Old Mill Tavern: 'We want people to feel at home'

Do you ever just want to watch a football game, toss back a few drinks and enjoy a good, hearty burger? Do you ever just want to go to a restaurant where you can take the children, enjoy a great meal and not feel strapped for cash?

You can do both in the same restaurant, if you go to the Old Mill Tavern.

"It's just a rustic, comfortable place," owner John Gutowski says. "The atmosphere and the theme here is that we want people to feel at home."

The Old Mill Tavern sits comfortably on the side of Route 24. The site's original structure was a post office. When it was rebuilt, it became a restaurant. Now the place has it it all — great food, friendly atmosphere and great prices — all under one roof.

Its attributes don't go unnoticed. Even in these trying times, the Old Mill Tavern stays busy.

"In this difficult, economic time," Gutowski says, "our focus has been to make the quality the best it can be, and we're proud of that, because people are responding to that — our numbers are up."

Maurice Ching, who has worked at the Old Mill Tavern for more than 14 years, attributes a lot of that success to a few key items on the menu.

"You know, chili — we make almost like 40 gallons a week," Ching says, obviously proud of the Mill's recipe by the way he's smiling. "That's like one of the main things we sell here. Well, the burgers are big here, too, you know. We use more than 200 pounds of ground beef a week. Everything is homemade."

But it's not just the stellar burgers and chili: "People come for our wings," Gutowski says. "They enjoy the different varieties, from mild to suicide."

Not only is the food homemade, but it's ingredients come from local sources. Gutowski is trying to help the area by giving business back to it, and he does that by purchasing all of his raw materials from nearby vendors.

"One of the grassroots things about the Old Mill Tavern is that it's a local, hometown place, so it's important for us to tie the local butcher as well as the local farms into our business," Gutowski says. "And that's why, because our local butcher is a hometown guy. We're buying fresh food from him."

The restaurant has a special every night: all-you-can-eat crab legs on Monday nights, Mexican food on Tuesdays, pasta on Wednesdays and others for the rest of the week.

"I came up with that to grow business and to give to the customers something different, you know," Ching says. "Now, they not just coming for the burger, they're coming for pasta night, too. People really like it."

Another of the tavern's draws is the building itself. In one corner, there's a video game arcade that children can play while they wait for their parents to finish their meals. Patrons can drink a beer from one of the 24 varieties on tap. And the TVs are tuned to whatever big games are being broadcast.

"Saturday, we get all the college football games," Gutowski says, "Not just the Big Ten. We're on the ESPN GamePlan, so you can watch 11 different games. Wherever you're sitting, we'll give you what you want to watch."

Along with the excellent food and atmosphere, the Old Mill also tries to do something for the older crowd: "We offer 10 percent discounts for seniors on various nights," Gutowski says.

Gutowski, who has lived around the Chester area since 1977, thinks the success of his business stems from the great people who live here.

"Chester is a great place to be," he says. "It's a very quaint town, and the people are really genuine, and down to earth. It's a great place to live."

Fences wreathed in charitable effort

When JoAnn Burg, community outreach deacon of the Long Valley Presbyterian Church, took the helm of the annual Sponsor a Wreath fundraiser in Washington Township, she said she did it as a personal way to help out people in the area.

Sponsor the Wreaths "is a very real way to assist people in the local community," she said.

Donors pay $20 to sponsor for wreaths, which are hung on one of the white fences that line roads in Washington Township. The money supports a local food pantry. Volunteers already have started hanging this year's wreaths.

The Interfaith Community Outreach for Washington Township Area, or ICOWTA, is a coalition of 10 churches that administer the Residents Emergency Fund and the Food Pantry. A member of the group, Burg said believes that the groceries that are bought through the fundraiser are a "hand-up" rather than a handout.

"I think a handout sounds like people are just waiting there (to collect something0," Burg said. "The people we're helping either have jobs or just lost a job."

"When someone donates $20, there is no administrative cost behind it, and nothing gets deducted," she said. "It all goes back to the food pantry."

Sponsor a Wreath was created six years ago by neighbors Sam and Laurie Aiken and Harvey Ort Jr. as a way to help residents in need. All of the money raised is used to buy groceries and help those in need. By the time all the money is in, 4,500 bags of groceries will be distributed out to more than 70 families this holiday season.

Volunteers and church members say they feel the program is a great annual event because it allows many from the community get involved in it every year. For example, the Washington Township Library conducted a Food for Fines campaign in which people could substitute paying late book fines by donating food. Curves of Chester, Weight Watchers of Long Valley and Chester and Washington Township Scouts get involved, acting as collection conduits for the food drive.

"It's amazing," Burg said about all the support the fundraiser gets in the community. "Most of them come to us."

One of the most visible highlights of the event is when the wreaths are hung on the fences, providing a seasonal decoration with a definite cause behind it.

Donations for wreaths can be mailed to ICOWTA c/o Long Valley Presbyterian Church, 39 Bartley Road, Long Valley, NJ 07853.

'Fusion' menu feature of Meeso Korean and Japanese Grill

Everything about Meeso in Chester is about fusion, from the food to the colors — event to the name of the restaurant itself.

Han, a native of Korea, chose that name for the restaurant because her modus operandi is to do just that: make people smile when eating her food.

"I give them a smile," Han says. "They enjoy the food, they're happy, and they really have a good time in my place."

Korean and Japanese may be the name of the game in this buoyant, autumn-color little restaurant on Main Street, but Han is not averse to one day mixing up many other different cultures' recipes in with her own Korean style.

"I don't divide (the menu)," Han says, "As in this is Japanese, and this is Korean because in the future, I'm going to accept any kind of country's food. Now, there's no nationality. It's all mixed in. In the future, I'm going to try different ingredients from different countries."

The current menu already is quite diverse. It features items such as the Bulgogi box, which is thinly sliced beef, marinated with a mixture of garlic, sugar, fruits, sesame oil and soy sauce, and there also are a variety of sushi rolls, such as the eel and cucumber roll, the crab roll and the California roll.

But if meat's not your thing, there's no problem: Meeso has a pretty extensive vegetarian selection as well.

"I didn't expect that many people (to be vegetarians in Chester)," Han says. "Around here, there are so many vegetarians, so I was surprised. That's why you have a choice to get only vegetable or with beef. The people consider their health more (and avoid red meat). That's why I'm trying more recipes with vegetables."

One such item on the menu is the Bi-Bim-Bap, which is rice mixed with six vegetables and spicy sauce on the side.

"It's very healthy, and it's getting very popular," Han says.

With such an enthusiasm for the business, it's hard to believe that Han initially had no interest in feeding people.

"I came (to America) to study," she says, "I studied for my MBA, but I graduated after 9/11, so many companies didn't want to hire a foreigner."

Han's master of business administration degree is in information systems management, which she says is "unrelated to food." A friend suggested she pursue a career in food service if she couldn't find a job in her field.

She had worked in a restaurant while she was in college. "It was really hard — long hours. And I thought, 'I don't want to do that.' "

It was a good six months before she finally took the plunge into the restaurant world. But she didn't want to take the traditional approach; she wanted to try something different.

"That's why I said, if I stick with this idea, I don't want to serve the Korean traditional style. It's too much work, and you waste a lot of food," Han says. "All the side dishes that they didn't eat, we had to throw out. But with (the restaurant's fusion menu), it's a different item, a different product."

This different product seems to suit Meeso's customers just fine, and if it doesn't, she takes her customers' advice on how she can make it better.

She doesn't hesitate to recommend food to new customers.

"And we listen if they like it or not," Han says. "Usually, the regular customers, they're honest. Just like a friend, and that's very important to me, to make a relationship with the customer. I think that's very important."

The aroma of hops and grains will draw you in

The one thing you can't help doing when walking into the Long Valley Pub & Brewery is pricking up your nostrils and taking a good long whiff, as the aroma of hops and grains is prevalent as soon as you open the door.

"We brew our own beer here," says General Manager Brad Lowmaster. "We only sell the house-brewed beer."

On first walking into the Pub & Brewery, after the initial smell drifts past you, the next thing you'll probably notice is the barnlike decor. That's because the building once served other functions before it became the brewery and restaurant that it is today.

"This building has been here since 1771," Lowmaster says. "It was a barn for a very long time, and in 1995, it was renovated from a barn into the restaurant."

The building has been the site of many unusual and fun events during its restaurant time, from luaus to brunches, to annual Oktoberfests, that usually fill the house to the brim with happy families.

"We do the whole German theme all year round, but for the Oktoberfest, it's one big party outside," says Lowmaster, who used to bus at the restaurant for about six years before he became a general manager. "We get anywhere between 800 to 1,000 people who come out for this party outside, where we put a few of our mainstays that we have on our menu outside and set it up as a buffet — a little bit of a reduced price, you know. It's done by tickets. You buy a certain amount of tickets, and (we) put our beers outside for everyone as well, so we have a band, and it's a big party outside."

Some of the mainstays are traditional American fare such as a bison burger topped with jack cheese and wild mushroom ragout, served on an onion roll; a grilled shrimp panini with a medley of shrimp, spinach, brie cheese, roasted red peppers, lemon dill aioli and sweet potato fries; German-style meals including a delight called "Best of the Wurst," which is Schaller-Weber's finest knockwurst, bratwurst and weisswurst, served with sauerkraut, German potato salad and whole-grain mustard.

"We have your basic appetizers. We have anything from quesadillas to wings: everything that is popular, with our own touch to it," Lowmaster says. "We try to make everything in house. We have the dry-aged steaks on our menu right now, which happens to be very popular."

But you can't talk about the food at the Long Valley Pub & Brewery without also talking about the stellar, award-winning beers that are made on the premises by brewmaster Joe Saia.

"We typically get here, depending on the season, between 5 and 6 a.m. to get our brew day going," says Saia, who speaks proudly of his beers. The brews have won a great many awards from the Great American Beer Festival, such as a 2006 silver medal for a Lazy Jake Porter and a gold medal in 2005 for a Nut Brown Ale.

"People have this misconception (that brewing) is a glamorous, fun job, when in actuality it's dirty, hot, wet and stinky. It's a real job," he says.

Still, Saia loves it with all his heart and calls it a labor of love, explaining he aims not to inebriate the customer coming in, but rather to give them the best flavor possible.

"I can take a small amount of ingredients and get the most flavor I can get out of it," Saia says, "So, it not only helps with our bottom line, but it helps people be responsible here, it helps them pair up beers with their appetizers, with their entree, and even their dessert."

He adds, "If you notice, we have an oatmeal stout up here, which goes real well with chocolate cakes, and fruits and things like that, and now that we're starting up our Sunday brunch again, I thought an oatmeal stout would be the perfect complement to Belgian waffles and fruit platters and things like that.... (I'm) making the best beer in the world as far as all of us are concerned."

Review: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

You know what? Even though I’ve talked a lot of smack about the Wii in my time writing for CBGames, I have to admit something. Sure, the Wii has had some pretty awful titles in its past, but overall, I’ve been massively pleased with the heavy-hitting games for the system like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Super Mario Galaxy, and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Heck, even some third party titles like Muramasa: The Demon Blade, are quickly gaining a place in my favorite games of all time list.

And now comes New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a game that I shouldn’t even be allowed to review since I already have such a positive bias towards Mario (And this is classic, 2D Mario at that). Be that as it may, I’m going to say it anyway—New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the second greatest game for the Wii ever. The best game for the system ? Super Mario Galaxy, of course.

The splendor of this game, though, is that it’s delightfully old school and new at the same time. We've heard that plenty of times before about a new Mario game, as they tend to recycle the basic concepts and even the storyline from the original game (Princess Peach gets kidnapped again). But much like the Nintendo DS New Super Mario Bros., there really is enough new here to separate it from the 16- and 8-bit glory days.

First off, though, before we get into all the neato completo new power-ups and techniques, let’s talk about the game’s new multiplayer mode, which is so chaotic and fun that I’m going to brazenly say that this is my new favorite party game of all time now (better thanBomberman, even). With the stages in this game just brimming with obstacles, secrets and power-ups, New Super Mario Bros. Wii quickly turned from being a cooperative romp for all into an every man for themselves free-for-all full of chucking teammates off of ledges and stealing power-ups. Granted, the game provides "Free-for-All" and "Coin Battle" game modes so you can get this antisocial behavior out of your system but daggum it, I just can’t help myself from stealing and hoarding every 1-Up for myself. For some reason, I guess I just feel like I have the RIGHT to do it, being that I’m so good at the game. So, that’s my one caveat: when you’re playing multiplayer, play with equally skilled players or risk alienating others. My girlfriend and her sisters all admitted that it was "Too stressful” and "no fun" playing with me.

But if you’re the casual type who just wants to have some fun and doesn’t mind if somebody falls off a ledge or runs too fast and misses a secret passage, then you’ll definitely have a blast with this game in co-op mode, in that the game gives you enough opportunities to mess up that the fun is never really dampened. For example, you can play with two to four players (with Mario, Luigi, and two Toads) and if one character fails, the others can continue on without them until the fallen comrade comes back onto the screen in a bubble. It's okay to mess up, in other words. Also, the game rewards and promotes cooperation, as there are plenty of points that really need somebody else to jump on the other’s head for a boost to get a power up, or somebody to be thrown to safety to reach otherwise impossible spots, so playing together is really the way to go if you’re capable of that sort of thing.

But the game doesn’t really have to be played in a group as there’s plenty to do in the single-player mode to make it very much worth your while to do so. If I haven’t mentioned it already, this is vintage Super Mario Brothers with a few extra touches to really make it a new game, like the new power-ups of Propeller Mario, Ice Mario, and Penguin Mario, each adding new layers to the overall gameplay and structure. With Propeller Mario, it’s pretty similar to raccoon tail Mario in Super Mario Bros. 3 or cape Mario in Super Mario World in that you can take float over gaps that might seem impossible to cross at first. There's a lot of power-ups in the sky to collect, too. Ice Mario is very much like flower power Mario, but you shoot ice instead of fire. Simple enough. But some of these ice blocks can be used to scale higher places, too, so again, it adds a lot to the overall gameplay as a whole. And last is Penguin Mario, which is much like frog suit Mario in SMB3 in that you can swim better under water with it. The only difference is though that you don’t have to annoyingly hop on land like you did with the frog suit, making it a much better power-up in the long run. Mini Mario from New SMB for the DS returns, too, but alas, no giant Mario this time. I can see why Nintendo left this feature out though, as having three other players with one giant one on the screen could be a hassle (if two or three characters got it, you wouldn't be able to see the screen!). Also, a lot more of the levels are vertical this time, too, so it would definitely get in the way of progress. In

Structurally, the game uses a world map much like SMB3 and SMW, so it’s easy to navigate, with secret passages abounding throughout. Overall, though, there’s not much new here as far as levels are concerned. There’s a grass level, a desert level, an ice level, and so on. What’s interesting though is the new Super Guide Mode. If you’re a Mario fanatic like myself, you’ll probably never even use this feature, but others less hardcore than thou probably will, in that it provides a massive help if you can’t get through certain areas. Here’s how it works: If you die eight times in a row in single player mode, a green block will pop out and Luigi will beat the level for you, without revealing any of the hidden stuff. The idea is to save you from the stress of dying on one level over and over. saving you excess stress. Personally, I think it’s a great idea.

Now, at the beginning of this article, I said how this game is second only to Super Mario Galaxy when it comes to Wii titles, and there’s a reason for that. When you look back at the Mario canon, I really separate the games into two separate categories by saying that there are the 2D Mario games, and then, there are the 3D ones. For example, Super Mario World is my all-time favorite side-scroller, and Super Mario Galaxy has recently dethroned Super Mario 64 as my all time favorite 3D platformer, but if I were to compare the two, I couldn’t because they’re such vastly different titles. Really, when it comes down to it, though, as vastly blasphemous as this might sound, I actually prefer 3D Mario to 2D Mario in that the games open up so many different possibilities in the third dimension. Just think of Super Mario Galaxy, it was Mario…in spaaaaaaace. Would the game really have worked in 2D though? How much better was it when you could actually go completely AROUND a planet’s surface without the hindrance of it just going left to right? You could go inside AND outside of it. It was more than just novel, it was revolutionary, and completely liberating.

Still, as far as 2D Mario games go, I have to say that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is really only a few itty bitty steps behind Super Mario World in its overall scope and vision. Be that as it may, that’s still saying a lot that I could even come close to comparing the two since Super Mario World is unquestionably the greatest platform of all time, with only New Super Mario Bros. for the DS even coming remotely close to it. Well, New Super Mario Bros. Wii comes even closer to being the best 2D platformer ever. And just like I whole-heartedly believed Super Mario Galaxy was the best game of 2007, I’ll have to again wave my flag of allegiance to Nintendo and say that New Super Mario Bros. Wii is the best of 2009. New Super Mario Bros. Wii, quite frankly, is one of the greatest games ever made and it’s on the Wii. Who’da thunk it? Pick this game up now if you own the console. You really have no excuse.

Players: 1-4 Players
Platform(s): Wii
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
ESRB: Everyone
Rating:

Review: Slingshot Cowboy

Purchasing games on the iPhone seems like a complete waste of time and money to me. I mean, I’ve always had a certain affinity towards Papi Jump, but to actually spend an extra dollar and some change on Papi Jump Plus? What the hell’s the point of that? Well, after playing Slingshot Cowboy Plus, I can see where some people might fork over the extra money if they’re fans of the game. Overall, though, you’re better off just sticking with the free version, annoying ads and all.

The point of Slingshot Cowboy is simple. Cows walk across the screen, and you shoot off rocks from a slingshot to hit them and try to knock them over. The farther out they are on the screen, the more points you get for hitting them. Simple, right? Well, yes, but I personally find the game to be maddening. It's similar to Paper Toss in that you have to measure distance on a flat screen. However, in Slingshot Cowboy, you also have to worry about your target moving, and ducking, and getting behind objects, which is an absolute pain in the ass if you ask me.

The differences between the free original and this Plus edition are small but important. In the Plus version, there are two all new power-ups that add an extra layer to the game—grenades and slow-mo. Slow-mo can be attained by hitting the new gophers in this game that pop up sporadically. With Slow-mo, the cows get sluggish and you can hit them easier. Personally, this didn’t really help me at all as I still had a pretty hard time judging distance with my slingshot and often found that even at a crawl, I couldn’t hit those damn cows. Granted, this is more a fault of my own than the game itself, but still, I was annoyed. So unless you put some serious practice into this game (again, some of my friends actually have, and there’s also a laser option to help you), you’ll probably only be hitting those far off cows by luck or chance. Either or, I’m still not amused.

The second upgrade is actually quite enjoyable though and adds layers to the game in that it employs a combo system. With grenades, which are also attained by hitting gophers, you’ll have three opportunities to wreak as much havoc as possible, especially when the cows get clumped together and are easy prey. It equals major combo time if you’re good enough to land them.

Also added in Plus are new locales. You start out in the same location as you do in the original free version on an open range, but if you get far enough, the tropics and the arctic await you. So a change of scenery is available for that extra coinage if you’re willing to fork it up.

Again, though, the only reason most people play iPhone games in the first place is because they have a few extra minutes on their hand and don’t feel like going on Facebook or listening to Pandora Radio (both of which are free, by the way). But if you’re a serious Slingshot Cowboy junkie, then $1.99 really isn’t all that bad a price to cough up. The grenades are nice, and the absence of ads is also quite comforting. Buy it if you’re a fan, stay with the free if you’re not.

Players: 1
Platform(s): iPhone
Developer: Digital Prunes
Publisher: Digital Prunes
ESRB: Everyone
Rating:

Review: LittleBigPlanet (PSP)

I find LittleBigPlanet fascinating. Not so much for the reasons pretty much everybody else fell in love with it for (Make your own levels! It’s so cute! Innovative to the nth degree!), but moreso because it’s pretty much the only game that I’ve ever played that is unhateable. Sure, some people will love it more so than others, and some will think that it’s not nearly as great as everybody says it is (I’m more in this category than the former). But nobody I can possibly think of would ever say that they actually hate this game. A person might hate their own lack of creativity or patience to create their very own bitchin’ environment. But hate the game itself? Never! I find that totally inconceivable.

A big reason for this is because LittleBigPlanet will MAKE you love it. Through its quirky level design, its catchy music, and its ability to allow you to customize the game to your liking, LBP just has too much going for it to actually be hated upon. For anybody who’s ever played it before on the PS3, they’ll tell you that the game’s strongest suit is in its undeniable freedom, but it’s that same freedom that makes me unable to fall head over heels for it. You see, for someone like me, I don’t WANT to make levels, which is arguably this game’s selling point—the ability to create something new on your own. Sure, you don’t HAVE to make levels if you don’t want to, as the story mode is highly expansive (And you’ll want to play through it if you want to create more elaborate levels as new items can be unlocked in it), but that’s the thing. “Sackboy,” your highly customizable protagonist, has no personality whatsoever. You can make him tremble, you can make him do the running man, and you can make him explode if you ever get stuck in a tight spot, but as an overall character, Sackboy is pretty much rendered charmless, and that’s a problem for me. I need a compelling character to go hopping and bopping with, as the actual narrative itself, like all platformers, is paper thin in this game. In other words, I wanted Mario and they gave me Aero the Acrobat.

LBP purists will surely say, “Hey, what’s the big deal, jerk, who cares? It’s the levels that matter.” But for somebody who doesn’t feel like manipulating shapes and plastering stickers all over the place to create their very own Shangri-La, that IS a big deal, as the storyline is way too weak to stand on its own. In that way, if you leave the level design feature out, LBP is actually a little on the boring side, and it’s an experience that will make you feel like you’ve wasted your time and money if you’re looking for a true blue platformer and nothing more.

But let’s be real here, people. If you’re going to pick up LBP for the PSP, then you can only be one of two people. You’re either A), a fan who’s been building levels and uploading them on the PS3 for well over a year now, or B) somebody who’s never played the game before because they didn’t have a PS3 but is highly interested in doing so on the go, and if you’re either of those people, then you definitely can’t go wrong here as LBP certainly delivers.

Spending only a couple of hours with the tutorial, I was able to piece together a pretty simple landscape in just a short matter of time. It wasn’t the greatest landscape in the world (It was pretty much just pieced together with things that could electrocute you—I called it, “You’re Screwed, So Don’t Even Bother”) but it was a landscape nonetheless, and it didn’t make me sweat all that much gluing it together and whatnot. This leads me to believe that if you’re willing to put in the time, then the customization is intuitive enough that you’ll be able to start piecing together shapes and environments in no time at all. Seriously, it’s really that easy.

But while my level wasn’t set to be winning any awards anytime soon, I found a whole plethora of different environments uploaded online by the general community. Many of these levels were terrible, mind you (So, so many races), but some of them were really creative and exciting (Especially one called “Ninja Warrior,” based off the Japanese obstacle cours show). So if you’re worried that the game won’t be advanced or even easy enough to make the level of your choice, don’t be, as they give you enough tools and accessories to make levels however you feel like, giving you the ability to make them as simple or as complex as you want them to be.

Again, though, as much as every review on the planet will tell you that LBP is for anybody with an imagination, I’ll tell you that that’s not entirely true. Will you like it if you don’t feel like building levels? Sure, because as I said earlier, there’s just too much going on here not to at least like it a little bit. Seriously, as far as the whole community and bringing people together thing goes, there’s no other game like it. But if you’re the type of person who feels like they work hard enough already in the real world and don’t feel like playing God and making their own levels, then LBP is just simply not for you. In other words, if you’re lazy like me and don’t want to see the game as the potentially creative fountain of awesomeness that it truly is, then take away one star from my review. On the other hand, if you’re the kind of gamer who wants to put in the time to craft the PERFECT level and want to upload it for all the world to see, then add one point to my score. As it stands for me though, I’m in that middle category—liking it a great deal, but not loving it whole-heartedly.

Players: 1 Player
Platform(s): PSP
Developer: SCE Cambridge Studios
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
ESRB: Everyone
Rating: