Saturday, March 17, 2012
This year Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13th.
Za Restaurant will be offering our Spring/Summer Lobster Bliss al la carte menu with some additional items and desserts for mom.
We will be seating for our lunch menu between 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM. Dinner will be seated from 4:30 until 8:00 PM. Reservations for our two indoor dining rooms are now available.
We’re hopeful that, as in past years, our Wisteria Garden will be in bloom for Mother’s Day. As weather will dictate al fresco dining, the garden will be seated on a first come, first served basis with preference given to our guests that have reservations!
Wishing you a wonderful Mother’s Day 2012!
Za Restaurant – 609-737-4400 – www.ZaRestaurants.com
Posted by Za Restaurant, Pennington NJ at 3:35 PM
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Friday, June 24, 2011
On Friday, July 1, 2011, Za Restaurant will be celebrating its fifth anniversary. The popular fine dining BYO will mark the occasion with a “The Future’s So Bright” celebration.
The first one hundred diners seated for dinner on July 1st will receive a free pair of vintage sunglasses. Za Restaurant’s entire staff will be wearing shades, including chef/owner Mark Valenza.
Chef Valenza has good reason to believe Za’s future is bright. The anniversary event also marks the offical opening of Za Restaurant’s new dining room, The Gallery. With the addition of the Gallery, the restaurant has increased its indoor seating from 38 to 76 seats.
Valenza reports that sales have increased over 30% since the venue increased its dining capacity. Za Restaurant also offers 48 additional seats in its secluded, fair weather only, Wisteria Garden.
“Prior to the expansion, we were turning away customers on Friday and Saturday evenings,” says Chef Valenza. “Now, we can easily accommodate those patrons and have a room for private parties of up to forty-five guests.”
The expansion also included several other improvements to the venue: a vestibule entrance, a comfortable lounge/waiting area, improved air conditioning and more spacious seating. Chef Mark also plans to install chef's table in the near future.
Valenza attributes the success of his fine dining venture, during a period of economic instability, to three factors: A unique comfort cuisine menu exemplified by their signature Lobster Bliss dishes, consistently prepared high-quality food and excellent service.
Reservations are available online or by phone. As always Za Restaurant is B.Y.O.B. Za Restaurant, 147 West Delaware Avenue, Pennington, NJ 08534, 609-737-4400. www.ZaRestaurants.com
Posted by Za Restaurant, Pennington NJ at 9:40 PM
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Monday, November 15, 2010
Za Restaurant will be adding an additional 1,200 square feet and 40 seats when renovations are completed on an adjacent retail space at their present location in Pennington, NJ. Currently the restaurant seats 38 in its dining room and 48 on the wisteria garden patio in fair weather.
The popular non-licensed BYO has been operating at its current venue since July of 2006. Chef and owner Mark Valenza, a graduate of the French Culinary Institute, says both lunch/ brunch and dinner sales have increased each year since opening. So far this year, sales are 25 - 35% higher than same month sales in 2009.
According to Chef Valenza renovations to the new space are scheduled to be completed in early December of this year. The restaurant will continue to serve customers during the renovation in its current configuration.
“Recently, we’ve been turning away customers on Friday and Saturday evenings and occasionally during our lunch/brunch seating since closing the outdoor garden for the season,” says Chef Valenza. “We want to accommodate those customers and this expansion will allow us to do that.”
The expansion and renovation will include several improvements to the venue including a vestibule entrance, dedicated waiting area, a room for private parties, chef’s table dining, improved air conditioning and more spacious seating. The lease for the additional space gives the restaurant a new 12 year term.
Reservations are available online or by phone. As always Za Restaurant is B.Y.O.B. Za Restaurant, 147 West Delaware Avenue, Pennington, NJ 08534, 609-737-4400. www.ZaRestaurants.com
Posted by Za Restaurant, Pennington NJ at 7:06 PM
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Thursday, August 26, 2010
The New Jersey food reviewers for the New York Times had a respectable star rating system: Extraordinary (4 stars), Excellent (3 stars), Very Good (2 stars), Good (1 star), Satisfactory (no stars).
Recently, however, the New York Times has abandoned the star system in New Jersey for the following new ratings:
Don’t Miss – Worth It – O.K. – Don't Bother
Apparently, “Joisy” restaurants don’t merit no serious culinary respect no more. “Don’t Bother”? “O.K.”? Show of hands, how many people want to rush on over to an “O.K.” restaurant? And, if a restaurant is really deemed “Don’t Bother,” why are you reviewing it? Not so long ago, it was an achievement to be selected for review by the New York Times. You had to at least be satisfactory to be in the running. For that matter, does “Worth It” get anyone excited? And what about “Don’t Miss?” Is the joint about to close?
Are we really supposed to take what they have to say seriously anymore?
Top ten signs The NY Times new rating system may not be working:
10. Top rating includes the word don’t.
9. Chain restaurants applaud New York Times for new beige word review concept.
8. Previously ranked three-star chef commits suicide after receiving new Don’t Miss rating.
7. Study shows pandemic of giant cement horses linked to Times O.K. rating.
6. Vince Lombardi turnpike rest-stop receives Worth It rating…high praise for spacious bathrooms.
5. Table of vegans receives preferential treatment over Times reviewer…at a steak house.
4. Chuck-E-Cheese rated a Don’t Miss. Times reviewer opines, “Ultimately satisfying our quest for the sublime.”
3. Wall Street billionaire abandons restaurant, organic farm, brewery, vineyard, theme park project after learning stars are gone.
2. New York Times reviewer requests a garden table and is lead out to a dark ally.
1. Jerseyans prefer mob rating system….To Die For, Freaking Great, Good as Mom’s, Forgetboutit and Are You F*ing Kidding Me!
Mark Valenza, Chef/Owner
Za Restaurant
Posted by Za Restaurant, Pennington NJ at 2:52 PM
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Friday, July 16, 2010
Za Restaurant has offered a variety of egg dishes on their brunch/lunch menu since opening in 2006. Now, those eggs are a whole lot fresher.
Kerr’s Farm, just down the road, is now providing Za with fresh laid eggs daily from it new roost of one hundred free range chickens.
“They’re big beautiful brown eggs,” says Za’s chef Mark Valenza, “but more importantly they’re tasty eggs that haven’t been sitting in a refrigerator house for who knows how long.”
Geordie Kerr of Kerr’s Farm & Kronstand started egg production earlier this spring. The chickens are now mature and laying enough eggs to satisfy the weekly demand for lunch/brunch at Za.
Za’s lunch/brunch egg menu includes eggs Benedict in four varieties, one with sautéed spinach and goat cheese and another with an eight ounce tenderloin steak fillet. Za egg frittatas offer an assortment of fillings choices. And, for those who like their eggs with a south of the border flavor, Chef Valenza also cooks up his cross-cultural take on huevos rancheros with a spicy pico de gallo sauce.
Za offers their lunch/brunch egg menu, along with its other lunch entrées, Monday – Saturday, seating from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
For more information:
Za Restaurant, 147 West Delaware Avenue, Pennington, NJ, 08534, 609-737-4400. Za is BYO, reservations suggested.
Kerr’s Kornstand, 317 Pennington Rocky Hill Rd, Pennington, NJ, 08534
(609) 737-2335, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pennington-NJ/Kerrs-Kornstand/122901791058824 .
Posted by Za Restaurant, Pennington NJ at 12:21 PM
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Friday, February 26, 2010
You, like me, may be reluctant to order scallops went you’re out to eat. You remember great tasting scallops you once had long ago, but since then the taste has been off or even just plain bad. You’ve wondered to yourself, “Is this the way scallops taste now or should I send this dish back?”
On every seasonal menu since Za Restaurant opened in 2006, we have featured a seared, fresh day-boat scallop dish. On the current menu we offer Coconut Snow Scallops.
Did you know New Jersey’s deep ocean waters offer some of the world’s best scallops? They have been large, plentiful and sustainable for decades, a species named Placopecten magellanicus.
You’ll find scallops on many East Coast menus, but all scallops are not the same. The primary differences are ocean and bay; fresh and frozen; and day-boat (dry) and preserved (wet).
Ocean scallops are larger then bay scallops. They can be both tender and tasty if they are neither frozen nor preserved. Bite sized, bay scallops lack the flaky texture and meaty month feel of their deep water sibling.
Though frozen scallops may be of excellent quality, mishandling, especially in during the thawing process serves up an inferior morsel.
But my wrath is saved for those processed scallops that are preserved (soaked) with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP), in order to keep their moisture content high during processing and shipping. But, unfortunately, this treatment leaves an offensive side effect.
Have you ever had scallops that taste soapy or like iodine? Then you’ve had preserved (wet) scallops. Buying fresh scallops? If they’re as white as a toothpaste model’s smile and swimming in liquid, they’re probably preserved.
Here’s the problem, many places play the game of passing off preserved scallops as day-boat scallops.
This switch can happen at the fish market, wholesale distributor, at a local restaurant or restaurant chain. It’s been going on for years. The reason is cost and availability.
I admit to being wary of ordering scallops, especially when the price is out of whack with what a true, fresh, unpreserved day-boat scallop should cost.
Here’s why they call them day-boat and why they cost more: Simply put, they haven’t been on the boat for more than a day.
Day-boats are the last scallops caught before the scallop boat returns to port. Then, they are packed dry, no preservatives, and delivered fresh to the wholesaler.
True day-boat scallops can’t travel far and they won’t last long. So, we order only what we know we can sell quickly and we’re fortunate to be just hours from the Jersey scallop boats.
At Za, we test each delivery of day-boat scallops to make sure they’re just that. We know, just by how they cook, if they have been treated with STP.
Diners at Za have asked how long we will have these wonderful fruits of the sea on our menu. The answer is as long as we can assure we have the real thing.
Mystery solved. We hope you’ll come and give real scallops a second chance.
Chef Mark Valenza, FCI
Posted by Za Restaurant, Pennington NJ at 9:45 PM
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