THE NEW YORK TIMES

By SHIVANI VORAJUNE 6, 2015

Celebrity chef restaurants get a lot of buzz but do not always live up to the hype. Talde Jersey City, the casual Asian-American spot from former “Top Chef” contestant-turned-entrepreneur Dale Talde, 36, has definitely gotten a lot of buzz.

It is a hip and happening place, but the mix of hit-or-miss dishes and spotty service takes the edge off the excitement.

Mr. Talde, along with his partners John Bush and David Massoni, opened the second Talde in February in the heart of Jersey City (the original Talde is in Brooklyn) as part of their Three Kings Restaurant Group, which also includes the Brooklyn restaurants Pork Slope and Thistle Hill Tavern, as well as Carrino Provisions, a local foods market, with an osteria and a coffee bar attached, in Jersey City.

A Filipino-American who grew up in the Chicago suburbs, Mr. Talde is enthusiastic about embracing both of his cultures, which is an idea he said he was trying to execute, to some extent, at Talde.

“My house was traditional Filipino, but I was also a classic American kid eating tater tots, and I’ve tried to reflect that amalgamation at Talde in a fun setting,” he said in a phone interview after my visits.

He has definitely succeeded in creating a good-time ambience: The large and airy former police station that houses the restaurant has an Asian-meets-industrial setup, with exposed brick walls and granite floors and touches like red and white silk Chinese lanterns. The crowd and mostly 1990s hip-hop music make for a nightclub-like noise level. It’s great if you are out with friends, not so much if you are on a date.

The party atmosphere could overpower the cuisine, but Daniel Hellmayer, the executive chef, turns out dishes that are so in-your-face with their unique combinations and liberal seasonings it is hard to ignore them.

Kale salad, for example, got a fresh take with fried, raw and grilled versions of the green, candied kumquats, almonds and pickled beets tossed in a creamy ponzu dressing. A salad with five large shrimp marinated in garlic, red Thai chili caramel, lime juice and fish sauce was just as tasty, and the meaty skewers of shiitake mushrooms, charcoal grilled on a Japanese robata, got an extra kick with a pickled shallot topping.

Standouts among the larger plates included the Korean-style fried chicken. Perfectly crunchy on the outside with a tender interior, it came with a fiery kimchi yogurt and sweet halved grapes.

Then there was the impressive branzino. The nearly two-pound white fish, baked in banana leaves, is topped with dried red chilies, mustard seeds, a tomato turmeric jam and ginger slivers, among other seasonings. Fresh basil, cilantro and dill garnished the finished plate, which arrived unwrapped and steaming with an enticing aroma. An Indian raised on a diet with these spices, I relished every bite.

But there were disappointments. The tuna tartare spring rolls and kimchi dumplings were overly fried, and the lobster tom kha soup with coconut milk, fingerling potatoes, rice noodles and sweet corn, had barely any lobster and was too salty.

I ran into the overly fried issue again with the crispy oyster and bacon pad Thai. The thick rice flour coating on the oysters masked their taste.

After the bold riot of the main meal, a bit of sweetness was welcomed, but only the chilled cookie with a pretzel and potato chip crust and topped with a salted caramel ganache — called the 5G because Mr. Talde won $5,000 after Cookie Monster chose it as his favorite cookie on “Top Chef” — was worth it.

The service, though always enthusiastic, was missing a beat. Our waiter forgot a merlot I ordered at one dinner and did not warn me that the branzino takes upward of 30 minutes to prepare.

However, on a subsequent trip, the fish arrived before our appetizers. In fact, since the food is served as it is ready, the sequencing can be hodgepodge. Salads showed up after the main courses at one meal, and the dumplings arrived with the main courses at another.

It is a fast-paced flurry of dishes in a party kind of a setting with a boldface name behind food that is hard to forget. Whether you like it or not, you are guaranteed to have a good time.

By KARA MAYER ROBINSONMARCH 6, 2015

As co-owner of three restaurants in Brooklyn (Talde, Pork Slope and Thistle Hill Tavern) and two recently opened in Jersey City (Talde Jersey City and Carrino Provisions), the chef and entrepreneur Dale Talde spends much of his time putting out fires: a no-show cook, an inadequate bread delivery, the perpetual turnover of employees. Now Mr. Talde, a 36-year-old former “Top Chef” contestant, has a new project. He is catering his own wedding. In October, he will marry Agnes Chung, 28, a reporter for NY1, in the Hudson Valley. The couple lives in Downtown Brooklyn.

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