A Toute Heure Brings Farm-Fresh Food to the Table

During a roadtrip through Vermont last summer, I planned my meals around those restaurants that featured their meats and produce from local farms.

Sound difficult? Actually, the Vermont Fresh Network makes it quite easy, showcasing farms and restaurants in the Green Mountain State that, on a handshake, do business with one another, and both seem to benefit from this back-to-basics approach to food. I returned to the Garden State wondering, with all of the produce grown here in our backyard, why don't New Jersey restaurants highlight local livestock and produce?

And then I found A Toute Heure, right here on Centennial Avenue. Opened in 2007 by Andrea and Jim Carbine, ATH highlights the flavors of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Hudson Valley. Looking at a menu that changes daily and is full of food not shipped across the country, but grown on small farms just a short drive away, I felt as if I was back in Vermont.

A large blackboard in the dining room lists the the farms from which ATH buys its meat and produce. With hardwood floors, a wall of French doors looking out on to Centennial Avenue and solid wood candlelit tables, the sparse dining room is nevertheless intimate. In the summer, seating is available outside facing Elm Street. During a winter snowfall, I can only imagine how cozy the dining room must feel, but unfortunately it would lack a roaring fire. Reservations are recommended, as this bistro fills up quickly, even during the week.

I stopped in for dinner on a recent weekday evening and was immediately greeted by Jim Carbine, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Andrea. Jim offers his diners a quick guide through the menu, highlighting foods unique to the day of the week, or perhaps an entree that would go well with whatever bottle of wine his customers may have brought to this BYOB. In my case, he recommended a tender, slow-braised pork shank off the bone, served over slow-cooked creamy polenta, topped with braised carrots and the braising jus ($28) to complement our Minervois, a lusty red from the south of France.

Instead of the usual restaurant rolls and butter, ATH brings a small zinc basket of thinly sliced French bread, accompanied by a porcelain platter of honey butter, herbed butter, mixed nuts with rosemary and salt. The rosemary nuts are available for takeout ($8 for a pint, $16 for a quart).

Tuesday menus at ATH include a selection of mussel pots, all using Prince Edward Island mussels ($12 for an appetizer portion and $21 for a full portion with frites). You don't have to look far down the menu to remember where you are. Second on the list is the “Exit 11 Pot”, a Belgian-inspired variation with yellow onion and summer garlic simmered in NJ’s “Exit 11” wheat beer and topped with blue cheese crumbles.

With the cold weather months approaching, Wednesday menus feature lobster, and all guests start their evening with a complimentary taste of a rich lobster bisque, too good for the small vinal cup in which it is served. The appetizer menu included a lobster crepe, so to continue with the lobster theme, my friend opted to start with the herb crepe filled with sautéed marinated lobster, topped with a garlic cream sauce ($14). No expense was spared on this menu selection, as it was chock full of lobster.

I started my evening with a handmade, baked-to-order puff pastry tart with caramelized leek confit, a local cheese and sprouted Branch Creek’s arugula greens ($12). Most arugula I purchase is prewashed, bagged and shipped from the West Coast. These tiny, flavorful arugula sprouts—which also topped the lobster crepe—were grown on a Pennsylvania farm less than 70 miles from Cranford. What a difference 3,000 miles makes.

Moving on to the entree, I selected the first item on the menu, an herb roasted Murray's chicken breast and leg (from upstate New York), over mashed potatoes, baby carrots and an au jus. Unlike most prepared chicken, this meat was moist, tender and fell off the bone. Again, what a difference local makes, not just in terms of economic or environmental concerns, but just pure taste.

Credit also goes to Executive Chef Kara Decker, a Cranford native who has racked up an impressive collection of praise from local and national food magazines. I lost count of the herbs she used in this chicken dish: rosemary and fresh thyme for sure, and perhaps coriander and cumin, too. 

My friend took Carbine's recommendation and chose the braised pork shank. The meat was tender, the jus sweetened by the carrots, while the polenta was, just as the menu stated, creamy.

Portions are generous, but not ridiculously so. Yes, our appetites were sated, but more local fare beckoned: a selection of cheeses from Vermont and Connecticut ($6 for one, or a selection of 3 for $15). The cheese menu included three blue, three “firmer and rich” and three “soft and/or stinky” cheeses. I was surprised to see none came from the Garden State, especially considering that just a week ago, I sampled some cheese from an artisan cheesemaker in Vernon. We chose the sweet and nutty Vermont Shepherd, a sheep-milk cheese from Major Farm, Vt.; the Drunken Hooligan, a cow's milk cheese aged in red wine, from Cato Corner, Conn.; and the musky Dunmore, a gooey goat milk cheese from Blue Ledge Farm, Vt.

Still not willing to let a course slip by, we finished our night by splitting a Locust Grove’s roast quince tart with a hazelnut linzer crust, quince syrup drizzle and a scoop of burnt caramel ice cream ($10). All desserts are made by Executive Pastry Chef William Mauceri. Also tempting me on Mauceri's menu was ATH’s fall apple cake, with Locust Grove winesap apples in a rich toffee and brown sugar cake, with a toffee drizzle and a scoop of cinnamon ice cream ($10). Locust Grove, by the way, is in upstate New York, not Washington state, where most apples are shipped from.

ATH is also open for lunch. Recent lunch menu selections include a salad of sprouted Branch Creek greens, with shaved assorted winter radishes, in an herb vinaigrette with toasted hazelnuts and feta cheese ($12) and a Thanksgiving sandwich of slow-roast turkey breast, over house-made stuffing, cranberry sauce and mayo, served open face on multigrain bread ($12, includes house chips). The menu also includes the “lunchbox,” a choice of an entree, side, soda and cookie ($14) for eat in or take out.

The local selections at AHT don't end with the meat and produce. ATH sells sodas made by the Moonachie-based Boylan Bottling Company. And with my check came a handful of Smarties packets, made by the Ce De Candy, based just a few exits up the Garden State Parkway in Union. Small touches like these show true passion and commitment on the part of the owners.

When I returned from my long weekend in Vermont this summer, I brought with me “Dishing Up Vermont,” a cookbook published by the Vermont Fresh Network. The following words in the book's forward succinctly describe why local food is so important:

“The ingredients that show up on these restaurant tables resonate with the distinct character of that place and connect directly to the hardworking individuals who work the surrounding farmland. Fresh local food feeds the body and nourishes the soul, and thriving working farms enhance the beautiful landscape for those generation and those to follow.”

What the Vermont Fresh Network has done in Vermont is admirable, but having to drive at least six hours makes no sense when we lived sandwiched between the fertile Hudson Valley and the farms of our own Garden State. Thanks to Andrea and Jim Carbine, we can enjoy the fruit of our local landscape on a restaurant table in our own backyard.