Lunch/dinner recs - middle of New Jersey

[Diann]

This is a slightly wishy-washy request as my plans aren't set in stone yet. But one of my best friends will be in the New Brunswick/Princeton-ish area this weekend and I'm thinking of having lunch (or dinner, or both) in that approximate area with her.

Here's what I want: Great food. Cheap prices. Atmosphere doesn't matter as much. As for specific cuisines, anything works as long as it's freshly prepared, made with love, and so on and so forth.

I will, of course, be stopping by Trenton on my way back to pick up one of De Lorenzo's famous tomato pies...

Thanks in advance!

(Edited to add that I tried to be good and thoroughly search the New Jersey posts before I added this, but I can't find anything.)

Edited September 14, 2005 by Diann (log)

[Curlz]

Don't laugh...go to the Wegman's on Route 1 in Princeton. You could spend a couple of hours there oohing and ahhing AND have whatever you want for lunch!!

[Gastro888]

Penang on Route One near Mercer Mall.

They do an excellent job with Malaysian cuisine. Very reasonably priced and you can definitely get your grub on.

Oh and PJ's Pancake House on 27 in Princeton proper. Just for GP. =)

[rozrapp]

Shanghai Park is in Highland Park (next door to New Brunswick). Their specialty is steamed buns, aka soup dumplings. We recently went there for the first time. The pork buns were superb. We also had Shredded Beef With Hot Pepper, which was very tasty.

Shanghai Park, 239 Raritan Ave., H.P., Tel: 732-247-8813

They have a new Princeton location, which was reviewed in The New York Times on August 28th. Here's the link:

http://events.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/trave...a264c90&ei=5070

In Highland Park, another place to consider is Seven Hills of Istanbul, which serves excellent Turkish cuisine. Info and menus here:

http://www.ardore.com/listing.asp?r=sevenh...c=All&m=c&u=all

[Rosie]

Seven Hills of Istanbul in Highland Park

[Diann]

Shanghai Park is in Highland Park (next door to New Brunswick).  Their specialty is steamed buns, aka soup dumplings.  We recently went there for the first time.  The pork buns were superb.  We also had Shredded Beef With Hot Pepper, which was very tasty.

Soup dumplings! And other Shanghai-style goodies (mentioned in the NYTimes review). Rozrapp, you are my hero. Try as I might, I have not been able to find a good version of these in Philadelphia.

[Rich Pawlak]

Tiger Noodles in Princeton, on Nassau Street, across from Wild Oats supermarket; fresh, lively Sechuan cooking prepared simply but with great care and enthusiasm.

[Diann]

Thank you to all. I know this is late, but I actually went up to Princeton again this past weekend, and I had those soup dumplings from Shanghai Park AGAIN. They are fantastic -- probably among the best I've ever had. I'll probably be in Shanghai next year so I can do a true comparison, but I would recommend these dumplings to anyone within a 200-mile radius.

Shanghai Park also does a nice rendition of some of my other favorite foods - lion's head meatballs, stir fried sticky cakes with pork and preserved vegetable, chive dumplings, etc. (These are just my awkward Chinese-to-English translations.)

I have now seen photos of Wegmans on Percyn's blog and plan on stopping by next time I'm in the area...looks like the ultimate supermarket.

[camper]

Try Tortugas Mexican Village for lunch or dinner BYO in the Princeton area or Teresa's if you into that sort of thing. Lawrenceville Inn might be a a choice however I havent been there for a while.