La Cabaña is a Costa Rican restaurant offering food that, at its best, is utterly sublime, rivaling in both quality and presentation much, much more expensive restaurants. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and one of the best places in town for Sunday brunch.
I work in a pretty big office, and folks are always bringing in leftovers, sweets, and sundry confections to leave in the kitchenette. It is sometimes a challenge to resist temptation, but I do pretty well. That all changed a few months ago, when brown cardboard boxes started showing up with intoxicating baked goods: sticky … Continue reading Just Peachy
Sometimes, you need to escape to something over-priced, pretentious, and utterly scrumptious. And on those days, you’d better get in the car and go to Brick Farm Market.
Brick Farm Market is located in the Malek Chevrolet Building (a 1930’s brick auto-repair shop) in the center of Hopewell. It is about a 30 minute drive from Trenton. A beautifully renovated establishment, they are part farm market (from their sister farm, Double Brook Farm), part bakery, part coffee shop, part butcher, part cheese shop, and part deli. It’s a little bit like walking into the cafe shop of a Whole Foods, only the food is superior, the ambiance is nicer, and the prices are (believe it or not) slightly higher. Is it worth it? Occasionally.
There is ice cream worth making a drive for. There is ice cream worth eating in the winter. And then there is ice cream worth shoving your firstborn child out of the way so that you can get the final spoonful. Princeton’s The Bent Spoon is all of the above.
We have never been to Guatemala, though living in Trenton it often feels like Guatemela has come to us. After all, this city has the 6th largest Guatemalan population in the U.S., according to the most recent census. If you’re lucky enough to live in Trenton these days, you’re used to seeing Guatemalan bakeries, which … Continue reading Cakes across the city
Trenton (and its surrounding environs) has a lot of terrific places to get food, from the in-town grocery stores (Food Bazaar and Supreme) to the official Trenton Farmers Market (technically not in Trenton) and the many many many specialty vendors. But it remains a town with so-called “food deserts” (places that lack access to fresh … Continue reading Greening the Parking Lot
Once upon a time, Trenton housed a very well-regarded Bagel Shop on South Broad Street, run by the entrepreneurial TC Nelson (now the proprietor of Trenton Social). Since the closing of that shop in 2003, downtown Trenton has been bagel-less. Sure, you can get bagels at one of any number of Dunkin’ Donuts franchises–but those … Continue reading The Bagels Are Back
Indian Hut is a slightly odd, new restaurant in a small retail strip just south of the Quakerbridge Mall in Lawrence. It offers a cake bakery (not Indian desserts, but western style cakes with butter-cream frosting) combined with a casual Indian Cafe serving an extensive Indian menu that includes chaat. The food is well prepared, and prices are reasonable.
The new Trenton economy is on display at Fuente del Buen Gusto every day. Frankly, it’s not the best Guatemalan food in Trenton. Not that FdBG’s food is bad; it’s actually pretty good, but much of it is served off of a buffet, and it suffers a bit from sitting around. However, you won’t find many other places in town that are busier. The joint is usually packed with working men and women from the neighborhood. I suggest that anyone who wants to understand the new Trenton economy should show up here during the week just to check it out.
In the heart of Lawrenceville (about 15 minutes from downtown Trenton), you’ll find WildFlour, an utterly charming bakery/cafe. Set in a beautiful old house, the bakery features a small service area for ordering pastries, cookies, breads, cakes, scones, etc, as well as a simply gorgeous cafe dining area, tastefully decorated and with beautiful natural light. They have everything that you could possibly want from a bakery (from gorgeous cakes to brazilian cheese puffs), and the cafe boasts a menu of crepes, salads, and sandwiches that’ll make you feel like you’re in Paris. What’s the catch? Everything, absolutely everything, is 100% gluten-free (and vegetarian).
But here’s the trick… depending on what you order, you might not notice that it’s gluten-free. I would put their danishes, cookies, cinnamon rolls, and knishes (oh, the knishes!) against any other bakery’s–they are simply among the best I’ve ever had. The danishes are flaky and decadent, I particularly recommend the nutella danish which is so lush it ought to be illegal. The cookies have just the right blend of browned crumble and buttery softness. The cinnamon rolls are unforgettable, delightfully dense, not too sweet, and with a nutty caramelization on top. And the knishes… you will swoon over these knishes! Light and airy, they are the perfect bite with an exquisite flavor that’ll transport you to a bygone era. They come in two flavors (potato and spinach with caramelized onion) and are only served on weekends or by special order.
Walt Czajkowsi is on a mission to bring top quality pies, artisan breads, and pastries to the Trenton area. Where many of the old-line Trenton bakeries have dumbed-down their offerings to make them more affordable, the Pie’d Piper is achieving a nice balance between top quality and reasonable price.
Amidst the suburban sprawl of the Rte. 1 corridor, it’s easy to view NJ’s slogan, “The Garden State” as little more than an anachronism. But head due south from Trenton on 206, and you soon find yourself in honest-to-goodness farmland that still supports truck farming. The Columbus Farmer’s market is one of the commercial centers of this area of NJ, and is itself a bit of an anachronism. But it seems to be thriving, offering a mix of produce, meats, and baked goods.
The European Bakery (“EB”) is the expanded successor to the Eagle Bakery (now closed), which used to operate two blocks down Olden Street. It offers a wonderful variety of authentic Polish-style baked goods – pastries, cakes, and breads – plus a well-stocked deli with cold cuts, sausages, and an assortment of grocery items.
Franca’s is clearly the best of the old-line Italian bakeries remaining in Trenton. It does some lovely, crusty peasant breads, a mean sfoliatella (a ridged, chewy, triangular pastry filled with a lemony ricotta filling), and a decent cheese cake. There may be other good items as well; I’ll confess to have sampled only a few.
The Farmer’s Market is located just over the border from Trenton in Lawrence (though with a Trenton postal address), and is located near Trenton’s Polish enclave. It’s truly a first-rate farmer’s market, with nine produce venders, three butchers, several bakeries, an Amish market, several restaurants and a plethora of antique, craft, and gift stores. It is also a terrific value, particularly if you purchase 2nd quality produce (sometimes slightly bruised or just misshapen) which is offered by many of the vendors at an enormous discount.
Put another way…all those suburban Italian restaurants which are driving the Chambersburg eateries out of business? Many of them are serving Porfirio’s products. Ain’t capitalism wonderful? If you live or work in Trenton, the place to go is the Anderson Street store. There you’ll find at least 11 different varieties of fresh-made ravioli in stock
The Cosmo is at the epicenter of Trenton’s Polish neighborhood, right on the NW corner of Olden and Brunswick. It’s a mini holiday just to enter and browse the shelves. They’re packed with European grocery items: cookies, candies, dozens of varieties of pickles and jarred preserves.
