I am always happy to promote praise worthy businesses in my area. One such business is a brand new restaurant that just opened in the past month called, The Farmer and the Chickpea. They are located at 404 S. Main Street in Manville, NJ. It’s a tiny place set inside of a nondescript brick building, but the food and personal warmth they serve up is anything but tiny.
When you open the door to this humble little place, you are immediately welcomed with a “Hey, how are ya?” and the gorgeous aromas of the day’s specials. It definitely has the feel of a rustic Italian nook of a cafe. There’s a menu you can order from, as well a full case of display dishes to show all of their made to order options of the day. Hot dishes such as chicken chili, quiche with quinoa crust and mac and cheese. Bright green and fresh as can be salads, to which you can add their signature baked chickpeas or grilled chicken. The potato wedges and baked kale chips are To. Die. For.
The two women that own the place are sweet, funny and completely delightful. All of the ingredients are gathered from local sources (when possible) and many are organic. The cook is Italian and studied at an Italian cooking school, so you know what that means. Lots of garlic, olive oil and love go in to this food. The servings are tremendous. I mean, they make Jersey diner servings look like those of a fru fru french restaurant. You can easily serve a family of four with a main dish and 2 sides. In fact this past Saturday, I stopped in to pick up dinner for my family of 4 and a friend. I chose the chicken chili, tomato basil quinoa fritters and potato wedges with kale chips. The entire meal cost me $24 and was enough to feed us all for dinner and then have leftovers for my lunch on Sunday and again for my breakfast this morning! You can’t beat the economic and health benefits of dining here or taking it to go. First, everything is bought and cooked fresh. That seems to be incredibly rare nowadays. Plus, there are loads of vegetarian options as well as enough gluten free options to keep me as a repeat customer.
I will definitely be recommending The Farmer and the Chickpea to my clients and friends. This is certainly one of the healthiest options for a night out or a take home meal for your family. I am so glad that there is another go-to place for those nights that I don’t want to cook, but don’t want the same old pizza or Chinese. You can also catch them at various farmer’s markets around the state during the warmer months. Please visit their website http://www.thefarmerandthechickpea.com/index.html, like them on facebook and if you are in the area and hungry, have one of the best meals you’ve had in a long time.