Tsuki
Purist sushi doesn’t dominate at this neighborhood BYOB where chef-owner Ginn Huang spins out rolls that reveal an Expressionistic spirit. All that riffing is balanced by service that’s invariably personalized and welcoming.
Thisilldous Eatery
Oh, what a wondrous thing Mike Moyer’s Sausage Gravy Bowl is! And his sweet-hot omelette. And especially his Cowboy Brisket Sandwich. But these days there’s a bittersweet ending to a meal at this beloved luncheonette, and it has nothing to do with the desserts.
Sky Café
Far from the roar and congestion of EWR, JFK and PHL is a little airport in a sprawling, agrarian municipality in Hunterdon County where modernized classics take its café’s diners on a vacation spanning breakfast or lunch. Or, perhaps, both.
True Salvage Café
What Signe Heffernan cooks at this day café whose name aptly describes its décor isn’t anything new. It’s just that she gives favorites a little twist and makes them even more lovable.
Summer Salt
With a hybrid fixed-price menu that showcases Jersey seafood and produce from local farms, this seasonal BYOB is a dunes buddy with breezy, inviting energy and a magical setting. The cooking, however, ebbs and flows.
Fork Is Over
We may not be seeing the death of the fork in our dining-out lives, but we certainly are witnessing a dearth of its use as hand-held foods surge on menus.
The Dock
South American influences, Cape May County ingredients and an owner who’s a natural at the hospitality game combine for a triple-decker sandwich made expressly for summer at the Shore.
Lomito
Geographical tweaks to familiar foods help fulfill the promise of something refreshingly different at a just-opened taqueria on Long Beach Island that focuses on Latin American street fare.
LB’s Lunch Box
All is groovy – tasty, too – at a seasonal getaway for lunch, brunch and early dinner on Belhaven Lake deep in the heart of the Pine Barrens. A young chef with a knack for updating casual classics is the maestro of the good times.
Chofi Beach
Kim and Patrick Flammia let seafood dominate at the new beach town spinoff of their birria-centric cubby in Union City. The upshot: The summertime traffic along Ocean Avenue in Monmouth County is only going to get worse.
Water Dog Smoke House
Say a stream of hosannas daily to Betty, the inspiration for this utopia where smoked fishes rule and additives of any sort have been chased out of town by champions of purity and craft.
7 Doors Down Ramen Co.
High-style, carefully composed ramen, meticulous ceviche and a bunch of well-crafted Nikkei-or-not dishes come out of a bullish kitchen that’s the spawn of a Detroit pizza spot. Only in New Jersey.