NJ Dining: Binh Duong

Binh Duong
East West Shopping Plaza
61 1/2 Belleville Ave, Bloomfield NJ 07003
(973)680-8440/8441

Summers in New Jersey can be brutal, and the Summer of 2007 has proven to be one of the worst in recent memory, with 95+ degree heat, humidity that’s off the charts, and cyclical torrential rain and thunderstorms.  If it weren’t for the fact we’re in the Mid-Atlantic corridor, you could swear it was Monsoon season in Southeast Asia!

When it’s this hot and disgusting out, there are few cuisines that I am willing to eat. One of my favorites for dealing with this sticky, humid mess is Vietnamese food, and among my favorite places to eat it in New Jersey is Binh Duong in Bloomfield.

Binh Duong, which is named for one of the southernmost provinces of the country, is a little hole-in-the-wall traditional Vietnamese restaurant with huge menu. They’ve got every variety of noodle soup imaginable and have great salad-y dishes that go great with the type of beat-you-to-death weather we’ve been having. The service is great, and they’re also dirt cheap.

Binh Duong Storefront in the East/West Shopping Plaza in Bloomfield.

August in New Jersey isn’t a heck of a lot different than summer in Saigon. At least we’ve got great Vietnamese food to weather it. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry link” below for more.

NJ Dining: Cafasso’s Fairway Market (UPDATED)

August 8th 2007: As to be expected, Cafasso’s Fairway Market in Fort Lee has filed suit against NYC/Manhattan’s Fairway Market. I’ve decided to bump up the Fairway Market post for everyone’s reference due to the timing of the litigation.

Jason

Fairway Market
1214 Anderson Ave, Fort Lee, NJ
(201) 224-7900

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

Recently, North Jersey was made aware that the famed Fairway Market gourmet supermarket chain from New York City was going to be opening a store in Paramus’s Fashion Center in 2008 — and there was much rejoicing from the Bridge and Tunnel crowd, myself included.

However, North Jersey has had a “Fairway Market” for decades, even prior to the existence of the more famous NYC chain to which it has no relation. The Cafasso family has been selling gourmet food goods since 1927, and their Fort Lee Fairway Market store has been around since 1962, making it a fourth generation family business. It remains one of the finest food purveyors in all of Northern NJ.

Cafasso’s Fairway Market on Anderson Ave in Fort Lee.

Marianna and Umberto Cafasso, the store’s founders, preside at all times, even if it is just in spirit.

You don’t need to wait until 2008 to go to Fairway Market. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.