Fig Italian Rustic Kitchen
Problems in cooking and communication plague a newcomer to Long Valley that aims to serve hand-crafted Italian cuisine in a scene that’s “always vibing.” Rather than counting on vibes and branding to impress, old-fashioned focus is needed to bring thoughtfulness and care to the entire process.
Manila Asian Market
Find ingredients essential to Filipino cookery at a small grocery that serves as a companion to Manila Café in Mount Laurel. No need to travel far for calmansi, coconut vinegar and shrimp paste.
Give ’Em a Hand
This quintet of favorites are all hand-helds, proving that street-style eats, snacks and emerging, soon-to-be-classic foods can rise from ho-hum staples to thrills in casual form. OK, a couple of these may require two hands, but who will mind?
Hot Uses for Creamed Honey
It’s a condiment with a wider variety of uses than its sweet reputation may boast. Doctor it as per our suggestions and give it a try with meats, fishes and vegetables.
Mitsuwa
Top-notch food-shopping in the Asian vernacular dominated by prime Japanese products, a continual flow of special events, cooking classes and demonstrations, direct-from-maker talks plus adjunct shops and a food court second to none give this uber-market in Edgewater world-class status. It’s the newest entry into TPW’s canon of Favorites.
Nimbu: Indian Street Food
A lively setting that aims for hip conviviality and touts to the trademark dishes of India falls short too often due to carelessness in the kitchen, flawed concepts and failure to realize that riffs must come with respect for the originals.
Dansyaku Curry Bun
At the Pullman Bakery & Shige Pan boutique inside Mitsuwa in Edgewater, folks wait in line to claim loaves, cornets, danish, doughnuts and cakes. Once word spreads that the bakeshop is offering this less-common savory pastry stuffed with a highly spiced potato mash, the line’s a sure bet to grow much longer.
Freeze-Spiced Grapes
Party, at your house! Start off with these very chill treasures that adhere to both do-ahead and easy mandates and suit just about any end-of-summer holiday fete.
Of Greening and Diversity
To farmer Dave DeFrange, a verdant infrastructure needs to be part of every village, town, suburb and city in the Garden State and cultivated by a wide range of people growing for an equally wide range of communities. It’s about next-gen farms and farmers – and the need for both is now.
Tamada
At a swanky Georgian newcomer, dinner is a built-in show of well-prepared classics and the occasional riff on something routine that doesn’t wholly reinvent a dish, but reimagines it in sunnier form. With standouts that showcase its homeland at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it’s ready for a close-up on date night.
LongTable, at Mount Salem Vineyards
The “best dinner in Hunterdon County” just might be an annual event that celebrates heritage and harvest at a winery heralded for its world-class wines. It’s on tap for Sept. 12.
And Now for Something a Little Different
Our quintet of favorites as summer winds down sees members of the produce family having their say – and not always in the expected ways. Which is why, perhaps, these dishes stand out.