NJ's 30 Best Restaurants In 2018-19: New Ratings Released

It maybe a little cloudy, a little too hot and little too rainy this weekend. So what do beachgoers, picnic-goers and other New Jerseyans do on Labor Day weekend if they can't do much outside?

They eat.

NJ Monthly picked a good time – the summer – to come up with a list of the 30 best restaurants from all over the state.

And they're not just at the Jersey Shore: You may just want to stay home and enjoy the fruits of your hometown instead of heading to the beach.

NJ Monthly first came up with the list in 2007 as a Top 25. "Since then, New Jersey’s dining scene has steadily gotten bigger, better, more varied and contemporary," the publication said. "Expanding to a Top 30 simply recognizes that fact."

Here is the list:

• Agricola, Princeton "Attentive service, a terrific bar program, and a distinctive set of spaces, and you have a winning package." 11 Witherspoon Street, 609-921-2798
• Café Panache, Ramsey "Call him old faithful. For 34 years now, Kevin Kohler has been piloting his handsome New American restaurant from behind the stoves. 130 E. Main Street, 201-934-0030
• Cellar 335, Jersey City "The darkly handsome space is still wittily artful and unusually comfortable; the servers still aim to please. Most of all, the menu evolves." 335 Newark Avenue, 201-222-1422
• Chez Catherine, Westfield The food "remains superb.Catherine Matthews-Bocket, who grew up largely on the French Riviera, puts it this way: 'You don’t have to go to Paris or Cannes to get that feeling. You have all of that here.' 431 North Avenue West, 908-654-4011
• Common Lot, Millburn "New dishes don’t just leap onto the menu at Common Lot. 'We can spend two weeks refining and tweaking one dish,' says chef/co-owner Ehren Ryan." 27 Main Street, 973-467-0494
• Cucharamama, Hoboken "Maricel Presilla’s regular journeys through Latin America constitute the cucharamama, or mother spoon, that stirs the pot of her flagship restaurant." 233 Clinton Street, 201-420-1700
• Elements, Princeton "Whichever multicourse option you choose, executive chef/co-owner Scott Anderson and chef de cuisine Mike Ryan give you the frisson of encountering the deep history of cooking and the state of the art at the same time." 66 Witherspoon Street, 609-924-0078
• Fascino, Montclair "In Fascino’s 15th year, chef Ryan DePersio and his team continue to keep their flagship restaurant rewarding and relevant, a go-to for modern Italian food." 331 Bloomfield Avenue, 973-233-0350
• The Frog and the Peach, New Brunswick "Over the last year, chef/owner Bruce Lefebvre has reshaped his menu, expanding the small plates, sides and charcuterie sections. The change has had the desired effect." 29 Dennis Street, 732-846-3216
• Hearthside, Collingswood "Dominic Piperno fell in love with cooking over wood at culinary school in Chianti, Italy. After working for fine chefs on both sides of the Delaware River, he and his wife, Lindsay, opened their dream restaurant last fall in their hometown." 801 Haddon Avenue, 856-240-1164
• Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen, Morristown "When his opening chef moved home to Buffalo last year, owner Chris Cannon made one of the great hires of his distinguished career, retrieving Jersey native Craig Polignano from Pennsylvania." 110 South Street, 973-644-3180
• Restaurant Latour, Hamburg "When Anthony Bucco, one of New Jersey’s best chefs, left Crystal Springs Resort this year to open his own restaurant, Robby Younes, the resort’s chief operating officer and wine director, interviewed 13 possible replacements, five of whom had won Michelin stars. In the end, he promoted Bucco’s deputy, Aishling Stevens, 39, to succeed him as executive chef of the resort and overseer of its crown jewel, Restaurant Latour." 1 Wild Turkey Way, 973-827-5996 ext 3
• Laurel & Sage, Montclair "As it happens, Shawn Dalziel’s pad Thai noodles with corn sauce have no gluten, dairy or animal protein (though you can add the latter). About a quarter of his customers, he says, want to avoid those things, and he happily obliges, creating dishes that sacrifice nothing in pleasure." 33 Walnut Street, 973-783-1133
• Lorena’s, Maplewood "An excellent and unexpected value at lunch, with substantial selections, Lorena’s at dinner becomes a luxurious fine-dining destination." 168 Maplewood Avenue, 973-763-4460
• Marcus B&P, Newark "As co-owner of 33 restaurants around the world, Marcus Samuelsson is certainly one of the food world’s most successful brands. But sitting in Marcus B&P, you feel the imprint of an actual person, one with a verve for connecting people over food, drink and art that reflect his own unique background (Ethiopia/Sweden/the Big Apple), as well as that of the local community." 56 Halsey Street, 973-645-0004
• Maritime Parc, Jersey City "Eating chef Chris Siversen’s food, especially the seafood supporting the restaurant’s name, you sense his attraction to Asian flavors." 84 Audrey Zapp Drive, 201-413-0050
• Mistral, Princeton "The departure of a brilliant founding chef, such as Mistral’s Ben Nerenhausen, ordinarily causes alarm. But when Nerenhausen returned to his native Wisconsin this spring, Scott Anderson, the chef who co-owns and oversees Mistral and its upstairs neighbor, Elements, simply promoted Joe Mooney, 30, Nerenhausen’s deputy the last three years." 66 Witherspoon Street, 609-688-8808
• Modine, Asbury Park "Asbury Park’s dining scene—along with Jersey City’s, the most dynamic in the state—didn’t know it was missing something until husband and wife chefs Chris Davin and Jill Meerpohl opened Modine in January." 601 Mattison Avenue, 732-893-5300
• Nicholas, Red Bank "Now in its 19th year of embracing the often-shunned title of special occasion restaurant, Nicholas remains vital and rewarding." 160 Route 35 South, 732-345-9977
• Ninety Acres, Peapack-Gladstone "The long, winding drive through Natirar Park, up the forested hill to the former carriage house, heightens expectations. For eight years now, executive chef David Felton and his team have been fulfilling the promise of their unique location." 2 Main Street, 908-901-9500
• Osteria Radici, Allentown "Randy Forrester says he 'started to daydream, sketching out restaurants, when I was 15.' Now twice that age, he and his wife, Ally, 28, are living their dream, nearing the first anniversary of their 24-seat restaurant devoted to 'carrying the torch for what modern Italian cooking is right now in Italy.' " 4 S. Main Street, 609-223-2395
• Pluckemin Inn, Bedminster "Readington native and CIA grad Kevin La Femina has worked under several noted chefs and learned from each of them." 359 Route 206 South, 908-658-9292
• Poached Pear Bistro, Point Pleasant Beach "When you think of Shore dining, fun eats come to mind, much of it deep-fried. But sumptuous food in an elegant setting? Not so much. That, however, is Scott Giordano’s sweet spot." 816 Arnold Avenue, 732-701-1700
• Ryland Inn, Whitehouse Station "Chris Albrecht sounds giddy as he walks through his half-acre organic garden behind the inn, remarking that 'the strawberries are just glowing!' The same can be said of the restaurant itself." 115 Old Highway 28, 908-534-4011
• Saddle River Inn, Saddle River "The wood-timbered barn that houses the inn is rustic, but chef/owner Jamie Knott’s food is among the most elegant around. Not as in reserved and effete, but as in ramped up yet refined, a ninja in a tux." 2 Barnstable Court, 201-825-4016
• Serenade, Chatham "Tenderness is a term of praise usually applied to meat, not to the temperament of chefs, either in person or on the plate. It does spring to mind, however, when eating at Serenade." 6 Roosevelt Avenue, 973-701-0303
• Two Fish, Haddonfield "New Jersey is blessed with great seafood and chefs who know how to cook it. Even in the company on this list, Mike Stollenwerk stands out." 26 S. Haddon Avenue, 856-428-3474
• Verjus, Maplewood "Back in 1980, Charles Tutino was a young economist with what seemed an enviable position at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Except he hated it. 'I felt I wasn’t in touch with life anymore, and cooking would change that,' he recalls." 1790 Springfield Avenue, 973-378-8990
• Viaggio, Wayne "His fellow chefs have seen this coming; so have his customers, and so have we. Robbie Felice, whom we identified in last year’s Best Restaurants issue as a Talent on the Rise, has arrived." 1055 Hamburg Turnpike, 973-706-7277
• Zeppoli, Collingswood "Year after year, Joe Baldino’s regular menu barely changes. His compass always points to Sicily, the 40-year-old’s literal fatherland. Yet no one seems to tire of it." 618 Collings Avenue, 856-854-2670

See the whole list and descriptions here.

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