Sometimes a good mealisjust around the corner. Sometimes itrequires a drive.If you love food — creative, flavorful, scrumptiousfood —a few hours behind a wheel is nota deterrence. In fact, for food enthusiasts, driving an hour or more for luscious eats is a badge of honor.
For more opportunities to boast about your epicurean finds and indulge your palate, here are ninerestaurants that may not be close by but very far from forgettable.
Razza, Jersey City
Let's not belabor the point. Dan Richer, if not the best pizza maker in the metropolitan area, isthe best in New Jersey —and New York. After all Pete Wells of the New York Times said so in his review of the 9-year-old pizza joint, calling it "the best pizza in New York." Never mind that Razza is indisputably in Jersey.
Richer's pizza breaks all the rules the experts claimturns out great pizza: Italian San Marzano tomatoes? Nope. Mozzarella from Italy? Nope.Italian-import Caputo "00" flour? No way. A fancy pizza oven from the motherland? Are you kidding?
Richer,a Rutgers University graduate who'sbeen up for a James Beard award sixtimes, solely depends on good ingredients and good technique for his pies — and they haven't let him or his gazillionfans down.
And, realizing that I may be pilloried or, worse, forced to live on Domino's piesfrom now on as decreed bydevoted Razza's pizza fans, Richer's bread may be even better than his pizza. There I said it. Just get it, please.And the pizza(s) too.
Take note: Razza does not take reservations, and last we checked its dining room was closed; it doesoffer someseating outside. If worse comes to worse, be prepared to eat your pie in your car. Not ideal, admittedly, but the pie will be (and bread!).
Go:275 Grove St., Jersey City;201-356-9348,razzanj.com.
Local:Does this Jersey City chef make the best pizza in New Jersey – and New York?
Local:From Jersey City to Westwood, here are 11 one-of-a-kind restaurants in North Jersey
Restaurant Serenade, Chatham
Never trust a skinny chef.That often-used expression posits that if a chef is any good, how in the world can heresist pigging out all the time onhis delicious food?
Ever eaten stick-thin chef James Laird's food? Just one spoonful of hissoups — any one of them — and your faith in skinny chefs, at least Laird, will be as solid asrock-hard aged cheddar.
It's not surprising Laird's posh French-American restaurant is still going strong after a quarter of a century. The chef knows how to cook.The New York Timescalledhim “one of the best classically trained chefs in New Jersey.” New Jersey Monthlyhas regularly named Serenade one of the best restaurants in New Jersey.And Crain’s NY Businessdeclared Serenade "among the Garden State’s most rewarding dining destinations.”
And over the years his cooking has gotten, well, lighter.
He barely uses fats in his cooking. "Fat," he told The Record, "is cheating." His organic salmon is served with red quinoa cooked in a vegetable stock. His roasted lobster entrée is accompanied bydiced carrots and grilled ramps.Hissoups, such as the lobster chowder that uses coconut milk and lime juice,are creamless and mostly butter-free — and divine.
Go ahead and indulge: get the heavenly corn chowder(on the menu currently); the tender roasted rack of lamb; and flaky berry cobbler (his desserts are a must!). After all, they barely have any fat in them, except forthe desserts, which admittedly arefar from low-cal.
Go: 6Roosevelt Ave.,Chatham;973-701-0303,restaurantserenade.com.
Local:Chef James Laird: From poverty to owning a posh French-American restaurant in Chatham
Setaara, Atlantic City
Setaara may not be arestaurant to put on your bucket list,but if you're in or near Atlantic City, consider dining there. Try to snag a seat in its vibrant flower-filled, turquoise-colored, mosaic-tiled courtyard that doesn't look like any other restaurant courtyardin New Jersey. It's unique. Its food too may be super-different. After all, how many Afghan-French restaurants have you been to in the Garden State, or, for that matter,anywhere?
Not familiar with Afghan food?
Plunge your fork into the aromatic bundles offried dough stuffed with seasoned potatoes and cilantro and dip each biteinto the slightly sweetchutney. Dig into thefork-tender lamb shank covered in a sweet mess of fried rice scattered with raisins and shredded carrots. Savor the feather-light vegetarian dumplings topped with kidney beans and tomato sauce — and find yourself inanother world without stepping onto a plane or boarding a boat. You're sitting somewhere in Asia with the stars above you and nature, including chirping birds, all around you.
If it's French food you're after, the menu lists poulet au moutard, beef Bourguignon and beef Dijoannaise. But, come on, this is your opportunity to get acquainted withfood mostAmericans have never tasted. Be an epicureanpioneer. Try ghormeh lubia, kidney bean curry, or auabili palau, Afghan chicken pilaf. Who knows? Afghanmay become your favorite new cuisine.
End your meal with — what else? — baklava.
Setaara is a BYOB so bring a bottle of wine or a few cans of beer along.
Go:2322 Arctic Ave., Atlantic City;609-246 7704,setaaraac.com.
White Birch, Flanders
The menu changes seasonallyat White Birch, an elegant, grown-up restaurant that chef Sam Freund opened in 2019 in Flanders, a quiet, bucolic southwest corner of Morris County. Freund, who tends a big garden on his sizableproperty, is a strong believer in using the freshest ingredients from the nearest farms and best local purveyors.
His menu is printed on throwaway paper;yesterday's menu may no longer be relevant today if he's out of ingredients.
What will howeverbe on the menu — and what you mustget — is Freund's sublime onion tart, a dish he has not been able to take off the menu since Day One due toits epic popularity. Gooey, nutty Gruyere cheese set in a lovely buttery crust heaped with a frisée salad sprinkled with equally buttery-tasting pine nuts — just delicious.
If Freund asked me, I'd tell him to keep the refreshing-as-lemonade hamachi ceviche that my dining companion, a baseball enthusiast, declareda "home run."Thin slices of raw hamachi set in a shallow bath of yuzu with a hint of Fresnochili and fresh cilantro — please sir, may I have more?
If striped bass is on the menu, grab it; Emily Mugno, our well-trained and enthusiastic server, said that customers come back again and again for the fish when it's available.
And now that the season is changing, Freund is gearing up for heavier eats. "Autumnis by far my favorite season to cook," he said."Just so many options and flavors to choose from." Falldishes he's planning includecinnamon-smoked duck with pumpkin mole; scallops and sunchokes with sweet potato; andbraised pork shankwith polenta. And on weekends,venison Wellington.
Garden State food fanatics may have encountered Freund's culinary wizardry atSlamwich Scratch Kitchen, a gourmet breakfast and lunch spot thatheopenedin 2015 in Madison. He showedthere what he could do with the humble sandwich. For the past two years, he has also been demonstrating his considerable fine-dine chops at White Birch. It would be a shame to let a long drive — or any excuse — deter you from enjoyingit.
Go:380 Route 206, Flanders;908-955-0443,whitebirchrestaurant.com.
Common Lot, Millburn
Chef and owner Ehren Ryan seems to be changing it up at Common Lot. When he reopened his charming,award-winning restaurant during the pandemic, he introduced a new "cafe" concepton Sunday,featuringeats he enjoyed while growing up in Australia. At the cafe, youcan enjoy a leisurely breakfast or brunch of Sydney-style corn fritters withavocado salsa,bacon and soft boiled eggs; 15th-century Cilbir eggs with confit-garlic labneh and paprika-infused brown butter;roasted mushrooms on toast; orhouse-made financiers, banana bread and cultured butter. All good reasons to spend your late mornings/early afternoons (from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) in his quaint two-story restaurant with an open kitchen.
As for dinner,Ryan recently introduceda prix-fixe four-course dinneron Saturday nights only.It's another first. Cost is $85/person. Ryan has not yet solidified the menu. But if you're expecting pasta or burgers at his rustic BYOB — prix-fixe or a la carte,you'll be sorely disappointed.
If you're looking for an adventurous culinary experience, you've come to the right place. His current menu includes poached shrimp in a Vietnamese dressing, steamed Nova Scotia halibut anointed with Thai basil pesto, and Madagascar vanilla parfait with roasted white chocolate crumbs.
Common Lot opened its doors in 2017. The next year it wonthe Garden State Culinary Arts award for Best New Restaurant.
Go:27 Main St., Millburn;973-467-0494,commonlot.com/.
The River Palm Terrace, Edgewater
Talk with most any North Jersey chef or food lover about favorite restaurants in the region and invariably The River Palm Terrace comes up. Any wonder then that most any night of the week, the near four-decade-old steakhouse is packed with carnivores and, truth be told, pescatarians. The River Palm not only slingssome of the best beefy steaks in New Jersey— it dry ages in-house for 28 days itssuper-flavorful, highly marbled, fine-texturedU.S.D.A. prime beef—but its sushi isdelicious. Itsfish comes fresh from the Fulton Fish Market or flown in overnight from wherever it likedto swim. From October through May, stone crab lovers know to pop in; that's when thecrustaceans areflown in daily from Florida.
Highly recommended in the sushi department: the Fort Lee Maki, a wacky melt-in-your-mouth rollof shrimp, king crab, avocado andcucumber wrapped insoybean paper andtopped with spicy king crab. Honestly, it doesn't get any better. Unless, that is, you're gaga forfresh tuna, and thenseriously consider the Saddle Brook "Sweetheart" Maki, raw tuna wrapped around spicy tuna. Or if you're cravinga variety of fish, go for the Cresskill, and bite into tuna, salmon, shrimp, lobster and king crab.
As for steak: no question about it, get the colossal Porterhouse for two or the gargantuanTomahawk — and dig in. There's enough juicy, tendermeat for three or even four.
Don't pass up thebaked Idahopotato (humble, yes, but so delicious, butter is superfluous) or the crispy jumbo-cut onion rings.
And ifyou somehow have room left for dessert, all I can say is, wow! Your choices includewarm apple pie, homemade pecan pie,a warm chocolate fudge brownie and the "kitchen sink" banana split. Watch out: it's your pants that maysplit if you manage to eat itall.
Go:1416 River Road, Edgewater;201-224-2013,riverpalm.com.
Corto, Jersey City
Believe the hype.
Corto, a casual neighborhood Italian restaurant in The Heights, is superb. The appetizers, the pastas, the mains, the desserts — they're all fantastic. The secret to their deliciousness? Simplicity. Using as few quality ingredients as possible, according to chef Matt Moschella.Emphasis on quality.
Start your meal with what is simple and yetso flavorful and delicious that odds are you'll be back in no time for more: etherealsomewhat sweet, somewhatspicy ricotta toast with honey, sea salt andpink peppercorns.
The pastas too, any pasta,will have you yearning to return.The mafaldine,thick wavy-edgedstrandsbathed in a bold-flavored cheesysauce flecked with speck, is what culinary dreams are made of.His rigatoni in a tomato sauce withpancetta andCalabrian chili is as good as it gets.
And his signature Angry Chicken? You've never had chicken this good before.
Simple? Sure.Moschella cooks the humble bird, leg and thighsonly, in a big pot on low heat for three hours, seasoning it withdried Calabrian chili, some tomatoes, garlic and thyme.Of course, he doesn't use Bell & Evans or Murray's chicken for his out-of-this-world dishbut "the best, high-quality" chickensourced from an Amish Country farm in Pennsylvania. It's so good that it's one of three dishes that have stayed on the ever-changing menu since Day One; the other two are the rigatoni and the cheese and meat plate.
Corto is a BYOB.
Go:507 Palisade Ave., Jersey City; 201-420-6290,cortojc.com.
Anjelica's,Sea Bright
I would have driven to Angelica's, a lively Southern Italian BYOB, for the music alone.
I was practicallydancing in my seat listening tothe Four Seasons, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, The RonettesandJackie Wilsonbelt out songs thatIknew word for wordbefore I knew how to open a bottle of Chianti, much less be old enough to drink it.
The restaurant is located a short walk away from the beach (do make time to walk on the sand or the lovely boardwalk).The outdoor eating area, right in the center of town, is filled with planters; the tables covered bycrisp white tablecloths. Have fun ogling the tanned passersby and, of course, jamming to the music. If you needa bit of help loosening up, bring along a bottle of wine —Anjelica's is BYOB — or pop into anearby liquor store.
But be warned: parking is near impossible. When I told the maitre d' that my dining companion was circling the block looking for a spot, he looked at me andsaid, "Good luck." Our choices, he said:park for $40(!) at a nearby lotor park forfree inRumson, a 15-minute walk away.
As for the food?
Consider starting your meal with the langostinos, four meaty prawns bathed in apungent tomato sauce tinged with garlic, lemonand parsley.If you're a clams fan, try the baked vongole, and spritz them with the fresh lemon wedge that accompany them.
The pastas are housemade.The trofie al pesto was made for Instagram: a gorgeous green and white seaof pasta strands glazedwith a subtle-tasting basil pesto sportingfresh string beans andbite-sized bitsof sweet-tasting potatoes. A salmon special (fish specials change daily) was superb, cooked just right, and served on a bed of lentils and bitter broccolini.
As for dessert, ourwaiter recommended the Napoleon, a dessert I hadn't had since Sam & Dave and The Ronettesdominated the airwaves. Not in the mood for layers of almond paste,we went for the ricotta cheesecake instead.
No regrets. Subtle and smooth, the cake was topped by sweetened cherries, andwe polished it off faster than it tookThe Supremes to getthrough "Baby Love."
FYI: If you are celebrating a birthday, consider booking a table indoors (a word to the wise: reservations are hard to come by, so reserve way in advance). The space, unpretentious and welcoming — with brick walls, tin ceiling, rustic metal chandeliers and a big glass window that letsyousee the kitchen and its staff — has a party air to it. Especially when it's some guest's birthday and an army of servers appear at the guest'stable and happily sing "Happy Birthday." Cheesy? Perhaps. Nevertheless,I found myself thinking, Hmmm, my birthday is onlya month away...
Go:1070 Ocean Ave., Sea Bright;732-842-2800,anjelicas.com.
Shan Shan Noodles, Parsippany
Warning: This isn't your fancy-shmancy restaurant.
If you're looking for crisp tablecloths, fresh-cut flowers and Riedel wine glasses, this is not your place.
But if you want some of the most extraordinary Chinese noodle dishes,you've come to the right place.
Shan Shan's noodles are hand-pulled. Need proof?Grab a seat in the dining room and watch a chef from China pull the noodles behinda window to the kitchen. It's nearly impossible not to be mesmerized.
It's also almostimpossible not to be smitten by those noodles. If nothing else, get the fans' favorite: hand-pulled noodles with spicy minced pork soup, a bowl of mile-longnoodles bathedin a flavor-packed broth flecked with gently spicy minced pork. Cut those impossiblylong strandswith the scissors that the house supplies toevery noodle-eating patron. Use them as well to cut the gently fried noodles in the house special fried noodle dishstrewn with chunks of delectable beef, protein-richtripe andthick strips of Napa cabbage.
Like your noodles zaftig? Find fat noodles in the hot and spicy chicken dish cooked in a bouquet of Chinese spices. Just in case you want a non-noodle dishto go along with yournoodle dish (you've driven here for those noodles, believe me), considerthe Chinese (lamb) burgerand generously stuffed pork pot stickers.
Go:333 Route46 East, Parsippany;973-287-7399,shanshannoodles.com.
Thisstory has been updated to correctthe wrong location in the headline for The River Palm Terrace. The correct location, as is in the address, is Edgewater.
EstherDavidowitzis thefood editor for NorthJersey.com. For more on where to dine and drink, pleasesubscribe todayand sign up forourNorth Jersey Eats newsletter.
Email:davidowitz@northjersey.com
Twitter:@estherdavido
