Chef Train
Kunihiko Aikasa, Shumi Leonia
The work of "Chef Ike" is legend and second to none in the Garden State, a decades-long reign in sushi that's educated those looking to follow his all-pro lead or simply become better-informed diners. His selection to TPW's chefs-pick-chefs society of top toques by Craig Polignano of Juniper Hill Restaurant and Bar is heartfelt recognition of "the way he inspires" and how he "puts magic on the plate." Andy sits at Chef Ike's counter to listen to his story.
Smart Shop
In Season Now: Farmers’ Markets
Along with Garden State asparagus, strawberries, peas, spinach and lettuces come the new vintages of our farmers’ markets. They’re ever-more prevalent, diverse and geared to weekly stock-ups. It’s truly where the smart and savvy shop for food.
Are We Biting the Hands that Feed Us?
New Jersey’s organic farmers weigh in on the state of their occupation in a survey conducted by the Organic and Regenerative Farming Board, the results of which offer insights and pathways to progress as well as conundrums in need of resolutions.
Baker to Baker
Jenna Kisby, Kizbee’s Kitchen
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 Jenna Kisby, owner of two strictly gluten-free bakeries called Kizbee’s Kitchen, in Egg Harbor City and Ocean City.
Sunday Kitchen
Red Pomelo
In the waning days of citrus season, the giant of the genre can mix it up with early herbs from a backyard garden, a bitter chicory and any sort of shellfish you might choose to make a supper of salad.
Bagels from Bread Bakers
Do you expect more from your bagel than big, bland and too often boring? Then make a plan to visit – early! – Benchmark Breads in Little Silver, where four varieties of our quintessential breakfast food are the new to the lineup.
Blessed are the Cheesemakers
There's many a mission at Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrence Township, yet none that surpasses the constant pursuit of making fine cheeses – and making them available to an ever-eager, ever-wider public.
Fortnightly 5
Stepping Right Up
We know shrimp, bagels, spreads, sandwiches and stuffed savories; they’re some of the foods of our lives. But give those common foods a new look, a new touch or maybe even just deserved respect, and you’ve got something to fall in love with all over again.
Sunday Kitchen
Sunday Spread
Taking feisty to the max is a mix of chilies and herbs that plays like pesto, acts like chutney and enjoys its place at the table like salsa. It’s zhoug, and though it stands well on its own, it raises the bar on hummus in a major way.
Life on the Farm
Growing a Collaborative CSA
Small farmers and food artisans can thrive by banding together to bring a collection of harvests and hand-made goods to local audiences. Lauren Vitagliano of the Pine Barrens Post offers a how-to and also explains why this model is effective and needed.
Food Find
Pesto Ravioli
At an Italian deli in the borough of Middlesex, well-crafted sandwiches may reign. But in the royalty hierarchy at Sapore/Sapore Ravioli, there is one item that’s been integral to its name and reputation for more than 50 years and though it may not stand alone, it definitely stands out.
Sunday Kitchen
Pickled Onions
Sorry/not sorry for shouting, but WHY AREN’T YOU MAKING PICKLED ONIONS? There’s no excuse for not adding to the versatility of this staple of any kitchen rooted in any culture. So grab a glass jar, snatch the ingredients from your pantry and get with a program of advancing the use of your onions.
Jun Seo Park Artisan Boulanger
Equipped with recipes from one of Korea’s leading pastry chefs, a new independent bakeshop in Palisades Park reinvigorates the Asian-French connection with breads and confections that rely on technical precision and force of flavors that aren’t all about sweet.
Chef Train
Craig Polignano, Juniper Hill Restaurant & Bar
One of New Jersey’s most accomplished and influential chefs is a practitioner of what he preaches about using what’s locally grown and made as his primary sources of inspiration. The newest member of TPW’s chefs-pick-chefs society of top toques makes no bones about wanting to educate YOU in the flows of our Garden State’s seasons.
Fortnightly 5
Twists Worth Shouting About
The favorites this go-round all come courtesy of doing something a little different with a basic of varying origins, including cornflakes, crabs, cabbage, a standard spread and a dumpling flattened yet not tasting flat at all.
Sunday Kitchen
One Little Big Thing
Cherry Grove Farm’s store in Lawrence Township proves a windfall for those looking to stock up on Garden State’s artisan foods. On this day, one particular jar becomes the instigator for myriad and many easy meals.
Squirreling Schedule
Get with a new program that begins in spring and find ways to play forward the best produce in all our micro-seasons. It’s a good habit to develop for the cause of much better eating.
Ridiculous Farm
A new bread bakery in the Belford section of Middletown speaks to the fact that we’re not merely in a sourdough moment, but likely leaning in to a sourdough century.
Sunday Kitchen
Oven-roasted Small Tomatoes
Ready to put something on your Squirreling Schedule? A favorite, and one of the easiest how-tos of the extend-the-life schemes for produce, is a method of oven-roasting and stashing in olive oil the omnipresent cherry tomato and its kin, the grape tomato.
Riding the Tides of March
When what’s been in season ebbs, the Garden State’s culinary pros don’t call it a wash and give up. No, they rise up by digging deeper for inspiration, working on technique and reimagining standards with creativity and precision.
Food Find
Lenora’s Tinga Chimichanga
A small café in the Bayshore borough of Keyport is where a shredded chicken version of the Tex-Mex classic does exactly right by the genre.
Fortnightly 5
Coming ’Round
Gumbo, chicken keema, a fruited scone, a pepper-based soup and a cutlet unlike any other make up the quintet of favorite eats from the past two weeks, Read about them here and now.
Sunday Kitchen
Greens Bars
Have your corned beef and cabbage, cottage pie or colcannon, Irish stew and Irish whiskey, green beer, green guacamole and cookies tinted shamrock green. But also eat your greens on St. Patrick’s Day, perhaps in pastry-esque squares that ooze cheese and the nutritional value of vegetables.
Smart Shop
Burlington County Farmers’ Market: Pre-season Edition
Stock right up at the early birds’ version of one of the Garden State’s best farmers’ markets. There’ll be three more after this year’s inaugural foodfest, so let these highlights motivate you to mark your calendar post-haste.
Baker to Baker
Beth and Nick Blatt, Honey Moon Bakery & Pizzeria
In the latest installment of TPW’s periodic pro-to-pro column, Joselin Oudemans talks shop with fellow practitioners of the pastry and baking arts: husband-and-wife team Nick and Beth Blatt, of Honey Moon Bakery & Pizzeria in Frenchtown. It’s where the happily-ever-after has just begun.
Sunday Kitchen
Dried Sardines
By now you’re on board with tinned fish, assigning a prime place in the pantry for those trusty vessels that hold a range of seafood beyond the tuna that’s long been staple and savior. Turns out there are other versions of preserved fishes ready to step into the role of last-minute meal-maker.
The New Counter Culture
If the picture you have in your mind of the quintessential counterperson is the Soup Nazi or the guy at a New York-style deli whose gruffness has a sharper edge than the knife he uses to slice pastrami, snap out of the past and get with a new model in which intimacy, interaction and immediacy of engagement are purposeful and well-planned.
Ode to Oden
The quintessential fish cake/root vegetable stew from Japan whose charms are cherished and allure intensified in cold weather deserves a place on restaurant menus and home tables in the Garden State. Two skilled home cooks explore its fundamentals.
Fortnightly 5
No Ordinary Loves
A stew, a salad, a burger, a bowl of noodles, a plate of fish – and nothing ordinary about any of these standards. That’s why they’ve risen to the top of the chart in the two weeks of eating just past.
Sunday Kitchen
A Stir-fry Story
No flash in any pan, this lickety-split vegetable mix is as durable and dear as the memories of an old friend.
Food Find
Quesa Burger
From the Fat Boyz Kitchen food truck, parked outside Mains Meat Market in Vineland, comes a burger whose innards seem destined to land in your lap. Summon dexterity and defy that destiny. You want to eat this monster, not toss even one particle of it in the wash.