Foodie Lifestyle by Imtiaz Patel

Zeina is a middle eastern restaurant though it dubs itself as mediterranean restaurant. I’ve read some decent reviews in the past, including one from the NY Times. Couple that with the fact that I really enjoy middle eastern food and have yet to find a middle eastern restaurant in central NJ that I like I was quite eagar to try out Zeina. My favorite middle eastern places are in northern NJ or London so there was a lot at stake for me.

We got to the restaurant on time for our 7pm reservation and were informed by the hostess that since they were really busy that night we had to be out of there in an hour and half. I found that a little off putting. Kind of like being invited to someone’s home for dinner and then being told that you can’t hang around for long because they have more interesting guests coming later and need us out before they arrive. The restaurant should have done a better job at managing their reservations rather than letting greed overcome them so that they could turn the tables over 3 times instead of twice.

The space itself is quite cramped. Tables are way too close together. I kept getting hit by the seriously annoying woman behind me because our tables were way to close. She never thought to apologise. On weekends there is a belly dancer though I can’t fathom where she would be dancing considering the lack of space.

Service was a little spotty. It seemed like the restaurant only had 2 waiters for the entire place. One waiter came and introduced himself to us and said he would be taking care of us and then completely disappeared and then the other waiter took over, eventually. I wonder if our table was an addition that night and they weren’t sure who was taking care of us.

They have a wine list, relatively short and quite lousy. I did order a glass of wine and regretted it. Should have stuck with water.

All this could be forgiven if the food was good. We ordered a cold vegetarian appetizer platter which included houmous, babaghanoush and various other things including grape leaves. Overall it was ok. For the main course we ordered the mixed grill platter which included kebabs, lamb and rice. Kebabs are a test for me in any middle eastern restaurant. If you can’t get that right, then you’ve got problems. The meat was tender however under-seasoned and generally bland.

Prices are a little on the high side for what it is and considering the service and quality of food I was surprised by how packed the restaurant was and how many people kept being turned away. The lack of half decent restaurants in the area means people will go for anything.

Not somewhere I would return.

Tags: Middle Eastern, New Jersey Restaurants
Posted in: NJ Restaurants, Other by Imtiaz Patel
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Pork belly is my thing, well it has been since I first tried it a couple of years ago in Dallas. But even before that I’d become obsessed with trying it. You can blame Richard Blais who made it so often on Top Chef that I just had to try it. Talking about Top Chef, I love Padma Lakshmi. I could go on and on about her, but let’s just focus on the pork belly. I have tried making numerous pork belly recipes and everytime I now have a party I make a different recipe. There are a number of recipes on this blog. I’m actually so obsessed with pork belly that I’m about to launch a separate blog just about pork belly.

A couple of weeks ago I had about 30 people over for a party. I really wanted to make a special pork belly recipe. I found what looked like a great recipe on epicurious. It required alot of planning because its a multi-staged multi-day recipe but simple and so worth it. On the morning of the party at around 6am I felt like it needed some sweetness so I created the onion marmalade recipe, having never made it before. This really added to the pork belly, making a great complement. The sweetness and slight chili kick of the marmalade really made the whole pork belly recipe work. I actually think this was the best pork belly I have ever made, and I’ve made quite a few!

Pork Belly Ingredients:
- 6 lbs pork belly
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- 2 cups cure mix

Cure Mix Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup fennel seeds
- 1/4 cup cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
- 8 teaspoons black peppercorns
- 4 pieces star anise
- 4 pieces cinnamon stick
- 2 teaspoons white peppercorns
- 4 teaspoons whole cloves
- 4 tablespoons ground coriander
- 1 cup salt
- 2/3 cup sugar

Onion Marmalade Ingredients:
- 1/4 olive oil
- 6 cups thinly sliced red onions
- 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red chillis
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sherry
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 1/4 cup apple juice
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- salta nd pepper to taste

Recipe:

To make the cure mix, blend all the solid ingredients in a coffee grinder and mix with the salt and sugar.

Rub the pork belly with the dry cure and refrigerate for 3 days. On day 3 rinse the pork belly and place in a casserole pan. Cover the pork belly with the chicken stock. Make sure it’s completely covered. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Cover the pot and place in oven overnight for 7 hours.

Remove the pork belly from the braising liquid and drain. About 45 minutes before serving place the pork belly in a 375 degree oven for roughly 45 minutes or until the skin is crunchy. Cut and serve with onion marmalade on the side.

For the onion marmalade, heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and chili. Cover and cook until onions are tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Add the sugar, vinegar, sherry, balsamic vinegar and apple juice. Cook uncovered until onions are very tender and mixture is thick. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm. You can make this 1-2 days ahead and just reheat to serve.

Tags: Onion Marmalade, Pork Belly
Posted in: Appetizers, Meat, Pork Belly, Recipe by Imtiaz Patel
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I make alot of mussels. They are quick, healthy, yummy and my son loves them so it’s an easy and frequent choice in my household. The challenge is how to make them differently each time since I love variety in whatever I eat. I typically never look for recipes when it comes to Mussels but instead just try to get creative with whatever I have handy. Sometimes it’s bacon, sometimes chorizo, sometimes there’s a tomato broth and sometimes there isn’t. Just depends on what I’m in the mood for. People who know me know it’s all about my mood!

For the annual christmas get together at Divya’s with her extended family (roughly 25 people) I was asked to make sometime which wasn’t quite an appetizer but would preceed the chili rubbed short ribs (recipe on this blog). Having just had a party for 30 plus people at my house, inspiration was a little hard to come by. So I went to my fall back position – mussels. Plus Divya loves anything seafood!

I wanted the mussels to be really yummy and a little different. I love fennel, I love how it smells and how it tastes so I figured I would use fennel in the broth and ended up creating a recipe built around the fennel. It turned out really well. I made about 15lbs of mussels. Took me a while to clean those mussels.

Ingredients:
- 5lbs mussels
- 1 chopped fennel
- 2 sliced carrots
- 3 cloves chopped garlic
- 1 cup chardonnay
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 14oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon rosemary
- crushed chilies per taste
- salt and pepper to taste
- olive oil

Recipe:
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan (large enough to take all the mussels). Add the fennel and carrots. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the crushed chilies and garlic. After about 1 minute add the wine. After another minute add the stock. When it comes to a simmer, add the tomatoes, herbs, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and turn down the heat. Cover and let simmer for atleast 20 minutes. I like to let it simmer for an hour but do it for less time if you are tight on time. The longer you simmer the better the flavor balance. Clean the mussels, discarding any open and broken ones. If a mussel is open, gently tap it on the kitchen counter. If the shell closes you can still use it because it’s still alive. Add the mussels to the broth and cover. Let it cook for about 3 minutes or until shells have opened. Be careful not to overcook. As soon as most of the shells open you are ready to serve. I like serving with crusty bread, like a french baguette. Enjoy!

Tags: Mussels, Recipes
Posted in: Appetizers, Recipe, Seafood by Imtiaz Patel
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This was another Bobby Flay item I made for my party recently. This too was quite popular with my guests. It’s a recipe that’s been on the Mesa Grill menu. I did make some modifications to the recipe which I’ll include at the end so you can see the recipe as it’s supposed to be and then what I did to it.

Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons Mexican red chile powder (I couldn’t find this so used regular chile powder. Be careful how much you use, mine was quite spicy)
- kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 3lbs bone-in short ribs
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 medium Spanish onion, coarsely chopped
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 4 cups enriched chicken stock
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme

Recipe:
- Preheat the oven to 325 degress F
- Mix together the chile powder, 2 teaspoons salt, cinnamon and coarsely ground black pepper in a small bowl. Lay the ribs on a baking sheet and season one side with the spice mixture, rubbing the mixture in
- Heat the oil in a large ovenproof Dutch oven over high heat until it shimmers. Working in batches, place the ribs in a single layer, rub side down, in the oil until a crust is formed and the ribs are golden brown. Turn the ribs over and cook until the second side is golden brown. Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining ribs
- Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat in the pan and add the garlic, onions, carrots and celery and cook until golden brown and caramelized, 6-7 minutes. Add the wine and boil until nearly reduced, 2-3 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a simmer
- Return the ribs to the pan along with the thyme and bring to a simmer. Place the lid on the pan and place in the oven. Cook until meat is tender and is falling off the bone, 2-2 1/2 hours
- Carefully remove the ribs to a large plate and let cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and discard the bones
- Strain the sauce into a medium saucepan and return the stove over high heat. Bring to a boil and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until reduced to a sauce consistency, 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and discard the thyme sprigs. Return the ribs to the pan to reheat

At this point a felt the sauce was a little flat so I added a little vinegar and honey to bring out the other flavors.

I served this with a creamy chile rice, Bobby Flay suggests polenta.

Tags: Beef recipe, Bobby Flay, Short Ribs, Southwestern food, Tex-Mex
Posted in: Meat, Recipe by Imtiaz Patel
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I recently had dinner at The Breslin in NYC. The Breslin is a gastropub from April Bloomfield, the British Chef who is also the chef of The Spotted Pig in New York. I had seen an episode of Unique Eats which featured Frank Bruni (formerly NY Times food critic) going on about how wonderful the lamb burger at The Breslin is. I had to try it. That, and the fact the Michelin Guide recently gace The Breslin one star, I had to go.

The resturant is essentially a bar (more pub than bar) in the front and a restaurant in the back. It’s a pretty casual place too. I turned up without a reservation on a week day expecting to hang out at the bar waiting for a table but we got lucky and got a table immediately. The four of us all shared appetizers and we all ordered the lamb burger. Having heard so much about it, we had to try it! The appetizers were decent, not outstanding. Then the burger arrived. I had expected the burger to be too lamby, so was a little tentative about my first bite, but WOW! It was beyond my expectations. Very moist, flavorful and just really enjoyable. The fries were good too and I’m very particular about my fries.

While all four of us were devouring our burgers, a table of about 10 people had an entire pig delivered. What an amazing sight! And then they cut into it, it smelled amazing. I have to go back for it.

The Breslin has a decent wine list at various price points. Even my favorite varietal, priorat! We had a really nice malbec. I skipped the priorat having already had it at a restaurant in London. The wait staff was pretty knowledgeable and helpful with the wine.

The menu at The Breslin is pretty interesting and not what you see at most places. It’s very english and as a result has some odd stuff like blood sausage and pig’s foot on the menu.

The Breslin is a good addition to the NY restaurant scene and as a transplanted Brit, I’m happy I have this as an option.

Tags: Burger, Lamb Burger, New York Restaurants
Posted in: American, NY Restaurants, Other by Imtiaz Patel
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