Shirin Café
Classic dishes from Uzbekistan charm with authenticity and technical precision at a homey storefront run by a couple devoted to serving locals with ties to Central Asia and Eastern Europe as well as diners interested in experiencing another world of cookery without need of a passport.
Lutong Bahay and Phil-Am Bakery
There is a Little Manila in the small borough in Somerset County that could and should evolve into a winsome destination for home-style Filipino foods. Two stops on the would-be trail offer specialties well worth a segue from downtowns more traveled.
Oven-roasted Small Tomatoes
Ready to put something on your Squirreling Schedule? A favorite, and one of the easiest how-tos of the extend-the-life schemes for produce, is a method of oven-roasting and stashing in olive oil the omnipresent cherry tomato and its kin, the grape tomato.
China Chalet
Star dishes than shun the norm separate this long-timer in Morris County from the pack. Learn its menu, commit to its strengths and please sub it for the places with standard-issue menus currently inked on your dine card.
Lenora’s Tinga Chimichanga
A small café in the Bayshore borough of Keyport is where a shredded chicken version of the Tex-Mex classic does exactly right by the genre.
Blair Mountain Biscuit Co.
Chef Ted Miller serves a staple of the South with twists on tradition at his snug storefront in Blackwood. It’s where you just might want to risk it for a biscuit.
Coming ’Round
Gumbo, chicken keema, a fruited scone, a pepper-based soup and a cutlet unlike any other make up the quintet of favorite eats from the past two weeks, Read about them here and now.
Greens Bars
Have your corned beef and cabbage, cottage pie or colcannon, Irish stew and Irish whiskey, green beer, green guacamole and cookies tinted shamrock green. But also eat your greens on St. Patrick’s Day, perhaps in pastry-esque squares that ooze cheese and the nutritional value of vegetables.
Chatpati Delhi
A strip mall storefront along the Garden State’s own Spice Route is where Chef Hema Singh leads a 14-person kitchen and her husband Jimmy Poonawalla runs the floor show. It’s not the Taj Mahal, but it’s a wonder of tastes and right now is New Jersey’s finest South Asian restaurant.
The Floor Show
Traditional front-of-house team members might benefit from learning a few tricks of an updated model of the service trade. The discourse on “The New Counter Culture” continues.
Dried Sardines
By now you’re on board with tinned fish, assigning a prime place in the pantry for those trusty vessels that hold a range of seafood beyond the tuna that’s long been staple and savior. Turns out there are other versions of preserved fishes ready to step into the role of last-minute meal-maker.
Sergeantsville Inn
Another chef who once led a big-name, big-city kitchen has taken charge of the stoves at an iconic restaurant in Hunterdon County. Is the multi-tiered menu serving its mission and community?