BELMONT TAVERN, BELLEVILLE
Cash only policy, 50s and 60s music playing from a jukebox (actually a compact disc box), some NJ housewife and Tony Soprano doppelgängers at the bar, lots of noise and the ambiance of a Dive with a capital D did not bother us. However, when the waitress asked if we wanted our bottle of red wine cold or at room temperature, we tried not to look aghast. It doesn’t matter if the Belmont Tavern is a throwback to much earlier times, as people still flock here to have traditional Italian dishes such as clams oreganata, shrimp scampi, chicken murphy, escarole salad, and their famous chicken savoy made with balsamic vinegar.
We started with room temperature red wine, sesame and plain unheated Italian bread, and packets of butter. We didn’t use olive oil 50 years ago and didn’t dare ask for it here. An escarole salad with sliced radishes and a refreshing lemony dressing, served in a small wooden bowl, comes with dinner. Although cavatelli with pot cheese is a must-order dish here, we opted to have this pasta dish made with ziti. It was a real treat that gave us a “we’re eating at grandma’s” sensation. Pork chops were not as pleasurable as they were tough and overdone. However, we scarfed down the lusty red sauce with mushrooms that accompanied them. Chicken murphy—on the bone, with onions, hot peppers, mushrooms, olive oil and garlic—was juicy and just as flavorful reheated the next day. Dessert or coffee are not available, so drive to Holstein’s in Bloomfield to finish up your NJ retro experience.
Ziti with pot cheese.
Photo courtesy of Lowell Saferstein
Belmont Tavern & Restaurant
12 Bloomfield Ave
Belleville
973-759-9609
*************************************
FIN, MONTCLAIR
Fin does not flounder. This Montclair restaurant serving the freshest of fresh fish has been open since fall 2011 and is still packing them in. Make a reservation.
The mood is set as you walk up a boardwalk (or perhaps it is a dock) and enter the maritime-themed restaurant. A display of fish on ice by the open kitchen entices. The menu states “Fin Raw Bar & Kitchen is sensitive to the environment and practices the use of sustainable, farm raised and local fresh seafood, paired with using trans-fat free cooking oils.” YES! We’re impressed, but how about the food?
We started with a crisp spring roll filled with shrimp and lobster accompanied by a spicy dipping sauce that had us licking our lips. Wood-charred octopus was so tender and appealing that we wished the serving was bigger. A panzanella, pearl-mozzarella salad accompanied the octopus and filled the plate. It’s worth offering as a separate salad. Raw-bar lovers can opt for a seafood tower or many of the clams and oysters offered.
One of Fin’s signature dishes is a seven-spice, big-eye tuna. This large offering is paired with soba noodles, stir-fried vegetables and soy-and-scallion vinaigrette. It has luscious layers of flavors and textures. Be aware that the spice on the tuna can be adjusted. We each had a wood-grilled fish, salmon, cod, and branzino, all of which were expertly prepared. Simply marinated with extra-virgin olive oil, lemon and herbs, the fish needed nothing more to allow it to shine. Escarole and creamy beans came with the fish but other sides such as spinach, fries and quinoa with black barley and watercress can be ordered a la carte. One side you should not miss is the outrageously scrumptious, chockfull of lobster, lobster truffle mac & cheese. We were fighting over the last spoonful. One dessert was shared: puff pastry with cinnamon roasted Fuji apples, golden raisins and Tahitian vanilla gelato. Non-fish eaters can opt for pork chop, filet mignon or create a vegetarian tasting from the sides.
Service was extremely attentive but we would love to have the specials recited with prices. We did appreciate the new wine glasses, when we started our second bottle. Be forewarned, the floor is cement and the restaurant can get uncomfortably noisy. Fin Raw Bar And Kitchen is open for dinner daily.
Salute in Montclair, Salugo in Verona, and a recently opened Fin in Summit are owned by the same restaurateurs and all are BYO.
Fin
183 Glenridge Ave
Montclair
973-744-0068
BYO
********************************************
EAT YOUR VEGETABLES—Bold Recipes For the Single Cook
By Joe Yonan
Although the subtitle of this book is Bold Recipes For the Single Cook, the 80 recipes featured can easily be doubled, scaled up or used as side dishes. Author Joe Yonan, who attended the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, is now the Food and Travel editor at the Washington Post and author of the Cooking for One column.
Their are seven chapters in this book: Salads and Dressings; Sandwiches and Soups; Baking; Roasting and Broiling; On the Stovetop; Sweets; Entertaining; and Recipes for the Fridge, Freezer and Pantry. We tried the easy-to-make Faux Tart with Instant Lemon Ginger Custard, which uses crumbled gingersnap cookies for a crust and can be beautifully served in a glass. Also recommended are the Almond and Coconut Granola with Ginger and Cherries (as good as Lowell’s granola recipe) and the Juicy Bella recipe, where the indentation in the mushroom seves as a vessel to cook an egg. One unusual recipe, Spaghetti with Root To Leaf Radish, is on our to-try list, and although we have eaten cooked radishes, we have never tried the greens.
We loved the practical tips and suggestions that came with some recipes. For example, Yonan says that after husking corn, put the husks and silks in a big pot, cover with water and simmer for an hour to make a light stock.
*********************
NJ RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION AWARDS GALA
Congratulations to Sneh Mehtani from the Mehtani Restaurant Group, who was awarded Restaurateur of the Year by the New Jersey Restaurant Association. The Annual Awards Gala was held on December 2 at Mayfair Farms, West Orange. Carr and Harold Imperatore of the Bernards Inn and Anthony Calandra of Calandra’s Mediterranean Grill received the Gold Plate Awards.
************************
SAVE THE DATE
The sixth annual New Jersey Wine & Food Festival will take place March 28 to 30 at Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg, with guest of honor David Bouley.
Chef Bouley will create a multi-course menu for the annual Wine Cellar Dinner on March 28 and serve a dish in the VIP section of The Grand Tasting on March 29. The Wine Cellar dinner will be paired with rare back vintages of Ornellaia, one of Tuscany’s top producers. Ornellaia winemaker Axel Heinz will be the featured winemaker during the weekend and will select special wines from the winery’s collection for the Friday dinner.
Tickets for the festival go on sale, January 15, 2014. Visit www.njwinefoodfest.com for updated information and tickets.
*************************
Please send press releases and restaurant news, including information on staff changes, wine tastings, and cooking classes, to [email protected].