the road | the food | a new direction
After a late breakfast at Woody’s, we thought we’d stroll around town until Swal Dairy opened for the day. Little did we know that this was Swal’s last day of the season. And little did we know that on the last day of the season, Swal dishes out a free scoop of their homemade ice cream to anyone who shows up! Sometimes, the stars align just right. Continue reading
Carmen’s Deli has achieved a measure of national fame from a visit by The Next Food Network Star winner Aaron “Big Daddy” McCargo, Jr. His sandwich of choice for The Best Thing I Ever Ate was a Carmen’s cheese steak with fried onions and cherry peppers. That combo is now listed on the menu as the Big Daddy, and we gave it a try (“we” being Bruce and the ayersian couple of Chris and Amy). It was quite alright, with plenty of meat, but it didn’t blow us away. Needed more onions and cheese, and the peppers were sparse and too timid. Better than average but not LAF-worthy. Continue reading
There are now three franchises of New York City’s venerable Grand Central Oyster Bar: in Newark Airport, in Tokyo, and, since December of last year, in Brooklyn. Currently, the Brooklyn location is running a special fall beer and oyster pairing menu. Four oysters with four five-ounce beers sounds like a great idea and, at $14.95, a great deal too. Read about Kate Kolenda’s experience with the pairings at The Daily Meal. Continue reading
A recent visit to Woody’s turned up some news: Woody sold the place! The sale happened this summer. We met the new owner; seemed like a friendly guy. He also owns a small Mexican place, MAC’s Tex-Mex, down the street. Almost nothing has changed at Woody’s, as far as we could tell. Every table was filled on a Sunday morning at 11 a.m., and nine of us had to wait about 15 minutes to be seated in the small dining room. Waitresses are the same too. Our waitress told us there was some initial concern from the townsfolk as to how much Woody’s would change but that settled down quickly as they realized Woody’s would still be Woody’s. The transition to the new owner has gone smoothly. Continue reading
John Burnett, writing for NPR’s Foodways blog, presents his thesis that the variety and authenticity of Texas’ small town eats is getting swamped by barbecue, Tex-Mex cuisine, convenience store fast food, and Sysco. We don’t know that we’d restrict the phenomenon to Texas. Hasn’t this been happening across the country for decades? Continue reading
Our new favorite local diner! Especially after the sale of Mastoris in Bordentown a couple of years ago Daphne’s, open since October of 2011, has become our go-to breakfast out spot. Actually, we should say Daphne’s reopened in 2011, because this spot was once occupied by Daphne Wilczynski, up until 2005. Then Daphne closed the diner to focus on catering, and the old diner alternated between vacancy, a brief run as the Italian restaurant Diamond’s, and another brief episode as Fernando’s.
Continue reading
It’s surely not too early to be thinking about gifts for the holiday season. Here’s one for your friends and family who appreciate LAF (Left At the Fork)-style dining: Counter Culture: The American Coffee Shop Waitress, by Candacy A. Taylor. Ms. Taylor, a former waitress herself, has spent years collecting stories from, and photographing, career waitresses at coffee shops, truck stops, and diners across America. You can see a sample from the book at The Guardian. Place your order here. Continue reading
We visit brewpubs all over the country but rarely eat in them (and, therefore, rarely write about them). While we love craft brews the food in the pubs is fairly predictable: at best, hearty pub grub like burgers, sausages, fish and chips … Nothing wrong with any of that, mind you, and the execution is generally OK, if you stick to the less ambitious selections. But interesting food? Yawn. Trap Rock is one brewpub that smashes the mold. Continue reading
Rossi’s Bar & Grill finally moved, this summer, from Trenton, NJ’s Chambersburg neighborhood, leaving just one restaurant remaining of the dozens of Italian restaurants that once lined the streets of the ‘Burg. Rossi’s landed in Hamilton Township, at the site of a former Charlie Brown’s. That didn’t sound promising: the old Rossi’s was an old corner tavern, with a small dining area that seemed almost an afterthought. You entered to a bar, and if there was a crowd, you left your name with the bartender. They’ve tried to keep the basic geometry the same. You still enter at the bar, with the somewhat larger dining room to the right. The bartender can stick to bartending duties as they now have a hostess desk. All the baseball photos and memorabilia made the trip. Everything, of course, looks clean and modern, for better or worse. Continue reading
Pan-Asian? Really? Yes, we know, we know … But it appears there’s something more going on at Asian Bistro. Here are our first impressions after an initial visit. The restaurant features the cuisines of Korea, Thailand, China, Japan, and Vietnam (represented by only a bowl of pho). The owner is Korean-American, and as soon as you’re seated, an array of banchan, small dishes of food (Korean) meant to be shared,  is brought to the table. Today the banchan included kimchi, potatoes, bean sprouts, and fish, all cool and bright tasting, each boasting its own herb, spice, and sauce profile. Let this be a signal: we think the best way to approach Asian Bistro is as a Korean restaurant (something in very short supply in these parts.). Continue reading
Here’s a plan for a perfect Jersey City day: dine on mofongo and pernil at the Puerto Rican restaurant ME Casa, stroll to the waterfront to admire the New York City skyline, then head over to Torico for some homemade tropical fruit ice cream. Continue reading
We won’t pretend to be experts on Puerto Rican cuisine, but we are experts on what we like. And we like what’s served at the small and unobtrusive, below-street-level ME Casa very much. The owners call the cuisine Puerto Rican-inspired, not Puerto Rican. The mofongo sure seemed like the real thing. Mofongo begins with green plantains, which are fried and then pounded with garlic and chicharrones in a mortar-and-pestle-like device called a pilon. At least, the best ones, like that served at ME Casa, use a pilon. The result, a garlicky mound filled with crusty bits, reminds us texturally of Thanksgiving stuffing. Choose your topping: beef, shrimp, or chicken. This is very easy-to-enjoy eating, Puerto Rican soul food. Continue reading
Have you had New Jersey-style crumb cake? If you’re not from the Northeast it’s likely you haven’t. Once you do you may find that standard issue crumb cake just doesn’t do it for you anymore. What makes the Jersey edition unique is how the crumb cake concept is turned on its head. It’s all about the crumbs. Oh, there’s cake, but the half-inch of pastry supports four times its height in sweet crumbs!
© 2024 Left at the Fork
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑