Insider Insight
Which summer vegetable or fruit do you think is underappreciated and/or underused? That’s the question we posed to some of our top culinary professionals. Their answers illuminate and inspire.
Fortnightly 5
Up with Down-to-Earth
To be loved, a food doesn’t have to be earth-shattering or served in posh surroundings or sport pricey, luxe ingredients. It can be as down-to-earth as vegetables, fruit, bread, fish and beans can be and still rise to the top of our charts.
Sunday Kitchen
Zuke Cups
One of the season’s most prolific crops gets a new look and a new use with minimal effort. Sporty and cute, these little vessels offer smooth sailing in the kitchen on a summer night.
People
One from Column Yan
If you’ve been wondering how the fascinatingly glorious “Chinese-inspired” dishes at Sean Yan’s Ram & Rooster in Metuchen come together, the chef’s first anniversary celebration special menu proves a study in dissecting his personal, provocative cuisine. Yan does that for TPW readers here.
Food Find
Gluten-free Breads at Kitch Organic
Everything Seeded stars in a fine lineup of gluten-free breads at this breakfast-lunch stop on Red Bank’s West Side.
Sunday Kitchen
AwesomeYo’s Spiced Potato Chips
A chip that can make a snack into a meal is found at an eatery in Metuchen that sports savory fare and baked goods, as well as pure-gold finds such as these brashly seasoned homemade crisps.
People
A Storied Farmer
The fruits of Rose Robson's labors are on display at orchards in Burlington County where uncommon varieties reveal her prowess not only at growing, but educating an increasingly curious public.
Fajji’s Ice Cream
A fixture in Perth Amboy is this ice cream stand where the churner in charge pushes butterfat content to its limit even as he fully respects the flavor quotient. And there are quenching helados tropicales on board. Salud!
Fortnightly 5
Flavor, Forward March
What’s ripe and ready at this moment of harvest and what comes from well-honed skills following tradition or riffing on old ways rise to the top in this round of favorites from the two weeks just past.
Sunday Kitchen
Colorful, Creamy and Crunchy
Watts Organic Farm’s Adirondack Blue and Pink potatoes inspire a salad built on unexpected textures and zesty elements.
The Little Organic Farm That Will
What Dave Watts is doing right now on his 18 acres in Salem County is building for the future: soil, community, relationships and an example that will feed the future in myriad and many ways. It’s a bounty designed to keep on giving.
In Good Company
Should beans of all stripes find their way into your kitchen, there’s a tie that can bind them into an entrée fit for right now.
Sunday Kitchen
A Cheeky Proposition
We’re back with Cape May Captain Brady Lybarger, who this time has carved out of his jumbo tilefish catches a delicacy that might inspire us all to get on board with a little advocacy that’d help make an uncommon part of a fish a bit more accessible to aficionados.
Star of the Blueberry Show
Bluecrops are in season at the moment at McCay Blueberry Farm, in both Hammonton and Chatsworth, and if anything is keeping you from scoring a pint, a flat or a 10-pound box of them, you need to rearrange your priorities. Ed McCay’s are simply the best.
Food Find
G.O.A.T. Waffle
Lorena Cabra laces her made-on-the-spot waffles with a salty cheese from Colombia then drizzles them hot-off-the-griddle with a fruited sauce or dulce de leche. A more delightful breakfast at a farmers’ market you’d be hard-pressed to find.
Fortnightly 5
Heroes of Sincerity
It’s the highest compliment in food and the favorites of the two weeks just past have it in spades: the best blueberries, a braised pork Thai stew, Japanese cucumbers, earthy red lentil balls, and an Indonesian breakfast soup.
Sunday Kitchen
Sashimi Cucumbers from Eastbound Acres
A bio-intensive market garden farm in southern Ocean County grows an uncommon, highly desirable Japanese cuke variety known for its crispness, sweetness and light seed content. It makes for refreshing eating completely unadorned as well as a delightful vessel for hors d’oeuvres.
Hot on the Trail
Off-Island Eating in Cape May County
Apart from the storied beach towns of the smaller peninsula located at the bottom of the larger peninsula that is our Garden State sits a variety of sources for all sorts of eats, from restaurants to farms to markets to summer-ready ice cream stands. Go inland, folks, go inland.
Dessert Raani
Elegant Indian pastries from Aashika Hemnani showcase an individual style of baking the Mumbai native has been practicing since she was a teen. Today, she’s making monthly appearances at the Metuchen Farmers’ Market and selling confections fit for royalty through her online shop.
Sunday Kitchen
Big Blues Salad
A score of a flat of organic blueberries from McCay’s early harvest at its Hammonton fields inspires a dinner-size toss of most amiable ingredients.
Anchoring Down a Sea Change
At Mayer’s Tavern in Cape May, owner Alex Laudeman and executive chef Rob Marzinsky have teamed up to secure the fine-dining future of a one-time fisherman’s dive bar. It’s driven by what’s locally sourced, piloted by the needs of a community of locals and visitors, and powered by dual visionaries.
Sugar Snap Peas
Leading late spring into high summer is the sweetest little pea-’n’-pod in Mother Nature’s vast repertoire. Eat raw, and be happy. Or consider other options if you snag a large quantity grown on a Garden State farm.
Fortnightly 5
Digging Around a Prime Peninsula
Cape May’s greats hit the heights of all eaten during the two weeks just past. Soft-shells, tilefish, mustardy shrimp, lesser-known berries and a force of nature from Chiapas in Mexico top our list.
Sunday Kitchen
The Scoop on Frozen Green Grapes
Blitz, turn into slush, spice and eat. It’s the season for making the absolute easiest of chilling treats.
35. And Change.
It’s been a long and winding road to the restaurant place we find ourselves in at this moment in Garden State culinary history. During the last 35 years of reviewing our dining scene, TPW’s founder has seen continual evolution - the best of which has been, and continues to be, inspired by what is grown, raised, fished and produced right here at the hands of those who respect, value and cherish their fellow culinarians.
Wild Roots Provisions
Across from the beach in Cape May sits the brick-and-mortar dream of a pair of hospitality industry vets who want to make Shore time a sure bet for snacks.
Mulberries, Vintage ’25
At Stone Circle Farm in Middle Township, Cape May County, a giant mulberry tree is shedding its fruits into waiting hands. It’s a treat for June and a harbinger of harvests to come during the weeks ahead in farther-north parts of our Garden State.
Sunday Kitchen
Captain Lybarger’s Tilefish Tagine
A mild, firm, yet flaky fish caught by one of New Jersey’s most skilled fishermen inspires a stew right for a crowd. Gather ’round, and let the talk – and ideas – flow.
Chris Mumford: Still Growing After All These Years
The Garden State’s OG chef-farmer right now is selling his organic plants at the back end of a tucked-away nursery. But he’s banking on the farm in Wall he and his wife purchased and moved onto this spring to keep his mission going strong. At age 64, he’s still the one we need to feed and nourish us.
Mairi’s Cookie Company
A home-baker in Medford Lakes offers a line of distinctive and delightful cookies that stand apart from those that Big Food Business sell at supermarkets and convenience stores. Care for an Earl Gray Shortbread with your tea?
Fortnightly 5
A Little Yin Amid the Yangs
Distinctive healthy eats highlight the dining docket of the two weeks just past, along with one guilty pleasure in the form of a many-layered wanna-be hand-held.
Sunday Kitchen
Savory Challah French Toast
The addition of allium empowers a brunch staple to take a walk on the savory side, while a fruit just coming into peak harvest season in the Garden State balances the favorite with a kick of sweet-tart. Matheson Westlake is your guide.