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Wonderfully Delicious Wednesday About Town

Psssst…Dish on the flourishing foodie scene in town!

 

Judging from all the hustle and bustle going on at 181 Maplewood Avenue, Wok Star’s hit a home run with diners. When I phoned Maplewood’s latest entry to the eatery scene at about 5 p.m. yesterday, co-owner Melissa Kuhn was already so busy cooking that she had to relay her very enthusiastic update about official opening day:

“We’re getting great reactions from people,” reports Melissa (via the friendly Dylan who answered the line). “We couldn’t have asked for a better response – we’re really excited and ready to go.”

I ordered take out later last night, and my husband – possessor of one of the world's most persnickety palates — was quite pleasantly surprised and surprisingly complimentary (he even tried to eat mine, too, so we'll have to order more next time). Yup, Wok Star’s gonna be answering some future ‘what’s for dinner’ whines in the Pacheco household. Or, as Charlie Sheen would put it: Winning!!!!

The place has obviously tapped in to Maplewood’s desire for new menu options in town and it looks like we have even more choices coming soon:

A chat with Julie Doran of Maplewood Village Alliance confirmed that we’re got two more international cuisine offerings on the way: a Thai eatery (in the space that Luke’s Kitchen once occupied) and a Mexican spot will be popping up where New World once was on Highland Place.

Add the new options to the fact that we’ve got a James Beard nominee in town, a new cafe coming (Kocafe at 1908 Springfield Avenue), an impending Able Baker location, and a bakery in the works (!) — in addition to other great places like Coda, Crane's, Sona, the Pub, Bagel Chateau, Village Coffee, Mt. Fuji Sushi,  Village Trattoria, Maplewood Deli, Bill & Harry, Roman Gourmet, Highland Place, Lorena's, Verjus, Churrasco, HLS Juice Bar & Grill, Kari's Cafe, the Cupcake Corral, Maplewood Pizzeria and the newly energized Panda Kitchen (to name a few) and it’s no surprise that Maplewood’s becoming a destination location for fabulous food:

“We are thrilled that the food scene in Maplewood just keeps getting bigger and more diverse,” says Doran. “We always hear people asking for more food choices and now they'll be able to add Asian noodles, Mexican and Thai to the mix. No wonder more people from neighboring towns, and even New York City, are coming to Maplewood for dinner!”

Sounds scrumptious, but I can't but hope more parking spots will be on the menu, too…that and my dream falafel place...How about in the Funnel Cake location?!

Seriously, though — we're one lucky town. We've really got a food scene to be beyond proud of going on — and we should show them all much love during the upcoming Restaurant Week!

Bon Appetit!

Questions? Quips? Wisdom?! Share! Tell us in the comments.

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Deborah Goldstein

11:25 am on Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Thrilled to see so many options on the horizon to complement the great, time-tested and recent additions to Maplewood's restaurant portfolio. Excellent use of SheenSpeak.

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