Shag’s Crab & Seafood
At this destination in Salem County for seawater-sweet crabs from the Delaware, you can get ’em cleaned and cooked and packed up by the bushel. Absolutely do takeaway for a picnic, but don’t leave this home port without eating a platter of crab cakes on site.
Top of the New Season
Revved-up crabs, pizza with yellow tomatoes, blueberry sherbet, plus sour cherries and blackberries eaten out of hand. Does it sound like summer yet?
Broccoli, with a Smear of Pine Nut Cream
A little something extra might not be necessary. But if nuance can elevate, why not give it a whirl?
460 Bistro
Turkey’s vegetable-centric specialties are second to none. But too many plates coming out of this kitchen of a swanky restaurant in Essex County need a second look before being served to diners.
Latin Port
A newcomer to a bona-fide restaurant mecca in Middlesex County follows a culinary course through South America, the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. There are dishes most worthy – moqueca!, spinach salad! – and dishes in need of more care and concentration.
Zucchini Parm Shortcakes
Give the green squash some lovin’ by folding it into a biscuit-like batter and then layering it much as you would the classic showcase for strawberries. No whipped cream, but lots of melty cheese.
Andre deWaal, Andre’s Lakeside Dining
The newest inductee into TPW’s elite chef-picks-chef club of top toques in the Garden State may be justly revered for his haute French approach to seasonally specific dishes. But, then again, he’s got a ramen/soft-serve thing going in an old filling station. More to love about this Sparta-based virtuoso.
Antojitos Guerrero Mx
A high level of Mexican home-cooking marks this family-owned spot where those in the kitchen know how to wield spice and spin classics with skill and panache.
My Father’s Place
Within the Greater Bridgeton Amish Market in Cumberland County is a sit-down restaurant that serves stand-up fare straight out of Lancaster County, PA.
Of crabs, chicken, cookies and ice cream: 06-19-23
Mark your summer dine cards for these extraordinary eats from the two weeks just past.
Ham-on-Peach
From our own Deep South of the Garden State comes a winsome twosome that inspires a no-cook dish ready to fit the bill when 1) time is tight, 2) the heat’s on, or 3) you’ve a hankering for smoke-and-sweet.
Betty’s Seafood Shack
Be star-struck by Jersey’s top fishes at a newcomer to the South Shore divined in tribute to one who knew and loved its waters. For all the right reasons.