Remembering Matawan’s Trattoria Rustica, which recently went out of business after a multi-decade run. This was one of my favorite meals here, Chicken Ravello. It was a large dish containing three chicken breasts over penne pasts in marsala wine sauce. Then topped with asparagus and roasted red peppers. Going to miss this place!
Tag: Matawan
Photo of the Day: August 22, 2018
Stopped at Shanghai Bun for a “snack” after a five mile hike in the woods. Awesome pork buns here.
Photo of the Day: April 1, 2018
The market on the other side of the Sahara 34 restaurant has a nice selection of Halal meats and breads. On this particular day, I picked up some lamb, King’s Lebanese style pita bread, and a container of white sauce. See the results in tomorrow’s POTD.
Photo of the Day: March 27, 2018
Smothered Chicken. I tried to mimic the dish I used to get at the old Poet’s Inn in Matawan. Grilled chicken covered with onions, mushrooms, provolone cheese, and thrown under the broiler.
Takeout Joints Vol. 5: Italian and Asian
The first installments of this column have been broken down separately into pizza/Italian and Chinese/Asian. Because I’ve slowed down a little bit on the takeout lately, I am going to combine the two for Volume 3. Below we have one of each, and my, how vastly different they were in quality!
Photo of the Day: January 29, 2018
I’d probably weight 50 pounds less if I did not have a love for bread. Who in their right mind could look at that and not want to dive in? Esposito’s Pizza and Pasta, Matawan, NJ.
Restaurant Review: Amravathi (Matawan, NJ)
I had a craving for Indian food in Matawan. Ordering from Neelam or Bollywood Tadka was out of the question. I then decided it was finally time to give Amravathi a try. Well, I actually had eaten there before, according to my parents. I was a small child, and we had not yet discovered Neelam….
Photo of the Day: January 8, 2018
This sub was a two-hander: a chicken cheesesteak with hot peppers, from Luigi’s in Matawan. The bread was crispy and thankfully sturdy enough to hold the sloppy fillings on the inside.
Photo of the Day: January 4, 2018
This is what it looks like when you want even your leftovers (from Sahara 34) to look presentable. I made myself some garlic-lemon spinach to go with the other ubiquitous middle eastern condiments.
Photo of the Day: December 9, 2017
Chicken parm is great. Chicken parm with vodka sauce is in a different ballpark. This masterpiece is from Esposito’s in Matawan.
Restaurant Review: Sahara 34 (Matawan, NJ)
I just came from one of the best meals I’ve had in a long time, and probably the best middle eastern meal I’ve ever eaten. Period. Sahara 34 is located in a little strip mall in Matawan. The place has been there forever. The menu reads “Under New Management”, but it was all new to…
Updating Esposito’s Pizza and Pasta (Matawan, NJ)
When I first reviewed Esposito’s, it was part of a Takeout Joints column for pizza and Italian food. I only ate there once before this past week. It was good, but I did not remember much. Most encounters here have been takeout, notably their award-winning sesame seed crust pizza. But a couple of days ago,…
