THE JOYS OF DINING
An exquisite passage in literature comes from author Donna Tartt in her best-selling novel Goldfinch. I return to the passage often, reminded as always by the universality and the simplicity of the experience and impressed as always by the skill of the author.
The passage is deeply sentimental, a food scene. It comes early in the book, which tells the story of Theo Decker, a teenager whose mother is killed by an explosion at a museum in New York City. As an author, Tartt favors crazy long sentences, which are threaded together seamlessly and with great expertise. The effect, to the reader, is immersive and hypnotic. You feel as though you are there, sharing, savoring—nearly living—the moment.
“I remember a few weeks before she died, eating a late supper with her in an Italian restaurant down in the Village, and how she grasped my sleeve at the sudden, almost painful loveliness of a birthday cake with lit candles being carried in a procession from the kitchen, faint circle of light wavering in across the dark ceiling and then the cake set down to blaze amidst the family, beatifying an old lady’s face, smiles all round, waiters stepping away with their hands behind their backs … “
The sentence continues—I counted an astonishing 185 words. Tartt ends (finally!) with what I think is the best description ever of a restaurant experience—“a tableau vivant of the daily, commonplace happiness.”
Tableau vivant. Such a beautiful, evocative phrase. To create a tableau vivant on a daily basis is the challenge of every restaurateur. In this, our restaurant issue, we write about those who accept that challenge.
In a Personal Essay, food writer Devra Ferst shares an early truth learned at the counter of Smitty’s, a Jersey Shore clam shack (page 25). In Sea to Plate (page 28), writer Jenn Hall, who is fast becoming NJ’s foremost expert on local seafood, tells the story of skate through the lens of Local 130, an Asbury Park fishing company that is working to raise awareness of fresh, sustainable, local seafood, and via daPesca, a Morristown restaurant dedicated to sustainable seafood. “It’s the most underrated billion-dollar industry in the state,” says Eric Morris, founder and CEO of Local 130. Hall rounds out her report with a list of fish caught in Jersey waters; you’ll likely be surprised by the bounty (page 34).
Discover some of the latest happenings in the state restaurant scene in our New and Noteworthy feature (page 69). Learn more than a few secrets from Robert Cho, pitmaster and barbecue king (page 38); Cho, whose brisket has become legendary, is generous with his advice.
Also in this issue, we feature our annual Eat Drink Local Dining Guide (page 43). For day-trippers, our Road Trip to Fort Lee (page 54) showcases a vibrant and exciting new restaurant scene. And, in Story of a Dish(page 64), chef John Boswell of Diving
Horse in Avalon shares his recipe for Baked Oysters, using garlic and anchovies to create a unique twist on Oysters Rockefeller.
A tableau vivant indeed.
Cheers,
Teresa Politano
Editor
