Chubby’s Steakhouse
Gloucester City
Tom Monahan, owner of the popular Max’s Seafood Cafe in this historic port on the Delaware River, named his new place for an area institution that lasted from 1933 to the mid-’90s. Decorated with reproductions of Thomas Eakins paintings of Gloucester City fishermen, boxers and Camden’s immortal Walt Whitman, the new Chubby’s earns steakhouse cred with a dry-aged prime tomahawk rib eye for two ($45 per person). There are more modest cuts, a wedge salad, crab cakes and other essentials. A venison tenderloin adds modernity, as do pork chops in Calvados sauce with figs, currants, duck prosciutto and sweet-potato purée. The bar has its own menu and a deep craft beer list.—TN
239 Monmouth Street, 856-456-2482.
Common Lot
Millburn
Common Lot: Co-owner executive chef Ehren Ryan at the pass. Photo by James Worrell
By transforming a nondescript corner building into a magnet of contemporary design and globally inspired cooking, Ehren and Nadine Ryan made our Top 25 list in August. As the BYO’s reputation has spread, the Ryans have added staff and new dishes, always hewing to the seasons. “People know they’re going to get something fresh, zesty, balanced and consistently well executed,” says Ehren. The house dry-aged duck breast with celery root, walnuts, figs and spiced jus “represents what we are right now,” he says. “It took awhile to get on the menu, to work out how long to age it. I’ve had people come to the pass and shake my hand, saying, ‘That’s the best duck I’ve eaten.’” Opening at 5 for dinner, Common Lot makes for a leisurely and hard-to-surpass repast before shows at the Paper Mill Playhouse two blocks away.—EL
27 Main Street, 973-467-0494.
Cooper House
Pennsauken
“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit,” reads the yarn mural at the entrance to this gastropub in Cooper River Park. Transformed by Camden County from the shell of what was once the Lobster House, Cooper House offers stirring park and river views and an outdoor beer garden. But chef Tyler Turner’s American menu and a compelling bar scene rival the vistas. Think avocado toast with spicy-sweet serrano pepper jam, brawny burgers, vivid ceviche, roasted-cauliflower tacos and a terrific beer list, which you expect from operator Kevin Meeker, who owns Westmont’s popular Keg and Kitchen.—AE
5300 North Park Drive, 856-333-6653.
Freetown Café
Newark
Freetown Cafe: Siblings Kwame, Nataki and Kanika Williams in their Jamaican eatery. Photo by Scott Jones
The Williams siblings (brother Kwame and sisters Nataki and Kanika) were born to Jamaican parents. Freetown Café, located a few blocks from NJPAC, celebrates their heritage in spirit, taste and tune (reggae greats on the soundtrack). With just 27 seats and no real kitchen, it has a much smaller menu than Vital, their popular Montclair restaurant. But chef Kwame’s fresh, natural flavors shine in a creamy vegan dip made from spinach-like Caribbean callaloo, served with whole-wheat pita chips; in paninis, such as jerk chicken with avocado (sweet plantains on the side); and green salads, including beet with sorrel vinaigrette and spiced cashews. The house-made soft drinks, smoothies and compound juices are a veritable playpen of pleasure, and the coffees (including a Blue Mountain Jamaican) will definitely lively up your day.—TLG
41 Halsey Street, 973-732-7517.
Fresh Kitchen
Sea Girt
There is really no disconnect, chef Chris Burgess believes, between kitchen technologies like centrifuges and sous vide machines and age-old techniques like fermentation or the simple verities of fresh, natural ingredients and a largely plant-based diet. That’s what the California native is out to prove with Fresh Kitchen, which he opened last August with entrepreneur and Jersey native Mike Nitto. “We have a demographic of people who won’t go near ‘healthy’ food,” he says, “but you don’t have to sacrifice anything to taste good food.” The four foundations of the build-your-own menu are broth bowl, grain bowl, salad and lavash wrap. The menu includes composed dishes, such as the Yucan Do It, a grain bowl topped with yucca, corn, pork and beets infused with pomegranate and Thai basil. Grains range from quinoa with sundried tomato to exotics like lemon-herb freekeh. Meats are cooked sous vide for tenderness. Burgess’s signature bone broth is pressure-cooked 14 hours to intensify flavor. With the same goal, he vaporizes fresh herbs, injecting the tiny bubbles into salad dressings, and centrifuges essential oils out of plants.Burgess doesn’t force the science down your throat. Just enjoy the fresh flavors, wielding nothing more high tech than cutlery.—LY
2204 Route 35 North, 732-769-8133.