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Middle Eastern Cafe opens in Maplewood/Milburn, New Jersey

By on November 15, 2015

The Milburn Mall has a brand new Egyptian café.  And not a minute too soon. With all the disaster in Paris,  we need a sign that the world hasn’t gone totally nuts, an done way to signal that is this lovely little cafe right here in our local shopping center.

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Tucked away in the back corner of the shopping center stands the Porto Falafel, Middle Eastern Cuisine, Millburn Mall,  2933 Vauxhall Road,  Vauxhall, New Jersey 07088.

This welcome addition to our trips around the world through local dining establishments, this cheerful café is owned and managed by four people including Hany Rezkallan, who cheerfully serves the 28 seat diner during its daily service.

Beginning with welcome Middle Eastern music and a menu to offer well prepared and priced foods, both vegetarian and with meats.  Everything from hummus and baba ganoush to Arabic Salad, Gorgeous homemade soups, Middle Eastern burritos and more elaborate platters are prepared fresh every day on the premises.

I ordered the famous Egyptian dish known as the Hawashi Sandwich with a side of a Porto special, the tomato salad with special mint and garlic sauce.  The sandwich is made on a thin flat bread using minced beef with parsley, onion and green peppers and a side of hot and sour pickles.  Yum.

Porto Falafel has only been open two weeks and already it is packed with families and couples enjoying this welcome addition to the cuisine of the neighborhood.

For a look at the full menu, check out their website at www.Portofalafel.com. Or call 908 964 4800.  Owner, Hany promised belly dancers and live jazz on Friday nights.  My advice to you is go soon.  This joint will soon be packed with customers.

By Linda West Eckhardt, James Beard award-winning cookbook author

Editor:  Everybody Eats News

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About Linda Eckhardt

Linda West Eckhardt, is an award winning journalist, food writer, and nutritionist. Her more than 20 cookbooks have garnered prizes including the James Beard prize for the best cookbook for a text she wrote with her daughter, Katherine West DeFoyd, entitled Entertaining 101, Doubleday. Their follow-up book, Stylish One Dish Dinners, Doubleday, was also nominated for a James Beard prize. Their next book, The High Protein Cookbook, Clarkson Potter, remains a best seller after 12 years. That book was designed to accompany low carb diet plans. Her ground-breaking book, Bread in Half The Time, Broadway Books, was named the Best Cookbook in America by the prestigious IACP, The Julia Child award. Her award winning radio work with Jennifer English, for a national show on the Food and Wine radio network, was nominated for a James Beard Prize for a show called, “I Know What You Ate Last Summer.”