4 of the Best Chefs in America, Right in Collingswood

What do the heads of El Sitio, Blackbird, Sapori and Nunzio's Ristorante Rustico think about being named to Best Chefs America?

Forget "Best Of" contests, magazine reviews, and anonymous online ratings: if you want to know who the best chefs around are, ask other chefs. That's the argument that Best Chefs America used to catalogue its ratings of the top chefs in the country. The "Who's Who" style of the book used to be reserved for social movers and shakers, high-achieving students and everyone else willing to pony up for a listing in a handsome, leatherbound book. But that's not the case here. The only way to be one of the 4,650 chefs profiled in BCA is to rack up peer recommendations in the 5,150 interviews of other chefs conducted by the publishers. The good news for locavores: 196 of the culinary masters on that list operate restaurants in New Jersey. Twelve …

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The Collingswood Foodies

Collingswood Spring Restaurant Week: Menus and Specials

Who's participating in the multi-course prix fixe week? We've got the list here.

Collingswood Restaurant Week starts Sunday, and what a great week for “foodaholics” like us. Not only are we fans of the food itself, but also the creativity and culture it brings to town.  For the unfamiliar, Collingswood Restaurant Week models itself after Philadelphia’s Center City version, where participating fooderies create multi-course, prix fixe menus ranging from $25-35 per person. Restaurant week is a celebration of food: an opportunity for chefs to flaunt their culinary creativity, and diners to experience something special. Although food options may sometimes include items from a restaurant’s regular menu, oftentimes chefs choose to have fun and create limited and exclusive dishes. For example, Ecuadorian grill El Sitio’s …

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'Moonstruck,' Played out in Collingswood

Reunited nearly 15 years ago, it's been a creative adventure for the star-crossed couple behind Sapori and The Artemisian.

It’s not easy to parlay a transatlantic romance into two successful businesses, three kids and a 13-year marriage—especially when your future wife doesn't know you're waiting, an ocean away. Back then, Franco Lombardo was sweating it out in the kitchen of La Locanda del Ghiottone, a well-reviewed South Philadelphia trattoria. A year had gone by since his brief romance with Marisa, who had come to Philadelphia from the University of Rome, and returned just as quickly. She might not have looked back, but he had never stopped thinking about her. Then one day, a year later, she came walking up 3rd Street. Where he lived and worked. Where she'd just rented an apartment from which to finish out her studies. “I had no intention of staying," she …

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Sagami, Sapori, Kitchen Consigliere Praised in Print

Travel and Leisure named Sagami one of the top 20 sushi restaurants in the U.S., while Zagat readers voted Sapori and Kitchen Consigliere tops in the Philly region for Italian.

"Located just south of Philadelphia off a nondescript stretch of freeway, Sagami is a destination for diners seeking quality sushi with no frills," reads the capsule review of Collingswood's top sushi spot from this month's issue of Travel and Leisure magazine. "There is no $500 tasting menu or need to book reservations months in advance at this sushi joint, where the ceilings are low and the lighting dim," wrote reviewer Bao Ong. The kudos are another feather in the cap for Chef Shigeru Fukuyoshi and his wife, Chizuko, who quietly built a name for themselves years before South Jersey had encountered Japanese food. Meanwhile across town, Kitchen Consigliere and Sapori told the tale of the vox populi on the recently published Zagat list of …

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Treat Dad to Something Special This Father's Day

Our food columnist gathered up all of the Father's Day dining specials in Collingswood and Haddonfield.

Father’s Day is this Sunday, and it would be an injustice for this column to acknowledge Mom while ignoring Dad. As with Mother’s Day, I’ve gathered for you a convenient guide to restaurant specials in Collingswood and Haddonfield that celebrate Father’s Day. Without further ado, I give you Father’s Day 2012: Blackbird Café Father’s Day Brunch 10:30 a.m.—2:00 p.m. Brunch menu includes appetizers, entrées and sides. Casona Father’s Day Dinner includes a special filet mignon with mini crab cake, potato cake, and asparagus in a thyme reduction. IndeBlue Father’s Day Brunch 11:30 a.m. — 3:00 p.m. Brunch menu includes mako and Cornish hen. Dad also receives a complimentary Indian beer for being awesome. Nunzio’s Regular a la carte menu, plus …

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