Dining
Subscribe to this tagThe Diving Horse
At The Diving Horse the season is short, so don’t wait to dive into some of the Shore’s most captivating food.
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Batman on the Boardwalk
A terrified 8-year-old finds comfort in a frozen custard swirl.
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Embracing the Ocean
In dining and much else, the monumental new Revel resort and casino is a revelation, but can it lift Atlantic City to a new level?
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All Manner of Menus
One of New Jersey’s best-endowed dining destinations, Cape May can win you over with everything from waffles a la mode to local oysters to a 28-ounce ribeye for two.
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Cape May: Beyond the Beach
Cape May pulses year-round with things to do. Many of the cultural and historic events are under the auspices of MAC, the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities (capemaymac.org). Here are some of Cape May’s most popular attractions:
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Destination: Cape May
The Victorians still reign, but upscale newcomers have brought 21st-century appeal to Jersey’s southernmost resort.
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Liberty House
The Liberty House in Jersey City's Liberty State Park is situated right on the Hudson River, facing Lower Manhattan. Does the food and service live up to the view? Read Karen Tina Harrison's review for the answer.
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Gazelle Café & Grille
Suzanne Zimmer Lowery reviews Gazelle Café and Bistro in Ridgewood, where two young chefs with no formal training are cooking with confidence.
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Zeppoli
Zeppoli—hot Italian doughnuts—are just part (the last, best part) of the sublime experience of feasting at Zeppoli.
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A Sandwich With a Little Bit of Seoul
The koagie comes to Cherry Hill.
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The Whale's Tale
You have to get there pretty early to beat Fair Lawn’s Peter Panteleakis (a.k.a. Mr. Whale) to the best seafood at the Fulton Fish Market.
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Our Favorite NJ Seafood Restaurants
Seafood is a given on virtually every restaurant menu, but some places pride themselves on providing a broad range of the very freshest catch. Here are some of our favorites, with a few words on what to expect. If none of these float your boat, there’s always sushi.
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Delights From The Deep
Do you think the wonders of the Shore end at bodysurfing distance from the beach? Of course not. Another world entirely begins there—the cornucopian world of Jersey seafood. Here is a foretaste of the riches that Jersey fishermen, plying coastal waters, bring to our docks on a daily basis.
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Harry's Oyster Bar
The setting of Harry's Oyster Bar at Bally's Park Place in Atlantic City is inviting—there is an outside section surrounded by lawn facing the Boardwalk. The pedigree is fine—it's owned by the family that owns Dock's Oyster House and the Knife and Fork Inn. The food and service, Adam Erace says in his review, may be coming together after a rough start.
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The Blue Pig Tavern
The Blue Pig Tavern is located in one of Cape May's leading landmarks, the renovated 1879 Congress Hall Hotel. Its food is New American and it gets a lot of its produce from its own nearby farm. Adam Erace reviews.
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Daryl
Zod Arifai, wizard of Montclair’s Blu and Next Door, revives and reinvents a proud New Brunswick marquee.
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Newark's Little Portugal, Home of Big Flavors
Daniel Rosati leads gustatory tours of his famous neighborhood, the Ironbound.
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2012 Jersey Choice: The Best of NJ—Food and Drink
We asked our readers to list their favorite places to eat and drink, and they responded. Read on to find out which places our readers feel are the best in the state.
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How a Chef Learned to Slow Down
A Princeton chef finds inspiration in the Slow Food movement, and spearheads a Central Jersey chapter.
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Adara
Sea-wind foam, porcini "soil" and neon-hued gels are part of what Tre Ghoshal, chef/owner of Adara in Montclair, calls "postmodern dining," sometimes known as molecular gastronomy. "It can and should be be witty, provocative sleight of hand," writes Pat Tanner in her review. Does Adara meet that standard? Read her and find out.
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Blue Morel
The former Copeland in the Westin Governor Morris Hotel is now Blue Morel. New executive chef Kevin Takafuji has introduced an eclectic menu including New American cuisine as well as sushi. Karen Tina Harrison reviews.
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British Cuisine—Not an Oxymoron
For good food, writes Brian Yarvin, Brits can look proudly to their traditions.
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For Sale: A Folksy Landmark in the Pines
Buzby's General Store, a 150-year-old slice of Americana in the heart of the Pine Barrens, is up for sale.
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Steakhouse 85
Steakhouse 85, with its handsome decor, offers not only steak, but seriously good seafood.
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Silk Road
Silk Road in Warren was designed to replicate the experience of dining in a fine Afghan home.
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Appreciating the Taken for Granted
Co-owner: Mark Pascal, New Brunswick; Nonna Catherine Lombardi, Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.
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Each Generation Learns, "Only Better"
Chef: Rosaria Iovino, Girasole, Atlantic City;
Mamma: Concetta Conti, Afragola, Naples, Italy
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Highest Praise Went to Mom's Manicotti
Chef: Francesco Palmieri, The Orange Squirrel, Bloomfield;
Mamma: Consiglia “Nanette” Palmieri, Corigliano Calabro, Calabria, Italy, and Bloomfield
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Smells Worth Handing Down
Chef: Luca Valerin, Osteria Giotto, Montclair;
Mamma: Graziella Varotto, Castel d’Aiano, Emilia-Romagna, Italy;
Nonna: Esterina Schiavon, Padua, Veneto, Italy
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On Thursdays, School Could Wait
Chef: Zachary Melker, Toscano Ristorante, Bordentown;
Mamma: Mariellen Melker, Hamilton;
Nonna: Emma Melker, Chambersburg, Trenton
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That Secret Recipe? Still a Secret
Chef: Luigi Basile, La Locanda, Voorhees;
Nonna: Maria Vincenza Basile, Montella, Campania, Italy
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Just One Way To Skin a Rabbit
Chef: Franco Lombardo, Sapori Trattoria, Collingswood;
Nonna: Anna Prestigiacomo, Carini, Sicily
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Esty Street
In a setting that evokes a swank supper club from decades past, patrons enjoy food deliciously of the moment.
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Miracle Cure
Letting air and nature do most of the work,
Salumeria Biellese in Hackensack produces acclaimed
sausages and hams just like in the Old Country.
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Masters of "Mutz"
Fresh, hand-made mozzarella is a treasure, and Jersey does it best.
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Meeting Mamma...In Italy
Our senior editor travels to the mountains of northern Italy to photograph the mother of one of our Italian chefs.
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Nonna Knows Best
Breathes there an Italian chef who didn’t learn to love food and cooking at the knee of mamma or nonna (grandmother)? Assolutamente no!
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Where Real Italians Eat
We find out where prominent New Jersey Italian celebrities like to eat.
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Pass the Pasta
Jersey is blessed with many compelling Italian restaurants. Here are 16 of our favorites.
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Ralic's Steakhouse
Most steakhouses are big, über-masculine and have liquor licenses. Ralic's is small (28-seats), has light-wood floors and cream-colored walls and is located in a dry town (Haddonfield). Go figure. Still, Jill P. Capuzzo says Ralic's steaks for the most part would do any steakhouse proud.
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Accept No Sub-Stitutes
Is the famous White House Sub Shop in Atlantic City more about the atmosphere or the eat-mosphere? Click here to settle this much-disputed point once and for all.
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Hot Dog Heaven
Let us be frank with you. Of all the signature foods New Jersey can lay claim to, three different hot dogs cry out for your alimentary appreciation.
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Bell & Whistle
This casual American bistro takes its name from its location near the town's fire siren and church bell, which follows the local focus of the menu.
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Drew's Bayshore Bistro
Its new location is more upscale, but the chow at Drew’s Bayshore Bistro is as sassy and down home as ever, and that’s reason to cheer.
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Saucy Lady
After a stint with the Yankees, Rochelle Randazzo started her own team—of pasta sauces.
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Cute Cakes, Tough Critic
Florian Bellanger is the hard-line judge of Cupcake Wars.
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Something's Brewing
In a down economy, Jerseyans are rolling up their sleeves to develop connoisseurship on a budget. Home-brewed beer delivers value, variety, quality and pride of craftsmanship.
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52 Things You Must Do This Year
Feast or frolic, explore or extol, we’ve got you covered for a self-directed festival of discovery and delight. Every week, meet a bit of the Garden State you need to know by heart.
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Cork
Cork, an American restaurant in Westmont, has been through three chefs in the last couple years. But the latest one, Anthony Marini, who came aboard last May, is hitting his stride, writes Adam Erace in his review.
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La Focaccia
The puffy, rosemary-flecked focaccia bread at La Focaccia in Summit is wonderful, Karen Tina Harrison writes. But that isn't all that's worth eating at the restaurant.
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Patria
After making his name at the original Patria in Manhattan, chef Andrew DiCataldo reinvigorates the new Patria in Rahway.
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Sap to Syrup
You don't need to visit Vermont to witness maple syrup being made. We've got a few locations right here in New Jersey that make the experience well worth your while.
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Hamilton's Grill Room
"Diamonds and burlap." That's how Jim Hamilton describes the food of his 23-year-old Lambertville institution, Hamilton's Grill Room. Example? Cowboy steak with bordelaise sauce and crisp onions, courtesy of executive chef Mark Miller, from whose charcoal grill many other good things come as well, write Robin Damstra & Jim Salant.
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Rare
Rare steakhouse in Little Falls may look a bit like a sports bar, but wander back into the dining room and you are in the realm of terrific aged prime beef.
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Luke Palladino's at Harrah's
Luke Palladino’s Italian-Italian showplace debuts on a big stage.
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Dublin Square
"We can't make ourselves any more authentic, other than being in Dublin," says Ian Whitfield, executive chef of Dublin Square in Cherry Hill, Bordentown and Washington Township. Jill P. Capuzzo visits the Cherry Hill branch and finds nearly all the dishes "generous...hearty and satisfying."
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TwoFiftyTwo
What's in a number? If the number is TwoFiftyTwo, a French- and Italian-influenced restaurant in Bedminster, the answer is a place that "should feel like an extension of home," says chef/owner Melissa Hill. Read Pat Tanner's review.
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Oom-Pah! Oktoberfest!
Raising a stein at Hudson County’s atmospheric biergartens.
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Urban Table
A respected restaurant group adds another eatery to its roster, in Morristown. How does Urban Table and its eclectic menu rate? Sam Kadko tells all.
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West Side Gravy
West Side Gravy in Collingswood offers an affordable menu with plenty of comfort classics prepared with precision and artistry.
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Look Who's Behind the Counter
Chefs take to takeout—to branch out or to find an upside to the downturn.
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On the Beach With Tuna on Rye
Alan Richman reminisces about his childhood visits to the beach at Atlantic City, and the lunches his mom packed.
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Above
This New American restaurant in South Orange has an interesting faux ancient Rome vibe to it.
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Copper Canyon
Pat Tanner praises the "finesse and artful presentation" of the Tex-Mex classics at Copper Canyon in Atlantic Highlands. Not everything, however, is at that level.
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28th Annual Readers' and Critics' Choice Poll
Our annual Readers' and Critics' Choice Restaurant Poll takes you all over the state to some of our favorite restaurants.
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The Untouchables
Chefs thrive on creativity, but certain dishes become so popular chefs risk revolt if they alter them or take them off the menu.
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Black Eyed Susans Café
On LBI, a couple’s dream blooms along with their black-eyed Susans.
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Code Red
A distinguished food writer visits Jersey’s most famous (and hard to get into) red-sauce restaurant, Chef Vola’s in Atlantic City—recently declared one of America’s Classics—and finds it ideal for people with small bodies and big appetites.
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Top 25 Restaurants 2011
Long gone are the days when New Jersey, sandwiched between two imposing cities, could only look outward for its best food. Now the top restaurants in the state stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest in the region.
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These Days He Responds to Appetite Alarms
A retired captain for the Trenton Fire Department opens up a hot dog joint.
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Pizzicato
Pizzicato is a way of playing a stringed instrument by plucking rather than bowing, but it is also an Italian restaurant recently opened in Moorestown. Adam Erace reveals what his heartstrings say about his meals there.
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Le Rendez-Vous
One of the better French restaurants in the state, Pat Tanner reports, is Philippe Lièvre’s Le Rendez-Vous in Kenilworth. Don’t miss the hanger steak with crispy frites, Tanner advises, or whatever crepe is on the menu.
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Maritime Parc
By the banks of the Hudson, Maritime Parc now makes Liberty State Park a
compelling culinary destination.
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Ajihei
Alright, the atmosphere may be lacking, parties of more than five people are forbidden, the place is small, but as Robin Damstra & Jim Salant explain, Ajihei in Princeton is still worth a visit for its excellent sushi.
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The British Chip Shop
Reviewer Adam Erace finds the fish and chips at the British Chip Shop in Haddonfield to be "even better than those I've had in England."
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Sandwiches for the Sand
Where to pick up gourmet sustenance on your way to the beach.
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Fish
Dinner goes swimmingly at Fish, a bank building turned seafood entry in Asbury Park’s restaurant revival.
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An Eater's LBI
Places to know when hunger happens.
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LBI: A World Apart
Summer crowds and chic amenities have encroached on Long Beach Island, but for most, it’s still a magic place.
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Beyond Pizza and Frozen Custard
If you've had enough of the typical Shore fare, and are looking for high-quality cuisine, we've got some tips that will point you to the right exit.
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Boardwalk Empress
The owner of seven restaurants, four in Asbury Park,
Marilyn Schlossbach is a canny businesswoman with a passion for surfing—and helping the less fortunate.
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Uncle Vinnie's Clam Bar
The namesake of Uncle Vinnie's Clam Bar in Raritan is long gone. But good fresh seafood, reports Sam Kadko, is very much what you do find at Uncle Vinnie's.
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Cheap Eats Update: Hurry Chutney
Hurry Chutney has the look of hip chain, but the quality of its food is totally unique.
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Saluting Jersey's Chopped Champs
Some of New Jersey's top, young chefs have been drawing national attention for their efforts on the Food Network's reality cooking show Chopped.
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Light Horse Tavern
Revolutionary War hero Henry “Light Horse Harry” Lee won big in Jersey City. Now the hip watering hole named for him does the same.
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The Love Boat
Year-round cruises leave from Lincoln Harbor Marina—providing couples with two floating hours of fun and pampering about The Spirit of New Jersey sight-seeing vessel.
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Goblets of Fun
The Medieval Times theme show in Lyndhurst provides a fun-filled backdrop for couples looking for a romantic renaissance.
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New Brunswick Night Out
New Brunswick isn't just for college students out on the town—world-class dining and premier theater experiences present a tempting reality for romantic couples eager for entertainment-laden evenings.
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Day Tripping in Asbury Park
Culinary and cocktail options abound in quirky Asbury Park. Adventurous daters can find a varied range of options to suit all palates and preferences in this sui generis seaside village.
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The Joy of Jazz
The hip international vibe at Shanghai Jazz in Madison has made this cultured gem a prime location for romantic couples seeking a fun night full of music.
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Now You're Cooking
Couples looking to cook up some romance or spice up their relationship should check out the Viking Cooking School at Natirar Park, where hands-on classes guarantee results.
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A Taste of Old-World Charm
For romantic oenophiles, Tomasello Winery represents an attractively secluded dating destination—minus the plane fare.
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Is It Paris? No, Hoboken
Not too many people, we suspect, have mistaken Hoboken for Paris, but with a fashionable assortment of romantic locations scattered about town, The Mile-Square City might resemble the City of Lights more than you think.
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Great Dates
Love is in the air. Here’s where to get romantic in the Garden State.
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Pass the Meatballs
Famed Jersey Housewife Teresa Giudice looks to share her traditional family recipes with the release of a new cookbook.
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Treno
It's not a barbecue, it's a wood burning pizza oven. But great pizza isn't the only thing available at Treno in Westmont, writes Adam Erace.
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Belford Bistro
Stirring the pots harmoniously, a
husband-and-wife team gives Monmouth County diners a reason to cheer.
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Best of New Jersey: Food and Drink
We asked our readers to list their favorite places to eat and drink, and boy-howdy did they ever respond. Read on to find out which places our readers feel are the best in the state.
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Lovin' Oven
Health-conscious American food is served at this cozy and relaxed restaurant in Frenchtown.
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Maplewood Restaurant Week
Get ready for one of the better Restaurant Weeks in New Jersey—Maplewood Restaurant Week, March 21 to 27.
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Rob's Bistro
At Rob's Bistro in Madison, Country French cuisine is served in a charmingly rustic atmosphere.
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Picnic
A beloved Fair Lawn off-premise ace teams with a friend to give fans a place to pull up a chair.
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High Rollers, Low Prices
Atlantic City hotels are wheeling and dealing, with great meals, spa visits and casino credits in the mix.
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Crystal Clear
Mining the latest deals at Sussex County’s gem of a resort.
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Fabulous (Free) Firsts
Sometimes, the best things in Jersey are free. Here are three towns that offer an evening of art and entertainment once a month at everybody’s favorite price tag.
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The Good Life For Less: Dine and Drink
Prix-fixe menus are your ticket to fine dining at a discount.
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The Good Life For Less
Our guide to finding the state’s best bargains, from designer fashions and culinary treats to high-end home furnishings and more.
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The Bernards Inn
The Bernard's Inn in Bernardsville is more than a century old, but its cuisine is fresh (and local), thanks to executive chef Corey Heyer.
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Chakra
The arrival of acclaimed chef Thomas Ciszak revives the vibe and stokes the sizzle at an atmospheric boîte on busy Route 4 in Paramus.
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Stepping On the Tongue of the Boot
A speaker of Italian wonders why other culinary languages
don’t get as mangled as hers does.
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Blue-Collar Burgers
Small, cheap, soft and oniony, the humble original
slider survives gloriously in New Jersey.
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The Great Burger Showdown
Ten of the best (and biggest) burgers in New Jersey square off for bragging rights in our first cook-off.
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Bar Cara
The DePersio family of Fascino fame (Montclair) team up again with Bar Cara in Bloomfield. The results, writes Stan Parish, are mixed.
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Fortune Cookies
Despite its unpromising name, Fortune Cookies in Bridgewater is that exciting rarity, a place to sample authentic Chinese cuisine, in this case, Hunan, reports Pat Tanner.
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Continental Cuisine—When the Continent Is Africa
Authentic African restaurants are popping up all over New Jersey. Find out where the closest ones to you are located.
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Luke Palladino
Downsizing from the razzle-dazzle of Atlantic City, chef Luke Palladino opens an intimate BYO to showcase proper Italian food.
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Mélange@Haddonfield
Chef Joe Brown's mom, born in Tennessee, influenced his cooking, as did his several trips to New Orleans. Jill P. Capuzzo reviews the tasty results of that background, Brown's restaurant, Melange @ Haddonfield.
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Fin
Adam Erace reviews Fin, the new top-of-the-line seafood restaurant in the Tropicana Casino and Hotel in Atlantic City.
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Hat City Kitchen
While anchoring an arts district, this Orange eatery rejuvenates a fine chef and makes joyous music for mind and mouth.
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Tewksbury Inn
Regulars at the Tewksbury Inn in Oldwick, Bergen County, call it the Tewks. Reviewer Sam Kadko calls it a place for "deftly-prepared food" with "spot-on service."
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A 16th Gold For Ciao Bella
Ciao Bella, the premium gelato company based in Florham Park, took home a gold medal at the 2010 Sofi Awards of the National Association for the Specialty Food Trade. The winning product was something new.
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Trinity and the Pope
Pat Tanner reviews Trinity And The Pope in Asbury Park, a restaurant where the trinity of Creole cooking (onions, celery, and bell peppers) plays a strong supporting role. The Pope? That's garlic, according to chef/owner Marilyn Schlossbach.
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Boulevard Five72
At Boulevard Five72 in Kenilworth, chef/owner Scott Snyder’s simple approach yields complex results.
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Ho-Ho-Kus Inn and Tavern
The Ho-Ho-Kus Inn and Tavern has gone through many iterations. The latest—featuring a New American-oriented cuisine served in an elegantly restored mansion—beckons diners from all over.
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Bareli's
Bareli's is like a Secaucus power table at lunchtime, reports Warren M. Bobrow in his review. At dinner, the venerable Italian restaurant turns romantic. The food is good any time
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Anjelica's
It’s quiet down the Shore now, but not at Anjelica’s, where the year-rounders know the Italian food is always worth turning out for.
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The Lennon-McCartney of Cookbook Authors?
That’s what Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton—creators of the Canal House Cooking volumes—have been called. Here’s why.
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White Heron Grill
What's behind the name change of Dr. John Sprandio's ambitious restaurant in Stone Harbor? Adam Erace tells all.
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Sophie's Bistro
This casual, French restaurant in Somerset offers some winning entrees and delicious salads.
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Peacock Inn
A multimillion dollar renovation brings an
eighteenth-century Princeton mansion irresistibly into the present, with food and drink to match.
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'Jersey Fresh' Takes the Next Step
Jersey Fresh products are being extended to packaged foods that are using only Jersey-grown ingredients.
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Elements Cafe
This American tapas restaurant in Haddon Heights offers a calm and simple ambience and friendly and accommodating service.
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2010 Readers' and Critics' Restaurant Poll
The results of our 27th Annual Readers’ Choice Restaurant Poll were tabulated by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Florham Park.
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The Huggable Middleman
Mikey Azzara’s Zone 7 connects chefs hungry for fresh, local produce with small farmers who couldn’t otherwise get it to them.
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Grissini
Don’t let the luxury cars out front intimidate you. Think of Tony Del Gatto’s Grissini as a little bit of the Italian Riviera perched in Englewood Cliffs.
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A Workshop for the 'Foodpreneur'
Online instruction helps wannabes get their fledgling food brands off the ground.
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Shelf Life
Food entrepreneurs travel a long, hard road from garnering
compliments to having their products in stores.
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Gourmet A Go-Go
Upscale food trucks are beginning to branch out from Hoboken and Jersey City to the suburbs and even farm country. The food is delicious and the prices are a steal.
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Apart Together
Highly compatible in business (if no longer in marriage), Chris and Sharon Egan spread happiness to patrons
of their popular Irish pubs.
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25 Best Restaurants 2010
For the best Jersey chefs, fresh, local, sustainable, and farm-to-table are not just buzzwords but delicious keys to creativity, style, and value.
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From Hell's Kitchen to His Own Kitchen
Tony Del Gatto’s life is as flavorful as the tomato sauce he still makes at age 72.
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Market
Market, an American restaurant in Montclair, is focused on using fresh local provisions and produce to advance the farm-to-table ethos.
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Dream Cuisine Cafe
Dream Cuisine Cafe, a Provencal-influenced French restaurant in Cherry Hill, stands up to its competing big boy restaurateurs.
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A.C. Revamps Its Dining Options
Plenty of new choices, from soul food to Kobe burgers.
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Seabra's Marisqueira
In the Ironbound section of Newark, an ebullient, down-to-earth crowd rolls up its sleeves for heaps of the freshest fare of the sea, Portuguese style.
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A Young Chef in the Old Country
A Jersey student travels to Italy and learns to cook authentic Italian.
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El Sitio Grill and Cafe
The owners of El Sitio Grill and Cafe bring the South American taste of Quito, Ecuador to Collingswood.
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A Toute Heure
This Bistro-French, New American restaurant, set in a restored 1930s house in Cranford, aims to share everything they love about local, seasonal food.
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The Real Shore: 2010 Summer Beach Guide
Don’t get snookered by reality TV. The Jersey Shore is all about family fun, endless recreation and entertainment choices, and sophisticated nightlife.
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Day Trip: Point Pleasant
You’ll never be bored in the boardwalk town.
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Bigger Food Fest
The Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival was such an enormous hit last year, that it was guaranteed renewed billing this year.
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Does Dessert Have a Gender?
Some say no, yet most pastry chefs are women. Here’s why.
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The Washington Inn
Cape May’s Washington Inn—32 years in its present incarnation, in a manor house dating to 1840—knows how to please generations of regulars while letting no culinary cobwebs form.
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A Seaside Gem Sparkles Again
After years of decline, Long Branch has reclaimed its place as a top Jersey Shore destination—but not without controversy.
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Thomas' Ristorante
This subdued Italian restaurant on Main Street in Moorestown offers traditional meals with a plentiful array of seafood options.
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Alice's
David Drake comes to Lake Hopatcong, and serves up sophisticated comfort fare at a waterfront restaurant.
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Day Trip: Margate
Home to Lucy the Elephant—and more.
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Ninety Acres
Years in the planning, the Natirar resort puts a fine first foot forward—a farm-to-table restaurant where the pleasures are simple yet sophisticated.
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Terra Nova
This Pacific Northwest-style farmhouse restaurant, where wine is a raison d'etre, offers up New American cuisine.
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Dennis Foy Restaurant
Dennis Foy—a New Jersey culinary legend—has opened up a New American-style restaurant in Lawrenceville.
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Uproot
The appellation Uproot may not be fully felicitous, but the food, atmosphere, and service are.
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Panico's
Can eating at a particular establishment in New Brunswick be considered a gamble? One of our dining critics certainly thinks so.
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Vine
Vine, a eclectic-menu establishment with a spacious and upscale ambience in Basking Ridge, offers a refreshing Southern Mediterranean option for jaded foodies.
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So Long, "Stringent" Process
Looking back with Ruth Cousineau, test-kitchen director for the late, lamented Gourmet.
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Eno Terra
After earning his stripes with restaurant royalty, chef Chris Albrecht triumphs at home.
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Bona Vita Osteria
This traditional Italian restaurant, which occupies a handsome storefront in downtown Summit, is run by culinary veterans.
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Oceanos
Oceanos, a Greek-accented seafood restaurant in Fair Lawn with a luxury yacht-esque ambience, aims for loftier standards.
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Why Cupid Has Chopsticks in His Quiver
The Chinese Year of the Tiger (4707, not Woods) begins on
Valentine’s Day. Here’s a guide to dumplings and other festive fare. (Photos by Brian Yarvin)
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The Original
A century ago, after crossing the Atlantic, pizza crossed the Hudson and established itself in Trenton as the tomato pie—and you can still get the real deal.
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Searching For The Soul of Jersey Pizza
This month, we attempted to answer a question that has befuddled philosophers for centuries—does pizza have a soul? Laura Schenone believes it might.
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Celebrity Pizza Picks
New Jersey-based celebrities dish about they favorite pizza joints around the state.
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25 Perfect Pizzas
We asked for your suggestions, then we started to eat—and eat. We logged more than a thousand miles, and concluded
that these are the pies to pine for.
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Speak Quickly, And Carry a Big Spoon
Whether cooking at her Hoboken restaurants (or at the White House), hunting edible lizards in Peru or hairy chayotes in Weehawken, Maricel Presilla is an ebullient culinary force.
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Big Wing Wah
Can a Chinese and Japanese restaurant in Hillsborough, whose name translates to "big success," make a splash on the dining scene?
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Ebbitt Room
Curtis Bashaw recruited chef Lucas Manteca to run the Ebbitt Room, the AAA Five Diamond Award-winning restaurant at the Virginia Hotel in Cape May.
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Day Trip: Edgewater
A shopping and cultural center along the Hudson.
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Cookbook as Cliffhanger
Restaurant Nicholas’s handsome tome is for kitchens as well as coffee tables.
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Doc's
Builder Don Luisi bids to make his hometown of Sparta synonymous with superb steaks and seafood.
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Butternut Squash Soup
“Butternut squash soup is a classic dish," says Michael Burbella, executive chef of Table 8 in Montclair.
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Fornelletto
A rustic Italian restaurant in the Borgata has developed a convincing wine cellar theme.
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A Soup Kitchen That Turns Out Chefs
Camden's venerable Cathedral Kitchen has been producing some accomplished chefs.
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Tomatoe's
While other Shore restaurants hibernate,
Tomatoe’s in Margate kicks into holiday gear
—and keeps the festive fires burning all winter.
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Witherspoon Grill
When Princeton restaurateur Jack Morrison snapped up a piece of prime real estate on Princeton Library Plaza in 2004 and dropped a substantial sum for the last available liquor license in town, it seemed he had a plan. Turns out, he didn’t. “It took months just to come up with a concept,” he says, laughing. “I like to pick a goal, then figure out the hardest route to get there.”
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Zylo
When Zylo opened in March in the new W Hotel in Hoboken (the first W in New Jersey), it was hobbled by amateurish service and no clear identity beyond its slick “Tuscan steakhouse” label. Half a year later, it has emerged from its growing pains as an appealing and even cocky young restaurant.
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Pig Heaven
The Mangalitsa pig has bounced back from near extinction to be prized by foodies for its beefy flavor and luscious fat. The only place Mangalitsas are being raised East of the Mississippi is, you guessed it, New Jersey.
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The Barkeep's Barkeep
Ray Foley’s recipe for success runs from punch to punch lines.
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Anton's At The Swan
The plush style harkens back to a time before casual was the mantra, but the food is fully contemporary.
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Hoboken's Tastebud Tour
The Hoboken Food Tour offers can't-miss culinary delights fit for the most discriminating palates.
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Farm2Bistro
The term bistro has been so abused it’s easy to forget its original meaning—a small, casual dining spot (originally in France) where locals can eat, drink, socialize, and perhaps enjoy entertainment.
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Glad Tidings
As crisp autumn winds begin to blow, grab your favorite sweater and head over to the charming Gladstone Tavern for warm mulled wine, Grandpa Chet’s pumpkin cake, and some neighborly cheer.
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Soulful Stirrings
Consummate queen of cuisine Julia Child once declared, “I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.”
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Sonic Boom
It began quietly in the fall of 2007 with the opening of Sonic’s first New Jersey location in Waretown. Millville and Rio Grande followed in 2008.
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Blackfish
Blackfish, a breezy, beach-chic establishment in Stone Harbor, serves up New American fare for the beach-going set.
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Topaz Thai
Nearly every Thursday since it opened three years ago, about six interns and residents from the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark have driven north to Belleville for lunch or dinner at Topaz Thai.
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Slow Food For Fast Times
The Slow Food movement has an alternative to the traditional Labor Day cookout: the eat-in, a foodie version of the civil-rights era sit-in.
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Janice, A Bistro
The Sheridan Café, a circa-1949 Ho-Ho-Kus luncheonette, was bought in 2001 and restored, bistro-style, by locals Janice and John Tinari.
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Shogun Legends
From the moment you enter its castle-like wooden doors, Shogun Legends in Wall showers the senses.
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IndeBlue
Indeblue in Collingswood does not look like your average Indian tandoor house. Small and snug, with only 31 seats, it retains the shiny-blue and hazmat-orange surfaces of its predecessor, an icy-hip crêperie called 5th Corner.
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Cucharamama
Maricel Presilla’s Cucharamama (“Mother Spoon”) celebrates traditional South American cooking as lovingly passed down by women at the family hearth.
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Save My Restaurant
Owners learn to be careful what they wish for after inviting Gordon Ramsay and his reality TV series Kitchen Nightmares to right their ships.
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Savor City
Paterson, the one-time Silk City, is a Great Falls of ethnic eating.
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The Wizard of Zod
Why New York wants to grab New Jersey’s hugely talented, most idiosyncratic chef, and why he doesn’t want to leave—yet.
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Andrea Trattoria
If not for the luxury cars crowding the parking lot on Saturday nights, Andrea Trattoria in Newfield would look like any number of South Jersey roadside taverns.
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Resto
What is “modern French,” the cuisine of Madison’s year-old Resto? In the hands of chef-owner Robert Ubhaus—an Edison native who trained in Paris, Italy, San Francisco, Long Beach Island, and at New York City’s French Culinary Institute—it’s above all “fine dining without the pretension.”
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Due Mari
Emphasizing seafood, Due Mari (“two seas”) joins its Bernardsville sibling, Due Terre (“two lands”), to form a dynamic duo.
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Iron Hill Cometh
Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant will become New Jersey’s thirteenth brewpub when it opens in Maple Shade this month.
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Matt's Red Rooster Grill
The Red Rooster, a four-and-a-half-year-old restaurant in a converted Victorian in Flemington, is trying hard to bring big city sophistication to Hunterdon’s county seat.
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Oh! Calamares
Long before Miami chefs dreamed up Nuevo Latino fusion in the late 1980s, Peruvians had fashioned their own enduring fusion.
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Deep in the Heart of Jersey
Boyd Lafferty grew up in Cape May, then spent 28 years in the semiconductor business in Austin, Texas. While there he earned a PhD. in international business, but when he returned home in 2004 he was thinking strictly local.
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Kinkis: The Wings Beneath My Belt
A late-night stop in Atlantic City pays off in peerless chicken wings.
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Blu
Zod Arifai serves great food at prices that are simply unfair (to other restaurants that charge more for less).
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Max's Seafood Cafe
One thing that never flusters a 97-year-old restaurant is a culinary fad. So at Max’s—a handsome tavern founded by German immigrant Joseph Fred Leisinger in 1912—you won’t find sous-vide duck breast, tapas, or powdered olive oil.
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La Fusta
Beef cattle are so plentiful in Argentina, the legend goes, that gauchos barely have to reach out to carve a steak from a passing animal. As gruesome as that sounds, it illustrates the point that beef is an even bigger part of the Argentine diet than it is of ours.
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Nisi Estiatorio
The Mourkakos brothers lured chef John Piliouras from Molyvos, the New York restaurant he made famous, to Englewood, where he’s raising Greek cuisine to Olympian heights.
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Recipe: Goat Cheese Stuffed Zucchini
The versatile vegetable stars in this appetizing appetizer or side dish from chef and author George Kyrtatas.
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Recipe: Fennel, Feta and Kalamata Olive Salad
Complementary flavors and textures make this simple salad from chef and author George Kyrtatas a winner.
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Recipe: Summer Berry Smoothie
Here's a delicious and satisfying shake that happens to be good for you.
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Recipe: Grilled Tuna Steaks Baja
Cumin, cilantro and garlic raise tuna steaks to lip-smacking heights in this dish from chef Chris Koch of Friendship Dairies.
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Recipe: Baked Prawns and Three Cheeses
Whether served as appetizer or entrée, this adaptable dish from chef and author George Kyrtatas is hearty and delectable.
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Pour Me In
It’s not always good news when a favorite dining spot revamps, but this story has a happy ending.
moreFood Events
4/6: A Food for Thought charity event to benefit the Mental Health Association of Morris County will be held at the Hyatt, Morristown. 6 PM; $50 prior to April 3; $65 at the door. For more information log on to www.mhamorris.org or call 973 334-3496.
moreRestaurant News
This week Rosie tells us about Chef Michael Carrino of Restaurant Passionné in Montclair, who will be featured on the new Food Network show Chopped; Etc. Steakhouse in Teaneck; the Good Scout Award luncheon in Somerset; the Passover menu at Rosa Mexicano in Hackensack; and much more news about NJ dining.
moreOliver A Bistro
Like the European bistros this cozy restaurant seeks to emulate, Oliver has an identity that can be linked directly to its owners.
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Best of Jersey
At New Jersey Monthly, our job every month is to bring you the best the state has to offer.
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The Orange Squirrel
Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. That describes chef Francesco Palmieri and his enthusiasm for his new restaurant. But in the kitchen his passionate and serious side comes to the fore.
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Restaurant News
This week Rosie tells us about the St. Hubert’s K-9 Cotillion for dogs and their owners, an Opus winemaker’s dinner at the Bernards Inn in Bernardsville, Terrazza Italian Ristorante in Nutley, and much more news about NJ restaurants.
moreJL Ivy
Few mourned the 2004 closing of the Rusty Scupper, a seafood spot that offered Red Lobster-like fare at higher prices. But last May, when the vaulted post-and-beam space reopened as JL Ivy—“Serving French bistro fare and Princeton’s freshest sushi,” according to the website—many wondered if things had gone from bad to worse.
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Seafood Steals on the Shore
Atlantic City is looking for a shot in the arm. You’re looking for a deal on a meal. That adds up to AC’s first restaurant week, which takes place March 1 through 7.
moreLobianco
If a restaurant is going to defy conventional wisdom and tuck itself away in some obscure spot, it had better be good.
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Ten East
Reared on Benihana, the Franconeri brothers of Bayonne build a glitzy temple of Asian fusion in their hometown. The decor rocks, sure, but so does the food.
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Swanky Bubbles Restaurant & Champagne Bar
Swanky Bubbles Restaurant and Champagne Bar in Cherry Hill offers a hip, world-themed abience and specialty martini cocktails.
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22 New Restuarants to Try
What’s new in New Jersey dining? Here are short takes on restaurants that have opened in just the last six months but have not yet been reviewed by New Jersey Monthly.
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The Best For Less
Top restaurants want you. They really want you. With these deals you can eat royally and still tighten your belt.
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The New Brunch
Garden State chefs are finding ways to inject new style, variety, and value into an old standby.
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Izakaya
In Japan, everyone eats, drinks, and socializes at casual pubs called izakayas. During a year in Japan, chef Michael Schulson fell in love with izakayas. Now he has created an eye-popping one of his own at the Borgata.
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Day Trip: Mullica Hill
Mullica Hill is a well-restored historic town in the heart of South Jersey farmland. Here’s where you can get the best of then and now, with a few surprises along the way.
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Day Trip: Princeton
Princeton University’s orange and black pride is splashed along the Ivy League sidewalks and historic architecture of Nassau Street. This central Jersey treasure is filled with upscale boutique shopping, secret sweet spots, engaging theatrical performances, and school spirit.
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Elevation Burger
Health-conscious fast food.
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Manna
Manna, the heaven-sent food that sustained the Israelites in the desert, was not exactly a gourmet treat. In fact, the people complained bitterly to Moses about the monotony of eating it and told him they thought they were better off in Egypt. (Nobody says he had an easy job.)
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Wolfgang Puck American Grille
Does any celebrity chef spread him-self thinner than Wolfgang Puck? He commands an empire of four Spagos, eight other fine-dining restaurants, four Wolfgang Puck Grand Cafes, and thirteen Wolfgang Puck Express eateries, to say nothing of TV shows, cookbooks, cookware, frozen pizzas, soups, and catering.
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Readers' and Critic's Picks 2006
These are the readers' and critics' picks for best restaurants of 2006.
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