New Jersey

At 154 Woodbridge Avenue in Highland Park, White Rose Hamburgers looks like the kind of place that has…

By Duncan Edwards · May 27

A great sushi night in New Jersey can start in wildly different ways: slipping through a tucked-away omakase…

By Duncan Edwards · May 27

A plate lands on the table at Broad Street Diner in Keyport, and for a second, everyone gets…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

At 7 a.m. in New Jersey, some of the best decisions of the day are made while standing…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

There’s a moment at Gilchrist Offshore Restaurant when the plate lands and everything else on the table suddenly…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

A rock that looks ordinary in daylight suddenly glows like a candy-colored alien artifact. A shark glides overhead…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

The first surprise is the sand. Not “a little patch by the water” sand, but bright, beach-day sand…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

Follow the smoke in New Jersey and you might end up somewhere wildly unpretentious: a counter inside a…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

The first clue that Fluffies Hot Chicken is not playing around is the way the food lands on…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

A hallway light blinks once, then again, just as the ocean wind presses against the old windows. Downstairs,…

By Duncan Edwards · May 26

The building looks like it was dipped in strawberry milk and dropped onto Memorial Drive just to wake…

By Duncan Edwards · May 25

Some breakfasts ask you to be sensible. These are not those breakfasts. These are the places where a…

By Duncan Edwards · May 25

The pie hits the table looking a little backward, at least if you grew up on regular pizza.…

By Duncan Edwards · May 25

The best fishing days in New Jersey do not always begin with a dramatic sunrise or a cooler…

By Duncan Edwards · May 25

A wooden World War II hangar in Cape May. A battleship with 16-inch gun turrets on the Camden…

By Duncan Edwards · May 25

A soccer ball rockets across the field, somebody’s uncle yells instructions like he’s managing Portugal in extra time,…

By Duncan Edwards · May 25

A sunflower field does something funny to your sense of direction. One minute you are following a neat…

By Duncan Edwards · May 25

A pedal boat slides past the boathouse, kids are negotiating one more run through the splash pad, and…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

The group chat starts with “I’m easy,” which is almost never true. Ten minutes later, one person wants…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

The double smash burger at Bowl Burger Bistro does not arrive like it is trying to politely join…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

The tunnel goes dark, the rocks suddenly glow neon green and orange, and for a second New Jersey…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

At 60 Sip Ave, Thai Plates does the Jersey City magic trick: it looks modest enough to miss…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

A cookie stop has a funny way of changing the whole mood of a drive. One minute, you…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

There’s a moment at American Dream when the whole thing feels completely unreasonable in the best possible way:…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

The easiest New Jersey day trips are the ones where your biggest decision is whether to get coffee…

By Duncan Edwards · May 24

By late afternoon, the thing you want most in Raritan may already be gone. Not a parking spot.…

By Duncan Edwards · May 23

You know you are close when the road starts hugging the Delaware and the scenery quietly changes its…

By Duncan Edwards · May 23

The first clue that dinner at The Loft Steakhouse in Lakewood is not going to be a quick…

By Duncan Edwards · May 23

The best BYOB dinner in New Jersey usually starts before you even sit down: a quick stop for…

By Duncan Edwards · May 23