NJ Dining: Aleppo Restaurant (UPDATED)

Note: This article originally appeared as “Off the Broiler Economic Stimulus Dinner II”. With the recent review of this restaurant in the New York Times, we thought it would be appropriate to raise it to the foreground and update several photos.

Aleppo Restaurant
939 Main Street, Paterson NJ
(973) 977-2244

For our second in our series of Economic Stimulus events, we enlisted former Bergen Record restaurant writer and fellow food blogger Victor Sasson to arrange a lunch for us at one of South Paterson’s best Syrian restaurants, Aleppo, after which we went shopping at some of the local bakeries and markets.

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NJ Dining: BBS Chicken

BBS Chicken
561 Livingston Street, Norwood NJ
(201) 768-1230

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

BBS Chicken, the rogue warrior of Fried Chicken in Norwood, is the new king of Korean Wings in North Jersey.

As many of you are aware, I’m a bit of an obsessive when it comes to Korean Fried Chicken.

In Northern New Jersey, since I last wrote about the subject in 2007, there have been a number of openings of new Korean wing joints. Unidentified Flying Chickens in Tenafly opened in 2009 and in early January 2010, its sister restaurant in Englewood, Green’Licious Cafe also opened.

However I think there’s a new wing king, and unlike the big names such as Bon Chon which has multiple locations in the NYC/NJ metro area,  it’s an independent takeout/delivery-only store run by a pair of young, enterprising guys with a passion for making a quality product, and they’re on the main drag of Livingston Street in Norwood, where several Korean  businesses have opened up in the last few years, further extending the Korean community from their commercial centers in Palisades Park, Fort Lee, Leonia and Ridgefield.

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NJ Dining: Nouri Market and Fattal’s Bakery

Nouri Brothers Market & Syrian Bakery
999 Main Street, Paterson NJ

Fattal’s Bakery
975 Main Street, Paterson NJ

As I mentioned in my posts about Al-Basha and Al-Safa, the strip of Main Street in South Paterson known as “Little Arabia” or “Little Damascus” is filled with many restaurants and businesses that cater to Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians and other ethnic groups from the Middle East that call Northern New Jersey home. Two of the best grocery stores on that street are Nouri Brothers and Fattal’s Bakery.

Nouri Brothers Storefront on Main Street in Paterson

Looking for Middle Eastern goodies? Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

A 2009 Big Apple BBQ Block Party Montage

Website: http://www.bigapplebbq.com

The 2009 Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, held in New York City’s Madison Square Park, was a blast as ever. This year Rachel and I only went for a few hours on Saturday, but it was more than enough barbecue to last us for a while! You can still catch the second day on Sunday if these photos are making your mouth water (click for slideshow of full size hi-res photos).

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Gary Wiviott, Please Let Me Back in the Program

Gary Wiviott’s new BBQ book published by Running Press (which he authored with food writer Colleen Rush) is based upon his popular web-based course on how to master the Weber Bullet smoker in 5 easy lessons. Unfortunately, because I decided to skip ahead to Step 3 after Step 1, he threw my ass out of the program.

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Go Foie Yourself

The “Foie You”, a croissant sandwich prepared especially for our friends at Farm Sanctuary. The “Foie You” can be purchased for $24.00 at Picnic Caterers in Emerson, NJ. This is a limited time offer and you must order the sandwich by noon Thursday the 23 st of April for pick-up on Friday  the 24th. All profits from the sales of the  sandwich will be donated to the Center for Food Action. The sandwich will be offered weekly via special order until demand subsides.

Like other industries, the restaurant and food business is no stranger to being targeted by extremist groups which have some bizarre notion that the animals which are being used for foodstuffs and other products  have the right to be treated like human beings. Typically, however, these organizations, such as PETA, are more likely to spend their energies on large food distribution and manufacturing entities, and not on individual restaurants and small businesses. However, this is not always the case.

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Anatomy of a Well-Seasoned Turkey Burger

Also See: Turkey Burger Redux (Click)

Ah yes, the Turkey Burger. For those of us approaching our middle age, it can be a painful reminder that the “party is over”. Whether it’s watching your fats, your cholesterol, or whatever the hell your doctor says is now wrong with you, the Turkey Burger has become something akin to the meat equivalent of Methadone for aging hamburger fiends now having to moderate their intake of whatever they can’t eat anymore. And of course, most of the storebought turkey burgers out there sorely lack the flavor of their beefy counterparts, so its an insult to injury having to eat them in the first place.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. Turkey Burgers CAN taste good, but we have to dispell the notion that they are taking the place of beef or should try to taste like beef burgers in the first place. No, to make a Turkey Burger taste good, it requires some outside the box thinking.

You too can make a tasty Turkey Burger. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Harrods Food Halls

It seemed appropriate that I end my British adventure with a bang. I had a number of gifts I needed to purchase, and Rachel had a “wish list” of teas and things she wanted. Not having had much opportunity to shop that week, as virtually all London stores close at 6:30 on most nights, Thursday night was the time to get things done, because most of the major department stores are open late — until around 8 or 9PM. So at the recommendation of a number of folks, I headed over to the legendary Harrods department store — owned by the notable Egyptian businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed (who’s son, Dodi, died in a Paris car crash with Princess Diana in 1997).

I knew that Harrods would be over the top, but I really wasn’t prepared for what was in store. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link for more. You won’t be disappointed.

NJ Dining: Kochers Meats

Kocher’s Continental Specialty Meats
634 Bergen Blvd
Ridgefield, NJ
(201) 945-7086

I enjoy living in the New Jersey suburbs, but I envy Manhattan and NYC residents for their easy access to top specialty meat purveyors, such as Lobels, Dean and Deluca, Citarella, Schaller & Weber and Pete’s Meat (in the Arthur Avenue Retail Market). I thought we Jersey residents were seriously deficient in that department until my recent first time visit to Kocher’s Meats in Ridgefield, a long-established quality meats purveyor.

Kocher’s is a German-style butcher and makes ALL of its sausages and charcuterie onsite.

They’ve got many varieties of sausages, including their own hot dogs, bratwursts, weisswursts, kielbasas, and also Italian-style sausages as well. Everything is made in-house.

Cocktail franks. These are nice and smoky and are great grilled.

Kocher’s makes its own hams, bolognas, salamis and other cold cuts under the Continental brand. Oh yeah, their own bacon too.

In addition to top quality pork, Kocher’s also carries Prime beef cuts.

Ground Beef grinded to order.

Thick Cut Bacon

Frickadels, huge, meatloaf-like meatballs intended for use on sandwiches.

If the cuts on display don’t exactly fit your specifications, Kocher’s will cut your meat to order. Here are some thick-cut Pork Chops I bought for tonight’s dinner.

In addition to meats, Kochers also sells other gourmet food items, including great breads (like Eastern European style Lithuanian Ryes) and dried noodles such as Spaetzle.