tommy:eats

201 Magazine: Best of Bergen 2013

201 Magazine, the big, glossy magazine that you see in grocery stores (or in the mail...they seem to send it to people for free in addition to selling it), released their yearly readers poll. It's sprinkled with "Editor's picks" and "Celebrity picks."  I'm not sure I care what these folks have to say about restaurants, but I guess their opinion is neither better nor worse than that of any random person.

Either way, as usual, many of the restaurant picks are wrong, or just bizarre.

As I sometimes do, I'm going to put on my smug curmudgeon hat and provide the correct answers here, for you.

A Family Affair Italian Deli: Fair Lawn, NJ

A Family Affair may well be the best Italian deli in the Bergen county area.  I've been to many, many delis, in search of a place that uses great bread and can put together a sandwich with a smile.  Haven't found one that can pull this off other than A Family Affair.

It's a family affair indeed.  It's very likely the owner, Eddie, will be making your sandwich.  And I think that's his mom manning the register on some days. There are no grumpy old dudes, no jaded kids carelessly throwing some meat on some bread.  Hell even the customers are really really nice. 

This isn't a deli where you'll be getting homemade salumi, so get that out of your head (A&S Fine Foods in Wyckoff fills that niche, but doesn't make a sandwich to my liking...too much bread).  But if you're looking for an Italian-style hero, something perhaps in the vein of Vito's in Hoboken (the gold standard), you'll be pleased with what you find here.  What sets A Family Affair apart from A&S and Italian Riviera and Cosmo's is the bread. My goodness the bread. The bread at A Family Affair is top-notch stuff.  It comes from some place in Jersey City, and it tastes like it.  This stuff is as good as the bread I used to get in Hoboken back in the day, from places like Antique and Marie's.

But too much of a good thing isn't necessarily good, and these guys get it.  Your bread will be gutted without having to ask.  You have to gut the bread, otherwise you have a terribly large and unbalanced sandwich.  Vito knows this, and so does Eddie.

Get over to this small family run place.  The tunafish with some hot peppers on a hero is spot on.

A Family Affair Italian Deli and Catering : 23-17 Broadway : Fair Lawn, NJ : 201.796.2882

2011: Tasty reasons to be thankful

We here at t:e headquarters are very thankful for everything at Chengdu 23.  Even the dopey flowers.

2011 wasn't a terribly active year in t:e posts, but make no mistake, food was eaten, spirits were stirred, and finds were found. 

Looking back at the past year, here are some things that the t:e army of editors is very thankful for...

Best of Bergen Restaurants: 2010

201 Magazine recently published their yearly readers poll of the Best of Bergen 2010, online here (click).  It doesn't seem to be online yet, but I'll update this post once it is.

Since I haven't done a "best of" in a while, I figured I'd list their winners, and then provide the real (my) answers. 

Best of: 2006 NJ food retailers

There are plenty of great food retailers in New Jersey, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  You no longer have to cross the river for top-notch ingredients and products. 

Here are some of the places that I found myself returning to again and again in 2006, and before that, and likely after that as well, which makes me ask how this post is specific to 2006 at all:

Best of: Dishes at NJ restaurants in 2006

With 2006 coming to a close, I found myself reflecting on some of the more notable dishes that I've had in over the last 12 months, while woofing down a very tasty hot pepper pizza at the Star Tavern in Orange.  "Notable" as in they made me utter aloud "wow, that's good."

Who doesn't like lists?  Everyone likes lists.  Lists give our lives order.  Even unordered lists give our lives order.  And they sure give writers and editors something to do at the end of the year.

And so the "Best of" lists were born.  Right there at the bar, the incubator of so many great ideas.