"It is normally custom in the restaurant review trade, to let a brand new restaurant "shake down" for a few weeks, to make sure that they dot the I's and cross the T's before you go in and review them. However, there is nothing that excites me more than a Chinese restaurant, unless it is a Japanese restaurant, and when you have the two together, the combination proves entirely irresistible.
Jade Village is sited at one of the oldest homesteads in Rockland County right near the New Jersey border - the Haring homestead.
After we negotiated the doors, we were courteously greeted by our maitre d', who asked us whether we wanted to have Chinese or Japanese food.
I must admit this surprised me. There is a restaurant in Ramsey that serves all Oriental cuisines under its roof, and I thought that was what was going to happen here; not so. At Jade Village you can have Chinese food (with sushi and sashimi) or you can have Japanese food, with no Chinese food.
The restaurants are actually almost two entirely separate restaurants in one building; a very novel idea.
Since the four of us are something of Japanese food mavens, we decided to move to the left, and off to the world of Japanese cuisine we went.
However, in order to be entirely fair and to do a comprehensive restaurant review, the next day we ordered take out from the Chinese side of the house, so we will be able to give you a blow by blow description of both cuisines.
From the beginning to the end, the maitre d' and the wait staff were courtesy personified. They were attentive to everything you could possibly want. The only difficulty that I had was that we were asked about seven times how we were enjoying things, or whether anything could be improved.
The Japanese section of the restaurant is in the western portion of the building. The tables - authentically Japanese - are treated wood, and the menu is marvelously Japanese.
We were immediately seated and given our menus, and drink orders taken by our maitre d'. Madam Mere - overwhelmed to be in a Japanese restaurant - selected plum wine, which Paul dittoed. Frieda - ever the Japanese maven - had some green tea, while yours truly was the only party pooper with diet Coke.
The Japanese menu is wide ranging, and is as eclectic a menu as any I've seen.
The house special rolls (for sashimi addicts) are both interesting and trendy; where else have you seen a piece of sashimi called "the lion king".
The dinners come with miso soup and salad.
I ordered appetizers for all of us. They included the seaweed salad, the sunomono combination, the beef negimaki, the shu-mai, and the gyoza. Those of you who are aficionados, realize that the sunomono is raw fish, octopus, clam and shrimp in a sweet and sour vinegar sauce, the shu-mai are steamed dumplings, and the gyoza are pork dumplings. Negimaki is beef rolled with scallions served in a teriyaki sauce.
The selections for dinner were eclectic. Frieda ordered a chicken katsu (which is sort of like a cutlet of chicken); if done right, it is a marvelously authentic Japanese dish. Madam Mere ordered the salmon teriyaki, and Paul ordered the seafood teriyaki. Yours truly ordered the sushi and sashimi combination - I'm nothing if not predictable.
As soon as we were seated and the drink orders taken, our waitress stopped by with hot steaming towels; an old Japanese tradition which is - unfortunately - in disuse, in some of our local restaurants. I think getting that hot steaming towel right in the beginning is one of the most enjoyable things about going to a good Japanese restaurant, and I wish more restaurants would stay with the tradition.
The place was full of fun. There was a very upbeat attitude due, no doubt, to the fact that it had just opened.
Now, it is a secret worth knowing that both Madam Mere and Frieda normally disdain miso soup, but here they thought it was wonderful. which means that this miso soup must be better than any other in any local Japanese restaurant. I certainly thought it was good, though not so terribly different than the miso soup they normally disdain.
Our free miso soup was followed closely by our free salad. As usual, there was a whole load of greens, garnished generously with a peanut sauce, which was delicious.
By now, the entire crew was extraordinarily happy with the restaurant, and we were only at the salads; they practically did cartwheels when we got to the appetizers.
First served was the seaweed, and the sunomono.
Now, you might think that seaweed is an acquired taste, but if it is, Madam Mere, Frieda, and Paul Dent have certainly acquired it. The first time we went to a Japanese restaurant on a restaurant review, everybody looked at me like I had two heads when I ordered seaweed. Now they find it an interesting taste treat. I never saw so many chop sticks flash at one point in time in an effort to get at the delicious sea vegetable.
The seaweed really was first class; not overly tart as it sometimes is.
Next up, was the sunomono, which only Paul and I essayed. Sunomono is in effect pickled sushi, which is to say raw fish.
In any event the octopus, surf clam and shrimp were simply delicious. and well worth the price of the appetizer.
Next up were the hot appetizers. including the gyoza, the shu mai, and the beef negimaki.
The gyoza are little extended pork dumplings, much like what you get at a Chinese restaurant. Shu-mai are shrimp filled dumplings, round and generally steamed, while the negimaki is beef wrapped around a scallion.
Normally, the negimaki available around here is coarse and problematic. Here, the negimaki was the most popular of the three, which just goes to show you that this is a Japanese kitchen that knows its business.
All the entrees were generous in size and - with the exception of my sushi and sashimi - were accompanied by generous amounts of vegetables.
I was particularly impressed by the authenticity of Frieda's chicken katsu. When people think of Japanese cooking, they don't often think of chicken katsu.
The chicken katsu is a breaded chicken cutlet deep fried and served on a plate with vegetables. It is generally an ala carte dish or a snack in Japan, but when done well, it is superb. Here it was done well, and not only looked great but tasted great.
Madam Mere thought her salmon teriyaki was extraordinary. The teriyaki sauce was not as sharp as it normally is, which was a blessing; too often a sharp sauce undercuts the essential goodness of the other ingredients of the meal. The salmon fillet was large and delicious, and Madam Mere finished the entire thing.
Paul's seafood teriyaki was equally outstanding, consisting as it did of shrimp scallops, and a generous amount of lobster.
The sushi and sashimi was also extraordinary, and as good as any I have had in Rockland County and Bergen County - and that's saying something. The sushi masters that we are privileged to have around here really do know their trade. Here, again, the freshest fish, the finest grade of rice, all combined to make an exquisite taste treat. I also appreciated the fact that the sushi masters didn't lard on the wasabi mustard, which so often overpowers the fish.
All in all, we were well satisfied with our entrees.
Of course, with entrees finished, it is desserts next, but Madam Mere declared that she would never be satisfied unless they had red bean ice cream.
The waitress showed up, and offered us our only two choices for the complimentary dessert: green tea ice cream, and red bean ice cream.
These authentic Japanese desserts might seem a little strange to American tastes, and so the green tea and red bean ice cream have been created; they were simply delicious.
We left the restaurant, convinced that it clearly deserved a five star rating, at least on the Japanese side of the house.
The next day, Saturday, Madam Mere and Frieda decided to have Chinese food at Casa Blakeney, and so I - ever inventive - decided to order it from Jade Village, thus allowing the Chinese half of the restaurant to be examined.
After we had finished the review on Friday night, we trundled over to the Chinese side of the house, which is handled by a separate kitchen.
This is where the old dining room had been when the Haring homestead was LaCapannina. There was a big dining area, which could be changed into a banquet room, which carried off to the north and west. All in all the ambiance seemed fine.
On Saturday, we selected - over the phone - the har-gow (steamed shrimp dumplings), the beef shao-my (Cantonese steamed beef dumplings), sesame chicken for Frieda, the rainbow lobster for Madam Mere, and the triple delight for yours truly.
Obviously, since it was take-out we can't comment about the wait service, but I presume that it was as excellent as the wait service we had experienced on Friday. The ambiance I've already addressed.
The take-out is presented far more nicely than any other take-out I have ever had. The entrees are in plastic dishes with plastic cover, which keeps them far fresher than you might otherwise see when you have take-out.
Overall, we all agreed that the cooking was very good; a cut above other Chinese restaurants. However, the owners of Jade Village have not taken the opportunity I have long espoused to have authentic dim sum - truly authentic dim sum on the menu.
Thus far, we had one up and one down on the dumplings. However, we all agreed that the entrees were superb. Frieda thought her sesame chicken was truly delicious, not overwhelmed with a cloying sweet sauce as is so often the case. "The chicken here is fresh and delicious, and obviously high grade. The sesame sauce is light and frolicsome; it's really delicious."
Madam Mere's rainbow lobster had plenty of lobster, so much she couldn't finish it.
My triple delight consisted of shrimp, lobster, and filet mignon in your basic brown sauce. The filet mignon was truly filet mignon rather than the mystery beef that so often passes for it. The lobster was there, and in reasonable profusion, while the shrimp were also there, and in adequate profusion. All in all, the entrees were clearly a cut above the normal Chinese entrees.
However, the trick for Jade Village will be to insure that the Chefs, do not become complacent, but even increase the quality of the Chinese food that they serve. If they are already the best in the county - which I can make an argument they are - they should go to the next level. Rockland and Bergen counties have been dying for a really excellent Chinese restaurant; a Chinese restaurant where authentic Chinese cuisine is a reality. Authentic Chinese cuisine includes a large amount of dim sum and other specialty dishes.
Here is a great opportunity; and a group of investors who have poured more than a one third of a million dollars into building an entirely new restaurant, should not scruple for going the extra money to create a Chinese restaurant that is second to none; the investment will more than repay itself.
Overall, the Japanese restaurant gets five stars, the Chinese restaurant four and one half, but since we are feeling generous and full of tremendous Oriental foods, we rate the combined operation five stars, and urge you to make its acquaintance as soon as possible."