NJ Dining: Smashburger

Smashburger

The Shops At Riverside
390 Hackensack Avenue
Hackensack, NJ 07601

Bloomfield Ave. & Maple Ave.
989 Bloomfield Ave.
Montclair, New Jersey 07042

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

Hackensack is indeed becoming something of a burger town, being home to the legendary White Manna, a long standing White Castle location in nearby Little Ferry as well as a Five Guys which opened in 2007.

This week, the town got its very own Smashburger, an upscale small chain of franchised burger restaurants (there are currently 78 stores nationwide in select markets) which focus on classic griddled burgers cooked with fresh ingredients using an interesting “smash” process.

A group of us were invited by the owners to give the place a try and sample the burgers. I was skeptical of trying yet another burger chain, but as you’ll sound find out, I was pleasantly surprised.

The Smashburger at the Shops at Riverside, in Hackensack NJ.

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Podcast #42: Bacon, Lettuce and TomatoCAST

Back by popular demand and Saveur.com is our Ultimate BLT post from 2007!

My dear friend Christine Nunn, who helped me with this project has since opened her own restaurant in Fair Lawn, New Jersey — Picnic, The Restaurant, where you can get the Ultimate BLT as an appetizer for a limited time or while summer Jersey tomatoes run out!

Click Here To Listen to the Bacon, Lettuce and TomatoCAST!

Click Here for a Hi-Res Slide Show with More Photos!

Related OTB Post: No Bacon? “P”, L and T

Ah, the BLT. In many ways, it is the ultimate and perfect expression of the sandwich, simple and yet one of the best possible sandwiches that you can eat. Still, the perfect BLT can be elusive, as most restaurants and people do not take the exacting level of care in order to construct the best BLT possible. Skimp on any of the ingredients, or use a component that is substandard in any way, and the entire sandwich fails.

In order to build the Ultimate BLT, one must be committed in Zen-like fashion to go to great lengths to source pristine ingredients. Indeed, an entire afternoon could be spent in trying to get all the right components, at considerable expense. It is neither a cheap nor an efficient affair, but it is well worth the effort.

To build the Ultimate BLT, I collaborated with CIA-trained chef Christine Nunn of Picnic Caterers in Emerson, New Jersey, who came up with some great ideas, sourced some fantastic bread and tomatoes for us and assembled the incredible sandwiches you’re about to see.

Do you want to see how the Ultimate BLT is constructed? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

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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Pizza for a Rainy Sunday

This last Sunday in New Jersey was not what I would call optimal weather for outdoor cooking. For most of the day it was gloomy, with dark overcast skies, and we got hit with a decent amount of rain. This was a nice respite from several weekends of brutally hot July and August temperature, but if you’re the grilling type, it’s not particularly motivational.

But lousy weather doesn’t apply to hardcore foodies. Not when they are really committed.

So when my friend Doug Keiles hit me on Instant Messenger and asked me if I wanted to drive down to his house in Central Jersey and help him come up with some “practice pizzas” to throw on his Big Green Egg, I said… OF COURSE!

Grilled “Monkball” Pizza, Sicilian pan style. This is topped with grilled bacon wrapped meatballs that have been simmered in a marinara sauce, with fresh Mozzarella.

Rainy days are for… Pizza Grilling! Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

What to do with a really big tomato

This weekend I was finally able to get a hold of some really MASSIVE Jersey tomatoes. The last couple of weeks have been on the medium to small size, but still excellent. However, I come from the school of “size is everything” when it comes to tomatoes — if they’re big, and they’re ripe, then they’re usually going to blow your socks off in terms of juicyness and flavor.

These three massive tomatoes came from the Tenafly Farmers Market, specifically from Lani’s Farm, in Bordentown.The one front and center weighs 2.23lbs, which is over a Kilogram. It’s a naturally yellow-green tomato when fully ripe. The others in the back are around a pound to a pound and a half each.

There’s more tomato action after the jump. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

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.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.