Food enthusiastsare willing to spend time behind thewheel if they know terrific eats awaitthem. What's an hour or soin a car when you can count ona thrilling, delicious, top-notchmeal?
There are a slew of wonderful restaurants in New Jersey that are worth the drive. Here are seven of them.
Mistral, Princeton
Why go: Elements, Mistral'shaute-cuisine sister and upstairs neighbor, has gotten lots of press and praise (for good reason:it's stupendous),but, New Jersey food lovers, take my advice: don't overlook Mistral. Not if you want to eat some awesome food in a cool-looking dining room.When I ate there, Ben Nerenahusen, who cooked at Michelin three-star Restaurant Meadowood in St. Helena, CA., was wielding the chef's knife in the open stainless steel kitchen. Now it's Joe Mooney, who worked with Elements revered chef Scott Anderson since 2010 and at Mistralsince 2015. Soodds are really good the food is still stellar. Theplates hereare designed to be shared,but that may be difficult when you take your first bite into the "snacks-to-share"tallbuttermilk biscuits with rosemary honey ($8) or the woodsy tasting tempura Maitake mushrooms served with a delightfully sweet allium sour cream. You're likelyto want themall for yourself; I did.Dittothekale salad with fresh figs and Gorgonzola ($16); the kale is lightly oiled, grilled and chopped (never want my kale any other way). Skip the Hungarian chicken sausage ($16), a rather bland dish with meh egg noodles. You'll have an easier time sharing the "large plates," but fair warning: The Wagyu flap steak with caramelized endives and bone marrow is superb. "They hit it out of the park," my dining companion exclaimed.
What may surprise you:Mistral and its sister restaurant, Elements, which sits right above it,share the same high-quality-food DNA. But otherwise they seem unrelated. Mistral ismore rebellious, more informal, more fun. Its co*cktails flow easily from the loud, joyousbar.Itsdining room,Zen-likewith blond wood tables and preserved wind-swept tree barks is more relaxed, too. (Mistral is the name of a strong wind that blows in Southern France.) Both, however, feature open kitchens.But at Mistral, you can get yourself a ringside seat and watch the chefs do their thing.
How much: Snacks to share including the buttermilk biscuitsare from $3 each for Beausoleil oysters to $12 for the tempura mushrooms; small plates from $11 for salad with celery root cream to $18 for tuna ceviche; and large plates from $16 for spicy pork ramen to $32 for sourdough-crusted halibut. Desserts are all $10.
The details:66 Witherspoon St., Princeton;609-688-8808;mistralprinceton.com. — Esther Davidowitz
Heirloom Kitchen, Old Bridge
Why go: There are three reasons tohop into your car anddash to this farm-to-table restauranttucked inside a New Jersey strip mall:looks, service and, most important,food. Make that four reasons: you get a show — a cooking show— along with your meal.Heirloom Kitchen is stunning, in a casual, almost beach-y way: It's airy, modern and mostly white, with abig open ultra-contemporarykitchen surrounded by a hugeisland. Luckydiners can nab a ringside seataround the whiteisland and watchchef and partner David Viana seasoning chicken,pounding duck breast and sautéing scallops.
Vianawas nominated for a James Beard award and previously hadworked as executive chef at now-shuttered The Kitchen at Grove Station in Jersey City, where he received a 3-star New York Times review. Start your meal with co-owner Neilly Robinson's heavenlysourdough bread; if you have any leftover, take it home and make toast the next morning. Get the tenderoctopus appetizer with a tomatillo salsa and spicy lobster mole, which my dining companion called "amazing." As for the restaurant'sNo. 1 bestselling entrée — Viana's signature duck breast served with a sweet date purée — we liked it well enough, but we wentgaga overtheharissa lamb bolognese, jam-packed with flavor. "Mediterranean disguised as Italian,"Viana said. "Awesome," we said.
What may surprise you: Heirloom Kitchen is a restaurantthree nights a week only: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, although starting in September, Thursday night will be added. It started off in 2013 as a cooking school, and you can still take classes there.It has evolved over the years into a bustling culinary center with a retail boutique selling kitchenware and table-top products. FYI: Diners get 15 percent off purchases and the restaurant custom orders items such as its flatware and plates.
How much: Although Heirloom Kitchen is a BYO, it is also a showroom for family-owned Dominico Winery, so you can leave your bottle at home and enjoy the winery's instead— at retail price; from $24 for a Pinot Grigio to $36 for a Pinot Noir. As for food: appetizers cost from $5 to $20; entrées $29 to $40; and desserts $10 to $12.
The details:3853 County Road 516, Old Bridge;732-727-9444,heirloomkitchen.com.
— Esther Davidowitz
Common Lot, Millburn
Why go: Don't go if you're looking for the usual fare — pasta, burger or evenbread. Australian-born chef and owner Ehren Ryan isn't going forthe same-old, same-old. His rustic no-airs-about-it, grown-up restaurant has portobello-mushroom colored walls, wooden floors and an open kitchen and an intriguing menu with loads of possibilities for adventurous food lovers. Get his guacamole,studded with spring peas andtopped with a sweet pepper relish, especially if you lovecilantro (Ehren is not afraid to use herbs boldly). Try his crispy char-grilled cauliflower, served "al dente," in a lovely lemon-y tahini dressing.Enjoy hisperfectly grilled octopuswith fried capers, dark purple onions andspring onion relishin a shallow bath ofshellfish oil. It has been on the menu, a waiter reported, since the restaurant opened in March 2016. (The next year, Common Lotwon the Garden State Culinary Arts award for Best New Restaurant.) As for entrées,you have a few single-serving dishes to choose from such as leg of lamb with fava beans and plancha-seared halibut or mains for two including 12-hour braised lamb shoulder.
What may surprise you: This is one restaurant where you must make room for dessert. On the night I visited, I couldn't decide which dessert was better: the silky-smooth goat-cheese cheesecake sporting edible flowers accompanied by heady lavender ice cream or theblack sesame meringue stuffed with mousse-like creamy semifreddo atop dehydrated strawberries, pickled green strawberries and fresh strawberries. They were both divine.
How much: Appetizers from $8 to $17; entrees from $26 to $36 with entrees for two starting at $82. Desserts are $10.
The details: 27 Main St., Millburn;973-467-0494,commonlot.com.
— Esther Davidowitz
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Restaurant Nicholas, Middletown
Why go: There are many great restaurants serving delicious food, of course, but there are few that pay such attention to detail as the staff at Restaurant Nicholas. And it is the little details —such as being greeted with a “Happy anniversary, Mr. and Mrs.” at the start of a celebratory dinner — that add up to an excellent experience. The restaurant, owned by Chef Nicholas Harary and his wife, Melissa, holds four stars from The New York Times and a nearly perfect Zagat score, accolades earned through the couple’s ambition and Harary’s perfectionism. The chef is omnipresent in his bustling kitchen and warm dining room, which isanchored by servers who refold napkins, refresh bread, clear crumbs and refill water glasses with expedient grace and filled with diners who know Harary by name. The chef’s food is beautiful: My most memorable dishes are a starter of satiny cured king salmon with potato latke and pearls of dill sour cream, and an entrée of trout, coated with Marcona almonds and served with rich roasted eggplant and kohlrabi. I could have easily eaten much, much more of both dishes. Dessert is consistently delicious — flourless chocolate cake, pumpkin ginger cake, dark chocolate mousse — but the real star, each time, is the accompanying ice cream. I have been treated to horchata ice cream, Grand Marnier ice cream, caramel ice cream and whipped cream ice cream, and each flavor was more perfect than the last.
What may surprise you: Harary puts as much thought into the wine in your glass as he does the food on your plate, and with good reason: Prior to opening Nicholas, the chef was sommelier at Jean-Georges in Manhattan. When dining at Restaurant Nicholas, if you fall in love with a wine on the menu, your server can bring you a bottle to take home: Harary’s second business is Nicholas Wines.
How much: In the dining room, choose from the three-course menu or the four-course garden menu for $75 per person or the chef’s tasting menu for $95 per person. For a more casual dinner, take a seat at Bar N, where prices range from $14 to $42. Or, for $39, try three tapas dishes and a flight of ice cream. For an extra indulgence, reserve the four-top chef’s table in the kitchen for $150 per person.
The details: 160 Route 35 in Middletown; 732-345-9977,restaurantnicholas.com. —Sarah Griesemer
Hearthside, Collingswood
Why go: Everything about this restaurant, which finds itself in a very crowded Collingswood field, is exemplary, from the warmth of the open-kitchen hearth to the carefully curated seasonal menus to the impeccable-yet-friendly service. The food is the best you will find in the region, making the most of chef Dominic Piperno’s wood-fired culinary skills. Piperno and his wife, Lindsay Piperno, who runs front of house, opened the restaurant to raves last September, making it one of the hottest reservations around. It’s sophisticated yet warm, elegant and contemporary, yet approachable and intimate.
How much: The seasonal menu offerings are gathered into small, medium, large and ‘’for the table’’ dishes. A small sampling from the current menu includes: Red Snapper Ceviche (blood orange, avocado, potato chips and cilantro) for $18; Squid Ink Spaghetti (rock shrimp, Calabrian chili and chives) for $18; Duck Breast (cauliflower, roasted grapes and spiced granola with jus) for $29, and, to share with the table, Crispy Pork Shank (dirty rice, black bean and avocado) for $52. There are vegetarian and vegan options.
What might surprise you: Hearthside has been named “Philadelphia’s Best New Restaurant,’’ even though its foundation is firmly on the Jersey side, where the Pipernos make their home. Most recently, Food & Wine magazine gave it that designation and Hearthside also won the Garden State Culinary Arts Award for Best New Restaurant this spring. The restaurant has added outdoor dining, cutting down just a bit on the wait for a coveted weekend reservation. Like all Collingswood restaurants, Hearthside is BYOB.
The Details: 801 Haddon Ave., Collingswood;856-240-1164,hearthsidebyob.com. — Tammy Paolino
Zeppoli, Collingswood
Why go: Zeppoli altered the region’s restaurant, instantly becoming the “must’’ reservation of the last five years. Chef-owner Joey Baldino has earned multiple James Beard Best Chef nominations, and the arrival of Hearthside has done nothing to dim his star. (Hearthside’s chef Dominic Piperno was sous chef at Zeppoli.) This little restaurant isn’t located on Collingswood’s restaurant row, but rather across a busy White Horse Pike in West Collingswood, where it continues to elevate Italian food in the Garden State. Nobody in the region offers Baldino's strong focus on Sicilian fare, one of the reasons the restaurant draws devotees from the big city and beyond.
How much: We dare you to find a more creative antipasto platter anywhere, with plenty to share at $11 per person. It is a work of art bearing little resemblance to the antipasto you’re likely used to, with its white-bean salad flecked with tuna, perfectly spiced cubes of butternut squash, peppers stuffed with prosciutto and provolone, beets pickled with star anise, delicate slices of frittata, and a caponata made the traditional way, with cocoa and chili, to name just a few of the parts that make up the artful sum. You can also begin your meal with Panzanella Catania, tomato-bread salad with capers and Sicilian white anchovies ($9). Pastas such as Tagliatelli la Limone ($9/$17) or Spaghetti Vongole ($9/$18). Most notable entrées include Sicilian Fisherman Stew (with saffron and Tunisian couscous, at $27) and Pesce Spada alla Griglia (marinated and grilled swordfish served with lemon and olive oil, at $29). A generous selection of housemade desserts – including zeppoli, of course, are $9.
What might surprise you: The busy, 35-seat Zeppoli is nothing much to look at. The tiny room means intimacy with Baldino, but also means intimacy with neighboring tables — and it does get loud. Zeppoli, like all Collingswood restaurants, is a BYOB, so come prepared or swing by Moores Brothers wine sellers along Cooper River Park on your way into town. June through August, Baldino offers Sicilian grill dinners that sell out the season several minutes after they are announced.
The Details: 618 W. Collings Ave., Collingswood;856-854-2670,zeppolirestaurant.com. —Tammy Paolino
The Red Store, Cape May
Why go: You will find few places in the Garden State more peaceful than Cape May Point, even in the height of the season, and this cozy restaurant and general store extends that feeling of relaxation and indulgence through every meal. In season, Red Store offers brunch Thursdays through Mondays, and chef’s dinners Thursday through Sunday (with exact seating times). Some lunch items such as burgers and fish tacos are also offered on select days. James Beard-nominated chef Lucas Manteca delivers on making brunch something truly special with house-made breads and pastries, and special takes on everything from crab and corn pancakes and huevos rancheros to avocado toast.
How much: Brunch items at Red Store range from $2.50 to $16, with something to please both the light nosher to the hearty breakfast eater. The Red Store Breakfast Sandwich (housemade breakfast sausage, tomato jam, American cheese on a biscuit) is served with home fries for $9, with options to add an egg for $1, as well as a long list of potential sides. Red Store Crab and Corn Pancakes are a big favorite, a triple stack of golden cakes topped with an arugula salad and crisp shards of Applewood bacon ($16). Multi-course chef’s dinners offer a tasting menu or prix-fixe experience at $65 plus tax and gratuity. There is no advance menu, with the emphasis on “the best of the season,’’ with accommodations for dietary restrictions.
What might surprise you: Red Store is the only restaurant on Cape May Point, setting itself off from this Shore town’s many other worthy eateries. A perfect start to any day in Cape May is brunch here, followed by a leisurely walk on the nature trails near the Cape May Lighthouse. In the mood for something different? Pop into Red Store around lunchtime and grab some homemade empanadas for the beach. Or drive up to Cape May Airport, where you’ll find Manteca’s Taco Shop located shoulder-to-shoulder with Cape May Brewing Company. Your only dilemma: Do you take the beer to the tacos, or the tacos to the beer?
The Details: 500 Cape Ave., Cape May Point;609-884-5757,capemaypointredstore.com. — Tammy Paolino
