OTB Economic Stimulus Dinner I: Chengdu 1

I’m happy to report that our first OTB Economic Stimulus dinner was a fantastic success. On April 25, 2009, 14 foodies converged on Chengdu 1 restaurant in Cedar Grove, New Jersey for a night of major league, mouth numbing and mucus membrane burning Sichuan goodness.

Related OTB Post: NJ Dining – Chengdu 1

Chengdu 1
89 Pompton Ave (Pilgrim Shopping Plaza)
Cedar Grove NJ, 973-239-7726

Web Site: http://www.chengdu1nj.com/

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NJ Dining: Ultimate Banh Mi Sandwiches at Mo Pho and Saigon R.

Mo‘ Pho‘
212 Main St, Fort Lee, NJ
(201) 363-8886

Saigon R.
58 W Palisade Ave, Englewood, NJ
(201) 871-4777

Related Article: Saigon R. and Mo’ Pho’

If you’ve been following the latest trends in the New York City dining scene, no doubt you’ve read and heard about the most recent Vietnamese sandwich craze — also known as the Banh Mi — that’s sweeping the Metropolitan area. If you take trends at face value, you’ve probably also read the reports from Eater that the Banh Mi has “Run its course”.

The fact of the matter is, the Banh Mi is the right sandwich at the right time. And let’s face it, here in New Jersey, we’re a little slow on the uptake when following up on New York City trends. But I submit to you that when we set our mind to something, and when we get around to it, we do it better than anyone else.

A few weeks ago — prior to the publication of the New York Times article which catapulted the Banh Mi into the front and center collective foodie consciousness — Chef KT Tran (of Mo Pho and Saigon R. fame) decided that she needed to add some new offerings to her menu, and I suggested Banh Mi, particularly as I knew KT could put her creative skills and 30 years of Vietnamese cooking expertise behind it. KT’ and her family have operated Vietnamese restaurants since the 1970’s in the New York Area, and we’ve been very lucky to have her in Northern New Jersey, where her bold Southeast Asian flavors are tailored to meet the tastes of a very diverse customer base.

A typical store-bought Banh Mi from New York’s Chinatown. Usually these go for 2 or 3 dollars apeice. But there’s not much meat on this thing.

Fully aware of my past “Ultimate Sandwich” exploits with Chef Christine Nunn, at Picnic Caterers, Chef Tran knew she had to up the ante in over-thet-top sandwich insanity, particularly when competing with Nunn’s Rendevous at Burger Mountain, the Ultimate BLT and the Foie You.

We knew of one weapon in the Vietnamese culinary arsenal that could hold up to these giants: PORK. And lots of it.

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The Open Source Reptile Hunter

The Open Source Community’s strength has always been in its numbers and the will of developers contributing to projects to drive project initiatives in the direction they desire simply by voting with their time and willingness to contribute. If a project no longer meets their requirements, be it from a licensing or political perspective, they simply cease working on it and go onto other things that interest them instead.

That is the beauty of of Open Source, in that it is pure Social Darwinism and Software Phylogenetics at work. Even if you have a bunch of large natural predators, such as Constrictus Siliconvallis, it’s not possible for them to swallow entire communities, even if they buy the companies that run the projects themselves. And like evolutionary trees, if projects are to be compared to Phyla, they do indeed branch off.

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Go Foie Yourself

The “Foie You”, a croissant sandwich prepared especially for our friends at Farm Sanctuary. The “Foie You” can be purchased for $24.00 at Picnic Caterers in Emerson, NJ. This is a limited time offer and you must order the sandwich by noon Thursday the 23 st of April for pick-up on Friday  the 24th. All profits from the sales of the  sandwich will be donated to the Center for Food Action. The sandwich will be offered weekly via special order until demand subsides.

Like other industries, the restaurant and food business is no stranger to being targeted by extremist groups which have some bizarre notion that the animals which are being used for foodstuffs and other products  have the right to be treated like human beings. Typically, however, these organizations, such as PETA, are more likely to spend their energies on large food distribution and manufacturing entities, and not on individual restaurants and small businesses. However, this is not always the case.

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A Visit to D’Artagnan

D’Artagnan is one of the most important suppliers of luxury proteins and ingredients to many of the nation’s top restaurants.

My chef friend Christine Nunn, of Picnic Caterers in Emerson, was recently invited over to visit the D’Artagnan facility in Newark. For those of you not familiar with D’Artagnan, it is the premier supplier of luxury ingredients to many of New York City’s top restaurants. What D’Artagnan is most famous for, however, is that it is one of the largest (if not the largest) distributors of domestically produced Foie Gras in the United States. Rachel and I decided to come along and take some photos, so we could show you what this very impressive operation is all about.

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NJ Dining: A Taste of Greece 2.0 (UPDATED)

A Taste of Greece
935 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge NJ
(201)967-0029

Back in April of 2005 one of the first restaurants that I chose to profile during my 2-year stint as NJ Quick Bite writer was A Taste of Greece, a tiny Greek takeout in River Edge. One of the things I liked about this restaurant was its attention to detail and authenticity in its dishes, choosing to buck the “homogenized” Greek restaurant trend found in most Northern NJ Greek eateries with its real Pork Gyro and use of real imported Greek ingredients.

The original owners moved on two years later. One of them, Vasili Mastrokostas, went on to open Vasili’s Taverna in Teaneck. For a brief period A Taste of Greece was ran by the owner’s children and retained most of its original staff, and was recently sold to a new owner, Themis, a young, friendly, service-oriented and health-obsessed marathon runner. Themis took a rather unattractive, small takeout and put some money into the place, adding nice ceramic tile and other positive aesthetic changes, such as new wooden tables and chairs.

Themis has kept much of the restaurant’s original flavor (including its signature pork gyro) and has added more fresh and healthy Mediterranean dishes such as more grilled seafood plates. I actually think the place is a better restaurant now and is more compatible with my current lifestyle, and along with my other favorite Mediterranean options in the local area, such as Joeyness and Bennies, has now become one of my favorite places to eat well and eat healthier.

A Taste Of Greece on Kinderkamack Road in River Edge, Photo April of 2005.

A Taste of Greece’s new owner, Themis. Themis is extremely accommodating to special requests (such as low-carbing the entrees) and is himself a health and fitness nut.

You too will want A Taste of Greece. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Cue “Eye of the Tiger” and the Jaunty Jackalope DVD

The fight of the century? GNOME vs. KDE , the two titans of the Linux desktop. Sure there are welter and lightweights that shouldn’t be ignored, such as XFCE, Enlightenment and GNUStep/WindowMaker, but let’s face it, it’s the two heavyweights that rule the roost on all of the desktop Linux distributions that are getting the lion’s share of attention, that being Ubuntu, Fedora, and openSUSE.

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NYC Dining: Abbondanza on Arthur Avenue (UPDATED!)

With today being Good Friday, I thought I would bring back one of my favorite posts, that being a pictorial tour of Arthur Avenue. The Belmont section of the Bronx comes alive during the Easter season, and you can still get your fill of Easter Pies and other great Italian-American foods there this weekend. Check it out on Saturday!

Related food post not to be missed: A Christobal Colom Arthur Avenue Mission

— Jason

The Belmont section of the Bronx is by far one of my favorite eating and food shopping destinations — as I tell many people, if you’re looking for the real Little Italy, it’s not in Manhattan, but on Arthur Avenue between 184th and 187th street. It’s a neighborhood frozen in time, where you can get imported delicacies from the old country as well as fantastic Italian-American eats which prominently feature them.

The very core of Belmont’s Italian shopping are the stores within and surrounding the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, where Mike’s Deli, Pete’s Meat, and a number of green grocers are located.

Dave Grecco, the presiding capitan of Mike’s Deli.

And his dad, the legendary Mike Grecco, salumi purveyor to the rich, famous, the everyman, and everybody in-between.

If you catch Dave in the middle of the day, he might be doing his stretching exercises (2004).

Il Duce guards the cache of tuna cans.

You need salamis?

Arthur Avenue is the REAL Little Italy of New York City. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for some more mouth-watering Italian-American delicacies.

Introducing OTB Economic Stimulus Dinners

The economy, as we all know, is hurting. Bad. Really bad.

In recent weeks, I’ve watched my co-workers and colleagues, my closest friends and several members of my family lose their jobs. And over the last several months I’ve seen favorite restaurants and food-related businesses starting to drop like flies. I dread every single time I have to log into the blog software in order to post a (CLOSED) update to a restaurant entry. Now it seems like I have to do it several times a month.

What is the solution? Our government is doing its best to try to stimulate the economy. And just about everyone is making sacrifices, no matter what your income level is.

Some people — like my former partner in eGullet, Steven Shaw — would suggest that we stop spending money, that we sit back and ride this thing out. That we all eat out of our cupboards for a week or a month, that we hide under our blankets and cuddle up for the big storm and then hope everything is all right at the end. I firmly believe this is the wrong thing for us to do, people.

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Warner Music is Looney Tunes

I would consider myself to be a law-abiding citizen and as a writer, someone who has respect for copyright laws, particularly as it applies to the written word and major works of media, such as music, television shows and movies. So I completely understand why a company like Time Warner (or even ZDNet’s parent company, CBS) would be aggressive in protecting those copyrights, particularly in cases where music videos and TV shows are being uploaded in their entirety to popular video sharing sites, such as YouTube and Vimeo, in high-quality formats. This type of blatant content theft is unnaceptable and the media companies that own this content are perfectly within their rights to have it removed.

Click the read the rest of this article on ZDNet Tech Broiler.