Farfalle from Osteria Crescendo, duck fat potatoes from Talde

by: Esther Davidowitz, Rebecca King and Cynthia Schweich Handler, North Jersey Record

There’s a lot of wonderful food in North Jersey, yet often many of us end up eating uninspired, forgettable grub. We at The Record, Daily Record, and NorthJersey.com, however, frequently go out to eat (some of us readily admit to being food obsessed). And every now and then, we discover knock-your-socks-off dishes. And since we’re in the business of reporting, we thought we’d report back to you on our delicious discoveries so that you can go enjoy terrific food too.

Check back in June — we are determined to share our finds with you every month.

Gamberi Rossi Crudo (Raw Red Prawns), Osteria Crescendo in Westwood

The red prawn crudo at Osteria Crescendo is Robbie Felice’s way to show food lovers “what I can do.” A brief lesson on red prawns: They’re a brilliant red color and their most flavorful part is their head. In Italy, diners suck the “brains” out of the head. Felice assumed that he couldn’t get Jerseyans to do the same. So, instead, he boils the head in flavorless oil to make a kind of soup, and serves that gorgeous pool of bright red with small cubes of the shrimp’s tail that he’s marinated in ginger, lemongrass and garlic. Fresh mint leaves are added to “make everything pop,” he said. $21. — Esther Davidowitz, food editor