Possibly relocating. Looking for opinions.

Dave Taylor said:
We are visiting Frederick Maryland this weekend. If you haven’t been you should check it out sometime. It has a really nice old town on a canal yet it’s booming like Jersey was in the 90s. And to the other guy, despite driving 30 minutes to a restaurant The current level of service sucks. Rarely am I able to get in and out of a restaurant and under an hour.
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I have actually, at least twice. While driving down to the South on a trip we randomly stopped there maybe for coffee or a restaurant and was like, WTF, how did we not know about this?
 
UtahJoe said:
I was just in California, Mexican food is better, you should all move there..
I'm with @Norm on this one... I can make decent Mexican food, it's not a high culinary experience.

The weather in this state is about as year round awful as anywhere I have experienced.... To me that's the real downside of nj.... We never get decent weather. Finally cools off a bit in the fall only to have all the leaves fall and make the trails like ice.... Spring it finally warms up to 48 and raining.... After spending a couple days in San Francisco, man we endure alot of shit weather around here.....

However, our mountain biking is as all around good as any place I have been... No we don't have the whole enchilada trail, but if you lived in moab, would you ride that 3 or 4 times a week? We have such a big variety here... I have never ending options of rides within 1 hour of my house.
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Patrick said:
i just spent a week in san diego.
high of 80, low of 60 at night. not a drop of rain (they only get 10" per year)
there was a cloud in the sky on one of the days. Marine layer had to burn off on a couple of the days too.

airport is small but goes to most places
lots of bike infrastructure on the city roads - plenty of trails (which i didn't ride)
Plenty of work
Plenty of food - asian and latino is excellent - and sometimes fusion!
Laid back attitude
Purchase 1000' back from the water, and wait a few years to have ocean front property.

really makes me wonder why we live here.
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Never been to any of those places, but as someone who has in the past travelled quite a lot I would not rush to judgement of a specific climate based only on a few days long experience...I once spent 2 weeks in Northern England (Newcastle) in late winter or early spring and the weather was glorious, dry, warm and sunny...and according to my friend that lives there all year round those were the only days of the whole year that it didn't rain! Had I moved here based solely on that 15 days experience I would have been miserable (not really because I like the place regardless the weather, but I do adapt quickly)!
 
serviceguy said:
TBH I lost any respect in @Santapez 's sense of culinary direction when he told me he doesn't like Italian food. I drew a line in the sand right there and then.
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I don't dislike Italian food. I hate the fancy pretense that most Italian Restaurants have. It's comfort food, stop trying to tell me it's fancy food with your white tableclothes where you're sharing the kitchen with the takeout Pizzaria that's part of the same restaurant in the strip mall.

I do hate being fat, and Italian food can easily make you fat. If you walked down the street in Morristown and saw who's sitting outside eating at a restaurant you can make a good guess on the food being served. Old fat people, probably Italian. Grandma with the walker and an oxygen tank? Italian restaurant.
 
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serviceguy said:
Never been to any of those places, but as someone who has in the past travelled quite a lot I would not rush to judgement of a specific climate based only on a few days long experience...I once spent 2 weeks in Northern England (Newcastle) in late winter or early spring and the weather was glorious, dry, warm and sunny...and according to my friend that lives there all year round those were the only days of the whole year that it didn't rain! Had I moved here based solely on that 15 days experience I would have been miserable (not really because I like the place regardless the weather, but I do adapt quickly)!
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I can't argue with that. My sister visited a friend in San Francisco during a heatwave and thought it always had nice weather and moved out there. Argued with my parents about the weather before moving out there. First phone call home was "I don't want to hear anything about it, but I need you to ship me my winter coats".
 
Santapez said:
I don't dislike Italian food. I hate the fancy pretense that most Italian Restaurants have. It's comfort food, stop trying to tell me it's fancy food with your white tableclothes where you're sharing the kitchen with the takeout Pizzaria that's part of the same restaurant in the strip mall.

I do hate being fat, and Italian food can easily make you fat. If you walked down the street in Morristown and saw who's sitting outside eating at a restaurant you can make a good guess on the food being served. Old fat people, probably Italian. Grandma with the walker and an oxygen tank? Italian restaurant.
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Ok, that is the difference between 'Italian food' and 'food served by Italian restaurants'. Got it. I misunderstood you sense of culinary direction.

As a rule I don't usually go to specifically denominated 'Italian Restaurants' as I know I will be disappointed by the time I seat at the table, even the fancy ones. Restaurants have to somehow adapt to their surroundings or close shops, it isn't always a good thing for the food they're serving.
 
serviceguy said:
Ok, that is the difference between 'Italian food' and 'food served by Italian restaurants'. Got it. I misunderstood you sense of culinary direction.

As a rule I don't usually go to specifically denominated 'Italian Restaurants' as I know I will be disappointed by the time I seat at the table, even the fancy ones.
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You may be referring to what my wife derides as "red-sauce italian restaurants".
 
stb222 said:
it is but there are so many other factors outside of weather. I would be more concerned about Utah’s assessment of San Fran weather
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Well I took the ferry to alcatraz on Monday at 6pm... Wearing my t shirt, pants and club ride hoodie.... I felt like I was on an Alaskan crab boat in the bearing sea... Froze my ass off and it was goddam wonderful.

That said... my trip was supposed to be seven days at Lake Tahoe.... we had to leave after 4 because the air quality was the worst on planet (aqi was 740 at our house) Earth due to the caldor fire.... I rarely saw blue sky in all of California on my trip.... I have never experienced being that close to such a large fire... But it was unbelievable to drive for 2 hours thru smoke this thick..... Granted you wouldn't have this problem in San Diego... But there was smoke from San Francisco to reno and that's 4+ hours of driving...

20210822_134045.jpg

I consider myself super lucky that I could just pack up and leave..... this is what a lot of people have to live with every day.. Breathing this crap in was pretty awful
 
Patrick said:
san diego weather is legendary.



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"June gloom" is a thing there, though. We vacationed in San Diego a couple of years ago and it was foggy and cloudy all week. It is really nice most of the year, but that June gloom was weird. Apparently, everyone knew about it but me - any time I mentioned how it was foggy, people were just like, "Of course ... June gloom ..." I think my favorite part of that area was La Jolla. We did a bike tour of La Jolla that featured stops at multiple agave trees for a tequila shot each time and it ended at a brewery. So it might have had less to do with the town itself than the activities ...

Dave Taylor said:
One more thing if you say traffic sucks everywhere than you have lived in New Jersey too long. The only places I have been that or worse or LA and Atlanta. I know a lot of NJ people are on this board given the name of the website but in reality you can’t polish a turd. Even the school systems in this area are generally going down. When I went to Bernards 20+ years ago it was one of the top 100 schools in the country now it’s barely a B rated school.One thing you cannot take away from New Jersey as we do have the most diversified trail system probably in the world everything from sand hard pack clay roots rocks glaciers Appalachian trail etc…
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You left out DC. I've driven through all three of those places and you're right - LA and Atlanta are terrible for traffic. But DC is just as bad. Last time I was there was midday when I was driving down to Quantico to do the Montezuma's Revenge ride. It took me hours to get around the beltway. And this wasn't a day where there was anything specific going on. It was just random Friday afternoon traffic. As great as that ride was (and it IS a great ride - the trails on Quantico are awesome) I don't know if I can ever go back because that traffic just sucked the will to live right out of me.
 
Santapez said:
I don't dislike Italian food. I hate the fancy pretense that most Italian Restaurants have. It's comfort food, stop trying to tell me it's fancy food with your white tableclothes where you're sharing the kitchen with the takeout Pizzaria that's part of the same restaurant in the strip mall.

I do hate being fat, and Italian food can easily make you fat. If you walked down the street in Morristown and saw who's sitting outside eating at a restaurant you can make a good guess on the food being served. Old fat people, probably Italian. Grandma with the walker and an oxygen tank? Italian restaurant.
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As someone who is fat and half Italian, I do enjoy eating at an Italian place that serves pizza and good food. And it happens to be an old church too.

Panico's Bistro

Panico’s serves classic and innovative cuisine that has an Italian flair with Mediterranean influences and is found in the loud, lively surrounds of an old church in West Cape May.
www.panicosbistro.com www.panicosbistro.com
I usually go with the Shrimp & Lemon Bianco or the Scallops Pomodora Style. Never disappoints and always go there when on vacation. I believe the pasta is homemade, like my grandmother use to make.
Amen.
 
JerseyPete said:
As someone who is fat and half Italian, I do enjoy eating at an Italian place that serves pizza and good food. And it happens to be an old church too.

Panico's Bistro

Panico’s serves classic and innovative cuisine that has an Italian flair with Mediterranean influences and is found in the loud, lively surrounds of an old church in West Cape May.
www.panicosbistro.com www.panicosbistro.com
I usually go with the Shrimp & Lemon Bianco or the Scallops Pomodora Style. Never disappoints and always go there when on vacation. I believe the pasta is homemade, like my grandmother use to make.
Amen.
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Sorry, I looked at the menu. No thanks. I'm with @Santapez on this.
 
Santapez said:
I said it jokingly because people throw it out there.

I live in Morristown and don't want to sound negative...
  • I'd say the food in Morristown is mostly meh.
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I can't say meh, although I do admit, I can't say anyplace blows you away. Although Guerriero's is pretty damn good.
Santapez said:
  • Our casual food choices are minimal and the wait times are horrible. It can take an hour to get a burrito at Tito's. Great for being in your 20s and going out to a bar. Find me a burger that costs less than $15 and doesn't require a waiter/waitress.
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I guess I'm not as picky as you are, and my waist shows it! The hopper has a great burger and they actually have one of the best steaks in Motown, that includes Roots and JK. I never eat in at tito's, but we do get stuff from them fairly often, I haven't had the same experience with the wait time, only if you order wings. The Mediterranean Grill has some awesome lamb wraps and gyros.
Santapez said:
  • I can ride to Lewis Morris. I get in the car and drive to better parks.
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100%, I ride stephens, ringwood way more often than Lewis Morris, but it is there, and as I get to be more wimpy by the day, I am starting to like it more.
Santapez said:
  • LGA or JFK is about as good of an option as ATL. There's two moats in between us and those two airports. The fact that LGA and JFK steals flights from EWR makes things harder for us.
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Come on, I know its sucks to have to fly out there compared to newark, but there at 10,000 flights a day leaving out of those places. worst case, it takes three hours to get there. There are a lot of places where it takes a lot longer than that to get to an airport, and you will have connections.
Santapez said:
  • NYC is great. But it's really only accessible on a Sunday without major stress. And you empty your wallet just on the travel expenses.
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I don't get that stress, I am only going in for fun, so, I usually drive, and I understand there will be traffic. I would hate to commute there. Bottom line, emptying your wallet is part of the equation going anywhere for fun, except hiking and camping. Nothing is cheap.
Santapez said:
  • .
  • Our food is great in Northern NJ.
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If you like a wide choice in Italian restaurants. It's gotten better. Up until recently we didn't have good Mexican anywhere around here:

I have always liked Casa Maya, it's about 15 min from Motown.

1 good Vietnamese restaurant in Parsippany within a half hour since the one in Florham Park closed. Can I even find Soup Dumplings between here and Fort Lee?

Can't speak to Vietnamese or soup dumplings. But Origin has good pad thai





It's a half hour for a good Jewish Deli:

Don't care, although I do like a great Pastrami on rye.

We have a total lack of great smaller restaurants that are creative which many other states have:
There are 9 million restaurants between motown and fort lee, my guess is, some fit this bill. South and Pine comes to mind.

For whatever reason NJ seems to hate breakfast/brunch food unless you count breakfast sandwiches at Delis or shitty diners. From Morristown, what's the closest diner that doesn't suck? I am not a big diner guy but, Whipanny Diner? Shit, even the Motown diner has a decent to go burger and its ready when you get off the phone.

We're finally getting BBQ options which basically didn't even exist here 10 years ago.

Where to you go for BBQ? my son(16) loves that Mega BBQ, he says its awesome. The chicken place on MLK is great Pollo Pucalor. I would love to try a new BBQ place.
 
serviceguy said:
Sorry, I looked at the menu. No thanks. I'm with @Santapez on this.
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I dunno. Based on his recommendation, and if I was on vacation down there, if my wife suggested we eat there, I'm sure I'd be OK with it.

I looked at their menu, and while nothing stands out to me that I'd really want it, it all looks OK. It's not Chicken Parm on a bed of pasta.

But I did say I don't hate Italian food.

@roc

I may have never had worse food than the Mediterranean Grill. It seems from people I speak to, there must be days of the week where it's good, and days where it's absolutely awful.

Mega BBQ is not Southern BBQ, not that it's bad.

Only real southern BBQ places really around are Daddy Matty's in Madison, which is weirdly upscale for BBQ, Grub Hut in Manville, there's Mighty Quinns on route 23 that's extremely overpriced and fancy. There's an excellent authentic BBQ food truck by High Bridge trails but I think it's never open when I'm riding there. I know I'm missing something closer but it's completely escaping my mind.
 
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