New Jersey

A giraffe looks down from above the dining room, antler chandeliers glow overhead, and a bear appears to…

By Duncan Edwards · May 3

The best New Jersey sandwich orders rarely begin with a quiet browse of the menu. They start with…

By Duncan Edwards · May 3

There’s a little swagger in ordering octopus at a place where the pizza ovens are doing most of…

By Duncan Edwards · May 3

A white tower rising out of dune grass. A red-roofed beacon tucked beside the Delaware Bay. A pair…

By Duncan Edwards · May 3

A giant painted snake waits near a ladder, and for one ridiculous second, your brain believes the whole…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

The best New Jersey towns are rarely shy. One minute you are walking past a Revolutionary-era building, the…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

The first thing you notice is not the menu. It is Manhattan, sitting right there across the Hudson…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

A kid in a hard hat is steering a construction vehicle in South Jersey while, two hours north,…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

Blink and you might miss Pearl Street in Newfield. Blink twice and you might miss the little building…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

A six-story elephant stands a block from the Atlantic, a glassy former science temple stretches across Holmdel like…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

The building looks almost too small to be this famous. Sitting at 470 Tonnelle Avenue in Jersey City,…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

A bronze Martian crouches in a quiet Mercer County park, not far from tidy lawns, shade trees, and…

By Duncan Edwards · May 2

Rancocas Creek doesn’t announce itself with drama. It slips through the woods in Burlington County, brown and quiet,…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

A waterfall hiding behind an old mill, a 77-foot monster roaring in the middle of Paterson, a thin…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

The first clue that Supreme Discount Warehouse is not playing by normal retail rules is the building itself.…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

A six-story elephant stands by the sand in Margate, an old prison keeps watch over Mount Holly, and…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

Step through the doors at American Dream in East Rutherford, and New Jersey does something delightfully ridiculous: it…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

The best New Jersey trail days do not always start with a steep climb or muddy boots. Sometimes…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

Just off Route 10 in Morris County, behind the kind of everyday New Jersey traffic that makes nobody…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

A sandy paw print disappears faster than a human footprint at the Jersey Shore, especially when the tide…

By Duncan Edwards · May 1

There is a cheesecake in Ringoes that does not need a fork, a plate, or even much patience.…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

There are meals in New Jersey that come with a view, a velvet rope, or a marketing budget.…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

The road in doesn’t exactly announce itself. One minute you’re near Route 72 and Route 539, with the…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

The best New Jersey pizza trip does not begin with a white tablecloth or a dramatic view. It…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

The first thing you notice is what is missing. No wall of giant touchscreens. No glowing wristband scanner.…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

A dinner reservation in New Jersey can mean white tablecloths in a Victorian beach town, sushi beside a…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

The first thing that gets you at Iron Plow Vineyards is the setting. You turn off the road…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

At 7 a.m. in Highland Park, someone is already ordering huevos rancheros. By noon in Jersey City, the…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 30

A little kid is nose-to-nose with a helicopter cockpit. A retired pilot is explaining lift with the enthusiasm…

By Duncan Edwards · Apr 29