SIPtember Wine Festival at Brookdale Park this weekend!

SIPtember Wine Festival
Brookdale Park, NJ
www.newjerseywines.com
!!!this weekend!!! (Sept. 26-27)

We picked up this flyer on a visit to Tomasello Winery last weekend. It's for this weekend, from noon to five.


The small print says:

"Sample more than 200 NJ wines!
Sway to live music!
Taste delicious foods!
Discover artisan vendors!"

This looks like a really nice opportunity to sample the local stuff, which even us Jerseyans don't even see in our neighborhood stores. It is also a great way to support our local farmers.

Admission is $25 ($2 discount with the flyer), which is not so bad if you really get to sample 200 hundred wines, no?

Seriously good Italian at Chef Vola's

Chef Vola's
111 South Albion Place
Atlantic City, NJ
(649) 345-2022
http://www.chefvolas.com/
(by reservation only; cash only; BYOB)


I recall being intrigued by a NYT review of this joint that was published a bit back. However, being infrequent visitors to Atlantic City, this place stayed in the back burner as one of those "if-i'm-ever-in-the-area-then-perhaps . . ." Few years later, it just faded away from my head. Then we had this AC trip planned, then we got Food Lovers', and everything fell into place. I must say that what really piqued me was the whole mystique of it all--- its a tiny, tucked away spot right in AC, that's been around for decades, and is one of the really good places to eat in the area.

I found making the reservation (this is essential) pretty straightforward. The person at the other end of the line was pretty clear in explaining the unusual venue, and asked that if our plans changed, we needed to cancel our reservation because it was such a small restaurant. I called a day in advance, and they had spots open for 5:30 pm and 8 pm on Thursday night.

It was good that we did a bit of research on the place because we would have had a hard time finding it, even with the GPS. We knew beforehand that it was in smack dab in the middle of a residential area, in a basement of a house, and that we had to look for either a Virgin Mary statue or palm trees in the front, because there are no signs outside. Even with those little landmarks, and with directions given by the restaurant, we were still like unsure when we parked by a lot in a quiet dead end street lined with some very plain rowhouses.



The entrance is on the left side of the house. As we waited for our table, we looked at the pix of celebrities that have graced the Chef Vola's. There's quite a bit of plaudits on the wall too.



The venue is really in a basement, but it is all done up rather festively. The waiters recite an impressive list of specials --- each one better than the last --- and it was really hard deciding what to get. They had quite a number of veal and seafood specials that night.

Bread basket. Not pictured is a ball of the sweetest butter we'd had in a long time.



We picked this bottle up from a local liquor store in Absecon, which is next to AC. This merlot was pretty smooth, rich and went well with the food.

The menu here is divvied up into the typical Italian menu, with an app course, a pasta course, a meat course and dessert. Upon espying the humongous dishes the other tables had, we decided to skip the pasta course.

DJKung started off with some chicken noodle soup.

This was roasted peppers with anchovies dressed in some olive oil. It was very simple and very satisfying.

Broccoli rabe with roasted garlic. This was our veggie dish, one of the specials that evening.
Also prepared very simply; the broccoli rabe was bitter, but not too bitter, after being sauteed. The roasted garlic cloves added a great sweet, smoky and umami feel.

I got the halibut with asparagus and more roasted garlic. It was simply divine. The halibut was a very generous and thick cut, roasted with salt and some olive oil. It was so incredibly superfresh and cooked so perfectly, I was very impressed.

DJKung's dad got the macadamia-crusted chilean sea bass. Incredible. The crushed macadamia nuts added a sweet and nutty note, but never overwhelmed the fish, which was superfresh.

Our waiter probably recited about six veal dishes from the specials, which was a strong hint that the veal here is good. DJKung picked veal with a shitaake mushroom glace. He's not really a veal kind of guy, but really liked his dish.

We were too full for desserts, and I actually had a lot of fish left over to bring home. It was too bad, because the couple at the table next to us strongly urged us to try the cheesecake.

Chef Vola's is definitely SUPERROTATION-worthy for us. This was the best Italian food we'd ever had, and hands down kicks ass compared to other fancy-pants places we've been to. It is one of the few places that not only recognize what quality seafood is, but also treats it with real respect--- the clean flavors of the fish really shine through. It is a bit of a drive for us, but you know what, we're definitely looking forward to our next AC trip and trying their other specials!

Food Lovers' Guide to NJ

Food Lovers' Guide to New Jersey

by Peter Genovese (2d ed. 2008)

We picked this up at our local library, more out of a sense of curiosity than anything. The author writes for The Star Ledger and is part of the Munchmobile, a roving van that goes all over the Garden State in search of great Jersey eats. I remember that the Munchmobile received a lot of press when they reviewed all the good hot dog spots here in NJ, and the article that they wrote was really fun to read.

Food Lovers' is divvied up into North Jersey, Central Jersey, South Jersey and the Jersey Shore, and I think that the Central and South Jersey parts seemed to have the better coverage in terms of places to eat. Not only are restaurants (from all over the price spectrum) included, but there are also references to food markets, NJ-produced food (e.g., Goya and Nabisco), wineries, and food-related events. I especially liked how Genovese highlights the ethnic enclaves that we have, where the food is always awesome and authentic.

The book ended up being a good resource for our trip to Atlantic City last weekend. I'm so glad DJKung picked this book up.