“Same time next year,” my friend Kristin and I said to each other in Fall 2016, when we’d finished stuffing ourselves silly with the sweetest crab this side of Maine—peak peekytoe—at the Hokkaido Gourmet Fair at Mitsuwa, the Japanese uber-supermarket in Edgewater. We waited for Mitsuwa to set the date for Hokkaido 2017 and marked our calendars for our own personal crabfest. Last month, we went, we ate, we swooned.
I made a note to alert you to another food festival at Mitsuwa, so you, too, can get into the swing of learning about the foods of the various regions of Japan. We are lucky, after all, to have the only Mitsuwa east of the Mississippi in our midst.
So, get ready and set to eat at the Tohoku Food Fair, which will take place at the mega-market located at 595 River Road from Thursday, November 2 through Monday, November 6.
What’s on tap from the region of Tohoku and its principal cities? A full menu of quintessential Tohoku foods, including the gyroquette fried fish cake from Shinkineya; rice from Kasuriya prepared with edamame paste; and special bento boxes with saury, a fish celebrated in autumn and commonly served salted and grilled. It’s a delicacy and supplies are very limited.
The market at Mitsuwa is open daily from 9:30 am to 9 pm and its restaurants from 11:30 am to 8:30 pm. For more information, call 201-941-9113 or visit mitsuwa.com.
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And now for something special for those with diabetes:
The Clover Care Tour has begun in New Jersey, with a series of healthy eating events conducted by chefs hired to help those with diabetes improve their daily diets. Clover, a Medicare Advantage plan, will present free of charge the following classes that include interactive cooking demonstrations:
- Today, October 24 at 10 am: North Bergen Senior Citizen Center, 1441 45th Street, North Bergen.
- Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 25 at 1 pm: Hoboken Multi-Service Center, 124 Grand Street, Hoboken.
- Thursday, October 26 at 10 am: New Milford Senior Activity Center, 275 River Road, New Milford.
- Friday, October 27 at noon: Vineland City Senior Center, 103 South 6th Street, Vineland.
- Monday, October 30 at 1:30 pm: Senior Source, 310 Riverside Square Mall, Hackensack.
- Tuesday, October 31 at 12:30 pm: West Cumberland Senior Center, 10 Cassidy Court, Bridgeton.
- Wednesday, November 1 at 10:30 am: Bloomfield Recreation Center, 84 Broad Street, Bloomfield.
- Thursday, November 2 at 10 am: O’Donnell Dempsey Senior Center, 622 Salem Avenue, Elizabeth.
- Friday, November 3 at 10:30 am: Manalapan Senior Center, 211 Englishtown-Freehold Road, Manalapan.
- Monday, November 6 at 11 am: Grover Cleveland Senior Center, 1 Provost Square, Caldwell.
- Wednesday, November 8 at 2 pm: Asbury Park Senior Center, 1201 Springwood Avenue, Asbury Park.
No registration is required, though at most locations seating is limited to 150.
For more information, call 406-250-8397 or visit cloverhealthtour.com\caretour.
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Planning ahead:
If you’re a fan of Krug, the legendary house in Champagne, mark Thursday, December 14 on your calendar. That’s the day Crystal Springs Resort in Sussex County will host the Wine Cellar Krug Dinner.
It’s a celebration of the release—that very day—of the 2004 vintage of Krug. Krug, like other Champagnes in its class, only releases vintages in the best of years. Krug considers its 2004 an excellent vintage.
The resort’s executive chef Anthony Bucco will craft a six-course menu. featuring seasonal ingredients to partner with Krug cuvees on tap that day. The evening begins at 6:30 pm with a reception, followed by dinner at 7 pm. The menu includes Belon oysters, langoustines, chestnut raviolo, foie gras and pheasant.
Dinner is $165 per person, Krug included; tax and tip are separate charges.
Crystal Springs is located at 1 Wild Turkey Way in Hamburg. For resservations, call 866-976-7286.
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Halloween is a big holiday, where costumed kids prowl their neighborhoods for candy and adults consume all manner of spooked-up foods and beverages.
Every once in a while, there’s a real-deal dinner that celebrates fall’s spirited holiday.
On Halloween night—Tuesday, October 31—La Taverna Bar & Lounge, located in Calandra’s Italian Village at 234 Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell, will host a different kind of Halloween supper.
Chef Francesco Palmieri will present a four-course dinner inspired by dishes in “Cooking Price-Wise,” the cookbook written by the seminal actor Vincent Price, known as “the voice” of horror and thriller movies.
His only daughter, Victoria Price, will be on hand for the special Halloween dinner, which will take place from 7 to 10 pm at the restaurant. She will talk about the cookbook and her famous father’s legacy, while Palmieri will explain how the cookbook inspired his menu for the evening.
Cost for the dinner, which includes wine, a copy of the book, tax and tip, is $110 per person. For reservations, call 973-226-8889.
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Important note on deadline for inclusion in Thanksgiving holiday dinner round-up:
Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 23. The round-up of selected restaurants with special dinners for the day will appear in Table Hopping’s Events column on Tuesday, November 14. To be considered for inclusion, submissions with complete information must be received no later than the end of business on Friday, November 3. All submissions must include the following in the text of an e-mail: Complete name, street address, phone and venue Website; name of head chef and style of restaurant’s cuisine; hours for Thanksgiving service; price of dinner, if it is a fixed-price meal, or range of entree prices, if a la carte; if reservations are required, how they are to be made and what the deadline is for making them. All submissions are to be e-mailed to: [email protected].