We finally got around to giving Zinburger a try.  Report here <click>.

Per their PR agency, Zinburger in Clifton is opening 12/13/2010.  Bloggers will no doubt be lined up to grab the free food they are offering during their soft opening.

Update (2010/11/26):  t:e field reporter jimmy:rocks informed the t:e organization today that the lights are on, the signs are lit up, and they are looking like they are getting ready. He also spied a "nice big bar."

I suspect a  January, 2011 opening of Clifton's Zinburger.  Zinburger appears to be a place that won't bother competing with the likes Smashburger and Five Guys (these are obviously fast food restaurants), and if they can pull off their concept, it will be a welcome addition to the New Jersey burger scene.   Now back to the speculation from a few months ago...

t:e field reporter jimmy:rocks contacted the t:e organization today to tip us off on a "coming soon" situation in Clifton over by Stew Leonard's ("The Promenade Shops at Clifton", as it's called).  Apparently a Zinburger is opening there.  It seems to be from Arizona.  A far-away land.

Zinburger is a burger and wine bar concept type of deal, or at least that's what I gather from their website.  Here's the menu (click).

I like burgers.  I like wine.  So I like the possibility of yet another burger joint opening.  

If you have patience, you can read through what various Arizona yelpers are yelping.  I have no patience, so let me know if anyone has anything interesting to say. 

Whether any of this is true or valid remains to be seen.  Maybe it's "Zin Burger", different than "Zinburger".  But I'm no reporter, so I'll know when you do.

Update:  t:e field reporter jimmy:rocks has confirmed with the Fox restaurant group that it is indeed Zinburger.  

Jersey Shore BBQ does not suck. 

A beautiful Saturday morning came around, and rather than do something healthful like going hiking at Harriman Park, we figured our time, and the glorious sunny day, would be best spent eating BBQ.  We were right.

There's a promotion going on this week in one of my favorite New Jersey cities:  Jersey City.

Have you had enough of New Jersey?  Here at the t:e organization, we get that way, generally several times a year.  But, this is a self-proclaimed "New Jersey-centric" blog, so the "editor" refrains, for the most part, from talking about food from other parts of the globe.  

On the one hand, I think this focus makes tommy:eats a unique blog; after all, its purpose isn't to focus on the "editor-in-chief" and his personal exploits and various interests outside of food (you know little about me, and I prefer to keep it that way).  But rather, its purpose is to focus on the good stuff in, and sometimes around, New Jersey.  You come here, and you read about food.  No bullshit, no filler.

But, alas, I, the "managing editor" of tommy:eats, do run out of New Jersey-centric topics on which to opine, as any reader no doubt realizes.  This is largely due to the fact that I rarely post about a restaurant that I simply do not like...of which there are many, at which many of my dollars are spent.  These are wasted meals, and wasted opportunities to share a good experience...not to mention wasted money. 

So what's an "editor-at-large" supposed to do?  Just ignore his fan base? Well, yes, usually.  And you will be especially ignored if you think I fancy myself an "editor."  Maybe change the rules a bit?

There is, I should note, a precedent for this rule tweaking.  As you no doubt don't recall, I enjoyed the hell out of the navel-gazing Lollapalooza report from my first year with this blog.  I wrestled with posting it, as it wasn't NJ-centric.  But at the end of the day it made me very happy to share that experience with people.  After all, it contained reports of hot dogs, steaks, burgers, pizza, and music.  And if you don't enjoy at least one of those things, you're probably not reading this right now.

Something's got to give here at the t:e organization.  To heck with it!  We love NJ, but there's a lot more good stuff out there, just over the Jersey border somewhere, right? And some of you might even end up where that stuff is.

So who wants to hear about Texas BBQ?  WOO-HOO!  Let's do this thing.

A recent episode of Food Network's Food Feuds got me thinking about sliders again.  During this episode, they pitted Hackensack's White Manna against Jersey City's White Mana (not related).  

When I say "sliders," I'm talking about a specific style of burger, and not simply a "small burger."  A slider is a thin patty of beef, cooked with onions on a flat top, and served on a small, steamed bun.  Yes, that sounds a like like White Castle.  But it also sounds like a bunch of joints throughout New Jersey which have been making this style of burger for longer than I've been alive. 

Watching this Food Feuds episode will make any meat eater hungry, and certainly got me going.  Three minutes into the show I determined that the next day would be committed to sliders.  Using the clips in the show as a guide, I was off and running.  Trust me, this isn't challenging stuff.

And here's what I did...

Margherita

There's generally a good amount of cooking going on at t:e operations headquarters.  There's also usually no reason to share any of these dishes, as they are simple and not earth-shattering in the least.  But taking a page from the some other blogs that I read, I see no reason to not post a little something here and there, when something looks decent, or tastes good, or might get some of you out to the store and in the kitchen.

Weekend pizza, with mozzarella di bufula from Fairway in Paramus. 

I don't know of many sources in New Jersey for mozzarella di bufula, so Fairway is a Godsend.  They do fly this stuff in from Campania, so check the expiration dates.  The last few batches I had were luscious and creamy, like eating warm ice cream.  Worth every penny, especially if you're making Neapolitan-style pizza.

I aim for a Neapolitan-style pizza.  A Margherita, in this case.  There's nothing more than uncooked pureed canned tomatoes, mozzarella di bufula, salt, basil, Parmigiano-Reggiano and EVOO on this sourdough pizza.

This pie was cooked in about 3 minutes 30 seconds, using two standard electric ovens, using the broiler in the second oven to finish it off.  The stones were heated for well over an hour, and were at about 680 degrees.

Deborah Smith over at JerseyBites.com has organized another "blog burst" to raise awareness of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey.  

Here is the official website:  http://www.checkouthungernj.org/

I'm not here to preach or suggest to which organizations you should donate your money.  But it couldn't be easier to grab one of those little tickets (you see above) at the checkout counter of any of our many participating food stores when you're picking up supplies for your family and friends, and have the cashier scan it.

Read more about JerseyBites' efforts and the participating blogs over at the JerseyBites blog.

And if you don't care much for food banks, maybe a couple of bucks to the ASPCA, Toys for Tots, or your favorite charity, or even just being a pleasant human being for a day, will add some nice to karma our section of the planet.