Between Trenton itself and its inner suburbs (Lawrence, Hamilton, Ewing) you have a wonderfully diverse set of inexpensive, ethnic restaurants close-by. Drive to the “outer” suburbs (Princeton, Bordentown, Hopewell, Lambertville, New Hope), and you can find wonderful, upscale dining.
What’s one of Princeton’s high-end restaurants doing on Hidden Trenton? Mediterra is a pricey restaurant where a single entree can easily set you back $20-$35, and it’s customary to order some starters and at least a few glasses of wine (each priced above $10). Sure, their Mediterranean cuisine (with both Italian and Spanish specialties) is delicious–but it’s hardly hidden, and it’s certainly not a bargain.
But walk into the restaurant on a Monday-Thursday between 4:30pm-6:30 (or better yet, after 9PM), and bypass the hostess for the large communal tables to your right. There, you’ll be greeted with a “tavern menu,” featuring a delightful array of tapas. And during those wonderful hours, all of those tapas are only $2 each. After 9PM, many of their wines (typically priced between $10-$15) are only $7 per glass. It’s a terrific deal, and well worth a visit if you happen to be in Princeton at the right moment.
Dedicated Hidden Trenton readers have known for years about our enthusiasm for Papa’s Tomato Pies, a Chambersburg icon that recently joined the Italian flight to the suburbs (you can now find them in Robbinsville, NJ). But…much like the branches of the famed DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pie family, Dom (great-grandson of the original Papas founder) has finally founded his own independent branch of Papa’s Tomato Pies. And he’s picked a most unusual location–inside the cafe and food court of a Risoldi’s supermarket.
The modest shop is run by Abdul, an Afghan native who has had restaurants in Pennsylvania for the last 30 years. He previously operated his Jahan across the street, in what is now a tobacco shop, he later moved to Langhorne, and now he’s back. It’s a clean but very casual place, and in my visits they’ve seemed to cater to a reasonably large take-out crowd. There are a handful of stools by the window and maybe 6 small tables that seat 3-4. In the back, underneath a giant TV that is on too often and too loud is a traditional floor rug and pillows. You order at the counter, but if you’re eating in, Abdul or one of his relatives will bring out your meal for you and bus the table appropriately. Sure, the plates have chips in them and the atmosphere couldn’t be more casual. But once you take a bite, you won’t care.
La Parrilla (grill, in Spanish), is one of the City’s newest Guatemalan restaurants, the city’s most vibrant (and increasingly most competitive) segment. Located in what used to be a tomato pie restaurant, La Parrilla emphasizes grilled meats and seafood.
It’s only a thirty minute drive from Trenton to this tiny vegetarian restaurant in Bucks County, PA. The decor is unimpressive, but the place is packed (on a recent Saturday we were unable to get a reservation until 8:45pm). Why? This joint has some of the best vegetarian food in the greater Philadelphia and Trenton areas. This is hearty, rib-sticking vegetarian cuisine, and it’s absolutely worth the trip.
The pupusas are outstanding. They come in 3 varieties: Cheese, cheese and black beans, or cheese and pork. The first two are vegetarian, the last obviously not. In particular, the black bean filling is superb, and the pupusas arrive with nary a glimmer of excess oil on their perfectly grilled exteriors.
Set in an unassuming shopping complex just a few blocks away from historic downtown New Hope, this casual restaurant is a vegetarian’s heaven, and an omnivore’s delight. With a 100% vegan menu (that means nothing that had a mother, and no dairy or eggs either!), Sprig &Vine offers a wide-ranging menu of gourmet delights, and for prices far superior to what you would find for comparable food in NYC or Philly.
Superb BBQ is to be had here. The full fat variety evokes a deep, atavistic yearning for more. Fatty are the ribs, pulled pork, and brisket that make up much of the menu. But the Chicken is nearly as flavorful and more or less guilt-free.
The Mill Hill basement is a scene, perhaps one of the most exciting scenes in Trenton. If you’re into independent music and grunge bands, and are Gen Y or younger, you should definitely check it out.
Don’t let the name fool you, La Chapinita offers a full Guatemalan menu. Order off the menu to get wonderful, fresh-cooked food at incredibly reasonable prices. Located where Papas Tomato Pies used to call home.
Ila Mae’s is a neo-soul restaurant that opened in the winter of 2013 in a charming storefront on the 300 block of Market Street. The menu is eclectic and slightly quirky. Sandwiches are generally featured: most come on a whole wheat torpedo roll or a wrap. There are many vegetarian options, and many meat sandwiches that feature vegetable fillings as well. There is an fairly extensive selection of fish (flounder, tilapia, salmon, whiting) served in sandwiches or dinner entrees.
Hurry Chutney is a newly opened restaurant next to Sam’s Club off Rte. 1 near Quakerbridge Road in “Princeton” (actually West Windsor). There’s a lot to like about Hurry Chutney, and some things that make me shudder. What’s to like? First, the food quality (in my limited exposure to it) seems quite high. Second, it’s the only Indian Restaurant in the area that serves Chaat on a regular basis.
Roti comes from Trinidad: the cuisine of residents of South Asian descent. It refers to the bread, yes, but also the curried meal that comes with it (and often stuffed inside like a giant burrito).
Sometimes you want a basic Italian meal: tasty, not too expensive, not too fancy. Mamma Rosa’s, only a few minutes out of town on Klockner Road in Hamilton fills the need.
There aren’t many places in Trenton where you can get good food late. The Buzz is basically a bar, and stays open until 2 AM. It’s owned by a middle aged Polish couple, who are at the bar every night. She keeps the kitchen open for the “full menu” at least until 10 just about every night. If the joint is hopping, it might be a lot later. And then they have a “late night menu” that’s good at least until 1 AM.
According to the Urban Dictionary, the term Hoagie is Philly slang for a sub sandwich. Italian men who lived on Hog Island (an island intersecting the Delaware and Schuylkyl Rivers) packed lunches made from large loaves of bread filled with meats — known as “hoggies.” Sometime by the end of WWII, the word transformed into … Continue reading Hog(ie) Wild→
The menu is a mix of old-line “red-sauce” Italian dishes, with a fair number of more ambitious items (and specials) mixed in. The quality is good. Prices are higher than the typical Trenton-area Italian eatery, though not exorbitant (e.g. $19 for chicken; $27 for a veal chop).
Gennaro’s is a nicely turned out pizzeria and Italian restaurant in a newish strip mall where Nottingham Way and Rt. 33 converge in Hamilton Square (about 7.5 miles from Trenton). If for some reason you find yourself there, seeking sustenance amidst the soul-numbing suburban sprawl, by all means stop in for a pie. It’s really quite good. Nice, thin, crisp crust. Tomato “sauce”. Good quality cheese and toppings.
Opposite the Mercer County Court House(s) on the 200 Block of S. Broad, LexiLu serves a brisk trade of lawyers, clerks, guards, and jurors from the courthouse, plus a smattering of Mill Hill residents and others passing through.
Trenton Social is the sort of hip, slightly upscale bar and restaurant that attracts a diverse crowd of Trenton’s movers and shakers. White, black, straight, gay, artists, artisans, performers, brokers and bankers… you’ll find them all hanging out at Trenton Social having a good time.
La Villa is a nondescript pizza restaurant in Morrisville, just over the bridge from Trenton. In addition to conventional pizza and a host of Italian cooking, La Villa features a “Chambersburg Style Tomato Pie”. And darned if it isn’t.
Mariachi Grill (not to be confused with El Mariachi) serves Tres Leches, a fabulous dessert made from sponge cake and traditionally three different kinds of milk: whole, condensed, and evaporated (plus a whipped cream topping). It’s the best I’ve ever had. And I love Tres Leches. For me, there’s no more to be said.
The Hummingbird is a Jamaican restaurant downtown in the Warren Street revival area. And just as any decent Italian eatery in the ‘Burg used to have a photo of Frank Sinatra on the wall, the Hummingbird celebrates Bob Marley with a large poster in the dining room. Something of Marley’s spirit seems to inhabit the place, which has great food and a pleasant atmosphere.
El Chapin is a new Guatemalan restaurant at the corner of Cass and Lamberton Streets, within spitting distance of Waterfront Park. The specialty of the house is charcoal grilled rotisserie chicken, and it’s really, really, really good.
Most Indian restaurants have good food and indifferent decor. Few, today, are particularly expensive. But the Palace – despite being located in a strip mall off of Quakerbridge Rd – is absolutely gorgeous inside, reasonable for lunch, and a small fortune for dinner. Palace does a very nice buffet every afternoon. That’s probably the best way to get exposed to the restaurant and to decide if you’re ready to spring for the full dinner menu.
Five Guys serves an outstanding burger and fries. The fact that it’s a chain, and in Ewing, made me hesitate to add it to “Hidden Trenton”. Then, I ate my first sample. The burgers and fries are that good. I consider Five Guys a non-chain, chain (harkening to Watergate’s non-denial, denial): it’s thriving because the food is really good (if in this case, not good for you), not just fast or convenient.
Sneak away to the Blooming Grove Inn, especially on a summer’s evening sitting on the terrace, and you can feel for a moment like you’ve borrowed your friend’s country house, and are enjoying a weekend away from it all. With new management and an upscale, farm to table concept, we’ve yet to try the new menu. Will let you know.
With so much great tomato pie in Trenton, why does Dominick’s deserve a place on Hidden Trenton? A few reasons. First, the pies are genuinely good, made with fresh ingredients. While the tomato pie doesn’t quite match the sublime heights of Papa’s or DeLorenzo’s, it’s darn good. Second, it’s open when those other places aren’t. Want a pie for a Tuesday lunch? You’re out of luck with either of the classic Trenton establishments, which are basically open only for dinner.
Mastoris is one of those places that doesn’t seem possible when you first go there. First of all, it’s impossibly huge… the website claims they serve up to 2,800 people per day, and certainly the facility is large enough. Second, when you sit down, your waitress will bring you a plate piled high with two loaves of sweet bread, one each of cinnamon and cheese. Don’t eat too much bread, though, since the portions on your order, when it arrives, will be huge.
Prices are incredibly reasonable. The food, including the tacos, tostadas, and several of the meat platters is very good. Note, this is a dive. Clean, friendly, but still a dive. English skills of your server are likely to not exist, so if you don’t speak Spanish (like me), be prepared to puzzle out the menu on your own, and order via sign language.
Let’s see….suprisingly good and varied Italian food. BYOB. Reasonably priced. It seems in our household, we end up going out to Villa Rosa as often as anyplace in the area.
Hong Kong Restaurant, located where Hamilton and S. Clinton intersect is probably the best, true Chinese take-out in town. This is a family-run restaurant, with an extensive menu cooked in front of you while you wait.
Everyone has a yearning for simple, cheap Chinese food from time to time, and you don’t want to have to drive to get it. In a town where there are some truly dreadful take out Chinese joints….listing a few that are pretty good is a useful service. Kam Buffet is a post millenium buffet joint, with a large dining room and a huge array of steam tables. The food is good, and management takes better care to keep it fresh and turning over quickly than many establishments of this type.
From the outside, Lucy’s looks like many other downtown Trenton lunch joints. But the food isn’t what you’d expect. Lucy’s appeals to the alternative eating crowd. There are always has a bunch of specials…for example the other day salmon burgers were on the menu. You get a choice of grilled vegetables with most sandwiches or wraps, where you can select from a lovely platter of freshly parboiled veggies ready to be grilled to order, including broccoli, onions, carrots, zucchini, peppers, and more. Of course, you don’t HAVE to go veggie. You can get a pretty mean cheese steak with all the grease and none of the greens, if that’s what you want.
A decent Pan-Asian restaurant across from the Dairy Queen in Morrisville? Believe it or not… And the food’s the thing. With an extensive menu serving up Chinese, Japanese, and Thai dishes, no one should go hungry or want for choice. There’s plenty of seafood and vegetarian dishes (which you’d expect), one of the best sushi bars in the area, and even several dishes that will satisfy the unrepentant carnivores in your party.
“It’s Nutts” is immediately adjacent to Washington Crossing State Park, and on the way to Baldpate Mountain. If you’re headed there, it’s a great place to pick up a well prepared, moderately priced meal (in an area that’s not known for bargains).
Let’s face it, there’s not a lot of great breakfast in Trenton. Sure there are some diners and other assorted options, but finding a place that goes beyond the breakfast basics (eggs, pancakes, omelettes, bacon) is rare. That’s what makes Cafe 72 unique. Despite it’s casual luncheonette atmosphere and bargain prices, it is aiming to higher culinary heights (if not always achieving them). What are we talking about? Think Belgian waffles filled with sun-dried figs and topped with blueberry chutney and cannoli cream, “cajun” shrimp and grits with onions and an egg, or portobello mushroom towers with sliced tomato, poached eggs, provolone, and basil hollandaise (pictured here). The menu is supplemented by a variety of specials; on a recent visit we sampled the fresh ricotta donuts with blueberry chutney (and boy were they fresh).
Frankye’s is a bar on the edge of Chambersburg , with a clean, nearly-charming dining room serving first rate Guatemalan food. The dining room tables are covered by white table cloths, and the floor sparkles. They can char-broil a decent steak, and serve the best Carne Adobada in town.
From the outside, Szechuan House looks like a pretty standard suburban Chinese restauarant, and at first glance, so does the menu. All of the standard Americanized items can be found. But look a little closer, and you’ll see a number of items that you never see on a “standard ” menu. Some frankly, sound pretty disgusting…but my rule is that if you don’t find at least a half dozen things that sound disgusting on a Chinese menu, you’re going to the wrong restaurant. As it turns out, there’s plenty on the menu that’s both authentic and delicious.
