NJ Dining: Picnic, The Restaurant (UPDATED)

Picnic, The Restaurant
14-25 Plaza Road (Radburn Plaza Building) Fair Lawn, NJ 07410
(201) 796-2700

Web Site: http://www.picnictherestaurant.com/

Picnic, The Restaurant has gotten through its soft opening (see earlier post), but the restaurant is still very much a work in progress, as Chef Christine Nunn and the back of the house staff continues to make tweaks and modifications in the dishes and the service.

We recently returned to Picnic after I got home from a 2-week business trip and it has been very interesting to observe how a restaurant evolves organically, first hand. I’ll be updating this post periodically from time to time so you can watch the changes.

Picnic, The Restaurant, is now open.

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NJ Dining: Taverna Mykonos (UPDATED)

Taverna Mykonos
238 Broadway, Elmwood Park NJ
(201)703-9200

It takes quite a bit to get me moving in the summer, especially when it’s nearly 100 degrees in the shade and my 20 year-old classic car’s air conditioning isn’t working.

The opening of brand new Greek restaurant in Elmwood Park serving traditional Taverna cuisine in a colorful atmosphere, featuring fresh Mediterranean food with all of the important attention to detail that’s necessary to do it well is one of the few things that will drag me out of my cool house on a Saturday afternoon in late July.

Taverna Mykonos in Elmwood Park, New Jersey.

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NJ Dining: Tenafly Farmers Market (2010)

Tenafly Farmers Market
Open May 16 thru November, Sundays 9am-2pm

Web Site: http://www.tenaflyfarmersmarket.com

The Tenafly Farmers Market (see 2009 photos) has returned, and it’s off to a great start. This year, it opened several weeks early, on May 16, as the weather has turned balmy much earlier than normal and with the ample rain and sun we’ve had recently, wonderful produce is arriving sooner than usual.

It’s BAAAAAACK!

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NJ Dining: Picnic, The Restaurant (Soft Opening)

Picnic, the Restaurant
14-25 Plaza Road (Radburn Plaza Building) Fair Lawn, NJ 07410
(201) 796-2700

Web Site: http://www.picnictherestaurant.com/

Anyone who has read Off The Broiler for any length of time probably knows that Chef Christine Nunn is a very close friend of Rachel and I. I first met Christine in early 2006 when writing Quick Bites for the NJ section of the New York Times, shortly after she had opened her tiny little catering business in Emerson.

Since then, Christine has become a Bergen County superstar, and it’s all because of her cooking talent. She is a classically trained chef and graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and won the Ultimate Chef Bergen County competition in 2009, which got her a great deal of local attention.

Christine’s catering business has indeed blossomed and become very successful, but I knew that she always wanted her own restaurant. So I was thrilled to hear that she would be opening a small, 40-seat destination restaurant in her home town of Radburn, which is a community within Fair Lawn.

Christine and her business partners have transformed what was once a space that used to be a fast food establishment and have turned it into what I think will become one of the premier fine dining destinations in Bergen County.

Recently opened by CIA graduate Chef Christine Nunn, Picnic is the latest destination restaurant to open in Bergen County.

I was very lucky to be part of a select group of people who attended Picnic’s “soft opening” on July 1st. Its official opening date is Thursday, July 8, 2010, and I strongly recommend that you call for reservations weeks in advance because it is likely to become one of the most difficult restaurants to get into.

Keep in mind as you look at these photos that the plated dishes are not all full portions — these are what we might call in the computer software business “Beta” or “Release Candidate” versions of the dishes, which are still being tweaked and may not represent what ends up being served to customers. But you’ll get a very good idea of what this new restaurant is going to be like.

Obviously, as Christine is a close friend, I am clearly biased and it is difficult for me to be terribly critical of her, particularly for someone who I know is so talented. So take whatever huge praise I laud on Christine with a bit of skepticism — and go and eat her cuisine yourself and tell me what you think.

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NJ Dining: Petite Soochow (UPDATED)

Click for Hi-Res Slideshow!

Petite Soochow
607 Gorge Rd, Cliffside Park, NJ
(201) 313-1666

The abrupt permanent closure of my favorite Shanghainese-style Chinese restaurant, China 46 in Ridgefield Park, forced me into seeking out alternatives for Xiǎolóngbāo, the elusive “Soup Dumpling” or “Steamed Juicy Bun” that originates from Shanghai and is also a popular dish in Hong Kong and Taipei. It’s also served in a number of Shanghai-style Chinese restaurants in New York City’s Chinatown, such as Joe’s Shanghai, Shanghai Cuisine, and New Green Bo.

Fortunately I had recently heard of another Shanghainese restaurant, Petite Soochow, from another foodie blogger, TommyEats, on a random New Jersey post at the CNET Chowhound forums site. Petite Soochow, which has been in business for just over a year, is the second incarnation of a defunct Shanghainese restaurant in Saddle Brook, Old Soochow. Somehow this place managed to escape earlier notice, but I’m very happy I saw Tommy’s post, because Petite Soochow is probably one of the best authentic Chinese restaurants in Northern NJ.

Petite Soochow in Gorge Road in Cliffside Park.

Your Soup Dumpling supply chain is still intact. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Herndon, VA: It’s burbinational

This week I had to visit Herndon, VA, which is part of the greater Washington DC area. I actually went to college in the DC area, but it’s been a long time since I had traveled out into the suburbs of that city and really looked around to see what had changed.

I expected the town around Dulles airport to be dull, with the food offerings equally so. But I couldn’t be more wrong about this.

As it turns out, Herndon, as part of the Dulles Technology Corridor (sort of a beltway equivalent to Raleigh’s RTP area) is home to a lot of technology companies and as such, have many employees from various nationalities.

There are ethnic restaurants abound in Herndon, including Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian — and also all forms of Indian, Pakistani, Middle-Eastern as well as Ethiopian. As I only had time for three dinner meals in town this week, I decided to focus on the last four.

Charcoal Kabob
394 Elden Street, Herndon VA 20170 (In K-Mart shopping plaza)

Web Site: http://charcoalkabobhouse.com

Charcoal Kabab Storefront in Herndon K-Mart Shopping Plaza.

The Fairfax county area of Northern VA is home to a large population of Middle Eastern and Indian residents, all of which have set up shop in various towns including Herndon with all sorts of restaurants and grocery stores representing their various ethnicities.

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NJ Dining: Shahrzad

Shahrzad Restaurant
1086 River Road, Edgewater NJ 07020
(201) 886-9100

Web Site: http://www.theshahrzad.com

As I mentioned a few months ago in my post about Honey Mediterranean Gourmet in Teaneck, Persian cuisine is few and far between in these parts of New Jersey — it’s something of an endangered species, actually.

So I was very surprised when I drove down River Road in Edgewater quite recently and found that an elegant new Persian restaurant, Shahrzad had just opened up in the former space of Shiraz, another fine Persian restaurant which had served the community for 15 years until it closed in 2008.

Could we be witnessing a Persian renaissance, a return to the glory of the great city of Persepolis and the mighty King Darius? Right here in New Jersey?

Or maybe was this just my stomach jonesing for a Kebob after watching too much History Channel. Either way, I was going to find out.

The elegant Shahrzad storefront on River Road in Edgewater, NJ.

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Blogroll: ThinkFood by Posit Science

The ThinkFood Cookbook by Posit Science feeds your brain as well as your appetite.

Today, mind-enhancement and brain-training software company Posit Science launched an interesting new project called ThinkFood, which was produced in cooperation with 50 food bloggers, including yours truly.

For the next year, ThinkFood will release 50 new “Brain-healthy” recipes, one per week, if you sign up with your e-mail address. Each Brain-Healthy recipe features a key ingredient which has been identified to promote enhanced mental acuity.

Posit Science is an interesting company. Just like me, they are clearly techno-geeks, but they are also serious foodies. I’ve been honored to be part of this project and I hope you sign up.

If you can’t wait to get all the recipes, a hardcover version of the book will be available in Mid-July.

St. Martin: Beautiful, Perilous, Seductive & Delicious

Rachel and I just returned from Saint Martin, a lush tropical island in the North Eastern Caribbean (or more properly known as the French and Netherlands Antilles) which is owned jointly by France and the Netherlands.

Click Here to to view all our Saint Martin Photos

Saint Martin (Sint Maarten, if you’re Dutch) It is one of our favorite vacation destinations, as it offers incredible beaches, fantastic nightlife and shopping, and of course, the best fine dining in the entire Caribbean.

We stayed at the Geo Villas on the Dutch side of the island, which overlooks Guana Bay Beach which is known for bodysurfing.

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Big Apple Barbecue Block Party 2010

Website: http://bigapplebbq.org/

June is my favorite month of the year, and it’s not because it’s the beginning of Summer  — it’s when the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party is held.

Highlights of the 2010 Big Apple Barbecue Block Party. Click photo above for complete slide show

This year, unlike years previous where we had comprehensive coverage, Rachel and I were only able to attend the second day of the Block Party because we were flying home from the West Indies the previous day. But in true barbecue trooper style, we made the most of that one Sunday, even though the weather started to become uncooperative.

Also See: Previous Coverage (2009, 2008, 2007)

This year saw the addition of several new pit crews in addition to the returning crews, so much of our attention in the six hours we were at the event was dedicated to looking at the new stuff.

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