By Warren Bobrow
When the owner of a restaurant is on the premises, this is a good thing for a small business. I mean it.
The owner watches everything: The register, the cooks, the amount of food going out on the plate and most importantly, the satisfaction of customers. It is their satisfaction that spreads the word of mouth necessary to run and attract new business to a small family owned restaurant in a tough economy.
Everyone has to eat is the story for the day, and since 2003, Maria Benitez has been filling the hungry bellies of her hard-working but patient customers. Her restaurant, El Encuentro Centro Americano, is just under the Staples store and across from the NJ Transit train station in Morristown.
Enter from the parking lot and immediately you are transported to the nation of Maria’s heritage, Honduras. From the steaming cafeteria line, shr calls out the orders and runs the spotless restaurant. Sure, she has helpers, all doing their thing– cleaning, serving and enjoying chit-chat with the customers. In Spanish, of course!
There is a big TV with soccer and an Internet terminal for her customers to catch up on news from home. A counter seating about a half dozen complements the 30 or so seats in this storefront restaurant. It’s a cheery place and the plates that come out of the kitchen are filled to overflowing with delicacies of the Honduran pantry.
I came in for a hearty breakfast, although others were chowing down on everything from fried chicken to plantains and rice with yucca and beans. This is hearty food, not for the meek. You must bring a healthy appetite. It wouldn’t hurt if you spoke Spanish. (For the record, I don’t speak the language, but Maria speaks perfect English)
A PLATE OF FRIED EGGS WITH A SIDE OF HONDURAN PASSION
El Encuentro Centro is a fine place for breakfast. First, get yourself a cup of the TM Ward coffee brewed at the end of the counter. It’s self-serve. For those who don’t know, TM Ward has been roasting coffee in New Jersey since way before you were born. Actually since 1869! This is fine coffee, a bit richer in flavor than your typical diner type coffee. I appreciate good coffee and this was brewed to perfection. I’d rather not see powdered creamer, but I know the use of this dry product keeps the food cost down.
Two sunny-side up eggs are graced on the plate by a few slices of caramelized, semi-sweet, but very rich flavored plantains, a portion of butter-rich white rice, some nubs of a homemade-looking chorizo sausage (spicy and robust!) and a Honduran-style sour cream known as mantequilla.
My breakfast was accompanied by a package of almost puffy soft-flour tortillas, made round for easy scooping, called baleadas. You may want to ask them to toast the baleadas to make them extra savory and crunchy on the flat top grill.
The whole thing ran about five bucks. Did I say portions are generous? Yes, this is extremely passionate cooking. While I was dining, someone was grilling a sumptuously aromatic marinated flatiron steak on the broad grill; I was hungry all over again!
Bring a big appetite and bring your friends. Also BYOB, so pick up some beer before you come.
El Encuentro Centro is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They do catering either on- or off-premises. Wi-Fi is available for your laptop or smartphone.
· Phone: 973-285-9222
· Hours: Mon – Sat, 6 am – 10 pm; Sunday, 7 am – 10 pm
· Handicap Accessible: The entrance is at street level.
· Payments accepted: American Express, Cash, Discover, MasterCard, Personal Check, Visa
· General services: Catering, Delivery, Eat-in, Phone orders, Prepared foods, Take-out
· Parking: Free
MORE DINING REVIEWS BY WARREN BOBROW
Warren Bobrow was born and raised on a farm in Morristown. He is a classically trained saucier/chef and a food/spirits journalist with over three hundred published articles internationally. A rum judge for both the Ministry of Rum and the Barbados Rum Festival, he is a good person to have a cocktail with. Warren writes about biodynamic wine for the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Edition 2.
I love El Encuentro! I eat there all the time.