Bread Winners & Mates: 1-3-22
Starting with the staff of life and continuing with its key pals, favorite eats of the fortnight just past were about letting all-star ingredients do their thing.
Hail the Hearty Salad!
Don’t talk of diets, please. We’ve got enough to contend with, after all. But do talk of wintertime tosses of greens that deliver big punches of flavor and an abundance of nutrients.
DINE-Out vs. Eat-OUT
Oh, what a year: Late December back in 2020, we were marveling at how creative some restaurants could be, portioning off slips of outdoor spaces into dining rooms and fashioning foods that might warm at least in spirit, if not in temperature. As the seasons progressed and grew warmer, more dine-outs became literal eat-outs. Here’s to the hearty souls, both serving and seated, who adapted in style.
Ava’s Kitchen & Bar
In a sprawling space infused with industrial style and warmed by wood, copper and antiques, punched-up classics reveal a sense of adventure as well as knowledge of the novel.
Benchmark + Friends
Travis Coatney’s breads are winning popularity contests statewide. Though bread sales are on a pause right now, as the Sultan of Sourdough revs up for his new baking kitchen in Little Silver, dream with us about our favorite Jersey-proud companions for the breads that set the standard for the genre.
Zack Melker: Toscano
He runs a prime steakhouse that’s also a haven for primo pastas. Our chef-anointed honor this month goes to the proprietor of a destination for both in Bordentown. As his fan notes, he “is the real deal.”
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.