Diners Drive-ins & Dives

• Biriyani Adda
• Bombay Spice & Desi Juice & Ice Cream
• Chin Chin (Chinese, Thai, Indian)
• Desi Pan Center
• Gujarati Rasoi
• Idly’s
• Khan Kebab Express (Afghan)
• Punjabi Food and Chat
• Mithai House

Christopher Columbus Drive - Jersey City

There are spots in Jersey where the local food scene is so incredibly diverse it makes you appreciate living here even more. One of these Garden State ethnic food oases is Downtown Jersey City. Walk fifteen minutes in any direction from the Grove Street Path Station and you’ll see dozens of restaurants, which isn’t so unusual for a city of almost 250,000 people, but the number of different cuisines and quality of the food you can find certainly is. New Jersey’s second largest city has some well known ethnic neighborhoods, like Little India and Little Manila, but it also mixes everything up in a very Jersey way.  Looking for Middle Eastern shawarma, Dominican pernil (pork shoulder), Korean fried chicken, Vietnamese pho, Polish pierogi AND Caribbean jerk chicken in one place? Visit Downtown Jersey City. Here’s some of what I found in a five block loop last Saturday.

Ibby's Falafel @ 303 Grove Street

El Sazon de Las Americas (Dominican) @ corner of Grove and Wayne St.

BonChon Chicken (Korean) @ 173 Newark Avenue

Saigon Cafe @ 188 Newark Avenue

Europa Polish Delicatessen @ 527 Jersey Avenue

Nicole's Caribbean Restaurant @ 521 Jersey Avenue

Links

Ibby’s Falafel
El Sazon de Las Americas
BonChon Chicken
Saigon Cafe
Europa Polish Delicatessen
Nicole’s Caribbean

El Sazon de Las Americas (Dominican) @ corner of Grove and Wayne St.

The Wall Street Journal

Review

A mainstay of the ethnic food cornucopia that is Main Street, Paterson, NJ, Al Safa features Middle Eastern comfort food.

Kibbeh

I visited with anthropologist Lisa La Valle-Finan, who writes about New Jersey’s cultural communities. When the Syrian owner stopped by our table, we asked him which dishes on the menu are typically Syrian. His response echoed what I have learned about the most common “Middle Eastern” foods. Many countries share the same dishes – hummus, falafel and shawarma, for example. They may have different names in different parts of the Middle East – shawarma, doner kebab or gyro, for example – but the basic ingredients are the same whether you order your sliced meat sandwich in Damascus,  Beirut, or Cairo. The spices and way it is prepared will vary slightly from country to country. Al Safa uses a seven-spice blend (red pepper, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, coriander and caraway), or baharat, typical of Syrian food. At Al Safa, the owner is Syrian, the guy behind the counter is Palestinian, and many customers are Turkish.

Shawarma

We sampled some excellent kibbeh (a deep fried mixture of bulgar wheat, ground beef, pine nuts and onions), baba ghanouj (eggplant dip) and hummus (chikpea dip), served with a package of pita bread. I also ordered a beef shawarma sandwich, sliced from the large spits of meat rotating behind the counter. Nicely spiced and served in a pita with pickles, yogurt and a pepper sauce, Al Safa makes a very good shawarma. The menu includes falafel, lebneh (yogurt, garlic and mint dip), various charcoal grilled kebabs, as well as grilled liver, marinated kidneys and “tounges & brains” for the more adventurous.

The restaurant has a take out counter with a few tables. Upstairs, is the large dining room and an outdoor patio.

Links

Off the Broiler