Dashi: What Are You Waiting For?
Celebrated chef André deWaal has delighted and educated diners in the Garden State’s Northwest Kingdom for decades. Today he shares his fascination with dashi, that umami-charged base essential to Japanese cookery, in a new column that both spills the tea on dashi and offers a recipe to jump-start your own exploration of this fundamental flavor.
Placing Farms at the Top of the Food Chain
In the Deep South of the Garden State, a revolution is brewing peacefully but fervently and it’s aimed at changing culture and actively supporting the region’s ag industry. Sprouting are local table networks linking farmers to restaurants and chefs, to home cooks and grocers; new hyper-local farmers’ markets, and a can-do/must-do attitude. Its leaders are resolute and determined to educate.
Avora Mediterranean
There are a couple of standout dishes on the menu at this new downtowner with a focus on Turkish cuisine. But there’s also a kitchen that shows a careless streak and service that can tilt surly. On a ledger of negatives and positives, what wins out?
Nasturtium Cashew Pesto from Spotted Horse Provisions
The leaves of this edible flower shouldn’t be tossed but, rather, blitzed with a supporting cast of ingredients into a fresh sauce ready for action at the table. Be inspired by this one made by elite food artisan Amanda Newman and consider it a model to follow.
Chorizo Shrimp
Fancy doesn’t have to necessitate fuss and many hours of your time. Here’s a party-perfect dish – starter or entrée – made with two primary ingredients and basic culinary skills that’s fit to star on a menu celebrating our emergence from hibernation.
The Midwife of Mount Salem Vineyards
Peter Leitner thinks of himself and his team at the winery in Hunterdon County less as winemakers than as midwives who assist Mother Nature in making sure the grapes they pick and deliver to their wine barn are made into wine with as little intervention as possible. This wine-grape farm, you see, is where engagement, not entertainment is paramount, and the proof is in the glass.
Jasmine: Desi Asian Grill
Come with patience enough to read a lengthy menu, earmark dishes meant for diners eager to explore, and dive into those that go beyond what’s found at ho-hum Indian eateries. For here is a suburban-swanky spot with a kitchen that aims to soar – and does.
Burlington County Ag Center’s Farmers’ Market
If you hold it, they will come: That’s a maxim proved by this now-annual pre-season food-shoppers’ bazaar that takes place twice in March and twice in April at BurlCo’s mecca for farming in Moorestown.
Taking a Chance
The folks behind each of these winning dishes are taking pathways that diverge from the norm. In the process, they up their games – and diners’ experiences at their tables.
Pardina Lentils-Carrot Stew
It’s time for a party. Let the inspiration come as it may, for all that matters is you gather a crew and feed them something hearty, yet healthy, and roundly flavorful. This no-talent-needed stew is an option for you to exercise.
Debunking Misconceptions
Interesting, isn’t it, how veritable myths of the food industries are fostered. That’s why we asked a cadre of culinary pros to explore and explain some of the most common they encounter with answers to this question: What’s the greatest misconception the eating public has about your job?
Grits & Grace
Today’s Restaurant Revue column posts with hope in our hearts and faith in the folks who have created this welcoming eatery in Bayville that’s aimed at feeding locals the kinds of lovingly prepared and warmly served foods every community would be honored to have in their midst. For late Monday night, an accidental fire caused damage and partial collapse of its building, leaving an extended family of diners firm in the conviction that their gathering place will rise again to serve its hearty and heartfelt dishes. In the meantime, this column posts exactly as written soon after eating lunch last week at Grits & Grace.