Time for Takeout
Wintertime, and the living might not be so easy. But looking back over the last year of eating out, we’ve come upon many restaurants in our Garden State that have turned takeout into an art form. Today we recall a dozen that do it right and might help us get through another mean season.
Simply Jerk Jamaican Grill
Fans of the much-missed Green Grotto in New Brunswick take note: Eleith and Newell White are serving forth their famous shrimp curry, and more, at this take-out/dine-in strip-mall spot.
Get Your Culinary Hugs Here: 12-20-21
Need the warm embrace a pot pie offers? Or a plate of sumptuous pasta? Looking for the ease of kick-starter ingredients? Maybe a spread both delicious and nutritious? Find them all in the top tastes of the past two weeks.
Dip, Anyone?
A true peasant wife spread, inspired by one eaten in Tunisia many years ago, finds its way to the table today. Nutritious and delicious, thanks to carrots, almonds, chickpeas, chipotle and crushed red peppers doing a dance, it’s one to remember when resolution time rolls around.
Frenchtown Inn
For decades a fine-dining destination in a prime Delaware River town, the family-owned inn is awash in options for foods either cleverly chill or agelessly sophisticated and settings that sport a water view or clubby conviviality.
Tsujita, Santouka, Omusubi Gombei
The food court inside Mitsuwa, the Japanese marketplace in a Hudson-hugging borough in Bergen County, offers a river view as well as a collection of quality eateries sporting savories or sweets. Consider three that’ll do right for lunch, dinner or snack time, fueling both shoppers and mealtime drop-ins.
Count on Beans
Wonderful flying solo and wonderful in partnerships, legumes in their dried form are a year-round staple. Pizza Beans? Greens-’n’-Beans? Let them be just the start of a new season of bean cookery.
tacoshop
Much more than tacos, this year-round newcomer from the James Beard Award-nominated chef Lucas Manteca is where a ceviche gets a re-charge, an empanada a revival – and an old-new sandwich cookie makes its debut.
Fresh Kitchen
“Healthy” fare, quickly assembled for both takeout and eat-in diners, is the mission of this fast-casual spot that aims to serve “fuel for the body.”
Playing Dress-Up: 12-6-21
Sometimes it takes a lot of tinkering to add pizzazz to a familiar food. Other times, it takes very little. However it happens, the magic is there in these top eats of the two weeks just past.
Winter Farmers’ Markets
Good cooking and good eating are predicated on good shopping. Fact. Don’t expect miracles in the kitchen if your ingredients are lousy. Your best bet? Buy directly from the Garden State’s best sources.
KAI SWEETS
A confectionary in the food court at Mitsuwa offers exceptional renditions of two favorites at neighboring stalls in the busy marketplace in Edgewater.