Restaurant critic thinks she will live forever

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Mussels in a Guinness-and-lemon broth are served at Biddy O'Malley's, an Irish pub.

Readers who have heart conditions and diabetes or are just watching their weight come running every Friday to vicariously lap up all the desserts, pork and beef sampled by Staff Writer Elisa Ung in her weekly restaurant review.


Today, her 3-star appraisal of a Northvale pub called Biddy O'Malley's reminds me of a Irishman I met at the gym who blames his five heart operations on a diet of meat -- morning, noon and night (Better Living centerfold).


Ung tried no salads or vegetables and only three dishes mentioned in her review could be considered good for you -- a pan-seared salmon special (she  doesn't say whether it was wild-caught); mussels in a Guinness-and-lemon broth; and a huge fillet of cod, though deep frying it and serving it with french fries insults this noble fish, once America's favorite.


Meat galore


The Irish pub's macaroni and cheese has sausage in it, the hamburger is made with pancetta (bacon) and butter, and the naturally raised pork chop was overcooked and dry.


Cardiac surgeons love Ung, because her proselytizing about dessert is one of things that keep them in business.


The reviewer always finds room for artery clogging little nothings, and her standards for the end of the meal appear to be even higher than for appetizers and entrees: 


She loved the "pistachio bread pudding smothered in white chocolate ganache and plump, delicate cranberries" and a "Bailey's/espresso ice cream pie in a crumbly chocolate crust."


But another dessert, a chocolate hazelnut confection from an outside source, bordered on stale. Ung may think she'll live forever, but if she keeps eating dessert, she might not be able to get in the door of her next restaurant.


Today, in a mini-review on Page 19, she also recommends another "laid-back" spot, the 2-star Bahama Breeze, a faux-Caribbean chain restaurant on the highway in Wayne.


In 2009, she sampled the restaurant's mushy "jerk-chicken pasta" and ordered seared scallops, which were served raw, not once but twice. Still, she gave the restaurant 2 stars (Good).


Road kill


Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes really came up with big local news today and plastered it all over the front of Local: a new water tank in Waldwick. 


Is this the fifth or sixth Road Warrior column in a row where burned-out Staff Writer John Cichowski relies on reader e-mails for his ideas (L-1)?


Chichowski is so out of touch with the concerns of anyone who doesn't drive that in discussing replacement of the Route 495 helix, he completely ignores delays for the thousands of city-bound commuters who ride buses through the Lincoln Tunnel.


On L-6, a story on mourners viewing Assembly leader Alex DeCroce, 75, omits the cause of death, as did a coverage on Tuesday of Governor Christie's eulogy to his mentor.