Update - February 2012

Vietnamese Beef Stew

Binh Duong is one of my top three Vietnamese spots in Jersey.

On this visit, we enjoyed the super-crispy Spring Rolls (shrimp and pork), a tasty Crispy Fried Crepe (egg crepe filled with shrimp & pork), and of course, the rich and flavorful Beef Pho. For something a little different, try the Bo Kho - Vietnamese beef stew served with bread, rice noodles or egg noodles – large chunks of braised beef and carrots in a rich, fatty broth. Perfect for a cold winter night.

The servers are still friendly and happy to explain the more obscure menu items and ingredients.

Review - October 2010

Shrimp Pho

When I ordered the Bun Bo Hue (Spicy Pork & Beef Rice Noodle Soup) from the “Chef’s Special” section of Binh Duong’s large menu, the waiter asked me if I wanted blood.

“Blood?” I asked.

“Blood,” he muttered.

“Sure, with blood,” I said.

Don’t be afraid. The blood appeared in my soup as wine-colored, tofu-textured, cubes. Not too strong by themselves, adding a slight morcilla flavor to the already savory broth. All together, a delicious bowl of rice noodles, pork slices, and beef chunks on the bone. Not only did they ask about the blood, the owner offered some friendly advice for eating the Bun (rice vermicelli) when he thought my wife hadn’t added enough sauce to the bowl.

Crispy Spring Rolls

Crispy Spring Rolls, succulent Roasted Quail, deep-fried Buttered Frogs Legs, nested Fried Sweet Potatoes with Shrimp, and a cold  Shrimp and Papaya Salad made for a hearty table full of appetizers when we visited Binh Duong for a Friday night dinner with friends. One of those friends with Vietnamese roots declared the food and, importantly, the Pho, to be good.

In a Bloomfield strip mall that includes a Filipino restaurant and bakery, Binh Duong has about twelve tables in a simply decorated room. Service is fast and the crowd is a diverse mix of Asians and non-Asians.

With good food, friendly service and low prices, Binh Duong is a nice addition to our Jersey Vietnamese list.

Links

Off the Broiler

Review

Fresh Fish

I found Al Helal Meat & Fish Market thanks to Mayor Domenick Stampone of neighboring Haledon Borough, who Tweeted enthusiastically about this Middle Eastern spot and invited me on a recent ethnic food tour of Paterson.

Like many of New Jersey’s best ethnic food spots, at first glance, Al Helal appears to be just a market. Groceries and housewares are up front. The meat counter in the back is well stocked with fresh beef, lamb and goat. (The market follows Islamic dietary rules, halal, so no pork.) Unlike your local Pathmark, the butchers here proudly display every cut, including tongue, liver, kidney, tripe, tails and feet. The fish counter along the left wall is just as impressive, with at least a dozen varieties of fresh whole fish on ice. I saw red snapper, porgies, sardines, striped bass, branzino, perch and rainbow trout, among others.

Charcoal Grill Working its Magic @ Al Helal

What makes Al Helal unique, and worth a special trip, is that you can pick a whole fish, or a piece of meat, and they’ll prepare it for you on the spot – grilled, fried or broiled. Along one wall, to the right of the entrance, an impressive brick-framed grill smokes with hardwood charcoal. The guy at the fish counter gives you your selection in a bucket, and you walk it over to the grill man. I opted for a lamb chop and some homemade lamb sausage from the meat counter. At the grill, I asked for my lamb chop spicy. The grill man worked his magic with a spice rub and direct flame. Fast food as it should be.

Grilled Meats

A few minutes later, my lamb chop was perfectly grilled, nicely spiced, and served atop a heaping plats of rice and grilled vegetables. The sausages have a nice flavor and are delicious scooped up in a fresh pita. Fortunately, I had opened a bottle of ayran, a Turkish yogurt drink (like Persian doogh), which I needed almost immediately to counter the super spicy grilled jalapenos. Make sure you sample a few of the excellent salads and sides, like creamy hummus, flavorful red pepper spread, or a very nice Turkish salad. My entire lunch, including the drink, cost $15.

Olives & Pickled Vegetables @ Al Helal

Al Helal Meat & Fish Market sits on the corner of East Railway and Crooks Avenues in Paterson, next to the railroad tracks and the bustling Farmers Market, which is most crowded on Saturdays.

Review

K'nafee

Nablus Pastry & Sweets is a tiny shop on Main Street, Paterson serving Middle Eastern cookies and confections.

Locals come here for the K’nafee (also Kanafeh), a popular Arabic sweet with origins in the ancient Palestinian city of Nablus. Served warm, the freshly made K’nafee at Nablus Pastry comes in two forms –  a round, thin layer of white cheese, covered by a slightly sweet mixture of syrup and semolina, topped with crushed pistachios; or a rectangular version topped with thinly shredded pastry noodles. Unique and very tasty, you should try this Middle Eastern specialty.

None of the treats behind the counter are labelled, so just point at whatever looks good if you’re unfamiliar. The woman behind the counter is very friendly and happy to make suggestions.

The Cookie Display @ Nablus

Pastries @ Nablus

Links

Spinach and Cheese-Filled Borek

Review

Family owned and operated, this bakery offers delicious, brick oven-baked, traditional Turkish breads, pide (pita),  simit (Turkish bagel), and savory baked goods (acma, pohaca, borek). The spinach and cheese filled borek, flat squares of thinly layered, flaky yufka (phyllo) dough, served warm, is excellent. Try the large Turkish pide next time you have kebabs or hummus. Their sweet cookies and desserts, especially the pistachio baklava, also get rave reviews.

Serving the local Middle Eastern community and beyond since 1997, Taskin has a small parking lot with a retail counter entrance in the back. Look for the “Bakery Open 24 Hours” sign, just off the Parkway on Hazel Street. Cash only.

Update - February 2012

A Serenade by the Owner

El Rancho is hard to beat for its exuberant atmosphere and attentive service. When we go early for dinner on a Friday night with the kids, the place is empty and we have our choice of tables. Soon enough, more tables fill up and the owner starts playing guitar and singing Ranchero classics.

The food is still solid, with a wide selection of both common and less common Mexican dishes. Try the tamales, the excellent tortilla soup or the creamy thick sopa de frijol (black bean soup).

Review - February 2010

First discovered this place when it was called El Bandido. New ownership in March 2009 changed the name to El Rancho Grande, but the food quality, friendly service and festive atmosphere remain the same.

Sopa de Tortilla

Everyone gets a warm, cheese-filled soft tortilla as a sort of Mexican amuse-bouche. Decent homemade salsa and guacamole. A nice range of dishes from tacos, chimichangas and enchiladas to more interesting and tasty specialties like Huauchinango a la Veracruzana (fish filet with tomato sauce, olives, onions, and red peppers) and Tampiquena Naca (broiled steak with Mexican green peppers in a cream sauce). The kitchen is also willing to make dishes to order, like fish tacos for my wife. After dinner, a complimentary Sweet Chimichanga – a crispy flour tortilla stuffed with banana and served warm with maple syrup (Mexican maple trees?) – was a nice surprise.

Camarones

El Rancho is a stand-alone house with its own parking lot in the back. Maybe ten tables in a small dining room with nooks that make it seem larger. There is a full bar off to one side and the owner played Mariachi guitar the last Friday evening we were there. Yet another place supporting my theory that wall paintings signal good ethnic food. El Rancho’s walls are covered with colorful murals depicting, let’s say, eclectic visions of Mexico, including a few of the original restaurant’s Bandidos.  Moderately expensive and most customers aren’t Mexican, but El Rancho Grande is authentic and fun.

Try the: Queso Derritido con Chorizo (Melted Cheese with Mexican sausage), Chiles Rellenos (Stuffed Peppers), Camarones (Shrimp) Mexican Style

Review

New Jersey has plenty of Italian delis with hot food behind the counter. La Costeñita is the Mexican version, serving up authentic tacos, tamales and moles, instead of sausage and peppers, veal parm and Sunday sauce.

Chicken Mole

Tucked in a shopping plaza just off Route 206 in Hillsborough, La Costeñita looks like a small grocery store. Shelves along the wall hold a variety of imported Mexican goods, from canned chipotles to cookies and candies. There’s a deli-style counter with soft cheeses and meats. The vegetable bins are filled with jalapeños and tomatillos.

To find the hardy Mexican fare, walk past the few tables in front, all the way to the tile counter in the back.  Sit on one of the four stools where you can see the day’s special bubbling away and watch the corn masa tortillas prepared fresh. Daily specials are posted, in Spanish. Ask some questions and the woman at the counter is happy to translate. There’s also a bilingual paper menu that includes various tortas (sandwiches), tacos (beef, spicy pork, chorizo, chicken tongue), sopes (thick tortilla ‘boats’), tamales, burritos and enchiladas. Weekend specials include Sopa de Mariscos (shellfish soup) and Panzita de Res (beef tripe soup).

Fresh Masa

The aromas are tantalizing. We ordered a few items to go. The Mole de Pollo (Chicken Mole) is served with an earthy and complex mole that packs a smoky punch. Decadent pork tamales with meat on the bone and spicy red chile sauce are excellent. The tacos are served in two soft homemade corn tortillas. Of the food we tried, only the torta, or sandwich, was disappointing. The bread is too thick, with skimpy fillings for my taste.

La Costeñita is worth a visit for cheap and hardy fare that reminds you of your Mexican abuela.

Links

Serious Eats

Tomatillos

Tacos @ La Costeñita

Pork Ramen @ Santouka

Review

Love that Ramen!

The cold weather and Robert Sietsema’s Village Voice article on ramen in NYC motivated me to find New Jersey’s best bowl. Mitsuwa Marketplace in Edgewater pops up quickly in any search for the best Japanese food in New Jersey. We went last weekend, and were rewarded for the trip to Bergen County. The bowl of pork ramen pictured above catapults Mitsuwa’s food court to the top of my Japanese favorites list.

Japanese cuisine is much more than sushi and hibachi. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to find top quality versions of other Japanese dishes at many Japanese restaurants this side of the Hudson. The food court at this Japanese supermarket is a wonderful exception. Here, you will find food stalls devoted to ramen (thin noodles in a meat or fish-based broth), udon (thick noodles), tonkatsu (breaded, deep-fried pork), tea, sweets and other Japanese specialties.

Santouka Ramen

Mistsuwa can be intimidating on the first visit. Don’t be afraid. The marketplace is easy to navigate after you get your bearings (see the floor plan below) and everyone speaks some English. Parking can be difficult on weekends, but like any supermarket parking lot, spots do open up. Once inside the main doors, the supermarket is on your right, the food court is on your left, seating area straight ahead.

The challenge in the food court is deciding what to eat from which stand. There are many choices. The cash-only Santoukaramen stand has the longest line, for good reason. Place your order for Soy, Salt, Miso, Spicy Miso, “Melty” (Special) Pork, or Roasted Pork Ramen at the counter, pay about $10, take your number, and have your companions score some seats while you wait for the individually assembled bowls of steaming goodness.

The Ramen Menu

My Miso Roasted Pork Ramen featured substantial slabs of pork belly, a creamy and complex miso-based broth, lots of ramen noodles, mushrooms, scallions, fish cake and a few other ingredients I couldn’t identify. The result is a very staisfying bowl of ramen. It’s one of those ethnic specialties I can’t hope to replicate at home, even with my Momofuku cookbook close by.

The dumplings from the Japanese/Chinese stall (Tokyo Hanten) are very good, but we didn’t care for the fried rice. The varied deep fried panko-covered proteins (tonkatsu) being passed across the Katsuhana counter looked very good, but we were too full after the ramen to try them. We did squeeze in tea-flavored soft-serve ice cream from the Ito-En stand for dessert, for the kids, of course.

Green Tea Ice Cream

After you eat, you can hit the supermarket for all kinds of interesting Japanese groceries. The meat and sushi counters are very busy. One aisle features Japanese beers and a wide variety of Sakes for sale, at all price points. The largest Japanese supermarket chain in the United States, Mitsuwa has five locations in California and one in Chicago. Edgewater, NJ is the only East Coast Mitsuwa location. It is well worth a visit for Japanese food fans.

Mitsuwa Directory and Map (source: www.mitsuwa.com)

Links

The Eaten Path
me HUNGRY!
Off the Broiler
Wikipedia

(photo by Michelle Stavrou)

Review

Guest review by Michelle Stavrou (@JerseyGirlEats) of Jersey Girl Eats

Sushi & Sashimi for 2

“After moving to the suburbs from Hoboken, my husband and I lamented the lack of an exceptional sushi restaurant. In Hoboken, it’s hard to walk down the street without passing at least one sushi spot, and while they aren’t extraordinary, most surpass what we tried in the suburbs. Our Hoboken favorite was Robongi. Once Mizu Sushi opened in Cranford, though, we were able to claim a new favorite sushi spot.

Nestled in Cranford’s downtown, Mizu Sushi is a place where care is taken not only with the food served, but with the service provided.  On one visit, the waitress saw we had brought sake and gave us sliced cucumber to put in our sake glasses, which brought a smoothness to the sake we hadn’t tasted before. We visit often enough that the waiters can now recite our orders as soon as we sit down.  That may make us predictable, but it also shows Mizu’s attention to detail.

Edamame (photo by Michelle Stavrou)

The restaurant offers a number of standard hot entrees, including udon soup (perfect for warming up on cold winter nights), chicken teriyaki, and pineapple fried rice.  The entrees are solid, but the main attraction is the sushi.  An order of sushi and sashimi for two delivers a platter piled high with pieces of sushi and sashimi, as well as rolls.  The variety of fish can change but yellowtail, tuna, and salmon are always included.  All of the sushi is flavorful and fresh, but the salmon is the standout.  It nearly melts in your mouth, and without fail I always save it for last.  Mizu was where I first discovered my love for white tuna, and now I’ll fight my husband to make sure I get the last piece.

Mizu also offers dishes you might be hard pressed to find at other New Jersey sushi restaurants, like sweet shrimp (ama ebi)  – sweet, tender, shrimp that can be eaten in one bite.  For sushi non-purists, the restaurant has special rolls with names like “Hot Sexy Roll” (yellowtail, jalapeno, and seared spicy scallop), “Strawberry Heaven Roll” (spicy crab with strawberry outside), and “Sweet Lady Roll” (shrimp tempura and mango with spicy tuna).  And did I mention it’s BYO?  So bring a bottle of sake or wine and enjoy some of the best sushi the suburbs have to offer.”

Review

Special Rolls

Morristown’s Sushi Lounge, a chain with two other NJ locations in Hoboken and Totowa, has black lacquered tables, a chic bar, and an elevated DJ booth. I’m sure many people go for the slick downtown vibe, but you should also go for some very good sushi and Japanese-inspired food.

There are actually two bars in this large, well-designed space, the bar and the sushi bar, each with counter seating. The sushi, sashimi, chirashi and rolls off the extensive sushi menu feature high quality, fresh fish. The rolls range from the usual spicy tuna and California (crabstick, avocado, cucumber and masago (capelin roe)) to the outlandish: Optimistic (tuna, salmon, avocado, masago and tempura flakes wrapped in soy paper), Spicy Banana Tempura and Jalapeno Salmon. The Angry Dragon roll I ordered (lobster, asparagus, mango and scallions topped with eel, avocado and spicy jalapeño-mango sauce) could have been angrier for my taste.

Japanese Risotto

The best dish we ate, however, was the “Japanese Risotto” appetizer, a fantastic mound of  lump crab, shrimp, shitake mushrooms, edamame & rice, flavored with parmesan cheese and truffle oil. Other winners are the Shrimp Shumai and Seared Scallops served on a flaming plate. Kitchen entrees on the menu include Salmon Katsu, teriyaki, ramen, udon and hibachi.

Fried Ice Cream

If you don’t mind the extra calories, try the dessert. Fried ice cream with three different sauces is very good, and popular with the kids.

Uni and Hamachi

Review

A Strawberry's pie with sausage and anchovies

Visit Strawberry’s Pub & Pizza in Woodbridge for their very popular bar pie pizzas. They serve a good thin crust with some black specks underneath. Not too thin to fold. The pies here are on the saucy side, with a tangy tomato sauce, and a nice variety of toppings including baby clams and jalapenos. Among bar pies overall, Strawberry’s version doesn’t rise to the flavor level of Star Tavern‘s, but it is a strong Middlesex County pizza contender. The menu includes some crazy concoctions like the “Hawaiian Pie.” I’ll try not to hold that against them.

The larger menu offers bar standard appetizers, sandwiches and burgers, as well as soups and salads. A friend and I visited after running this year’s Freezing Cold Hash Run. We only tried the pizza (and the beer). I hear the wings are also excellent. Another reason eat pizza here – the Strawberry’s frequent eater card can earn you a free pie.

Strawberry’s is a friendly spot on the side of the highway (Route 35, very close to the Turnpike, the Parkway and Route 287). There’s a large wrap-around bar, and some tables to eat in.

Links

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