Jersey Shore Restaurant Week: David Burke Fromagerie Rumson, NJ

I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: take advantage of restaurant weeks. It's a great way to experience the best food in your area at a fraction of the cost. Case in point: our trip to David Burke Fromagerie in Rumson for Jersey Shore Restaurant Week.

As a regular reader of Edible Jersey, I'm pretty well up on the best restaurants around, even though we don't go out to eat very often. Fromagerie is one of those restaurants that comes up over and over again as one of the best around - restaurant week finally provided me with an excuse to try it out. 

We had a totally classy experience from the moment we sat down at our table. A waiter speedily arrived with an amuse-bouche of shrimp salad on a cracker garnished with tons of snipped chives (too bad I don't like seafood - Jeff said they were tasty).

Hot on its heels came the best bread basket I've ever had. Seriously. This place does things right. There was hot French bread, some popovers, cheesy Japanese breadsticks (like the best salty cheese cracker you've ever eaten), some radishes, and pickled carrots. I seriously need to figure out how to make those carrots. They were perfect: not soggy, not raw, but like they'd been quickly blanched in pickling liquid. All of this came with butter on a salt slab sprinkled with grey sea salt. Needless to say, we ate everything in that basket.

When we do restaurant weeks, we carefully scope out the menus in advance. I knew I wanted the garlic soup with tomato dumplings and parsley puree. It sounded awesome. However, they had tweaked the menu a bit from what was posted online: my garlic soup came with "snails on a log." I had assumed that this was somewhat metaphorical - after all, it was unlikely that I would get a log in my soup. The "log" turned out to be a toasted crouton. The "snails" turned out to be . . . snails. When I got my dish, I tasted some soup, then popped one of them in my mouth. After I swallowed it, I looked at Jeff and said "I think that was an actual snail." We debated for a minute before having it confirmed by the waiter. So I've eaten marinated snails. I don't think I would ever have ordered them for myself if I knew what I was getting, but I have to say that they weren't bad - not as slimy as seafood, but closer to the texture of a meaty mushroom. They were a beautiful accompaniment to the creamy garlic soup. I'm not sure I would order them again, though - they seemed to be a bit of an acid reflux trigger.

Jeff ordered the tuna tartare tacos for his appetizer. The presentation, in this little taco rack, was adorable. The little taco shells were packed with firm, flavorful raw tuna. The yellow pepper sauce on the plate packed a nice punch, too.

I ordered the pan-roasted chicken over potatoes and spring vegetables, which turned out to be carrots, leeks, shaved celery root and chanterelles. (Sorry about the image quality, folks - they dimmed the lights before dinner and all photos came out pretty bad. I've increased the exposure on these so you can at least see something!) The chicken was delicious - moist, tender and as flavorful as I'd expected. The pan gravy was like a concentrated chicken dinner. I was a little taken aback at the size of the dish - I had half a chicken on my plate and, delicious as it was, ended up taking home half of it!

Jeff ordered the short rib over handmade cavatelli with morels and a sprinkling of mirepoix over the top. The handmade pasta was soft and creamy and the short rib just melted into pieces at the touch of a fork. It reminded me of pot roast, but the most sophisticated pot roast I've ever tasted, with a thick, rich, savory gravy overflowing onto the pasta.

My dessert was to die for: a flourless chocolate cake and a butterscotch panna cotta with curry gelee. There was also a shortbread cookie and some licoricey sauce on the plate. The cake was amazing - when I slipped my fork into it, it crackled with moisture. The middle was only partially baked, and achieved a mousse-like consistency. It was heaven in my mouth. The panna cotta was just as good: I absolutely adore butterscotch and the flavor was really strong. The curry in the gelee on top was delicate and proved to be an excellent compliment. And, while I would have gladly taken home another serving of that dessert, it was the perfect size to end the meal.

Jeff's dessert was the lemon tart with blueberry sauce and a fromage blanc ice cream. The blueberries were very intense and the lemon in the custard was mouth-puckeringly strong, and yet delicious (I thought so and I'm not really a lemon fan). The ice cream was smooth and mild (it tasted like frozen cream cheese) and worked to ground the powerful flavors of the rest of the dish. Jeff said that it was almost like eating a deconstructed cheesecake.

As we were working on dessert, and just when we thought the surprises were over, we were brought a complimentary plate of pink vanilla cotton candy. The flavor was excellent and the idea was really fun. Seriously - when was the last time that you, as an adult, had cotton candy? It was cool to be given permission to be silly and whimsical.

Overall, we had an excellent, high-quality meal and a fun time. The execution of every dish was fabulous. I would gladly go back, but not if I have to pay the prices listed on the menu ($30-$40 an entree). Just glancing at those prices gave me palpitations. For a $30 three-course meal, though, it was a steal, especially with all the little extras that were thrown in!

House of Cupcakes, Princeton, NJ

My birthday passed rather uneventfully this year. No crazy complicated recipes were attempted. No cake was made. I didn't want to add to the chaos (and the sugar high) of Easter weekend by adding further demands on my time once I got back home. I also wanted to take advantage of Jersey Shore restaurant week, which started on Friday. I can only justify so many calorie splurges in one week.

Instead, Jeff and I stayed home, grilled up some turkey burgers and went out for dessert. I demanded some cupcakes, so we drove up to the House of Cupcakes in Princeton shortly before they closed for the day. We'd been inside once before just to check it out, but this was our first time sampling their wares. The online reviews I read were pretty positive, although one lamented their use of a pre-made frosting base. I figured I'd check things out and draw my own conclusions.

Jeff and I decided to get three cupcakes and split them (from left to right in the above picture): salted caramel, Boston cream and peanut butter cup. When I went to cut them, I noted the sticky, gooey frosting on the first two. The cake itself was light and fluffy with a gorgeous even crumb, but it wasn't really substantial enough to hold up to that heavy frosting. Their top-heaviness showed when I cut them in half and they attempted to flip over.

I went for the salted caramel first. The frosting was gooey and too sweet, but had a nice caramel flavor. I didn't really get a salty flavor from it, but the crunchy peanuts on top were a nice touch. The cake was deliciously soft and chocolatey. Because the frosting was trying to secede from the cupcake, I ended up tearing off the bottom and making a cupcake sandwich, thus improving the cake-to-frosting ratio.

I tried the Boston cream next. It, too, had a very thick, overly sweet frosting but with a deep, rich chocolate flavor. Jeff said it reminded him of the frosting layer on a Hostess cupcake. The cake was, again, delicious and light and the cream wasn't bad. I thought it was a little insubstantial for pastry cream, but a good consistency for the cake that surrounded it. It was a decent cupcake, but a better frosting would have made it pretty awesome.

The peanut butter cup was by far my favorite of the three. Its chocolate frosting was not thick and gooey, but light and fluffy to better match the cake beneath. The crumbles of peanut butter cup on top were a perfect compliment to the chocolate layers below. I'm glad I saved it for last, because that was a great cupcake.

I would definitely go to the House of Cupcakes again - the cake itself was outstanding - but I think I will be a bit more discriminating in the future. The thick, shiny frosting looks nice in the case, but is too gooey and sweet for my taste. Next time, I'll be picking out the ones with fluffier frosting and going home happy.

Apple Day at Terhune Orchards

This weekend, Jeff and I visited Terhune Orchards for Apple Day! I love any opportunity to visit the Mounts' lovely farm, but it's especially fun during a special event.

Apple season is a wonderful time. I keep apples on hand for snacking during most seasons of the year, but there's nothing like one fresh off the tree. The crisp crunch when you bit into a truly fresh apple is irreplaceable. So, of course, when it comes to apple picking, I tend to get excited and overdo things.

When Jeff and I arrived at Apple Day, we went straight for the orchard to pick our own apples. I remember the first time we went apple picking at Terhune, a few years ago. We picked a dozen or so apples before we figured it was more than we could manage. Perhaps it was, back then. Today, with our canning and preserving expertise, we are made of sterner stuff. We ended up with over 18 pounds of Empires and 12 pounds of Stayman-Winesaps.

Our first apple-picking excursion last year focused on Empires, which we used for applesauce. The sauce was delicious and perfectly sweet without any additional sugar. We loved it, so we knew another batch would be in order this year. Stayman-Winesaps are nice crispy tart apples - one of my favorite eating varieties. They're also good for all sorts of cooking. We made a batch of applesauce with them last year, as well, but it needed some sugar (which I'd prefer not to add if I don't have to). We ended up making a batch of apple butter with this year's batch, since that required sugar anyway. We still have a vast quantity of apples to find a use for. More applesauce, at the very least, is in order for this week.

Once we'd picked our apples and stashed them in our car, Jeff and I were free to roam around the farm.

We visited the lovely chickens in their coop. I find the idea of fresh eggs every day so enticing!

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to be roaming around the farm. I took this picture from down by the pond. Check out the solar panels on the roof - all 21st-century farms ought to be so sustainable!

We wandered to the other end of the farm and made our way through the corn maze. It was not as challenging as last year's, since we managed to stumble on the correct path almost right away. Then we stopped by the food tent for some barbecue chicken and apple treats.

Finally, we examined the collection of pumpkins. We decided it was a bit early to buy ourselves carving pumpkins, though (and it's likely we'll get them from the CSA anyway). Instead, I opted for a picturesque cheese pumpkin to decorate my living room until I decide to eat it. Yummy.

Apple Day may be over, but Terhune still has apple picking every day and fall festival events most weekends (pretty similar to Apple Day, from the sound of them, but probably less crowded). Even if you don't live near Terhune, do yourself a favor and get to a farm some weekend. In my opinion, there's no better way to spend a crisp, sunny fall afternoon!

Cherry Picking at Terhune Orchards

When I called Terhune Orchards on Friday to ask about this weekend's cherry picking, the lady who answered the phone advised me to come early. I figured that meant there weren't a ton of ripe cherries to pick (since it was the first day) and the jam-makers would get them all within a few hours.

I managed to get over to the farm by 9:15 (they opened at 9). When I pulled up to the gates, my jaw dropped at the sea of cars already parked on the lawn. This is a shot of the smaller parking area - there were many more cars behind me.

I hightailed it over to the cherry trees, following the handy signs and slipping in front of large families along the way.

This was the line to get into the cherry orchard (when I left, thank goodness - when I got there it was much shorter. I just missed the early rush and slipped in before the next wave). They charged admission for each person, which was credited toward your purchase on the way out.

The rows of cherry trees were covered with light-colored canvas, the sides of which were covered in netting. I thought, at first, this was to control human entrance to the grove, but I later realized it was to keep the birds and other pests out. Good call - the trees were laden with pristine fruit, undamaged by tiny teeth (my childhood experience with fruit trees is that they were banquet halls for squirrels - I might employ this trick if I ever grow fruit in the future).

The trees were sagging under the weight of their delicious fruit. This tree is a Ranier, sporting bright yellow cherries with a pink blush. I took picked five different varieties - Montmorency (sour cherries), Ranier, Chelan, Hartland and Schmidt. The Schmidt cherries, if I am right about the varieties, are huge, deeply red, rich fruits that remind me of the Bing cherries you can get at the grocery store. These are my current favorite (and if I'd found them first, they might have filled all my containers). I tried to be reasonable, taking only 3-4 pounds of cherries, since I don't intend to can anything today (I have too much work to do this weekend to be spending hours pitting cherries!). Instead, I plan on snacking on this juicy bounty all week long.

Winter Farmers Markets

Most people think of farmers markets as a summer and fall thing, but local markets can be just as vibrant in the middle of winter. Just check out this picture if you want proof!

This morning, Jeff and I went over to the special winter farmers market hosted by Slow Foods Central Jersey at the education center for the D&R Greenway Trust. It was a beautiful venue for a very lively market. We filled our market basket with local barbecue sauce, shiitake mushrooms, winter root veggies and kale from North Slope Farms, Terhune Orchards apple cider (my all-time favorite - our fridge is never without it!), sausage from Beech Tree Farm, Cherry Grove Farms Havilah cheese, and a fresh loaf of bacon bread from Lawrenceville's Village Bakery. We got to meet some new vendors, sample flavorful local foods and pick up some of our old favorites.

Afterward, we headed over to Terhune Orchards' farm store for some fresh eggs, which we had neglected pick up at the market. We also snagged a large rutabaga and some cut-up blue hubbard squash. I've been wanting to try hubbard squash for some time, but have been wary of picking up one of the behemoths I've seen at the market. The lady in the farm store said that's exactly why they cut it up - to give customers a chance to try it in smaller amounts. I appreciated the gesture - it worked out perfectly for me! We also scored some free (still warm!) cider doughnuts because we brought our own bag.

Finally, we stopped by our usual haunt, the Trenton Farmers Market. I feel lucky to live right by a market that is open year-round. While the selection has wound down a bit in some areas, it has picked up in others. In addition to the expected onions and potatoes, many vendors have small pots of winter lettuce that can be kept indoors and nibbled at for several weeks. I passed on that (I tend to kill lettuce rather quickly), but picked up some onions and pumpkin ravioli from the Italian specialty store.

We got home around lunchtime and made scrambled egg sandwiches on thick slices of toasted bacon bread with Havilah cheese. Mine had some local shallots and dried dill from our garden; Jeff's had sauteed shallots and shiitake mushrooms with dried thyme, also from our garden. Eating local never tasted so delicious!

My point is that the winter farmers market (whether a special weekend market or year-round market or farm store) are chock full of local food options. The ground may be icy and the garden bare, but local farmers still have plenty to offer. So what are you waiting for? Go check it out!

Wild Game at Lambertville Station, Lambertville, New Jersey

Jeff and I trekked up to Lambertville this afternoon for the first weekend of wild game at Lambertville Station. This event is going on through March with different game selections each weekend. This weekend's quail and elk dishes were a good starting point for me, since I am pretty unfamiliar with game (the only game I've ever had was a bit of duck). I think we'll be visiting a few more times before it ends to keep expanding our palates!

Lambertville is one of my favorite places. It's a quaint little colonial town right on the Delaware River, across from New Hope, Pennsylvania. Lambertville has a great collection of antique stores (and great bargains at the Golden Nugget outdoor market on weekends) and New Hope has a thriving community of artists, so there are plenty of cute and curious shops to browse through. And both towns have some great restaurants (you may remember my previous post about The Blue Tortilla in New Hope). This adventurous lunch and a browse through the antique market was the perfect way to spend this 60-degree winter Saturday.

Despite it only being a lunch service, upon sitting down we were promptly brought a plate of the restaurant's famous coconut bread (they had cards with the recipe at the hostess stand, which I made sure to procure for later!). It's a quick bread full of coconut flavor - a really delicious way to start a meal. I thought this bread was a bit dry (so I availed myself of the butter on the plate), but I think that it was just this particular batch, since it was more moist the last time I was there.

The advertisement about the wild game offerings says that it is available at both lunch and dinner, with appetizer and entree portions available, so we were sad to find only one game selection on the menu when we arrived. Our delightful waitress, however, consulted with the kitchens and managed to procure for us an appetizer portion of the quail, roasted and stuffed with apples. The presentation was beautiful, although I confess I was a bit squeamish about picking apart a tiny little bird. But the skin was nice and crispy (and I don't usually eat skin) and the meat delicious. It reminded us most of turkey in both flavor and appearance - even the breast portion was the dark color of a turkey drumstick, with similar rosy patches. The tart green apples contrasted well with the savory, meaty flavor of the quail. Definitely a winner in my book.

For my entree, I ordered one of the day's specials - a london broil sandwich with spinach, artichoke and Asiago cheese spread on a rosemary ciabatta roll. I have to admit I was disappointed in my selection. While the steak was cooked nicely, it is a tough cut of meat, very difficult to manage in a sandwich, and I think some of the slices were a bit thicker than they should have been. I had a hard time biting through it, so the meal turned into a bit of a struggle to eat my food in a polite and ladylike manner. The spread was good, as was the bread, but my battle to bite through the steak put damper on the whole experience for me. Note to self: don't order steak sandwiches.

Jeff ordered the game entree - spaghetti with red elk meatballs. We were a little disappointed that there wasn't a dish that showed off the elk's true flavor and texture - there are apparently elk medallions on the dinner menu which would have fit the bill nicely. However, since Jeff cleaned his plate, I think the meatballs went over well. I am not sure I got a sense of the flavor of elk from the meatball I tasted, what with its other herbs and spices, but I was very impressed with the texture. It was definitely leaner than a beef meatball - I never thought about the fattiness of beef meatballs until today, when it was missing. The elk also managed to be dense without being heavy. I think it is something that I would order for myself in the future. Jeff particularly appreciated getting nine small meatballs, rather than the two or three large ones he has come to expect from ordering them at restaurants.

Overall, Lambertville Station is always a great place to grab a bit of lunch (or brunch, on a Sunday!). While I chose my entree poorly, the rest of the food was delicious and worth returning for. We will probably be back for more wild game soon - next week is pheasant and wild boar!

Honey Brook Organic Farm

I mention my CSA a lot so I thought you might like to check it out for yourselves. Or, at least, through the lens of my camera.

Honey Brook Organic Farm was the first New Jersey CSA. The owners have several different farm sites through the west-central part of the state. Honey Brook is a CSA only - no farm stand, no farmers markets and no commercial sales. That means that shareholders know they are getting the best of the available produce. Their website claims there are over 2,500 shares available, some at the Pennington farm (where I go), some at the Chesterfield farm, and some delivered box shares. Demand is high - they generally sell out. Since this was my first year with them, I made sure to send in my application early (in January, right when the forms went online!) to make sure I got a spot.

What do I like about Honey Brook? First of all, their philosophy. Their top priority is to nurture and sustain the environment (the Wargo Road farm in Pennington is on a nature preserve). All of their produce is organic or transitioning to organic (it takes three years to switch over a field that was used for conventional production). I feel safe eating their food, knowing that nothing is genetically modified. In fact, they work to promote genetic diversity by planting a range of heirloom varieties. Just last week, I brought home about a dozen different varieties of tomato. I believe that this kind of diversity makes us healthier.

I also enjoy the way share pick-up works each week. On Wednesday, I drive up to Pennington and park near the little red farm stand. (It's not very flashy because they're not trying to attract passers-by!)

Inside the stand, they've set up the produce for the week. Each item is labeled with the allotment for each share size. Look at those gorgeous tomatoes! As an individual share-holder, I got to take home a pound of regular slicing tomatoes and a pound of heirlooms last week. When tomatoes were peaking, we got as much as ten pounds at a time - I suppose the season is winding down.

Inside the building there are more items to choose from. From the left, the bins hold peppers, hot peppers, garlic, collard greens and scallions.

But that's not all! Once I've picked up my share, I am also allotted an assortment of pick-your-own items from the fields across the road. Early in the season there were strawberries, snap peas and snow peas. This week, there were a variety of herbs, cherry tomatoes, sauce tomatoes, okra, specialty eggplant, edamame, string beans, hot peppers, tomatillos, and lovely summer flowers. The tricky part is remembering everything that's on the map and how much I'm allowed to pick! I love that Honey Brook does this. I'm sure it saves them a lot of labor, but it also brings their customers closer to the farm. I have spent an hour in blistering heat picking snow peas until my thumbnails were dyed green. This gives me a greater appreciation and gratitude for the amount of work that goes into harvesting the produce I eat.

The CSA has become an integral part of the way I eat - I know I could never go back to the grocery store produce section when such wonderful, diverse food options are tucked away just down the road. And it has inspired me to try new things more frequently than I would have otherwise. I would never have purchased beets from the grocery store.

The farm has taught me to live dangerously. I now roam through the rows of hot peppers, picking whatever looks ripe, and figuring out how hot each one is once I got home (throwing two Tabasco peppers in a stir fry last week was a bad idea!).

While I still don't enjoy raw tomatoes, I love experimenting with how different varieties hold up in a sauce. I especially enjoy making quick sauces with cherry tomatoes, which don't require peeling! These are some Sungolds in the early morning haze.

I've also learned to cook entirely new foods, like edamame, which I'd never seen fresh before I harvested some at the farm.

Getting piles of fresh produce every week has also gotten me to start preserving. These Plum Dandy tomatoes went into the Roasted Tomato Basil Soup I posted recently, much of which was frozen for a chilly day. Other tomatoes went into batches of sauce that were frozen or canned. I'm looking forward to a canning workshop that the farm is hosting this weekend - while I've had some success, I'm still a beginner!

Finally, I get beautiful flowers to adorn my table every week. These straw flowers also dry well! Below is a picture of everything I brought home from the farm last week. Note the large pile of flowers on the left.

In striving to eat more healthily and locally, I have decided that time and money can no longer be factors. Good, healthy food is expensive and buying locally involves going to multiple stores and farm stands. But I know many of you are wondering if this could be cost effective. I will humor you.

I have been keeping a spreadsheet of everything I brought home from the farm each week, and what the value of these items would be if I purchased them at the supermarket (for my purposes, the prices are either from Whole Foods or Wegmans, which are the places I would otherwise be shopping). The numbers are staggering. I have brought home 65 lbs of tomatoes, (whether cherry, slicing, saucing, or heirloom varieties), 17 lbs of summer squash, 5.5 quarts of strawberries, 6 watermelons, and 10 lbs of string beans, besides about forty other types of vegetable. If I had purchased the entire list as conventionally-produced produce at the aforementioned grocery stores, it would have cost $535. If I had purchased all organic products, it would have cost over $700 ("over" because I was unable to find prices for half a dozen of my organic items). My farm share cost $360. Now, it's hard to make a direct comparison, because I would not have purchased many of these items on my own. In fact, we've been giving away all of our eggplant. But I still think that it was a cost effective experience. And remember that the season isn't over for another month and a half, so there's plenty more produce to come!

Cherry Grove Farm Cookout

One of my favorite local farms is Cherry Grove Farm in Lawrenceville. They have eggs, beef, whey-fed pork, and cheeses in their farm store, along with an array of products from other Jersey food artisans. It's always a treat to visit the farm, to see animals being raised the way they ought to be. Check out these chickens, roaming their pasture:

Of course, most of them just wanted to stay under cover. I don't blame them - we have lots of hawks in our area!

Some young calves were grazing in the field by the entrance (Route 206 is on the other side of that fence - I always check out the cows when I pass by).

Back in the shade are the goats that sustain Cherry Grove's new label: Piping Goat Creamery. This weekend's special chevre flavor was "Scapegoat": goat cheese mixed with garlic scapes from nearby Z Food Farm. Delicious!

So what brought us to the farm yesterday (and, actually, the day before as well, since I had the date wrong) was one of their periodic cookouts. These events are arranged to give you a taste for their grassfed beef before you start planning your holiday barbecue (they did this before Memorial Day as well). It wasn't a huge event, but there was great local food, some music and the opportunity to roam around the farm.

This is my grass-fed beef burger with Cherry Grove's "Full Nettle Jack" cheese and First Field Jersey ketchup on a bun from the Village Bakery. Salad was from Z Food Farms with dressing from Muirhead Foods. We finished our meal off with some Joe Chips and some delicious but rock-solid ice cream from the Purple Cow, located on Main St in Lawrenceville (they had ice cream in a cooler out in the hot sun - if it weren't frozen solid it would have been soup).

In addition to the music, we were entertained by a cooking demo, where one of Cherry Grove's chef-cheese makers (sorry, but I've forgotten his name!) showed us how to cook with grassfed beef, making burger patties with a variety of spice rubs as well as beef empanadas.

Perhaps the best part of the day is that we came home with 5 lbs of Cherry Grove's grassfed beef at a special holiday price! We also got fresh eggs, pork sausage and that Scapegoat cheese I mentioned. Not only was it a lovely afternoon, but we have lots delicious future meals to look forward to!

If you're in the area, stop by Cherry Grove Farm. It's a great place that produces top-notch products! And if you're not in the area, look for a local farm near you. You might be surprised by what you find!