Dossy S.'s Profile

After several weeks of trying to try this place out for lunch and forgetting that they are closed on Mondays (oops), my wife and I were finally able to have lunch there today.

The lunch combo special for $6.99 is a great deal, which comes with two dishes and a choice of white rice or noodles.  If you are already familiar with Filipino cuisine, you will truly enjoy the savory and delicious offerings available.

I had Dinuguan (meat with pork's blood) and Calderetang Kambing (goat stew with vegetables) with white rice.  My wife had Kare-Kare (ox-tail stew cooked with peanut sauce and vegetables) and Menudo (meat stew) with Pancit Bihon (rice noodles).  We took home a Leche Flan for dessert.

The Dinuguan was a lovely dark black, salted just right and savory.  They prepare it without tripe, which was a pity, as other customers apparently dislike tripe.  I can't imagine how delicious it would be with nicely simmered tripe.  Mmm!

All goat dishes are special as the preparation involved is a labor of love.  The Calderetang Kambing certainly reflects this, as the meat was quite tender but still maintained its shape on the bone.  The sauce it is prepared in was a delicious combination of pineapple, green olive and potato with what appeared to be a bit of tomato for color.

The Kare-Kare was served with a small bit of Bagoong Alamang (shrimp paste) on the side, which gives this meaty dish a nice contrast, as the paste has a strong shrimp flavor and salty zest.  The peanut sauce is very subtle, mostly providing support to the meat flavor.

I'm not a big fan of Menudo -- sorry, Ricky Martin -- but GeePee's version is quite tasty.  Still, given the variety of other choices, I don't think I'd order this more than once.  Let me be clear: there was nothing wrong with the dish, it's just that the others are so much more exotic.

We took the Leche Flan home for dessert and I'm sitting here, eating it now.  At $5, it might seem expensive, but make no mistake: eating this one $5 Flan is SO much better than eating three $2 flans made elsewhere.  If you're a lover of good custard, I would say it's worth a trip to GeePee's for the Flan alone.  I'm not kidding.

I am so very glad that I was finally able to try their food and I am certain I will be going back there many times in the future.  If you enjoy Filipino food, your mouth and stomach will be thoroughly pleased with this place.

I rarely rate something with full 5 stars - I have no problems giving 4, but 5, rarely.  This place's food has earned 5 full stars in my opinion.

We  had dinner at Pandan tonight at 4 PM.  On-street parking for a Sunday afternoon wasn't unreasonable.  The area of Broad Street where the restaurant is located is pleasant.

We had the Pandan special tea to drink: a delicious green colored drink with slices of soft young coconut and green jello. A very tasty drink and a lively green color to go with the Pandan theme.

We started with an order of Som Tom salad.  It was mildly spicy--more like zippy--and the carrot, mango and papaya were fresh and crunchy. Just the right amount of lime juice to add sour flavor to sweet salad.

For entrees, we shared a Crispy Pata and Fried Bangus.  The pata was seasoned evenly and fried so that the meat was tender but the skin was crispy.  The fried bangus was fresh and deboned masterfully - the fish's own oil was delicious and it had not been affected at all by the deep-frying.

We finished what seemed like an already unbeatable meal with a Sans Rival for dessert.  Trying to describe its wonder would cheapen its awesomeness.  Let me simply quote my wife's response to having experienced this dessert: "Food should not taste this good" and "I feel naughty eating this."  As its name implies, this dessert is without rival.  You have not lived until you've experienced it.  My wife ended up ordering an entire Sans Rival cake to take home--we'll be going back for more, I can already tell.

If your food tastes are diverse, you owe it to yourself to try Pandan Asian Cuisine.  But I warn you: it may spoil you and ruin all other inferior meals that you will have elsewhere, once you know how good it can possibly be.  You've been warned.

This place looks small from the outside, but it is HUGE on the inside! The dance floor is large and the sound is loud. The drinks are on the pricy side - $4 for a cup of beer (yes, a plastic cup! wtf?) ...

Still, it's nice to have a nice nightclub like Dexter's so close to home. I hope they continue to grow and draw more customers. If you're in the area, do check them out.

(Note: The venue is now "Piccolo's Restaurant" and not "Lotsa Pasta".)

Piccolo's is located just outside the East Gate of Smoke Rise in Kinnelon, NJ.

Went for dinner on July 3rd and chose to sit outdoors.  Our waiter was knowledgeable and superb, answered our questions, and was attentive.

I ordered the veal osso buco ($29) which was on the specials menu. The portion size was large but not overwhelming - I was able to finish it all without overeating, but I was very full.  The mushroom risotto was on the salty side which balanced out the osso buco which wasn't salty enough.  The veal was served separated from the bone on the plate, but the marrow was still intact inside the shank.  It was tender and just slightly dry - I prefer it a bit more moist.

I ended the meal with a single shot of espresso which was dark and creamy.

A fine Italian restaurant, a bit on the pricy side, but the food is fine.

Keo Ku is my go-to place for Korean food.  My wife regularly orders the Yue Hwe (yuk hoe) as it's become her favorite Korean dish.

Always on the lookout to try new cuisines, we received an advertisement for Toros in the mail.  Turkish--something not often found around here.  So, we took the kids out for dinner tonight (May 19, 2007) to check them out.

The first thing you notice is the (mandatory?) valet parking.  Their parking area is small so it makes sense that they would prefer to manage it with valet parking.

I had called ahead to reserve our table and when we arrived we were seated promptly.  The decor is nice--it has a lot of character, but not overly kitschy.

Turkish cuisine is typical Mediterranean: Turkish, Greek, Middle-Eastern, etc. are all very similar.  You'll find plenty of familiar dishes, but a bunch that are uniquely Turkish.  We were in for quite a treat!

We ordered two appetizers: the stuffled mussels (cold dish) and the fried veal liver (hot dish).  I wasn't terribly impressed by the mussels, but the fried veal liver--it was fantastic.

We ordered three entrees: one was lamb cubes over eggplant sauce, one was the broiled striped bass, and the last was beef dumplings.  All three dishes were incredibly good--some of the most well-prepared dishes I've had.

The prices are extremely reasonable--$4-6 for an appetizer, $10-15 for an entree and the portion sizes are very generous.

If you're looking to try a different cuisine and you'd like to try Turkish, I highly recommend Toros Restaurant in Clifton, NJ.

The previous reviewers nailed it--this is THE place to go for thin-crust pizza in the area.  The building is somewhat small, the interior is cramped and when the place is busy, things can get slow ... but if you love thin-crust pizza, it's all worth putting up with.

I used to love going to Kinchley's when I used to work over in Upper Saddle River.  I do miss the place, and once in a while go out of my way to get there, just for the pizza.

If you're in the mood for Moroccan, this place will do the job.  It's a fun place to go with a group of people, if they all enjoy eating with their fingers.  Fun platters of tasty food brought out to share, while you sit on cushioned benches in a fairly open-air large room.

There's nothing especially exotic about the food, but it's fun to eat there.  The live entertainment is an unusual treat, too.

Our two daughters, currently 7 and 4 years old, both are attending ABC's of Learning in Kinnelon.

I cannot say enough good things about this school.  Mrs. Luke, the administrator of the school, has done an incredible job finding truly talented, caring and passionate teachers.  My daughters' lives have been so greatly enriched by them.

I really can't go into enough detail in this review to do the school any justice.  If you're interested, don't hesitate to send me a message and ask me questions--I'll be more than happy to answer them.

Consistently good to excellent Chinese food.

I highly recommend the "Grand Marnier shrimp."  Shrimp in an orange-flavored mayonaise-like sauce with walnuts over what seem to be rice-flour breaded shrimp.

We have been ordering regularly from them since they opened in Butler a few years ago and have yet to be disappointed by the food.  It's consistently good.