Puri Plus: An Hors d’Oeuvres Idea
These lovely spherical shells are the exact-right vessels for party-starting light bites. Stuff them fancy – as here, with smoked salmon, chive sour cream and caviar – or with everyday leftovers. Cheers!
On the Farm, Diversification Grows
While extremes in weather without question have hurt our Garden State’s fruit growers, legacy farms are taking the lead in expanding what they offer. Farm-to-table ain’t seen nothing yet.
Stockton Inn
The rebranding of a multipronged restaurant into an establishment with one menu for all dining spaces fails to address issues of imprecise cooking, poor sourcing and inadequately trained service. Money, and PR, isn’t buying needed improvement for this historic spot in one of Hunterdon County’s River Towns.
Salt and Clover Cheeses
There’s terroir to be experienced in the various fromages made at a sheep farm in Cape May County, a sense of place achieved by cheesemaker George Castle.
Annually Stalking the Wild Asparagus
Chef Andre de Waal cedes to tradition, motherly influence and the incomparable product of a farmer friend whose stellar stalks he could eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner all season long. All too-short season long.
Spring’s Food Flings
For our culinary pros, mid-spring’s bounty is invigorating, inspiring and – sigh – ephemeral. When TPW asked some of our finest palates what ingredient or dish best expresses the brief season, they took advantage of the opportunity to pump for their personal favorites.
Toscano
If you’re of the mind that an atmosphere of gentility and a menu highlighting dry-aged steaks and thoughtful pastas are passe and that fine-dining on classics seems snoozy, Zack Melker will snap you out of it at his sophisticated and welcoming spot in Burlington County.
Chinese Roasted Duck
At a modest grocery in Middletown, poultry and pork are slathered with sauces and accents, subjected to blazing heat, then displayed at a small counter where wise shoppers snap them up. When duck’s on tap, the wisest of them are Johnny-on-the-spot.
Kindred Culinary Spirits
Kindred Culinary Spirits: This quintet of favorites follows similar courses to standout status by taking a familiar dish or food and giving the kind of thought necessary to spin it in an unusual and provocative direction. Quite the achievement for all, during a seriously competitive time period. Subscribers can read all about it in a new Fortnightly 5 column at the link in bio.
Mustards & Dumplings
Take advantage of the greens of spring to make a supper that’s its own kind of comfort food. The cooking technique may startle, but it’s held up for 30 years of very happy eating.
Markets Valued
Where the strawberries, the asparagus, the spinach, the gloriously decorated cookies, intriguing preserves, meats and fishes and cheeses, babkas and salad mixes are – that’s where you need to be. A gaggle of major farmers’ markets, including those in Asbury Park, Brick Township, Collingswood and Hunterdon County, just reopened for the season. Herewith, a report from the frontlines.
Little Gem
All too soon, the charms of this bistro’s calming space, its thoughtful service and its kitchen’s precision and dedication to following the seasons will be well-known. So pop in now for a two-hour lunch before you’ll have to wait two hours to get in.