[!] Maze Restaurant Dress Code

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Maze Restaurant Dress Code

Here are 5 restaurants in NJ that are account the drive. Madeline Ference/NorthJersey.com

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Some of the best dining adventures anywhere are aural a two-hour drive of North Jersey.

An amuse-bouche at Elements in Princeton.(Photo: northjersey.com)

While North Jersey has no curtailment of standout restaurants, sometimes it's nice to get abroad to acquaintance article new, and article special.

Whether you're attractive for a able banquet out as allotment of a weekend getaway, or whether the meal itself the destination, we accept angled up some of our admired dining adventures that are account a alley trip — all of which are aural a two-hour drive.

Princeton

It doesn't get abundant bigger than Elements. This small (28 seats) avant-garde American restaurant in Princeton with an award-winning chef that has won praises from aloof about every above advertisement and has been named one of the 100 Best Restaurants in America by the website Opinionated About Dining. Chef Scott Anderson, a thin bearded baker who can be apparent alive in the advanced accessible kitchen (and at your table carrying the amuse-bouche course) uses the freshest capacity from bounded farmers, assuming comestible abracadabra on ceramics bowls and plates produced by bounded artists. The baby amplitude allows for abundant acquaintance — with your dining accomplice (the nine tables are well spaced) and with associates of the kitchen staff, who come to your table address a bowl and reciting drool-worthy explanations of what will wow your aficionado next.

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Elements has been named one of the 100 Best Restaurants in America by the website Opinionated About Dining. (Photo: Elements)

Why it's account the drive: No amount what you accept — à la carte, a four-course prix-fixe meal ($79; add $45 for beverage pairing) or an indulgent nine-course tasting caricature ($125 per person; add $65 for wine pairing) — you will go home absent of abiding to what may accept been one of your best dining adventures ever. Yes, it's that good.

The Elements dining allowance is baby (just 28 seats), authoritative for an affectionate experience. (Photo: Elements)

What to order: On the night we dined, Anderson brought over the amuse-bouche: an oversize faux bird's backup captivation two diminutive smoked blanch eggs. My dining accompaniment and I popped one anniversary into our mouths, bankrupt our eyes, and moaned. We knew we were in for a abundant meal. The restaurant says that its menu changes daily, so by the time you apprehend this what agape our socks off may no best be available. But aloof to get you salivating, among our admired items were an uber-refreshing arugula and fennel bloom in a alacrity vinaigrette; a cottony bluefin adolescent with burnt auto and turnip; a arresting peekytoe backtalk appetizer in a affluent buttermilk custard; baby-skin-tender ribeye with mushrooms; and adorable honey pie with the subtlest, creamiest amber ice cream. At the end of the meal, our capital aide brought over a departing petits fours: an acute amber excellent alloyed with bourbon and sea salt. "We like to alpha and end with a bang," he said. Mission accomplished.

While you're there: Make time to explore the blooming Princeton University campus and Nassau Street, which is lined with copse and high-end aliment as able-bodied as affordable indigenous restaurants and coffee shops. Accomplish your way to Palmer Square, area you'll acquisition abundance afterwards abundance afterwards abundance but conceivably best of all the wildest and best adorable ice chrism shop, The Bent Spoon (35 Palmer Sq. 609-924-2368 thebentspoon.net). The flavors change frequently — when I visited basil (too attenuate for my taste) and avocado (intense and creamy) were amid the nontraditional flavors available. A few doors down, you'll acquisition the Carter & Cavero Old World Olive Oil Co. (27 Palmer Sq. West; 609-356-0215 carterandcavero.com). You can annihilate a lot of time tasting its abundant olive oils: meyer lemon and claret orange, amid them. There are vinegars to taste, too. Afore you leave, stop in at the Princeton Record Exchange, one of the country's top record aliment (20 S. Tulane St.; 609-921-0881.prex.com). And if you accept time, drive to Grounds for Sculpture in nearby Hamilton, a 42-acre haven of sculptures, art exhibits and arresting aimless opportunities (80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton, 609-586-0616; groundsforsculpture.org).

Insider tip: Mistral, Elements' less-haute sister restaurant, is amid appropriate beneath Elements. Scott Anderson is its chef as well. So if you don't accept the time or the affection for a long, adequate meal, by all agency accede Mistral. If acclimate permits, eat on the admirable alfresco patio.

Go: 66 Witherspoon St., Princeton; 609-688-8808; elementsprinceton.com.

—Esther Davidowitz

Peapack

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Ninety Acreage occupies the carrying abode of a three-story brick abode aftermost endemic by the Prince of Morocco. (Photo: Ninety Acres)

It may once have been the carrying abode of a three-story brick abode aftermost endemic by the Prince of Morocco, but today Ninety Acreage in Peapack-Gladstone is a stunning, abundantly abounding and abundantly avant-garde farm-to-table restaurant, with an emphasis on farm. The James Beard-nominated restaurant — allotment of the new Natirar resort complex, it is amid at the end of a long, ambagious driveway in a abundant Somerset County Park — runs a 14-acre acreage growing herbs and vegetables and adopting chicken, lambs and added animals. As a aftereffect you can be abiding that that Natirar absurd egg on the card is super-fresh. And while there’s no abstinent that this is haute dining, there’s a casual, pretense-free air to the place. Booty the dress code. All that administration asks of men is that they abrasion a shirt with a collar (ties and jackets not required) and, if jeans are preferred, atramentous is the blush of choice.

Ninety Acres runs a 14-acre acreage growing herbs and vegetables and adopting chicken, lambs and added animals. (Photo: Ninety Acres)

Why it’s account the drive: Lots of restaurants avowal farm-to-table menus, but this is the absolute deal. The 14-acre farm is appropriate there; you can absolutely booty a bout of it if you agenda one beforehand. It may be alike added account a drive soon, back affairs to about-face the abode into a affluence bazaar auberge and spa are completed. Until again you can get into that “Om” area with a specialty cocktail and a bench in the absorbing alfresco “lounge.”

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What to order: You accept three choices: à la carte, prix-fixe or a tasting menu. On the à la carte card you’ll acquisition such accustomed dishes as wood-fired pizza ($14 to $16), angle and chips ($25) and a burger with chips ($22; $24 with egg). There are abounding choices on the three-course prix-fixe card ($75 per person). Highly recommended: aces Hudson Valley foie gras with diced honey-sweet broiled pineapple and brittle pistachio as an appetizer; altogether caramelized Barnegat Lighthouse scallops and pork belly, an absorbing cream and accommodation combo, with admirable curried cauliflower as a additional course; and for entrée, you can’t go amiss with either the poached Giggstown craven in a foie gras truffle booze or the nicely-spiced ancho-rubbed Continued Island avoid with morel mushrooms. Got allowance for dessert? One of our four servers recommended the attic zeppole abstemious with affection bake-apple caramel. Abundant recommendation. If you adopt the tasting menu, served appropriate by the accessible kitchen, be able to pay from $105 (for aliment alone) to $165 (with wine pairing).

While you’re there: You don’t appear to this allotment of New Jersey for amphitheater and rockin’ nightlife. This is attractive country, so put on a brace of adequate shoes and analyze some of the 500 esplanade acreage that beleaguer Ninety Acres. There is about one calm action you can booty allotment in: cooking. Natirar has a affable school. Check the agenda for classes at natirar.com/nj_cooking_school.

Insider tip: Ninety Acreage is difficult to find; heck it’s in the average of a huge park. And signage is poor. Trust your GPS.

Go: 2 Capital St., Peapack-Gladstone; 908-901-9500; ninetyacres.com

—Esther Davidowitz

New Brunswick

Stone bake-apple pavlova at the Frog and the Peach in New Brunswick. (Photo: The Frog and the Peach)

The Frog and the Peach, one of New Jersey's best-rated, and best-known, restaurants, is no new kid on the block; it has been confined bounded acreage and fishery book in a aforetime automated architecture in New Brunswick back 1983. Whether you acquisition yourself ache for a high-end meal while in Central Jersey, or whether you accomplish the Frog and the Peach your destination, you can relax in the cautiously lit, costly dining room, the archetypal cocktail bar or the serene garden patio and adore the restaurant's upscale, but fuss-free, fare.

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Why it’s account the drive: What's remarkable, after all this time, is not that the Frog and the Peach is still around, but rather that it has managed to break abreast and, well, absolutely good. (Earliest this year, it accustomed the countdown Garden State Comestible Arts Award for the state's best restaurant.) The New Brunswick dining arena assuredly seems to be communicable to it, with new gastropubs, coffee shops and ramen places opening in this academy boondocks that heretofore was bigger accepted for aliment trucks, pizza parlors and pubs. Despite all this, the Frog and the Peach still feels like a little abstruse haven in city New Brunswick. The controlling chef and buyer is Bruce Lefebvre, a alum of the Comestible Institute of America who has worked at Daniel and added locations in Manhattan. Lefebvre got his start working at The Frog and the Peach beneath its aboriginal owners.

The Frog and the Peach, which opened in 1983, charcoal one of the consistently best-rated restaurants in New Jersey. Earliest this year, it accustomed the countdown Garden State Comestible Arts Award for the state's best restaurant. (Photo: Cathy Miller)

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What to order: The bounded hothouse amazon bloom with burrata, burnt tortilla crumble and tomatillo salsa ($12) is what this restaurant does best: local, beginning and simple. The atramentous truffle ricotta gnocchi, in a broccoli pistachio pesto, are pillowy and all-powerful ($16 for bisected order, $25 for access portion). Your best bet is to aces what's in division — crabs and clams in June, peaches and tomato-based dishes in July and August, etc. Don't absence the adorable cocktails — the beginning pineapple and vodka martini ($11) and the El Ardito ($12), a ambrosial alloy of serrano-chili alloyed vodka, amateur sec and affection bake-apple purée, are the absolute mix of ambrosial and sweet. For dessert, the Valrhona amber coulant block ($13) would wow any chocoholic.

Local skate addition with cockle and crayfish sausage in booze vierge at the Frog and the Peach. (Photo: The Frog and the Peach)

While you’re there: New Brunswick is a academy town, so there's affluence to do. Catch a appearance at the State Theatrer the George Street Playhouse (which has relocated to a acting achievement amplitude abroad in New Brunswick for a few seasons while its new home is actuality built.).

Insider tip: For a added budget-friendly experience, sit at the bar, area you can order the above affair as able-bodied as beneath big-ticket versions of the dining allowance menu, accidental eats such as tacos ($4 to $5 each) and chickpea chips with curried mayo ($7). (You can adjustment from the approved menu, too.) There are additionally prix-fixe lunch, banquet and pre-theater options.

Go: 29 Dennis St., New Brunswick, 732-846-3216, frogandpeach.com.

—Sophia F. Gottfried

Wallpack Center

Nestled abysmal in the Walpack Valley, the Walpack Inn is amidst by 70,000 acreage of accustomed meadows and woods. (Photo: The Walpack Inn)

Established in the mid-1940s by the Lombardi and Zichella families, the Walpack Inn was purchased in 1949 by Adam and Louise Heigis, Bergen County association who were retiring, but capital a “little something” to do afterwards resettling abreast admired ones in Sussex. The brace offered a acceptable card in a warm, rustic amplitude and their efforts paid off. The Walpack Inn has been arranged to the rafters anytime since. And what rafters!

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Why it's account the drive: The restaurant’s adage is “We augment the deer, and bodies too!” That’s because while you’re eating, you can watch the deer, agrarian turkeys and added wildlife in the sprawling meadow outside. The views, accumulated with the agitating aliment and service, accomplish it an ideal destination no amount the season. Be advised, though, the restaurant is accessible on alone Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The Walpack Inn's adage is “We augment the deer, and bodies too!” Deer, agrarian turkeys and added wildlife add to the views. (Photo: The Walpack Inn)

What to order: Prime ribs, steak, added prime ribs and aloof about aggregate on the menu. Don’t apprehend too abounding surprises, though. Appetizers are old-school abstract (shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon, etc.) but don’t canyon up the bloom bar, which is awash with bounded produce. And leave some allowance for a allotment (or two) of bake-apple pie.

The arbor of lamb at the Walpack Inn. (Photo: The Walpack Inn)

While you're there: The restaurant’s website offers links to several bounded attractions, included the Sussex County Sunflower Maze, Stokes State Forest and the Peters Valley Academy of Craft.

Insider tip: If you accept GPS, don't bother application it. The ambience is so remote, the owners say, that Google maps and added casework tend to absolute drivers to addition area in adjacent Layton. For this reason, the restaurant has acquaint abundant admonition from Route 80 and added approaches at thewalpackinn.com/directions. The drive is absolutely scenic, so acquaint your cartage to accumulate their cameras handy.

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Go: 7 National Esplanade Account Road, Walpack Center; 973-948-3890, thewalpackinn.com

—Bill Ervolino

Belmar

Kaya's Kitchen in Belmar is a casual-dining, BYOB restaurant that you can still body an atramentous around. (Photo: Kaya's Kitchen)

Options can be bound back you're a vegan.

Options can be alike added bound back you're a vegan activity out to banquet with a non-adventurous non-vegan.

If you acquisition a meatless restaurant at all, the card is likely to accept dishes with names like "Fall Colors" or "Cosmic Casserole." Try cogent that to a acquaintance who's appetite meatloaf.

Kaya's Kitchen in Belmar not alone has appetizing food, it also has aliment that — in abounding cases — bears a ancestors affinity to dishes you've heard of. The 10-year-old restaurant, the abstraction of Omer Basatemur (Kaya is his daughter), has lots of options, from vegan burgers and mac-and-something-resembling-cheese, to tacos, curries and jambalaya. Entrée prices are reasonable, the accepted atmosphere is mellow, and service is affable admitting sometimes a tad laid-back. They have balladry nights and, on weekends, alive music, of a not-too-overbearing kind.

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Why it's account the drive: This is a casual-dining, BYOB restaurant that you can still body an atramentous around. And it's one of the few restaurants in which you and your carnivore accompany can accept an appropriately acceptable time.

What to order: Acapulco loco ($19) a big, adorable blend of atramentous beans, corn, peppers, onions and broccoli in chipotle adhesive salsa; seitan goulash ($19), the acceptable brainstorm bowl with seitan — a aureate gluten artefact — as the meat substitute; and body seitan ($16), a big, yummy, breaded absurd steak, smothered in gravy, that you can pretend is chicken, flounder or the sole of your active shoe. (For the gluten-averse, by the way, there are affluence of added options.) For appetizers, ask if they accept the Thai candied potato soup. Killer!

The 10-year-old restaurant, the abstraction of Omer Basatemur (Kaya is his daughter), has lots of options, from vegan burgers and pizzas to tacos, curries and jambalaya. (Photo: Kaya's Kitchen)

While you’re there: You're a few blocks from the bank — 'nuff said. You're additionally a brace of towns over from Asbury Park, area there's affluence of abundant arcade and bodies watching.

Insider tip: On Friday and Saturday, accomplish reservations. On Sunday, ask back they abutting (they've been accepted to abutting aboriginal back business is slow). Also, desserts accept been known to run out, so accede acclimation one afore the meal.

Go: Kaya’s Kitchen, 1000 Capital St. (corner of 10th & Main) Belmar. 732-280-1141 or kayaskitchenbelmar.com

—Jim Beckerman

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