Palmieri, whose Orange Squirrel made the list of Top 25 restaurants in New Jersey, will be making his debut on TODAY with Kathie Lee & Hoda, demonstrating light summer dishes from his menu including the popular Mushroom Tempura and the new 2x Broccoli. Go Francesco!
This is the kind of PR Bloomfield needs to revitalize it. You go Chef Palmieri
Too bad Bloomfield is about to get some seriously bad PR with this Memphis case. We won’t be making the news for the Orange Squirrel, but we WILL for being the next Belfast
Chef Palmieri looked great but it seemed like Kathy Lee & Hoda were rushing him. Hope you had a good time.
jimmy, not so sure all will find the Memphis issue quite so compelling. I love animals and support the shelter volunteer folks who have been fighting the good fight, but if there’s any doubt about a dog’s behavior and whether that animal is a danger to the public I’m glad they are being careful. A lot of comments keep saying the dog is harmless, but it seems more than one person had doubts about the dog’s demeanor, and it was stated that the animal reacted agressively in a stressful situation.
According to the article printed in newjersey.com the BOH has agreed to reevaluate the dog…
https://www.northjersey.com/news/166546726_Bloomfield_pit_bull_to_be_re-evaluated.html
However, the article also had this…
“While some of the report appeared to back up Lore’s assertion that Memphis was aggressive, not everything jived with what Health Inspector Michael Fitzpatrick said. He said he was at an evaluation and no one wore hoods to try to startle the dog.
“We then had a male kennel worker come in to greet [the canine] in a friendly matter,” according to a report by Pia Silvani, vice president of training and behavior at St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison. The report did not indicate who the man was.
“[The dog] did exhibit friendly behavior towards the gentleman. I then asked the same man to walk out and come back in wearing a hood and reprimand the dog to see what his reaction would be to someone who was stern. Memphis became quite agitated and lunged up in an offensive, aggressive manner.
“Despite the fact that Memphis has many good qualities, I do not trust him,” Silvani continues. “He is extremely aggressive towards other dogs, and if challenged, he will not back down. I did not like his reaction towards a person that showed fear or a person that attempted to take charge of a situation. His decision was to aggress and not retreat.
“Putting him out into society is extremely risky since he is an accident waiting to happen,” she states.
@ State Street Pete,
The same could be said about Karen Lore, but if we put her down we’d have to find another sociology major to replace the Director of Health & Human Services.
Back to the topic (sorry for hijacking this thread)
“This is the kind of PR Bloomfield needs to revitalize it” No it isn’t! What if someone saw this on tv and actually ATE at the Squirrel??? If you want good PR for Bloomfield, bring a chef from Mes Reves, Bar Cara, Spice, Kira Kira, Bohemia…
Hi Pete- there were many lies put forward by the Bloomfield Health Department at last night’s meeting. This data was from Memphis’ first “evaluation” back in march. When we asked for the “evaluation” that was done on 8/9 we were told we’d have to OPRA it. We have.
The bottom line is that Jeff Coltenback, a trainer and dog rehabilitator took Memphis into his home and was only given 8 days to retrain him. His evaluation of Memphis who he had 24/7 was that he is a good dog, deserves to live, and Jeff and Diana want to give him a good home. Contrast this with 2 short and threatening (to the dog) evals done by the same group (St. Huberts) who won’t adopt out pitbulls.
A very informative letter has been placed on the Patrick Miracle Facebook page
“Shelters reek of death and fear, loneliness and even abuse. Dogs are not stupid. They know they are in a dangerous place. They’ve been backed into the corner of life, and with no ability to flee, they will fight. Some may break and cower. But the stronger dogs are not ready to give up, and will challenge those that challenge them. It is entirely predictable. That anyone would be shocked by such a response, or hold it against a living being to fight to escape such a place shows how disconnected they are from the animals they are entusted to care for- to SHELTER.”
https://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/the-patrick-miracle/its-a-long-way-to-memphis/367708836632452
ps- Baristanet was invited to the meeting. They chose not to send someone. One of their reporters was there and made her own personal comment in support of Memphis. One of the things that she said was that she had been a member of the Bloomfield/Bukowski Media Commiittee (as had I). She had been forced to sign an agreement that said she would not comment on anything that happened at the shelter. She resigned rather that break her word.
So- we’re gonna take this thing national. As I said at the meeting. The taxpayers of Bloomfield won’t pay for murder!
Hello all, I apologize, it was me that was at the meeting but Baristanet did not send me a note asking me to report on it. I would have asked them ahead of time to do so and I’m sure they would have said yes, but I was emotionally invested and intended to speak myself at the meeting so did not know if that would be journalistically correct to do. That said, I would be happy to write this up so as to provide a forum for this discussion. I’ll send a note and let them know I will write it up.
Thank you Mimi. I did notify martta and someone else notified tips
Pete, if you don’t know this dog or the current atmosphere at the shelter please don’t make comments about it. That dog is not liked by only 3 people who have sabotaged him from day 1. One is the vet tech who was seen hauling this dog (and others) around by his collar, front feet off the ground, then threw him into a kennel. That’s his standard MO. A volunteer who witnessed it reported him (and had in the past) and once again it was the volunteer who was chastised and threatened with expulsion!
Memphis has no bite history despite all he’s endured and while with Jeff Coltenback and his wife (Jeff is a master trainer and behaviorist, certified ACO and runs his own pit bull rescue which is the breed he loves) Memphis exhibited not ONE behavior that had to be corrected.
Pia Silvani and St. Hubert’s do not lean toward supporting or liking pit bulls. Many dogs would fail that test. It’s unfair to judge Memphis or any dog by a bogus eval instead of 8 days in a home with people who know and love him.
You can check out Save the Bloomfield/Bukowski Shelter facebook page for accurate information about the situation and Memphis.
I love the story of the town that can’t agree on much coming together to save Memphis. But I feel for Chef Palmieri, whose moment of glory has been highjacked. I’ve enjoyed several meals at Orange Squirrel, even if I did need an ear horn. Jimmytown is right: Bloomfeld has a surprising number of very good restaurants, where parking is easy and at a few of them, one can often get a seat without reservations. I’ve always liked the unplanned restaurant renaissance on Broad Street, which is, I believe, more a function of affordable rents than any planning. In fact, it remains to be seen whether the “planned” 1,600 or so additional rental units and “revitalized” commercial area downtown is going to help this area, or just make it impossible to find a parking space and raise commercial property rents. That said, one of the cool things about Orange Squirrel is its strange location. And the fact that you can watch the miracle of gastronomic creation through the storefront.
Pat is incorrect — and not sure how she would be speaking for Baristanet. We did not choose not to send someone. We received a rather vague email with a link to an article but no actual mention of the meeting. Had we known — we would have been there. We will open a post about this shortly — it’s too bad indeed that people thought it necessary to hijack a thread, rather than write to tips directly or me personally and request one.
Liz, again I apologize for hijacking the thread. You have a pet section and this is bigger new than an outdoor cat that’s missing. However well written, the Orange Squirrel is not the news of the town. In addition, the only comment received on this thread relevant to the topic became the “Featured Comment” instantly which in my opinion shows me that this has more to do with the O.S. than it does about changing subjects on a town blog. (Sell advertisements, not stories) Baristanet should know what is on the agenda for every meeting in every town they cover. I expect that of Baristanet. Im not sure if Baristanet wants to go on record saying “If someone wrote to tips or contacted me directly we would have known… and been there”. Clicking “refresh” on your inbox does not make a journalist. With that said, I do like your work Liz, and I enjoy reading and commenting on your articles. I don’t intend to make this a personal attack on you but some of these comments are in response to your comment.
I sent a tip about the issue and the BoH meeting. No response. Bloomfield’s not sexy enough, I guess…unless it’s the Orange Squirrel which I found to be over priced and mediocre at best.
Sorry Liz, it just happened. After this I will refrain.
Pat, you always get the benefit of the doubt from me, and I have always supported the volunteers, esp through all the crap with the BOH, but I wish every shelter related conversation didn’t get turned up to eleven from the git go.
Karen, with all due respect, I will comment as I see fit (whether I know what I’m talking about or not).
Agreed, Orange Squirrel is overpriced and mediocre. I wanted to like it, and gave it a few tries, but I can think of several other places that I’d prefer when spending that kind of money.