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.
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.
Chef Train
Chris Minikus, Salted Lime Bar & Kitchen
Classical training in the kitchen is put to good use by a chef at a restaurant in Somerville that many think is Mexican, was conceived to be Latin-leaning and stands today as melting pot of global influences. It’s home to TPW’s newest inductee into the chef-picks-chef society of top toques and the focus of Ed Sherry’s new profile.
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.
Sunday Kitchen
Pickled Mustards
Readymade versions of an Asian staple can expand the scope of its use, absolutely, But don’t waste the time convenience provides: Experiment with a food that’s vivacious and versatile.
A Night at the Podcast
New Jersey’s own Restaurant Guys, Mark Pascal and Francis Schott, are going live and in-person on their podcast with celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito. It’s all happening March 14 at the New Brunswick PAC. Consider this your invitation.
Wisdom in a Cup
Sinofilia Tea Shop in Boonton fulfills the promise of its name, delivering a love of Chinese culture and its people through both the hand-picked teas and the gong fu cha ceremonies it offers. Kate Munning sits at owner Feng Xiao Liu’s tea station to experience and be enlightened.
Fortnightly 5
Rockin’ Around the State
Once again, the quintet of favorites takes in a world’s-eye view from Garden State restaurants. This time: South America, China, Italy, India and Mexico. And all without need of a passport.
Sunday Kitchen
Layered Like Lasagne
Take staples – bread, onions, beans, greens – and turn them into a bake that’s awfully sporting at this time of year. It’s light on effort, heavy on using what’s already on hand, and satisfying for solo eating or feeding a crowd.
Beverage Revelation
Much is brewing in the world of beverages that’s about “dry” and abstinence and zero-proof. A new adult drink is emerging that’s all about craftsmanship, flavor and – hallelujah! – healthy ingredients that offer a different kind of buzz. It’s called Seraphim. Meet its maker, Stephanie Schaich-Bricken.
Hot Breads
Plum cake that’s confidently spiced, cookies that stand apart from their sugared brethren, and pastries rolled with savory fillings keep company with specialty Indian breads at a storefront with a fired-up kitchen out back in Franklin Park.
Sunday Kitchen
Vegetable Stock Cream Soup
Employ the old adage “honey from a weed” and turn the makings of a broth into a meal of its own. P.S. The “cream” is only an illusion.
Baker to Baker
Rebecca Shuster, Farmhouse Sweets
In a new edition of TPW’s periodic pro-meets-pro column, Joselin Oudemans talks shop with a fellow practitioner of the pastry and baking arts: Rebecca Shuster, a psychologist-turned-baker and owner of the newly opened Farmhouse Sweets in Allamuchy.
Sportsmanlike Conduct
For the Super Bowl, a Cheesy Corn Bake is a diplomatic solution to the problem of what to serve to a crowd that might be on opposite ends of the rooting game. Or, merely inconsolable – until this dip is set before them.
Fortnightly 5
What Wonderful Whorls
Circling back to favorites of the two weeks just past brings us to bowls and orbs of baked goods that deserve a round of applause.
Sunday Kitchen
The Avocado Update
What do you get when you zhuzh up a mash of your most favorite green food? Not exactly guac.
Cassoulet de Bayshore
With respect for traditions as well as a true love of hometown culinary culture, a stew of justifiable renown gets a perk-me-up at an award-winning restaurant in Keyport.
Chef Train
Sergio Casal, The Complex
The newest inductee into TPW’s chef-picks-chef society of top toques takes Asbury Park to heart as he helms a trio of the city’s eateries that speak collectively to its 21st-century soul. His plans are all about moving forward in diverse, yet connective ways. Ed Sherry’s profile of a local hero explains why and how.
Food Find
24 Karrot Spread
You don’t have to be a carrot cruncher to appreciate a new spread on the market aimed at vegans but being embraced by all.
Sunday Kitchen
K-’chos
Take vegetables prepared for bibambap, a package of shrimp chips, cooked rice, shredded nori and, perhaps, some sushi-grade salmon or tuna spiced and ready to layer in handrolls and give it all a 180-degree spin to turn it into … Korean-style nachos. Ready them, set them out, and watch your game of choice or hours of entertainment on your streaming service.
Yuki’s Bakery & Coffee
Extraordinary pita is the standout at a bakeshop in Hoboken built on traditions of Eastern Mediterranean breads and pastries that Yuki Levinson translates with skill, pride and a tweak here and there.