Eating Out on $50: Green Papaya in River Edge
Friday, March 28, 2008
Last updated: Friday March 28, 2008, EDT 7:51 AM BY JEFFREY PAGE
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
Eating Out on $50 is a monthly restaurant feature. Four people determined to spend only $50 on food will discover just how much can be purchased for so little.
For years I clung to the notion that dinner's no fun if it makes you sweat. So when four of us paid a visit to the Green Papaya, a terrific little Asian fusion place now in its third month, I checked the menu, spoke with the waitress and wound up with fried rice cooked with pineapple, raisins and bits of cashew — nothing too spicy but nothing to get excited about either.
I was eating cautiously, but my friends were having much more fun, and after sampling their dishes I decided that life is too short to play it safe with my taste buds.
This is what happened at the Green Papaya, which is at the south end of River Edge, a short walk from the NJ Transit train station.
I tasted my friend Dick's Thai cashew ($9), which was a mélange of nuts, peppers, onions, bamboo shoots and mushrooms in a savory chili sauce, albeit a fairly mild one. Hmm, quite tasty. My friend Scott gave me a sample of his dry-sautéed string beans and chicken ($9) cooked with onions and sweet basil in a more strongly seasoned sauce. Not bad at all.
Igniting the palate
Then, as my friend Tim slipped me a piece of his chili chicken, he warned me to beware. "It's more than a little spicy," he said. Earlier, I had heard the waitress issue a friendly caution about this dish. Indeed, the menu itself went so far as to say: "This is sure to ignite your palate with the speed of a matchstick!" Interesting image.
Was it mere hyperbole? I cut the piece in two and took a bite. Rather nice, I said.
"Give it time," Tim said.
A few seconds later I felt an intense heat — like a small Mount St. Helens — in my mouth and what I believed to be my sinuses decongesting right on the spot. But I decided I could handle this. Uh, wait. Was that a tear rolling out of my left eye? Or maybe a droplet of perspiration that had traveled down from my scalp?
That matchstick business was no idle description. I took a discreet sip of water. Tim looked on with a knowing smirk. Then I gulped down the rest of the glass. A waitress poured refills from her water pitcher and teapot.
A word about the service. The wait staff was friendly and knowledgeable. It seemed that every time you looked up, a waitress was standing nearby with refills of water and tea. And they gave as much time as we and other patrons needed to discuss the menu offerings, their ingredients, their seasonings, and how spicy they might be. The servers and the menu assured us that the chef was ready to accommodate our taste. More spicy? Less? Just let the waitress know.
Pleasant atmosphere
All this in a spotless room decorated with Asian prints and bamboo shades and with pleasant Thai music on the sound system but never too loud to interfere with conversation.
Check the Green Papaya for tasty dishes, large portions, great service, a comfortable room, and prices you might first think are typographical errors.
Regarding price, here's something to consider. The Green Papaya's dinner menu contains 19 offerings from China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam at $9 each. Once you decide on, say, Malaysian curry or green curry ("our hottest curry of all," the menu says), you then have a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp, fish, tofu or vegetables as an added ingredient. Whichever you choose, the price remains $9. With most entrees you also get a salad and a choice of jasmine rice or brown rice. In addition there are seven other dinner dishes ranging from $10 to $15. These include Saigon beef, the familiar coconut shrimp and that chili chicken.
Staying under budget
We did well. We scored three tasty and inexpensive dishes. And the fourth — that pineapple-rice concoction — wasn't bad, just bland. If the Mets could bat like that, their troubles would be over.
Four for dinner at $50? Easy. We even had dessert.
We tried a house specialty: pineapple rolls ($4 for two). We got one each. These are spring roll wrappers filled with crushed pineapple and chopped cashews mixed with oatmeal and then deep-fried. On the outside they look like spring rolls. But they taste like no spring roll ever could. Once past the crisp shell, the mix inside is fruity, slightly nutty, and altogether creamy and sweet. This little pastry makes no sense in discussion, but makes perfect sense on your fork.
Dinner and dessert came to $47.
Last updated: Friday March 28, 2008, EDT 7:51 AM BY JEFFREY PAGE
SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
Eating Out on $50 is a monthly restaurant feature. Four people determined to spend only $50 on food will discover just how much can be purchased for so little.
For years I clung to the notion that dinner's no fun if it makes you sweat. So when four of us paid a visit to the Green Papaya, a terrific little Asian fusion place now in its third month, I checked the menu, spoke with the waitress and wound up with fried rice cooked with pineapple, raisins and bits of cashew — nothing too spicy but nothing to get excited about either.
I was eating cautiously, but my friends were having much more fun, and after sampling their dishes I decided that life is too short to play it safe with my taste buds.
This is what happened at the Green Papaya, which is at the south end of River Edge, a short walk from the NJ Transit train station.
I tasted my friend Dick's Thai cashew ($9), which was a mélange of nuts, peppers, onions, bamboo shoots and mushrooms in a savory chili sauce, albeit a fairly mild one. Hmm, quite tasty. My friend Scott gave me a sample of his dry-sautéed string beans and chicken ($9) cooked with onions and sweet basil in a more strongly seasoned sauce. Not bad at all.
Igniting the palate
Then, as my friend Tim slipped me a piece of his chili chicken, he warned me to beware. "It's more than a little spicy," he said. Earlier, I had heard the waitress issue a friendly caution about this dish. Indeed, the menu itself went so far as to say: "This is sure to ignite your palate with the speed of a matchstick!" Interesting image.
Was it mere hyperbole? I cut the piece in two and took a bite. Rather nice, I said.
"Give it time," Tim said.
A few seconds later I felt an intense heat — like a small Mount St. Helens — in my mouth and what I believed to be my sinuses decongesting right on the spot. But I decided I could handle this. Uh, wait. Was that a tear rolling out of my left eye? Or maybe a droplet of perspiration that had traveled down from my scalp?
That matchstick business was no idle description. I took a discreet sip of water. Tim looked on with a knowing smirk. Then I gulped down the rest of the glass. A waitress poured refills from her water pitcher and teapot.
A word about the service. The wait staff was friendly and knowledgeable. It seemed that every time you looked up, a waitress was standing nearby with refills of water and tea. And they gave as much time as we and other patrons needed to discuss the menu offerings, their ingredients, their seasonings, and how spicy they might be. The servers and the menu assured us that the chef was ready to accommodate our taste. More spicy? Less? Just let the waitress know.
Pleasant atmosphere
All this in a spotless room decorated with Asian prints and bamboo shades and with pleasant Thai music on the sound system but never too loud to interfere with conversation.
Check the Green Papaya for tasty dishes, large portions, great service, a comfortable room, and prices you might first think are typographical errors.
Regarding price, here's something to consider. The Green Papaya's dinner menu contains 19 offerings from China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam at $9 each. Once you decide on, say, Malaysian curry or green curry ("our hottest curry of all," the menu says), you then have a choice of chicken, beef, shrimp, fish, tofu or vegetables as an added ingredient. Whichever you choose, the price remains $9. With most entrees you also get a salad and a choice of jasmine rice or brown rice. In addition there are seven other dinner dishes ranging from $10 to $15. These include Saigon beef, the familiar coconut shrimp and that chili chicken.
Staying under budget
We did well. We scored three tasty and inexpensive dishes. And the fourth — that pineapple-rice concoction — wasn't bad, just bland. If the Mets could bat like that, their troubles would be over.
Four for dinner at $50? Easy. We even had dessert.
We tried a house specialty: pineapple rolls ($4 for two). We got one each. These are spring roll wrappers filled with crushed pineapple and chopped cashews mixed with oatmeal and then deep-fried. On the outside they look like spring rolls. But they taste like no spring roll ever could. Once past the crisp shell, the mix inside is fruity, slightly nutty, and altogether creamy and sweet. This little pastry makes no sense in discussion, but makes perfect sense on your fork.
Dinner and dessert came to $47.
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110 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge, NJ 07661.
Tel: 201-678-1888.
