A steakhouse potato lands with enough cheese and bacon to eclipse the steak. A barbecue tray disappears from the edges inward because everyone went after the macaroni first.
In Fort Lee, a meal begins with so many little bowls of kimchi, pickles, and seasoned vegetables that the table seems full before the main dish arrives. Side dishes are supposed to play backup, but New Jersey kitchens have never been especially interested in staying within the lines.
From five-cheese baked macaroni in Hammonton to saffron rice in Newark, the best supporting players bring crunch, smoke, spice, sweetness, and the occasional shameless amount of butter.
Some come à la carte in polished dining rooms; others are scooped beside ribs at a counter where restraint is neither expected nor particularly useful.
These ten restaurants make a persuasive case for ordering one more side than seems reasonable—and choosing an entrée mainly for what gets to sit beside it.
1. Sweet T’s Southern Eatery – Montclair
The candied yams at this Montclair favorite occupy that delicious territory between vegetable and dessert. Soft, glossy, and deeply sweet, they provide exactly the right contrast to fried chicken or catfish.
Then the baked macaroni and cheese arrives, and any plan to eat sensibly is quietly retired. Sweet T’s approaches Southern comfort food with personality, turning familiar accompaniments into dishes that demand their own share of the table.
The smoked-turkey collard greens bring savory depth without losing their pleasant bite, while black-eyed peas with chicken-andouille sausage offer enough substance to qualify as lunch. Grandma Sarah “Boobie’s” potato salad is the cool, creamy choice beside anything crisp or spicy.
Even the cornbread earns attention, served with strawberry-flavored butter that makes “just one piece” an unrealistic goal. Entrées include braised short ribs, fried chicken, catfish, salmon cakes, and shrimp and grits, but a vegetable-heavy spread is entirely possible for anyone more interested in the supporting cast.
The room on Bloomfield Avenue feels polished yet relaxed, making it equally suitable for brunch with friends or an unhurried dinner. Prices land above the neighborhood takeout-joint range, though the cooking and presentation reflect that step up.
Bring someone willing to share, order at least three sides, and make sure one of them is the macaroni. Negotiations over the final spoonful can become surprisingly tense.
2. Red White & Que Smokehouse – Green Brook
Pineapple in baked beans may sound like a barbecue provocation, but it works. The fruit melts into the smoky, sweet sauce, giving Red White & Que’s beans a bright little twist without turning them into dessert.
They are one reason a tray at this Green Brook smokehouse can become a side-dish tasting session with brisket in the background. The creamy cheddar macaroni and cheese is the safest crowd-pleaser, while the collard greens arrive tangy, lightly spicy, and simmered with smoked pork.
Potato salad folds chunks of red potato with egg and celery, providing a cool counterweight to peppery brisket, pastrami, or jalapeño-cheddar sausage. Even the pickles require a decision: garlic, spicy, sweet chips, or mixed vegetables.
Order more than one kind and use them to reset your palate between bites of meat. The setup is casual and counter-service driven, so nobody will object if the table becomes crowded with paper-lined trays and containers passed in every direction.
Sandwiches include a small side, while combination meals make sampling several easier. Larger portions are available for groups or for anyone who wants the beans to reappear at tomorrow’s dinner.
The restaurant sits along Route 22, and the ample roadside location makes pickup straightforward. Start with brisket if you need a main event, but build around the beans, greens, macaroni, and pickles.
Around here, barbecue arithmetic says four sides for two people is perfectly sensible.
3. Mutiny BBQ Company – Asbury Park
Cornbread pudding changes the calculations at Mutiny BBQ Company. Richer and softer than a standard square of cornbread, it lands somewhere between a spoon bread and a savory-sweet casserole, soaking up barbecue sauce while remaining interesting enough to eat by itself.
The kitchen applies that same thoughtful approach to the rest of the tray. Macaroni and cheese carries the smoke and richness expected at serious barbecue, beans deepen the sweet-savory theme, and slaw supplies the crunch needed after a few bites of brisket or ribs.
Seasonal dishes and specials keep the edges of the menu moving, so regulars have a reason to look beyond their standard order. Barbecue is the anchor, with brisket, pulled pork, ribs, sausage, and chicken doing the heavy lifting, but the best strategy is to treat the meats as permission to sample broadly.
The dining room brings a bit more polish than the average roadside smokehouse without sanding away the casual fun; butcher paper, sauce, and sticky fingers still belong in the experience.
Its location in Asbury Park makes it an easy dinner stop after downtown shopping or a day near the waterfront, though popular services can fill up quickly.
Check the current schedule before heading over, especially outside peak season, and arrive before a favorite item sells out. Order the cornbread pudding immediately. If the table wants to share, order two. Some dishes invite generosity; this one tends to expose its limits.
4. 1911 Smoke House Barbeque – Trenton
There is no delicate way to assemble a plate at this Trenton institution. The macaroni and cheese needs room, the candied yams deserve a generous scoop, and the collard greens cannot be squeezed into whatever corner remains after the ribs arrive.
The only workable solution is a larger plate. Located on West Front Street near the State House, 1911 Smoke House Barbeque combines smoked meats, Southern sides, cocktails, and an easygoing bar atmosphere.
Brisket, ribs, pulled pork, chicken, and turkey may headline the menu, but the accompaniments give each visit its personality. Baked macaroni delivers the creamy weight a barbecue platter requires, while yams bring cinnamon-spiced sweetness against smoky meat.
Collards add a savory, slow-cooked note, and cornbread is ready for every streak of sauce left behind. Depending on the day and the menu, additional choices may include cabbage, green beans, rice, or potato salad, making a side-focused sampler an entirely defensible order.
The cooking leans hearty and straightforward rather than fussy, which suits a room where a game may be playing and conversation carries across the bar. Portions are generous, and combination platters offer the clearest route to trying more without ordering half the menu separately.
Parking downtown takes a little more thought than at a suburban barbecue stop, so allow time to find a space. Then settle in, loosen any unnecessary standards of restraint, and remember that macaroni counts as a side even when the portion suggests otherwise.
5. Kelsey’s – Atlantic City
Dinner can turn into a concert at Kelsey’s, where live R&B, soul, or jazz supplies the soundtrack and the plates arrive dressed for the occasion. The Atlantic City supper-club atmosphere is part of the draw, but the Southern side dishes know how to compete for attention.
Crab macaroni and cheese is the scene-stealer, combining creamy comfort with sweet pieces of seafood and enough richness to be shared—at least in theory. Traditional macaroni and cheese is equally at home beside fried chicken wings, pork ribs, short ribs, whiting, catfish, or shrimp.
Candied yams bring deep sweetness, collard greens supply a savory backbone, and baked beans fit neatly with the barbecue side of the menu. A cornbread basket should hit the table early, both as a warm opening move and as insurance against leaving behind any sauce later.
The room feels more like a night out than a quick soul-food stop: diners settle in, musicians perform, and birthdays have a way of becoming communal events. Reservations are wise for weekend dinner and entertainment nights, while the weekend brunch buffet offers another route through the kitchen’s comfort-food repertoire.
Kelsey’s sits on Pacific Avenue, within easy reach of the casinos but with a character entirely its own. Dress for an evening rather than a counter-service meal, bring friends who will help sample, and order sides for the whole table.
The music may be loud enough to discourage conversation, which is convenient when the crab macaroni reaches its final few bites.
6. Henri’s Hotts Barbeque – Hammonton
Choosing two sides sounds generous until the list begins: five-cheese baked macaroni, collard greens, corn pudding, candied yams, hush puppies, potato salad, garlic mashed potatoes, baked beans, string beans, onion rings, and seasoned fries. Suddenly, two feels like an unreasonable restriction.
Henri’s Hotts Barbeque has been making that decision difficult for years from its Black Horse Pike location in Hammonton. The macaroni is baked fresh and carries the satisfying density and browned edges that separate proper Southern-style mac from a bowl of cheese sauce with noodles.
Corn pudding is the sleeper pick, soft and gently sweet beside jerk chicken or smoky ribs. Fresh collards are prepared without meat, allowing their seasoning and earthy flavor to stand on their own, while the candied yams lean fully into sweetness.
Hush puppies provide crisp little breaks between bites of brisket, pulled pork, whiting, or fried chicken. Platters come with two sides and cornbread, but pints and quarts make it easy to correct that numerical injustice.
This is an unfussy, family-run kind of stop, better suited to a hungry road-trip crew than anyone interested in tiny portions and elaborate plating. There is parking at the restaurant, and takeout works especially well because the sides travel nicely.
Ask about any specials before committing to an order. Then choose the macaroni and corn pudding with the platter and add collards or yams separately. This is not indecision; it is sound logistical planning.
7. Rails Steakhouse – Towaco
A side of Brussels sprouts at Rails arrives with honey-gochujang chile sauce and roasted pork belly, which is a rather dramatic way for a vegetable to announce it has no intention of behaving. The Towaco steakhouse gives nearly every accompaniment a similar upgrade.
Smoked Gouda and bacon macaroni and cheese comes sized for two, though its bubbling top and smoky flavor can make sharing unpopular. Blue-cheese gratin potatoes bring creamy sharpness, while hash browns offer the simple pleasure of a crisp crust covering a tender center.
Mashed potatoes and creamed spinach handle the classics, but truffle butter pushes the sautéed mushrooms into special-occasion territory. Even asparagus gets Grana Padano and black-truffle sea salt.
The menu is built around dry-aged steaks cut on the premises, along with seafood and substantial appetizers, yet ordering a restrained steak and an unruly collection of sides may be the more entertaining approach.
The setting matches the food: a large, atmospheric building with stonework, dark wood, multiple dining spaces, and a downstairs speakeasy reached through an intentionally theatrical entrance.
Reservations are strongly recommended for Friday and Saturday nights, particularly if dinner is part of a celebration. Prices are firmly in steakhouse territory, and side dishes are served à la carte, so a group offers the best excuse to sample several.
Start with the Gouda macaroni, add the Brussels sprouts, and appoint one person to protect the gratin potatoes. Otherwise, they tend to disappear while everyone is admiring the room.
8. Roots Steakhouse – Summit
The loaded baked potato at Roots is described as colossal, and the kitchen is not engaging in poetic exaggeration. It arrives equipped to command a good portion of the table, piled with the familiar steakhouse fixings and ready to turn a petite filet into a very substantial dinner.
Potatoes remain a strong theme: whipped potatoes offer pure buttery comfort, pommes frites bring crisp simplicity, and potatoes au gratin arrive layered, creamy, and browned on top.
Macaroni and cheese comes in three levels of ambition—classic, truffle, and lobster—with the last version functioning more like a shared entrée than an accessory.
Vegetables receive enough attention to prevent the table from turning entirely beige. Brussels sprouts are finished with honey sambal, bacon, and scallions; roasted asparagus gets lemon aioli, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs; and roasted corn is paired with basil and sweet cherry tomatoes.
The Summit dining room has the white-tablecloth polish expected of a traditional steakhouse, with attentive service and a downtown location convenient to the train station. Steaks, seafood, and a deep wine list make it an easy celebration choice, and reservations are sensible on busy evenings.
Since nearly every side is designed for sharing, four diners have the ideal mathematical advantage. Order one potato, one macaroni, and at least one green vegetable, then add onion rings because arithmetic has limits.
The lobster mac is expensive for a side, but it is also the dish most likely to be discussed on the ride home.
9. Fornos of Spain – Newark
The saffron rice at Fornos absorbs whatever happens around it—garlic, seafood juices, roasted meat drippings—and somehow improves with every spoonful. Spanish potatoes play the other essential role, bringing crisp edges and savory seasoning to plates that are already generously loaded.
Together, they explain why meals at this longtime Newark restaurant often require both appetite and strategy. Fornos sits on Ferry Street in the Ironbound, where its expansive dining rooms host everything from weekday lunches to multigenerational celebrations.
Seafood and paella dominate much of the menu, but the smaller plates and accompaniments can easily take over. Fried asparagus comes breaded and paired with béchamel, turning a green vegetable into unapologetic comfort food.
Broccoli rabe, spinach, and Brussels sprouts provide simpler counterpoints, while a Spanish omelet folds potatoes, onions, and peppers into a shareable starter that behaves suspiciously like another side. Croquettes—available with fillings such as ham, codfish, chicken, mushrooms, or lobster and shrimp—belong in the opening order as well.
The portions favor sharing, and family-style dining feels natural here, especially when paella or a large seafood dish anchors the table. Valet parking is a useful advantage in the busy Ironbound, and reservations help on weekend evenings.
Order shrimp in garlic sauce, then guard the bread and rice closely; both become delivery systems for the garlicky oil. By the time the entrée arrives, the table may already have found its favorite course.
10. So Kong Dong – Fort Lee
Before the bubbling tofu soup reaches the table, a small fleet of dishes has already arrived. Kimchi, seasoned vegetables, pickled bites, and other banchan surround the place setting, each offering a different combination of crunch, heat, salt, sweetness, or tang.
These are not decorative extras. They are meant to be eaten throughout the meal, alternated with rice and soup, and combined according to whatever tastes best in the moment.
That constant back-and-forth makes So Kong Dong one of Fort Lee’s most satisfying places for diners who believe variety is the point. The restaurant specializes in sundubu-jjigae, a fiery Korean stew packed with silky soft tofu and a choice of ingredients such as beef, pork, mushrooms, dumplings, kimchi, clams, oysters, or mixed seafood.
It arrives furiously hot in a stone bowl, usually alongside rice cooked in its own hot vessel. The crisp layer that forms against the rice pot is another quiet pleasure, especially once loosened with liquid near the end of the meal.
Korean barbecue ribs, bibimbap, japchae, dumplings, and seafood pancake provide alternatives, but the tofu soup remains the move. The Main Street dining room is compact, busy, and efficient rather than ceremonious; tables turn steadily, and the food arrives ready for immediate attention.
Parking in downtown Fort Lee can require patience, so use a nearby municipal lot if street spaces are scarce. Come hungry, choose your spice level honestly, and do not treat the banchan as a prelude.
It is half the fun.