Reader mail: UPDATED

My plate is very full today and Friday, so I'm posting Reader Mail early this week.

Remember : Every Friday (and sometimes earlier) is Reader Mail. You ask. We answer. Keep the questions coming. Send them to me at ptalorico@delawareoline.com.

On Friday, Eric Ruth's Taste column looks at Floga Bistro, 826 E. Baltimore Pike (U.S. 1), Marlborough Square Shopping Center, Kennett Square, Pa. (near Genuardi's). (610) 444-6500. www.FlogaBistro.com.

UPDATE: Here's the link to the column about this BYOB.

Onto the letters:

'SORRY TO BE BLUNT'

QUESTION: Patricia, You have an incredible opportunity to showcase some of the greater restaurants around New Castle County and yet you repeatedly miss the mark. Is your research flawed or has Gannett overfunded your ignorance? Sorry to be so blunt, but I just don't understand how you can pontificate without credentials. You must spend too much time with Eric Ruth. I am sure you've heard this before. An even playing field is all we ask.

Jamie Campbell

ANSWER: Readers, a couple of points I'd like to make:

I'm all for frank, open discussions and freely sharing opinions. And I don't mind someone being blunt.

But I have to draw the line on insults and rudeness.

Jamie, since you provided your phone number on the email you sent me - which I have not posted on this blog - I called and left you a message. You haven't returned my phone call.

You have said I "repeatedly miss the mark" to showcase "some of the greater restaurants around New Castle County."

Yet you haven't told me what those restaurants are - in your opinion.

Regular NJ and delawareonline.com readers know that Eric Ruth and I often write about New Castle County restaurants. In fact, the day that I received your email there was an article by me about the opening of the new Capers & Lemons restaurant and Stone Balloon Winehouse, both in New Castle County.

I also wrote an article the same day about Liz Marden's Gourmet Cake & Dessert Shop that is in - wait for it, wait for it - New Castle County.

You have accused me of pontificating "without credentials." (News flash: Restaurant critics are paid to share their opinions. But let's let the Pontiff pontificate.)

Well, I'll be happy to share my credentials: I've written about food, wine, chefs, cookbook authors and restaurants for more than a decade for such publications as The Washington Post, USA Today and Bon Appetit. I have been lucky enough to interview everyone from Julia Child to Jacques Pepin to Lidia Bastianich to Mario Batali to Jose Garces to Emeril Lagasse - I could go on and on - sometimes I've even shared the kitchen with them as they worked. I have attended cooking classes at the French Culinary Institute in New York, and cooking and wine classes in Philadelphia, Chicago, Rome, Florence, London and Slovenia, among other places.

I have worked in both the front and back of the house in restaurants and I'm currently the "Adventures in Eating" columnist for USA Today's Open Air magazine. (Check out the spring and summer issues for my upcoming articles.)

Oh, I've also been twice recognized by the James Beard Foundation for best newspaper food writing, but lost the award to Marian Burros and Kim Severson, both writers at The New York Times. And, yes, it really has been an honor to be nominated since this is considered the most prestigious culinary organization in the country.

And, finally, no, I don't actually spend enough time with Eric Ruth.

But I wish I did.

He's loads of fun.

DISHING ABOUT CAPERS & LEMONS

QUESTION: Dear Patricia,
I have been to the new restaurant Capers & Lemons, and it was a total disappointment. Menu is very small, looks like a copy cat from [a?] local restaurant and it is way overpriced. Come on, a Margherita pizza for $11? That is too much. We know how small the expense of making a pizza is. Oh, by the way, the oven is not wood fire, it is a gas. A chicken piccata dish is $13 for lunch. Oh, I almost forgot a house salad for $6 way up there. The food was OK, nothing great, kind of bland. It seems like all the sauces had the same flavor.

The restaurant is nice, fresh and simple, but I did not like the fact that servers were wearing short sleeves shirt....I do not want to see my waiter's hairy arms!!

Sometimes we get all excited about new places way too much, and we forget that there are landmark restaurants that they have been around for years offering authentic cuisine without being so sophisticated and high end.

I wish them all the luck in this bad economy, but I will stick to my favorite restaurant.

Stacey Spencer

ANSWER: Just an FYI, Capers & Lemons opened Tuesday. I received Stacey's email at 9:10 a.m. Wednesday. Wow! Patrons aren't wasting anytime when it comes to checking out new restaurants!

I will have to say that every new restaurant has kinks to work out, especially one that has been in business for only one day. Just so we're clear, in my earlier post about C&L, I said the oven was wood stone, not wood fire. Wood Stone - which is clearly printed on the menus - is a line of commerical cooking equipment used by Carrabba's, California Pizza Kitchen, Wolfgang Puck and others.

I had a "first look" dinner Wednesday night at C&L and my opinion is quite different than Stacey's.

I certainly wouldn't call a lunch menu with at least 40 items "small." A house salad at Kid Shelleen's is $6.95 - and as I checked other menus - that seems to be the going rate. Gourmet-style pizzas always tend to be priced higher than those at pizza parlors. The crust here is quite good.

Also, I had a wonderful meal - as did my two companions. The restaurant seems to be very strong out of the gate.

Portions were generous - chef is Mike O'Hare, who was the first chef at the old Caffe Bellissimo on Kirkwood Highway. Highlights of our meal included the "polenta" sandwich, the antipasti (especially the caramelized fennel with a touch of citrus which I would order again in a heartbeat), the crust on the balsamic onion flatbread was thin and terrific, and I highly recommend the spinach ricotta agnolotti and the braciole over creamy polenta.

Menus are piled at the front door. Customers can certainly give them a good look before being seated. If you think the prices seem too high and out of your budget, I think that's the time to leave - not after you've been seated.

Restaurateur Danny Meyer once shared some great advice for diners: Always talk to the server, manager or owner whenever you're unhappy about food, service, drink, whatever, when you are STILL at the restaurant.

The very best restaurants - such as Meyer's operations - will do everything they can possibly do to make you happy.

Stacey - can you please share the landmark restaurants you've written about that you believe are better? Also, what is the favorite restaurant that you mentioned? And why do you like it so much?

I'm sure other readers would be interested to know. Thanks for the email.

BARBECUE AND CHINESE BUFFETS

QUESTION: Patricia, there are two restaurants that are going to open soon. Fish and Ribs at Community Plaza and Bar B Cutie at Fox Run.
Do you know anything about them? Are they part of a chain or [locally-owned]?
Are they opening soon?
Also, what is your opinion of La Tolteca in Fox Run?
And finally, what is your favorite Chinese buffet? There is one on Del. 896 near the old Super Fresh. The food has been declining and I was looking for another.
Thanks,
CL

ANSWER: More new restaurants?!?! Recession? What recession? CL, after I post this I'm hopping into the car and see what I can find out about these new places. Right now, I have no information.

Haven't been to La Tolteca in Fox Run, but I have been to a few other La Toltecas in Delaware. Sorry, but I'm not much of a fan. I'd rather eat at El Tapatio Mexican Restaurant, 1700 Philadelphia Pike, Wilmington, 791-9566; or Taqueria Moroleon, a BYOB restaurant in Kennett Square, Pa., (610) 444-1210.

Don't mean to sound snobbish, but I haven't had much luck at Chinese buffets. It always seems to me that food sits out much too long and doesn't taste as fresh as it should. I have been to the buffet restaurant in the shopping center on Naamans Road (next to Harry’s Savoy Grill) - name escapes me now? - and it was adequate, but I wouldn't run there for a visit.

VINCENTE'S OPENING (MAYBE) IN APRIL

QUESTION: Does anyone know when Marconi's will open near Delaware Park? Thank you, John.

ANSWER: John, do you mean the restaurant coming from restaurateur/showman Vincent Mancari? Mancari is relocating his Vincente's Restaurant in Library Plaza, at 5914 Kirkwood Highway. The restaurant will be near the entrance to Delaware Park and the New Castle County Kirkwood Library, which is currently closed for renovations. I sent Mancari an email and he wrote: "We hope to open early in April, work is going slow."

NO PIT BURGERS IN BEAR

QUESTION: Patricia, Just a quick question! Do you know what happened to the Charcoal Pit in Bear? We tried to go there for dinner on Friday (Feb. 6), and there was a sign on the door saying that they had closed. Did they only close the Bear location, or are other locations being closed as well?
Thanks,
Tammy

ANSWER: Oh my, Tammy. I just tried calling the Bear location in the Fox Run Shopping Center and, yep, the phone line has been disconnected. Eric Ruth and I were recently interviewed by someone from Food Network magazine about the original Charcoal Pit on Concord Pike. I told them how the Pit on the Pike has been a Delaware landmark since 1956.

It looks like other locations are still open, but I'll see what else I can find out.

Come back to Second Helpings for more information.