Bamboo House
The shape’s familiar. So is the stately presentation on a pretty platter. But what’s inside the Black Rice Roll at this Japanese-Thai BYOB in Frenchtown diverges from the norm.
The Grand Tavern
Calvin Trillin, a seminal writer with four-star ideas about food, long has campaigned to have pasta carbonara replace turkey as the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner. As usual, he’s spot-on correct. But there’s a new contender in the “86 the Bird” movement: the cavatelli BLT at this pub-by-the-Shore.
Bahay Kubo
This is one fun way to eat, this communal-style Filipino feast known as kamayan. Easy, too. Except for figuring out how to stop.
An Apple Today
Pie is mighty fine, but this fruit is too versatile to be one-note. Think apples and cabbage, apples and sweet potatoes, apples and chilies (salsa!), apples and sausages, apples and (stuffed) squashes, apples and ground meats. For starters.
Sweet Amalia’s Oysters
Even in their lean season, these hand-harvested slurpers are the queens of our waters.
Manu’s Kitchen Bar and Sushi Lounge
Portuguese and Japanese plates co-exist and co-mingle at a distinctive destination in the Ironbound.
The Porch Crepe Cafe
A Bonus Brief RR: Bid the season adieu this week with crepes savory and sweet at an outdoor café that’s tres charmant.
Taqueria Rendon
Chef Marco Rendon’s birria specialist slipped into town on Cinco de Mayo, putting into the spotlight takes on the sensation that are destined to make it even more sensational.
Full-throttle Flavors: 8-30-21
Nothing shy here: Fried squid shooting juices; birria bursting from a torta; wild boar ragu fit for sweater weather, but bright enough for summer’s end; dried shrimp powder that’s oomph in a jar; milk with true terroir. All in our every-other-week favorites report.
Grape Achievement
Even if baking isn’t your raison d’etre, the tart-sweet table grapes grown at Bonacorsi Family Farm in Franklin Township might motivate you to fire up the oven for an old-school grape cake.
Chefs Rory and Aaron Philipson of The Blue Bottle Café
A caring community has built up around this innovative café in Hopewell, the next stop on the Chef Train.
Harvey Cedars Shellfish Company
The fish is local, the plates unfussy yet creative when called for, the setting on Long Beach Island beachy-keen. No wonder this landmark is edging towards its 50th birthday.