Everything We Ate at the Taste of Ridgewood

Last week we attended the Taste of Ridgewood, the first-ever food fest benefiting the Ridgewood YMCA‘s Strong Kids Campaign. We ate, we drank, we chatted with local Ridgefolk. Here’s our photo recap:

Taste of RidgewoodClockwise from top left: Vietnamese iced coffee over crushed ice, coconut tapioca pudding, and a summer roll from Bunker (we forgot peanut sauce – oops); vegetable samosa and cilantro dipping sauce from Nepalese Indian; and foufou & okra (foufou are like dumplings) and grilled fish & attieke (fermented cassava that resembles couscous) from Bed-Stuy’s Abidjan. Continue reading

Aneta Deli: Cheap Eats on ‘Whimsical Window Row’

Aneta Deli

Stuffed bass and fixins from Aneta Deli. Also pictured: potato pancakes ($1 each when they have ’em).

A typical low-key sunny day for us involves a trip to Rosemary’s Playground and a food stop somewhere nearby. Aneta Deli, situated a block from the playground on Woodward and Palmetto, stands out among Ridgewood’s Polish steam-table joints for a few reasons.

The first thing you’ll notice as you approach the deli is the amazing window art, like the singing, dancing lipstick- and heels-wearing trio of ham, turkey, and cheese — it’s part of a zone we’ve dubbed “Whimsical Window Row” (see below for more photos of WWR). Inside, Aneta is a standard Polish deli, selling staples like jars of pickled beets and celery root, berry syrups, interesting pretzels and cookies and puffs, and frozen pierogies. Near the back of the long deli counter you’ll see the steam table where they keep the hot food. Go here.  Continue reading

100-Day Check-In at Ridgewood’s Nepalese Indian Restaurant

shrimp biriyani

Vibrant shrimp biriyani at Nepalese Indian

Nepalese Indian, the matter-of-factly named restaurant on Seneca just off the Myrtle Ave strip, has been open for 100 days. Congrats on this milestone, neighbors! We stopped by for an early-bird dinner to see how they’re doing — and, naturally, to check up on the issues (good and bad) that we originally reported.

Issue #1: Availability of Menu Items

We said: “Our first choice, lobster tikka masala, wasn’t available”
After 100 days: The lobster tikka masala still wasn’t available during our recent visit — sad, because it sounds delicious.

Continue reading