SECOND HELPINGS

New Japanese restaurant

Umi Japanese Cuisine has opened in Wayne. The restaurant features hibachi, bento, sushi, maki, sachimi, udon, soba -- pretty much everything you'd expect.

Umi is at 693-697 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne; 973-942-9898.

Today in North Jersey dining

Here's what you'll find in today's Better Living section:

Elisa has two stars for Dino's Restaurant in Harrington Park, Dino Sili's solo act after his father retired from their shared restaurant, Marcello & Dino Roman Cafe.

In our Eating Out on $50 column, Jeffrey Page visits The Mountain House in Westwood.

'Good, not great soup'

When the Star-Ledger's Pete Genovese put out a call on nj.com for good soup locations, I knew I'd be looking forward to his story, eager to see which good soup spots in our corner of North Jersey we'd missed.

Turns out, his only notable stops up here were in Moonachie, at Soup's On, which caters to workers in the industrial park, and Seafood Gourmet in Maywood, which is where I buy fish for The Record Kitchen. 

Here's what he had to say:

PETA's banned Super Bowl ad

You may have heard that the carnivores at NBC have rejected PETA's proposed Super Bowl ad featuring women in lingerie having a little too much fun with their vegetables.

As the father of an 8-year-old who will be rooting for the Cardinals Steelers whoever is winning, I'll say thank you.

The ad is after the jump. Would you have aired it?

Solaia goes for the late-nighters

Solaia, the restaurant just south of Bergen PAC in Englewood, has opened Solaia Lounge, with drinks and a tapas menu until 2 a.m. Wednesday to Saturday, starting Friday.

It's the second enhancement the restaurant has tried in the last year. Turning half of the restaurant into Solaia East, with a fusion menu, lasted a few months before quietly ending.

Solaia is at 22 N. Van Brunt St., Englewood; 201-871-7155

Needed: Brick oven bread

A reader e-mailed today looking for real brick-oven Italian bread in the southern part of Clifton. I was stumped. But perhaps you have ideas. Here is his e-mail:

"Having lived most of my life in Hoboken, I grew up on REAL traditional brick-oven baked Italian bread...plain, semolina, whole wheat, round, loaves and rolls. When I moved to Clifton, I had to settle for rye, or buying almost-as-good bread in Secaucus, on my way home from work, since Hoboken was out of the way.

Early V-day wine dinner

Carlo Russo's Wine and Spirit World and Cafe Panache in Ramsey are teaming up for a wine dinner on Tuesday, Feb. 10. Profits will benefit Table to Table. Panache chef-owner Kevin Kohler will cook a five-course menu with pairings from the wine shop, with live music from local jazz artist Mark Sganga. The cost is $125. For reservations, call Wine and Spirit World at 201-444-2033.

I wrote about these kinds of wine dinners last month. Here's the menu:

B.V. Tuscany open in Teaneck

B.V. Tuscany, an Italian restaurant, has replaced Duomo, two months after that Cedar Lane restaurant closed. The menu is tighter than many Italian restaurants, with about a dozen pastas and a dozen entrees.

B.V. Tuscany is at 368 Cedar Lane, Teaneck; 201-287-0404.

Soul food restaurant closed

Fairmont Fish & Chips, a soul food restaurant on Main Street in Hackensack Avenue, still looks open from the desserts in the dessert case to the sodas in the fridge and the Help Wanted sign on the door, but I haven't seen a soul in a few weeks.

The phone is disconnected as well.

Hawthorne pizzeria closed

Venuto's Old World Pizza on Goffle Road in Hawthorne has closed.

The company has six other locations in the state, but none in North Jersey.