b"rooms, kale or carrots, until they try them here.During the pandemic, Heffernan andCorderoperseveredbybiking deliveries to customers within a mile radius.Onecookedandtheother rodeorderstotheneighborhood. We just kept going, she says. Ev-ery day felt like it could be the last, but we werent ready to give up.TheythoughtCovidwouldbe what broke them. It wasnt.Hurricane Ida was harder than Silvestre Cordero, Heffernan's husband,Covid, Heffernan says. It flooded is the familiar face of the front of theourbasementtotheceilingand house. Photo by Julia Maloof Verder-osa. nearly shut us down. It was instant. Unreal.vage Kitchen slowly evolved from aOnceagain,thecommunity simple neighborhood coffee shop insteppedin.Neighbors,volunteers Maplewood.Itwasonce bestknownforitsTaylor Ham and egg sandwiches, a staple that earned NJ.coms 2020 award for Best in the State. It is now a thought-fully-curatedcafoffering baked goods, dinners to go, pantry staples, tapas nights, private events and catering, alldrivenbyinstinct,ex-perience and deep care. In 2024,NJ.comagaintook notice,namingTrueSal-vageKitchenoneofNew Jerseys21BestHidden Restaurants.Signe brought her cu-linary background and herHeffernan with her husband Silvestre Cordero. loveforsmall,communi- She says, This place is our kid. Every hour is about ty-centeredplacestoTruethis place. Photo by Julia Maloof Verderosa.Salvage, says Silvestre Cordero, her husband and the familiar face of the frontofthehouse.Shewasclear from the beginning that this need-edtobeaplacewherepeoplefelt known.Thatvisionisembeddedevery-where, from the reclaimed tables her father built, the ever-changing menu andthewaycustomersaregreeted like old friends.TrueSalvageKitchen'sfarm-to-tablephilosophybeginswithpro-ducesourceddirectlyfromAmish farmers, shaping menus that change week by week. Vegetables are cele-brated, challenged and transformed, A collection of record albums are says Heffernan. We hear it all thetucked in a corner of the cafe. Photo time. People tell us they hate mush- by Julia Maloof Verderosa.feature story /13"