The Restaurant Guys

Gaslight: A Staged Radio Play, at Stage Left

Why would anyone go see a radio play? Because it's a super amount of fun. That's why.

Our friends at Raconteur Radio return to present a live radio play.

Raconteur Radio Presents
Gaslight: A Staged Radio Play

with Laurence Mintz, Jason Jackson, and Danielle Illario
at Stage Left Restaurant
Sunday, August 28 - 7 PM

Why does the flame go down? No one in the house has lit any other lamps, and yet it dims. Then brightens. And what about the footsteps overhead, seemingly from the sealed attic? Something is slowly driving Paula Alquist mad. Is it the house? Where Paula's aunt, a famous and beautiful concert singer, was murdered ten years before, her lifeless body discovered by the young Paula herself? Or is it her new husband, an older man she met in Italy who convinces her to return to the murder scene and make it their home? What does he do for a living? Why does he go out every night and leave her alone to fret and worry? These are the questions that Scotland Yard detective Brian Cameron seeks to answer before Paula is driven completely and utterly insane. Theatrical lighting! Period costumes! Golden Age radio equipment! Vintage commercials!

This is just a super fun, throwback of an evening.
Show $15 & Two Drink Minimum
or Complimentary with Dinner

[email protected] or 732-828-4444

Raconteur Radio stages theatrical presentations of vintage radio plays, classic works of literature, and pop culture parodies for live audiences throughout the Tri-State area. They've been called "family friendly guerrilla theater" by the New York Times, one of "the 7 best things to do in NJ" by the Newark Star-Ledger, "Epic!" by Lev Grossman (of Time Magazine) Utterly unique!" by Kyle Hartzell (of NPR), "Dazzling!" by Megan Ryan (of WNYC), "Spellbinding!" by Tom Lynch (of Theatre World), "Thrilling!" by Barry Monush (of the Museum of Television & Radio), "innovative & entertaining" by MyCentralJersey.com, and "Outstanding!" by Lee Pfeiffer (of Cinema Retro Magazine). For more info visit, www.RaconteurRadio.com

Dinner and a Movie: Chef!

Eater.com says Chef is one of the top 13 movie chefs of all time!

On Friday, August 26, we will show Chef in the private screening room of The Heldrich Hotel, right across the street. Afterwards, we will offer communal seating for a special tasting menu in Stage Left, inspired by the film. Of course, if you would like to just see the film and dine with us a la carte, that works too.

The screening is complimentary with dinner either way.

Chef: Dinner

Grilled Cheese
Humboldt Fog and 3yr Aged Vermont Cheddar

Cuban Sandwich
Pork Belly and Jamon Iberico de Bellota
House-made Pickles

50-Day Dry Aged Ribeye Steak
Yucca Fries
Plantain Sauce

Dessert
Berries with Sweet Cream
Molten Lava Cake

$79

Blue Crab and Spaghetti Dinner - Jersey Italian Style - Sunday, August 21

Crabs in Marinara with Spaghetti, Clams, Garlic Mussels, Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms and wine!

As this is a meal that screams to be enjoyed al fresco, Catherine Lombardi is going to take over The Stage Left's Sidewalk Cafe Sunday, August 21. You can dine in Catherine Lombardi's dining room or out on the sidewalk. In a joyous summer tradition of the Lombardi family, blue crabs will be tossed in marinara and served over spaghetti. We'll have great Italian wines from the Perusini Family, our favorite producers in the Oltrepo Pavese region of Italy.

Spaghetti with Crabs and Marinara will be $24.95
For those not inclined to work at the hard-shelled crabs, we will also offer spaghetti and soft shell crabs for $34.95.
Rain or shine, we will be eating crabs from 4 - 9 PM. Reserve here or call 732-296-9463.

NJ Monthly Magazine Readers' Choice Poll

The results are in:

• Catherine Lombardi was named Best Italian Restaurant and
• Stage Left was named for Best Burger.

While you knew that all along, we're grateful you helped us spread the word.

Thank you!

Cider Weekend 2016

Cider is given the short shrift all too often. While in the popular imagination, it's grouped with beer, cider is a subcategory of wine. Wine is the fermented juice of any fruit, while cider is the fermented juice of any tree fruit: Pear, Apple, Quince! While there are certainly some mass produced, mediocre examples, there are some truly extraordinary examples.

Cider Spirits Project

Thursday starts Cider Weekend, where several NJ establishments feature excellent examples of this under-rated beverage. Since it's Thursday, we're going to turn over The Spirits Project at Catherine Lombardi to an exceedingly special cider. Eden Ice Cider is a riff on Eiswein, but from apples. The juice is naturally cold-concentrated outdoors in Vermont winter weather. They use no enzymes, fining agents, color, sugar, other flavorings or preservatives. It takes anywhere from 1 – 3 years to produce an ice cider, and over 8lbs. of apples to produce one 375ml bottle!

We will open a bottle of Eden Ice Cider at 6:30. We will pour 2 oz for $5.

The Rest of Cider Weekend

On Tap

We will tap into a fresh keg of E.Z. Orchards "Hawk House" Cider. E.Z. Orchards, in Wilamette Valley, is one of America's top cider producers. Hawk Haus is named for the kestrel nests found on the property and is a blend of Jonathan and Yarlington Mill apples. Pale, yellow-golden in color and lightly hazed with modest, tiny carbonation bubbles like the finest sparkling wines. It's big, soft and round on the palate with gentle acidity. Notes of cinnamon and brown sugar are reminiscent of apple turnover. The finish is just short of total dryness and very clean. $9 for 8 oz

In Bottle (750 ml)

We have quite a collection of rare and delicious Ciders by the bottle (wine bottle size). All will be 20% off for Cider Weekend.

From Cidrerie du Vulcain in Switzerland, we have two extraordinary ciders.

• Pear Cider (best I've ever had) from their very old pear trees -normally $66, now $53 or $13 a glass
• Trois Pepins, the most interesting cider I've ever had, from 3 fruits: quince, pear and apple. -normally $49, now $41 or $10 a glass

From E.Z. Orchards, we will pour their 2011 vintage cider, which we've been aging in our cellar. -normally $40, now $32 or $8 a glass

Sunday, August 7: Calypso Pig Roast Rumstravaganza with El Dorado

Next Sunday, August 7, we're going to have our Calypso Pig Roast Rumstravaganza with El Dorado. The sound of steel drums on the streets of New Brunswick goes perfectly with roasted pig and El Dorado Rum and can make you forget that the nearest body of water is the meandering Raritan.

Calypso Fusion!
Next Sunday, August 7 from 5 - 8 PM

El Dorado Rum (Guyana) is helping us bring the great Caribbean band Fusion back to the streets of New Brunswick! These guys played the last two years and they're a phenomenal amount of fun, much like El Dorado Rum. Their Demerara rums carry just the faintest impression of round and brown sugar candied sweetness, but with all the structure of the truly great spirits that they are. The different bottlings range from the simple earthy rums for cocktails like Daiquiris or Rum Old Fashioneds to some of the finest unique sipping rums in the world. There is no serious cocktail bartender worth his shakers that does not use a range of El Dorado Rum behind the bar.

And yes, we will be roasting a pig that day!

Our bartenders will be mixing up several different cocktails with various marks of El Dorado.

• Mai Tai [1940-1950]
• Daiquiri [1900-1910]
• Floridita Daiquiri (also called a “Hemingway” Daiquiri)
• Darker and Stormier (our take on the classic)
• El Presidente [1920s]
• The Rum Old Fashioned
• The Nalini Fizz

Cocktails are $9 with younger rums and $12 with premium older rums.
With dinner, first cocktail is on me.

It's a fantastic way to experiment and you will receive all the recipes to try at home!

Band is on from 5 PM until 8 PM.

Reserve here, [email protected] or by calling 732-828-4444

The History of the Tomato in Seven Courses

Starts this Sunday, July 31, in Stage Left
Tasting Menu Available through August.

Menu

A Shot of Tomato Soup
and a BLT Amuse
NJ has been known for extraordinary tomato production since The Campbell’s Soup factory in Camden gobbled up as many tomatoes as we could grow in The Garden State...

Sungold Tomatoes and Hamachi
The first tomatoes to reach The Old World were assigned the name “pomo d’oro” by Sienese botanist Pietro Andrea Mattioli. “Pomo d’oro” translates literally as golden apple. We assume they were yellow tomatoes...

Varietal Tasting of Heirloom Tomatoes
House – Made Mozzarella
Roasted Pumpkin Seed Oil
Aged Balsamic Vinegar
The variety of tomatoes available today is breathtaking. This is a direct result of people supporting our local farmers at greenmarkets and demanding better, more interesting, and more local products...

Basil Linguini
Tomatoes, Jersey Corn
Pecorino Romano
The first mention of tomatoes with pasta didn’t occur until 1839 when Ippolito Cavalcanti, Duke of Buonvicino offered a recipe for Vermicelli con le Pommodoro.” The Sauce was the precursor to the modern Neapolitan tomato sauce...

Berhshire Pork Strip Loin
Classical Tomato Sauce a la Carême
The place of the tomato in Italian cuisine cannot be overstated, but its fundamental to French cuisine as well. Antonin Carême and Auguste Escoffier categorized hundreds of sauces that define classical French cuisine. The five “mother” sauces are Béchamel, Velouté, Espagnole, Hollandaise and…you guessed it…Tomato...

Flat Iron Steak
Aztec Sauce
Jalapeno Corn Bread
There aren’t many surviving Aztec recipes, so we’re working from various descriptions. The first western person to write of a sauce including tomatoes was Bernardino de Sahagún, a Franciscan missionary to the Aztecs, who made note of a prepared sauce offered for sale in Tenochtitlán (today’s Mexico City) some time before 1590. He reported that the sauce contained tomatoes, hot peppers and pumpkin seeds. The Aztecs also taught us how to use corn...

Candied Tomato Brûlée
Basil & Black Pepper & Balsamic Ice Cream
A Final Shot of Tomato Soup
We end our dinner story firmly in the present and with an eye to the future. American chefs are informed by the past but are not bound by it. The tomato’s balance of texture, sweetness and acidity and its existence in the middle-grounds between savory and sweet, between fruit and vegetable, provide chefs with an exciting area to explore, delight and surprise us in ways rarely considered. Witness the Candied Tomato Brûlée with Three Ice Creams...

Tasting Menu $79
Available Starting Sunday and Through August

For reservations, click here or [email protected]

Big Night! Dinner and a Movie

Tony Shaloub, Stanly Tucci, Mark Anthony, Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini, Liev Schreiber

A Private Screening of Our Favorite Food Movie
Then we serve the feast from the film
Friday, August 12th
[email protected]

Our favorite food film of all time, Big Night, came out in 1996. A cult classic, it's a hysterical account of the sometimes heated relationship of two brothers who open a very authentic Italian restaurant in not-so-worldly New Jersey of the 1950's. The cast is stunning. The music, the dialogue, the cinematography, is all just perfect. At the center of it all though, is the food: A huge feast and all the love and care and drama that goes into it.

We will screen the film in the private screening room at The Heldrich across the street, beginning at 6:30, truffled popcorn included. Immediately afterwards, we will recreate the feast from the film in the dining room of Catherine Lombardi. We will dine at large communal tables and great fun will be had by all.

This year, we've partnered with the folks at Farnese Vini in Southern Italy. This dynamic group is producing some remarkable and rule-bending country wines that are absolutely delicious and stunning values. We will offer a complimentary tasting of the Farnese portfolio of wines before the film (any time between 5:30-6:25).

Our Big Night: Friday, August 12

1. Wine Tasting

Stage Left
5:30 - 6:25

2. Film

The Heldrich Hotel
6:30

3. Dinner

Catherine Lombardi
Immediately Following

The Menu

Italian Wedding Soup

Trio of Traditional Risotto

Timpano Stage Left Style

Mixed Family Style Feast
Roasted Organic Chicken, Whole Roasted Branzino,Roasted Suckling Pig,
Zucchini Flowers, Roasted Garlic with Broccoli Rabe and our famous Garlic Bread

Flambé Pascal

Dinner and the movie and pre-show wine tasting is $99.
Dinner with wines (by Farnese) $139.

Reserve by calling 732-296-9463
This always books up, so please reserve as soon as possible.

Lobster Bake & Truffled Corn with Spanish Gin and Tonic: July 24

One 1.25 lb Lobster for $25
Two 1.25 lb Lobsters for $39
Lobster Roll $19
Jersey Corn with Australian Black Truffles $19

I bet you didn't know that right now, the hottest drink in Spain is Gin and Tonic, or as they say in Spain, 'Gin y Tonic'. I'm completely serious. Spain was a little late to the cocktail game but the whole country has gone mad for the stuff. Check this out.

The Spanish do a few things quite differently. First of all, they always use quality tonic and never from a soda gun. Secondly, they serve in a wine goblet, rather than in the English / American tradition of a tall glass. This actually makes a lot of sense, when you consider the aromatics of good gin and good tonic.

You will also find adventurous garnishes in Spain, well beyond the traditional lime wedge or twist. Some Spanish bartenders are taking this a bit too far, with a salad of garnishes in your goblet; but many alternative garnishes are quite surprising and refreshing. A sprig of rosemary can be a real winner with the right G&T.

We have a Spanish gin sponsoring our Lobster bake, and an excellent one at that: Gin Mare. The pot still used to make Gin Mare was purchased by the Giro Ribot family in the 1950s. Gin Mare was started in 2007 by Manuel and Mark Ribot Jr. Their mission was to push the boundaries of the definition of gin as well as achieve exquisite quality. They succeeded.

While certainly juniper inflected, this Mediterranean gin includes aromatics from local arbequina olives, coriander, thyme, basil, rosemary, plus the citrus and other things you find in most gins. The botanicals are distilled separately and then combined to make Gin Mare.

The result is a more savory gin, a gin unlike any other. They produce their own tonic to match it. The very special 1724. The result is just spectacular. We will be serving goblets of Gin Mare and 1724 Tonic. If the weather is nice, we'll be on the sidewalk!

For reservations, click here or [email protected]

A Face Lift For Stage Left - Artwork For Sale

We're going to do a little remodeling soon and when we do, we're changing up the artwork. We have some lovely pieces on the walls and we would like to find them good homes. Inquire next time you're in. They're for sale: Delivery in the fall. Prices start at $750.

Take a partial virtual tour of Stage Left here. Click on the front door to enter.

Inquiries - [email protected] or 732-828-4444