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SEASON’S EATINGS: Sugar Snap Peas

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Alex Laudeman
Rob Marzinsky
People

Anchoring Down a Sea Change

At Mayer’s Tavern in Cape May, owner Alex Laudeman and executive chef Rob Marzinsky have teamed up to secure the fine-dining future of a one-time fisherman’s dive bar. It’s driven by what’s locally sourced, piloted by the needs of a community of locals and visitors, and powered by dual visionaries.

Season's Eatings

Sugar Snap Peas

Leading late spring into high summer is the sweetest little pea-’n’-pod in Mother Nature’s vast repertoire. Eat raw, and be happy. Or consider other options if you snag a large quantity grown on a Garden State farm.

Fried Tilefish with Lettuce Wraps, at Mayer's Tavern
Fortnightly 5

Digging Around a Prime Peninsula

Cape May’s greats hit the heights of all eaten during the two weeks just past. Soft-shells, tilefish, mustardy shrimp, lesser-known berries and a force of nature from Chiapas in Mexico top our list.

Sweet Amalia, the oyster
Sweet Amalia, the oyster
Essay

35. And Change.

It’s been a long and winding road to the restaurant place we find ourselves in at this moment in Garden State culinary history. During the last 35 years of reviewing our dining scene, TPW’s founder has seen continual evolution - the best of which has been, and continues to be, inspired by what is grown, raised, fished and produced right here at the hands of those who respect, value and cherish their fellow culinarians.

Road Trip sandwich
Shop

Wild Roots Provisions

Across from the beach in Cape May sits the brick-and-mortar dream of a pair of hospitality industry vets who want to make Shore time a sure bet for snacks.

Season's Eatings

Mulberries, Vintage ’25

At Stone Circle Farm in Middle Township, Cape May County, a giant mulberry tree is shedding its fruits into waiting hands. It’s a treat for June and a harbinger of harvests to come during the weeks ahead in farther-north parts of our Garden State.

Captain Brady Lybarger, with Tilefish Tagine
Sunday Kitchen

Captain Lybarger’s Tilefish Tagine

A mild, firm, yet flaky fish caught by one of New Jersey’s most skilled fishermen inspires a stew right for a crowd. Gather ’round, and let the talk – and ideas – flow.

Chris Mumford
Chris Mumford
People

Chris Mumford: Still Growing After All These Years

The Garden State’s OG chef-farmer right now is selling his organic plants at the back end of a tucked-away nursery. But he’s banking on the farm in Wall he and his wife purchased and moved onto this spring to keep his mission going strong. At age 64, he’s still the one we need to feed and nourish us.

Baking Arts

Mairi’s Cookie Company

A home-baker in Medford Lakes offers a line of distinctive and delightful cookies that stand apart from those that Big Food Business sell at supermarkets and convenience stores. Care for an Earl Gray Shortbread with your tea?

Sunomono, at Okinami
Fortnightly 5

A Little Yin Amid the Yangs

Distinctive healthy eats highlight the dining docket of the two weeks just past, along with one guilty pleasure in the form of a many-layered wanna-be hand-held.

Sunday Kitchen

Savory Challah French Toast

The addition of allium empowers a brunch staple to take a walk on the savory side, while a fruit just coming into peak harvest season in the Garden State balances the favorite with a kick of sweet-tart. Matheson Westlake is your guide.

Susumu Shinagawa
Chef Train

Susumu Shinagawa, Okinami

Where does the Garden State’s itamae legend Kunihiko “Ike” Aikasa go out to eat for sushi? To the counter of a revered colleague now practicing his craft at a small, modest and always-popping storefront in Norwood. “Chef Shina” is the master’s selection to TPW’s chefs-pick-chefs society of top toques, and his own story is reflective of the manner in which he approaches every turn of the knife: with utmost care and inspiration from ingredient.

Triple Decker "Heaven"
Food Find

Ma & Pa’s Triple-Decker ‘Heaven’

It’s a bruiser, this wanna-be hand-held that’s a many-layered thing coming out of the Tex-Mex-meets-BBQ genre. And it’s a gentle giant that, if it doesn’t kill you first, will win you over with its doe-eyed charms.

Sunday Kitchen

Spring Chicken

The season of rebirth sees a new crop of chickens from a singularly focused farmer teaming up with current-harvest vegetables to make for a quintessential end-of-weekend supper. (Next “Bec Bird” gets spatchcocked on the grill.)

Alex and Rob McKeage, at The Potato Homestead
Place

The Potato Homestead

Redefine what “homestead” means to far too many through the breadth and depth of what Alex and Rob McKeage grow and produce at their year-round operation in Cape May County. It’s meat-and-potatoes growing, making, preserving and baking and it’s all served forth sustainably and conscientiously. Lauren Vitagliano takes TPW readers on a tour.

Season's Eatings

Bok Choy, the Farmers’ Favorite

Garden State farmers are high on this spring’s harvest of the ancient Chinese cabbage that’s a member of the mustards family and known for its two-part harmony of crunchy, juicy stems and tender green leaves. Use it now to make a bowl that celebrates a prime vegetable and its many friends.

Pulled brisket shamburak, at Ishtabach
Fortnightly 5

Old-Gen/Next-Gen Homey

There’s something embraceable and warming about each of the favorites in this round, be it something reminiscent of the past or looking ahead to new ways of preparing a food that’s fundamentally old school.

Sunday Kitchen

Strawberry Strata

It’s seasonally appropriate and sensationally versatile at the table – a layering as suitable for breakfast as it is for dessert and starring the rosy jewel of a fruit that marks spring at its peak.

Clockwise from top left: Bitter greens salad; Spring Harvest pizza; Wood-roasted peppers and greens plus marinated olives; Forbidden Fruit pizza
News

Windy Brow Farms Wood-fired Kitchen Opens for the Season

There’s lots new on the menu at this not-a-restaurant on very-much-a-farm in Fredon, a place put on the Garden State’s culinary map by farmer Jake Hunt. It’s strictly seasonal, and weekends only, so make a plan and stick to it.

Chef Nick DeRosa and friend
People

A Chef and His ‘T’ings’

Chef Nick DeRosa rustles up little "t'ings" all the time at his Black Sheep Bar & Provisions in Garwood. As in, every day, something new. Often several "t'ings" new. That's because he finds inspiration literally everywhere. He's a chef who simply must create. Constantly.

Sunday Kitchen

Asian Pesto

Tap into spring’s verdant herbs to come up with a most adaptable condiment right for everything from noodles and stir-fries to grilled steaks and dumplings. In other words: Why wait for basil to make a sauce that’s endlessly useful?

Emma Wuillermin and baby daughter Davey
Baker to Baker

Emma Wuillermin, Emma’s Farmhouse Confections

In the latest installment of TPW’s periodic pro-to-pro column featuring Joselin Oudemans talking shop with fellow practitioners of the pastry and baking arts, Joselin visits with Emma Wuillermin, owner of Emma’s Farmhouse Confections in Hammonton, which exists at the intersection of farm life and baked goods infused with more than a little ooh-la-la.

Sepesi’s Sourdough Cinnamon Swirl
Food Find

Sepesi’s Cinnamon Swirl Sourdough

If you think warmer weather doesn’t merit the warm embrace of a spiced-right boule, meet Nicole Sepesi’s favorite baked good – and think again.

Pide, at Tosun
Fortnightly 5

Farms’ Freshest

Three members of spring’s brigade of top-flight produce and dainty eggs with extra-rich yolks lead the pack of favorite eats of the past two weeks. There’s also Turkish pide, which begs a side of something newly harvested and green.

Sunday Kitchen

Good Tidings from Spring Garlic

Mild, gentle and even somewhat sweet, this infant allium can be used in vibrant condiments such as chimichurri – or wherever you might find regular raw garlic too harsh to handle. Here’s a how-to.

Hunterdon Community market meal
Shop

Choosing Local

Farmers’ market high season has begun. Do you attend a true farmers-based market near you? If so, go. If Market Day isn’t yet a regular posting on your own calendar, check out one there’s good word about within a reasonable drive. Two worth an hour of your time are these biggies, now officially in session: Brick Farmers’ Market and Hunterdon Community Farmers’ Market.

Small, but a mighty part of a dish at Ram & Rooster, is the fermented kale, barely visible with its fellow ferment, mushroom, in these two platings.
Process

Catalyst for Change

The process of fermentation transforms a food. Derrick Bradley, the sous chef of Ram & Rooster, one of the Garden State's top restaurants, breaks down the process he uses to turn an ordinary green into something magical.

Food Find

Collaborative Ginger Ale

Cream Ridge Winery and Ramblin’ Sol Farm are neighbors in Upper Freehold Township. With a new project to produce a farmstead soda, they’re becoming partners in an enterprise that promises innovation and great taste.

Lemon cream puff at Shuu Cafe
Fortnightly 5

All Is Bright

They come from a variety of sources, are devised from various traditions, but each food in this go-round’s quintet of favorites has a specific quality in common: exhilarating brightness. It’s a winner every time.

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