Potatoes Armenti

Potatoes Armenti

When I was a kid, we first spent a couple of weeks every summer in South Seaside Park, NJ. As I approached mid-teens my parents bought a beach place in in Midway Beach and my brother, sister and I would spend the entire summer at the beach: with my parents (Thursday through Monday morning) and my grandparents (Monday through Thursday) playing tag team at the cottage to keep us in line. There are some stories around 3 teens pulling the wool over their grandparents eyes for sure, but not many revolve around food, so you won't hear them here.

Anyway, while we didn't eat Italian food out very often -- no one could cook like my mom or my Nana -- there were a handful of Italian restaurants that did make the grade and one of them was Carmen Armenti's Bayview Inn in Seaside Park. I don't remember how we happened upon it, but it became a family staple if we needed to celebrate a special occasion while at the beach or in the shoulder season when they were open. Back in those days, the Jersey shore was much like Bar Harbor and rolled up the sidewalks from Thanksgiving until around St. Patrick's Day. That's not so much the case anymore.

As was my dad's MO, he made friends with the owner of the place and next thing you know, they are sharing recipes. There potatoes Armenti were like nothing we had ever tasted and soon became a staple (after Dad sweet talked his way into getting the recipe) in our house when my mom was cooking a special meal.

Carmen Armenti's in Trenton, is this the original home of Potatoes Armenti?

OK, time for some additional back story before I get to the potatoes.

The restaurant closed when I was in my late 20s as I recall and it was well before the days of the internet and access to all information, anywhere, anytime, anyhow. But still, nostalgia got the best of me and I did a search -- not expecting to find anything about the place.

While I didn't find anything about the restaurant in Seaside Park, I did come across a FB post about a Carmen Armenti's in downtown Trenton, NJ from the 1980s. My gut told me this was the same Carmen Armenti. Some of you might be thinking, "Of course it was, how many Carmen Armentis could there be/". To you I ask, have you been to New Jersey?

To be honest, I went down a total rabbit hole here including joining the Trenton Memory Lane FB group where I found the photo of the Armenti Trenton restaurant in the first place. I messaged the person who posted the photo, did some cyber research and found what I think is a grandchild and sent a DM there as well. THEN, I had my hair trimmed a Alberta's here in Ellsworth only to find out that she hails from the Trenton area with family still living there -- of course I asked her. My last attempt was with one of our cousins who is from a Trenton suburb, Bernardo knew of the man, but not the restaurants.

All anyone could confirm was that there were 2 Carmen Armenti restaurants and one was definitely in The Burg (Chambersburg) in Trenton, but we found nothing definitive on the location of the other.

In spite of not finding definite answers, all involved in my quest agree that it's a 99.9% chance that the Seaside Park establishment was Mr. Armenti's second restaurant location. If there's anyone out there who can confirm or dispel, please pop me a note.

THE RECIPE:

Pre-baked potatoes cut into wedges

Olive oil for pan frying

Salt & pepper

A selection of your favorite spices and herbs:

garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, herb de Provence

This recipe is SO easy and SO delicious. The only challenge is having patience for the slow crisping in the skillet. Since the potatoes are cooked through from baking them, all you're really doing is seasoning and toasting them. BUT since they are cooked, they can be a bit fragile, so patience and a tender touch is in order.

Gather the salt, pepper and your favorite herbs and spices and mix them together in a small bowl until uniformly blended.

Cover the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and heat until it's shimmering.

Carefully place potato wedges skin side down in the skillet in a single layer with room to turn them when the time comes.

generously sprinkle about 2/3 of your seasoning mix onto the potato wedges and cover the pot.

Let the skins cook until crisp-ish for a few minutes undisturbed.

Carefully turn each wedge onto a side and let the exposed potato flesh toast until golden with the pan uncovered.

Sprinkle about half of the remaining seasoning on the potatoes.

Keep an eye on the olive oil and add some if it looks like it needs some.

After the first side id toasted, carefully turn the wedges to get the un-toasted side in the oil to crisp up.

Sprinkle remaining seasoning.

Carefully transfer the toasted the wedges to a serving dish and repeat if you have more potatoes to toast.

One thing I like about this recipe is that it can be done ahead and the potatoes can be reheated uncovered in the oven without losing their crunch when you're ready to serve them.