Manoavino Taste!

Southern Belle Great New Montclair Restaurant

We tried the new Montclair restaurant Southern Belle for dinner this past Friday. We liked it a lot. Is there anything more satisfying than Southern comfort food, a true American cuisine, that I do enjoy.

Chef and owner Lauren Browing puts her special touch on every dish. Lauren was a girl from Jersey who fell in love with great Southern style cooking while at school in Richmond, VA. Having grown tired of her stint in the corporate world she decided to strike out and try the restaurant biz. A bold move I am sure you agree. We are happy she brought her talents to Montclair.

Latest Montclair Restaurant Buzz

New entries on the Montclair restaurant scene are generating some nice buzz.

I hear that Plum on Park the new place that has quietly opened up in the little diner across from the YMCA on Park Street is quite good. Word is the new owners redcorated the place, formerly Greek Delights, very nicely and are serving up some very good food. The website is coming soon, http://www.plumonpark.com/. If you stop by please post a comment and let us know how Plum is. Read our review here

Others include Salute, Southern Belle and Four Seasons Kabob House.

An Investment in Wine Produces Great Returns

Personally I always thought I got the greatest reward from my wine by drinking it, but it turns out if I had not I could have paid for my kid's college education and maybe a trip to France. Below is a revealing chart on the monetary appreciation of fine wine, if true....

Fun if nothing else. Click to see the full image.

A Fine Portuguese Dinner for a Fine Portuguese Wine - Cedro Do Noval

A fellow wine lover, Alex Michas, tipped me off to this delicious Portuguese wine. It has been waiting in my cellar for weeks. But I just could not open this bottle until I had just the right meal to show its fully beauty. Well last Saturday evening the moment arrived. 

We made a wonderful Portuguese tapas feast with an amazing chickpea salad, picante chorizo over toast rounds, and just out of the sea seared tuna over greens with Nicoise like accompaniments. Dessert was spiced pecans with Medjool dates and of course a fine dry sherry.

The wine called Cedro Do Noval is produced in the famed Douro region of Portugal by Christian Seely, of Quinta do Noval with the grapes Touriga Nacional, Touriga Franca, Tinto Cão, and Syrah.

The Three Best Chicken Wings Recipes I Have Ever Tasted by Far

A while back I recieved an intriguing e-mail. It read: 

"For the past several years, a chicken wing cooking contest has been held at our home.  This is an event where invitees prepare their best wing recipes for all participants to review, analyze, score and devour..... We are looking to alter the voting procedure this time around to spice it up a bit with a panel of expert judges...I was hoping that you would consider being one of the judges on this panel." ....  Mark and Debbie Roman

I wondered was this ligit?  Or was it material for the sequel to the movie Catfish? 

Well I decided to attend and am very happy I did. I am especially pleased to be able to publish the extraordinary recipes for the winning entries. Here they are....

Picnic Restaurant Fair Lawn NJ is worth a trip

Picnic is a wonderful little restaurant in the Radburn section of Fair Lawn. Fellow foodie Jason Perlow, who writes the great food blog Off the Broiler, told me I just had to try this place. He has a great article on Picnic here.

The name Picnic kindled many romantic memories and seemed like a perfect place for a sweet silver wedding anniversary dinner. Diana thought so too.

The cuisine is what I call contemporary local international. The dishes are prepared with quality local ingredients and are classic with a modern flair. They draw upon a world of culinary influences, leaning toward French and Mediterranean.  Christine Nunn, co-owner and Executive Chef, brings a special essence to every dish at Picnic.

We enjoyed a beautiful dinner with a tasting of two nice Chardonnays from Gary's Wine. 

La Bonne Soupe, New York City, still there and as good as ever

When I told my wife, Diana, I was going to La Bonne Soupe for a networking event she remarked,  "is that place still there?" Well yes it is and as good as ever.

Open since 1973, La Bonne Soupe is a NY dinning landmark. I mistakenly expected the restaurant to be showing its age. Boy was I wrong. I had not been here in maybe 20 years and was happy to discover that La Bonne Soupe is alive and vibrant as ever. Attractive to the eye, filled with intriguing people and serving delish classic French cuisine

I recently learned that the phrase "La bonne soupe" has come to mean "The good life, with health, wealth and happiness." This restaurant embraces this in every way.