Sunchokes
Don’t hesitate if you come across this tuber that looks a little bit like ginger and will taste, after roasting, like a nutty version of a potato. It’s a vegetable that looks more difficult than it is to prepare and offers major rewards in the taste department.
Lady and the Shallot
Long shoehorned into a high-traffic space inside Trenton Farmers’ Market, this vegan eatery now makes its home in a brighter, bigger space on the edge of the campus of The College of New Jersey. It’s still dishing out lessons in cheerful plant-based fare.
MOGO Korean Fusion Tacos
The second brick-and-mortar offshoot of the Boardwalk phenomenon in Asbury Park tackles most of the blended-culture street fare as its older siblings. Thirteen years hence, has the concept mellowed with age? Are we just accustomed to its ways and flavors? Is familiarity breeding acceptable pleasantness?
Complex Simplicity
They all sound simple enough, this round’s crowning achievements, but nothing’s simple about the preparations that lead to such stimulating and spectacular results for a cake, dumplings, clams, noodles and a ragu.
Contemplating Grapefruit
Celebrated chef André deWaal has delighted and educated diners in the Garden State’s Northwest Kingdom for decades. Today he shares his knowledge and love of all things culinary with readers of TPW in special edition of our weekly cooking column by squeezing juicy truths out of a common citrus fruit.
Kurobuta White Charcoal Grille
Labels play a major role at this pork-focused Japanese restaurant that also zeroes in on seafood in non-sushi ways. Despite the name games, there’s fine fare to be had – a hat-tip to a mostly conscientious kitchen.
Mazar Kabab
Classic Afghani fare is served with bountiful hospitality at a downtown storefront in Central Somerset County. It’s family-style, and designed to bring comforts and joy in resolutely respectful ways.
Dalida’s Dad’s Olives
At Bocadillo in Moonachie, the local way of preparing a standard small bite sends it into a stratosphere of other-worldliness. We have the how-to for you.
Lucia and Gretel’s Latin Cuisine
Classics from Guatemala as translated by siblings with polished techniques and an understanding of their native country’s foodways are on display at a busy storefront where laughter ripples both from the open kitchen and at the tables of diners discovering the wonders of tapado, loroco and groaning platters of churrasco steak-and-sevens.
Blue Moon Farm Garlic Powder
A Garden State-grown crop is turned by its farmers in Hunterdon County into a savory, useful and endlessly complementary value-added product – a seasoning for all seasons.
Oasis Farm Social Graces Tea
A farmhouse on a spread of land both cultivated and pastured is tended to by individuals with autism who also practice the arts and crafts of baking and cooking – and, at appointed times, host teas that put their hospitality on full display.
Havens to Savor
Sometimes, during a rough stretch of life or weather or particularly rotten luck, you find a food that becomes a veritable port in a storm. This go-around’s quintet of favorites is just that, each a beacon of flavor signaling a safe harbor.