Food critic 'transported' to Spain should have stayed there

How robust is the state's economy? In Hackensack, thousands of new and used Toyotas stretch from River Street to the Hackensack River. Today, The Record reports the unemployment rate of 6.5% in May is a full percentage point above the national rate.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Restaurant critic Elisa Ung of the The Record tries hard to persuade readers that dishes served at Sangria restaurant in Mahwah "transported" her to Spain.

But her lukewarm, 2-star review in Better Living likely will have many steering clear of the place, which actually put out a hilarious sign reading:

"Modern Spaniard Cuisine"

Ung found "soggy paella, "greasy steak and ... disappointing sangria" (BL-18).

And she hated three of the four desserts she sampled, claiming the bread pudding contained "undercooked chunks of bread."

Off to Spain

Still, she says, a platter of ham, cheese and nuts, and another dessert transported her to Spain, where the owner's father was born.

Why didn't she just stay there, and try the rabo de toro at a Madrid restaurant not far from the bullring?

My advice for the owner: 

Change your stupid sign to "Modern Cuisine of Spain," even though you have Cuban and other dishes on the menu.

My advice for Ung:

Your job is to weed out disappointing restaurants, and when you find one, a few paragraphs of warning would suffice.

Doom and gloom

Why comment on the weekly restaurant review, which is buried deep in the paper?

Look at today's sensational front page, which is soaked in blood, if you will (A-1).

And almost the entire front of the Local section is Law & Order news, including a spectacular photo of a burning, overturned vehicle (L-1).

Errors 'r' us

But the errors keep on piling up, as demonstrated by the four detailed corrections on A-2 today.

Other errors in Thursday's paper aren't even acknowledged, some are repeated and new errors appear today.

Staff Writer Deena Yellin continues to send mixed messages on the death of a 13-year-old Cresskill boy who was riding his bicycle to school on Wednesday morning, just as she did in her story on Thursday. 

Her first paragraph reports Young Rok Lee was "struck and killed ... by a tractor-trailer" (L-1).

But her second paragraph says Lee "collided" with the back of the tractor-trailer, suggesting he rode into it.

Can't get town right

Also on L-1, the caption with the photo of the burning vehicle reports "three Englewood police officers and the deputy chief" were involved in the rescue of the driver.

But when readers turn to the story on L-5, they learn the officers and deputy chief were from Englewood Cliffs, not Englewood.

Readers never learn whether the unidentified woman whose vehicle hit a utility pole was speeding, texting or putting on her makeup before she lost control.