Mulberries, Vintage ’25
At Stone Circle Farm in Middle Township, Cape May County, a giant mulberry tree is shedding its fruits into waiting hands. It’s a treat for June and a harbinger of harvests to come during the weeks ahead in farther-north parts of our Garden State.
Matthews Seafood Market
Peak-season local fishes are on the docket at this seasonal spot in Cape May’s county seat. If you’ll be lickety-split about it, you might catch New Jersey’s own soft-shell crabs prepared by a veteran fisherman who knows how to get them to your table in perfect form.
Captain Lybarger’s Tilefish Tagine
A mild, firm, yet flaky fish caught by one of New Jersey’s most skilled fishermen inspires a stew right for a crowd. Gather ’round, and let the talk – and ideas – flow.
Zoe’s Emilio’s Kitchen
A new dinner menu that extends well beyond the trodden in the Mexican vernacular brings options in fine-dining that uncover the very glamorous possibilities of vegetables and fishes – and even how to glaze ribs more intriguingly than popular standard sauces allow.
Shokra Soups
The sincere folks behind a plant-based café make a point of likening the dishes on their casual-fare menu to well-known standards. They shouldn’t need to sell a mushroom as “like” a meat nor a mélange of sea vegetables as “like” tuna to prove the worth of what they’re cooking up. It’s good stuff.
A Little Yin Amid the Yangs
Distinctive healthy eats highlight the dining docket of the two weeks just past, along with one guilty pleasure in the form of a many-layered wanna-be hand-held.
Savory Challah French Toast
The addition of allium empowers a brunch staple to take a walk on the savory side, while a fruit just coming into peak harvest season in the Garden State balances the favorite with a kick of sweet-tart. Matheson Westlake is your guide.
Shumi Leonia
An iconic chef and his one-time pupil join forces at one of the more gracious sushi restaurants around. It’s a meeting of minds traditional and inventive yet always respectful of the integrity of their main subject matter: Fishes, glorious fishes.
Ma & Pa’s Triple-Decker ‘Heaven’
It’s a bruiser, this wanna-be hand-held that’s a many-layered thing coming out of the Tex-Mex-meets-BBQ genre. And it’s a gentle giant that, if it doesn’t kill you first, will win you over with its doe-eyed charms.
Mia’s Vietnamese Cuisine
In the heart of the Garden State’s Spice Route that wends along Route 27 from Newark to Princeton sits a decade-old independent restaurant where classic foods of Vietnam play out with purity, simplicity and technical precision.
Spring Chicken
The season of rebirth sees a new crop of chickens from a singularly focused farmer teaming up with current-harvest vegetables to make for a quintessential end-of-weekend supper. (Next “Bec Bird” gets spatchcocked on the grill.)
Susumu Shinagawa, Okinami
Where does the Garden State’s itamae legend Kunihiko “Ike” Aikasa go out to eat for sushi? To the counter of a revered colleague now practicing his craft at a small, modest and always-popping storefront in Norwood. “Chef Shina” is the master’s selection to TPW’s chefs-pick-chefs society of top toques, and his own story is reflective of the manner in which he approaches every turn of the knife: with utmost care and inspiration from ingredient.