Manila Café
Today a Filipino house of foods divided into a restaurant and a market located in the same shopping center, Arlyn Baker’s little empire flourishes with emphasis on authentic preparations that do its multicultural soul proud.
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.
Shahzad’s Halal
A Middle Eastern counter-service take on city-style street-cart fare hums along astride the Garden State Parkway in Parlin, serving forth fat-and-happy gyros and many-layered rice bowls built on the principles of good, hearty home-cooking.
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.
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.
Pho Viet Express
A Vietnamese family whose skilled kitchen team turns out well-crafted versions of classics that never stint on authenticity has developed a strong diner base in a locale not known for hosting culinary adventures. They come for a surfeit of fresh rolls and uncommonly robust pho.
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.
Samfaina
The Catalan version of ratatouille is a dish you need to have on your high-summer menu card. Today, super-star chef Craig Polignano offers tips to making the best-ever version of this celebration of the season.