet, rated "above average" by DJKung.

Overall, the breakfast items are the highlight of Country Pancake House. It is not unusual to see lines here on Sunday morning. Unfortunately,their non-breakfast items tend to be on the bland side (typical diner fare). Go for the pancackes!!!

Times Square Tokyo Treasure

Under food:

Sake Bar Hagi
152 W 49th St.
New York, NY 10019
(212) 764-8549

Sake Bar Hagi is a relatively recent addition. Besides their excellent sake selection, this place is a bona fide yakitori, but all grown up. Since we were seeing Hot Chip the night we went, we had to rush with dinner. This is what we ordered:

Looking at this picure, I think it was tuna with a vinegrette dressing and onions. DJKung insists that it was not tuna, maybe smelt. It was one of the blackboard specials that night.

Beef yakitori. DJKung snatched one of the skewers up before I could take a picture.

Soft shell crab.

Broiled yellowtail collar. We always seem to order this everytime we see it on the menu. I think the best part is the cartilage that sticks to the bone.

Rice plum soup. It has a sweet, smoky and home-y flavor.

Squid ink fried rice. DJKung liked it, although was disappointed with the fake crab sticks.

DJKung's word of advice: Don't get irate, 'cause it's worth the wait!!! We went 6p on a Friday and the place was packed with lot of after-work people winding down. Sake Bar Hagi does not take reservations, although you can leave your phone number for them to call you.

The local doggie scene: Ridgewood, NJ

Under furs:

Ridgewood Dog Park

East Ridgewood Ave.

Ridgewood,NJ

Saddle River Park

Encompasses Ridgewood, Paramus, Rochelle Park, Elmwood Park

Last Sunday, the Ultimate Fun Club had a great excursion in one of our local parks. Saddle River Park is a long strip of a park that crisscrosses through several towns in Bergen County, New Jersey. As the name suggests, there it runs along Saddle River. The trail is roughly five or six miles of paved double trail. At any day, there are cyclists, runners, bladers, walkers and furs aplenty. The river is also stocked for recreational fishing.

Trail marker in Ridgewood. Saddle River Park also has some unpaved single trails and evensome spots for freestyle cycling!

Furs cooling their paws in Saddle River. The river is rather shallow and narrow in spots, with houses and backyards close by. Some spots are deeper, and we've actually seen some big fishes. Although we see some anglers, we've never really seen anyone land a catch. Also, too small for the Mightly Miss.

The trail terminates at a park in Ridgewood, NJ. I am not sure of the name, but we have dubbed it the Duckie Park, because of the ducks (ok, geese) that we once saw there. Of special mention is the doggie park.

There is an area for small dogs too. It seems that it is a closely-knit community of canine fans. There are usually plastic baggies available onsite. There are no water fountains, but at times, I have seen water jugs placed around. The mulch is nice and thick, although on this particular visit, there was doggie poo at one isolated corner.

Doggies in the big boy park. It was still early in the day and the park was not so crowded yet. The park offers little in the way of obstacle courses, apart from a single congrete pipe.

The doggies liked their walk, but it seemed that they got bored quickly once in the doggie park. It seems they like hiking much better than socializing with other furs.

Movies we saw this week:

Under fun:


"The Lives of Others" (2006)

"The Lives of Others" was an awesome story. I guess you could say that this was a Cold War era drama. It's about a Stasi agent who spies on certain "people of interest" in East Germany, who gets entangled in the lives of those whom he spies on. The acting is simply superb. There is a a great deal of nuance with the way the story unfolds, which is amazing for a directorial debut.

"The Aristocrats" (2005)

I'd say it took me at least twelve and a half minutes until I figured this out. I did experience the intial revulsion of the very frank retellings of this reputedly famous joke. I think you will, too. I will not spoil it for you. DJKung remarked that my poor sense of humor prevented me from "getting it." Would you believe that this movie was courtesy of our town's public library, which impressed me. Yay for public libraries!

Raves for Raymond's

Under food:



Raymond's

28 Church St.

Montclair, NJ 07042

(973) 744-9263

www.raymondsnj.com





It was a lovely fall day yesterday, with a bit of summer warmth lingering in the air. DJKung, our friend Ozzie-Wan-Kennozie and I had a nice al fresco lunch at Raymond's in Montclair. Typically, this place is jam-packed on Sundays, but there was a minimal wait last Thursday for an outside table.



The menu emphasizes breakfast fare, but nothing too hearty. For lunch, it seemed that sandwiches and burgers were the way to go. We ordered some items from their seasonal menu.

Egg salad sandwich with sun-dried tomatoes.

Ozzie-wan got an egg salad sandwich. It came with some sliced cukes and olives, which she pronounced as "very European." Ozzie-wan'll give a more detailed assessment in the comments below.

DJKung ordered an omelet with basil pesto (below, left), which he said was very good. I was particularly taken by their fries, which are nicely browned, skinny and crispy. I got the spinach and goat cheese sandwich (below,right), which was excellent. There's a layer of sauteed spinach, another of sauteed onions, and tangy goat cheese. Mine also came with the cukes and olives.








































Butternut squash soup with chives, I think. Doesn't it look so pretty?

I thought the butternut squash soup could have been more squash-y and more nutty in flavor. It was a bit bland and pasty.

Raymond's is a nice place to linger. It is BYOB and their items are generally solid. DJKung highly recommends their burgers.

NYONYA

Under food:

Nyonya

194 Grand Street

New York, NY 10013

(212) 334-3669

Nyonya has been a mainstay of the rotation for the longest time. We are seriously convincced that this Malaysian restaurant is the best of its kind around.

I typically get the satay tofu (fried tofu with bean sprouts, cukes and peanut sauce) and the pad thai. Sometimes, the kitchen makes the sauce extra spicy, so be forewarned.

Satay tofu. A crunchy pocket of deep fried tofu encloses cukes and bean sprouts. It is topped with a rich peanut sauce. Yum!

Pad thai. Rice noodles with shrimp, tofu, egg and pad thai sauce, topped with peanuts and fried shallots. Also served with bean sprouts. I like it when the kitchen gives the noodles a nice sear.

DJKung has his own roster. For the past few months, he's been getting kangkung belachan, fried fish fried rice and yuen tai pork.

Kangkung belachan. Stir fried water spinach with shrimp paste. Water spinach is a hollow stemmed vegetable with a very mild taste. I don't think it has any relation to spinach. Meanwhile, shrimp paste is made of dried and fermented shrimp. It is a popular ingredient in Southeast Asian dishes.

Yuen tai pork. Simmered pork hocks in a star anise/five spice sauce. Served with steamed bread. It tastes a lot like the filling for siopao.

Fried fish fried rice. I think it does come with bits of chicken. The fried fish flakes are crunchy and salty. This chinese-style fried rice is hearty and hits all the right notes: salty fish, sweet peas, creamy scrambled egg and that nice wok sear on the rice.

Other dishes that we get: roti chanai (Indian pancakes with curry sauce), satay beef, beef rendang. Once in a while, we get the house special crabs---very messy, very good.

We cannot say enough about this place. I don't think the food is adjusted for the American palate, so the flavors are intense. (Southeast asian food commonly has sweet, salty and spicy elements).

Nyonya is cash-only, and there is an ATM across the street.

***

On a later visit, DJKung ordered their fried chicken wings. It rates as a 7 to 8 on his fried chicken scale. Their chicken is tied with a pandanus leaf and deep fried, and comes with a sweet citrus-y sauce. The pandanus leaf infuses into the chicken to add a floral flavor.