Its been a long time since I tried it, but Charley's in Long Branch used to make a great prime rib. I see its still on the menu.

Agree wholeheartedly that the area lacks good food. However, my one (relatively recent) experience was so poor that I doubt I will be back. As my party of 6 was being seated, I used the restroom which is located in the back near the drink station. A guy from the kitchen came out and instructed a waitress to push the fish at the table of 6 just seated and gave her a financial incentive for each fish ordered. While this may not be an unusual practice (I've never worked at a restaurant, so don't really know), I eat out far too often to know that no customer should ever hear this conversation. Needless to say, no one ordered the fish (which, to the waitresses credit, she did not press upon us any more so than any other special). Unfortunately, the food just did not impress.

You're thinking of the place next door...Park 33 (which used to be Park Ave Bistro and had a different name before that). The OP's joint is the diner next door.

Wish I had seen your post earlier. Swung by Shanghai Bun earlier today to find they are closed on Tuesdays (not the first time, nor the last that I will forget this). Will definitely check this place out.

via 45 in Red Bank posted on FB that they have power and plan to open shortly. Don't know if that's true for all of Red Bank.

Also just heard that The Cabin on Rt. 33 is open from 12-6 with a limited menu.

I was going to start a similar thread. Hope all our NJ CH users made it through safe. Glad to know about Fireside as its not too far. Also in the same vicinity (western Monmouth):

Frankie Fed's (open since Tuesday) in Freehold...complete mob scene
Krispy Pizza in Freehold opened last night...pizza only

As for food stores, I believe all Wegmans are open (limited prepared foods available, I think). I stopped in the Manalapan store yesterday and left once I saw the hordes of people. In Freehold, Top Tomato is open. I heard that also in Freehold, Walmart and Sam's are open. In Manalapan, Target is open.

For at least some places, cash or check only.

Can't speak to Princeton. Downtown Trenton (with its very few restaurants) has power if that helps.

Funny, I just made my first visit last weekend. Really liked everything we had. Poppers, ribs, pulled pork, bbq chicken, mac & cheese wedges, cornbread, etc. Can't wait to return.

Wow...you nailed it.

Walked into an empty restaurant on Sunday around 5:30 pm. Great little space, attractively decorated (with several Halloween touches). Got to talking with Amanda, our server, and advised her that we learned about the place on CH. Before long, she was in the back reading over this thread. Tom - she remembered you right away. Food was overall good. Started with the Provoletta (melted provolone cheese with bread) and the Pear Paza salad (pears, gorgonzola, walnuts). Would get the pear salad again. Ordered three pizzas - 2 Margherita and 1 La Patata (described by Tom upthread). The Margheritas were fine. The La Patata was very good. Even my kids, who otherwise don't eat foods with onions, loved the caramelized onions. Had one organic chocolate ice cream for dessert (didn't taste) and a couple orders of the cannoli cups which were good. One other table became occupied before we left. As stated, the food was good and we'll return. Wish there were a few more choices to the menu, like some pastas. Hope that business picks up.

Somehow missed this thread, but I'm intrigued. Will be trying this place out soon.

Next time order Rossi's homemade potato chips in place of the steak fries. Yummy.

This may be worth a look for such a Trenton Pie run...

http://www.artifactsgallerytrenton.co...

Participated in yesterday's Food and Wine Walk in Red Bank. One of my favorite stops was at Cupcake Magician (first visit). They were serving a good variety of their mini cupcakes, but sadly we were only entitled to one each. They all looked quite tempting, but there was really no choice involved when I saw the one with bacon, called I think Pancakes with Bacon. It tasted exactly as described...like a taste of breakfast. Pancakes with maple syrup with some salty bacon. Really excellent. I'm not much of a cupcake guy, but based on this one very limited taste, I'm going back to try some more. What else is good?

Haven't been to any of the places mentioned. I know this is not what you're asking for, but for *fancy* Italian, I'd go to Piccola Italia in Ocean, but it fails to meet your BYOB criteria.

I haven't seen a dedicated Brandl post in some time. Paid a visit with another couple this past weekend after a very long time since my last visit some 5+ years ago. Seems like I was still paying off the tariff from last visit. Brandl remains very expensive for what it is, but boy did we have a truly terrific meal and a very good time. We were able to secure a prime time 7:45 pm reservation on Open Table for a Saturday night (every place we called in Asbury Park couldn't seat us until 9:45 or later). The restaurant was completely full upon our arrival and still a third full when we left around 10:15. Our server, who's name is now escaping me, was excellent. As for the food, we started with oysters, a crab meat martini, escargot (in the shell), and a special salad with a couple slabs of applewood smoked bacon. All the starters were delicious. For mains, the ladies had the lazy lobster (unbelievably sweet and the risotto was as good as I remember it). My friend had the scallops and I had the "halibut in a bag." The fish was literally cooked in some type of brown paper bag with a sticky rice that included grape tomatoes and andouille sausage. This dish just clicked on all levels (I really wanted to order the double cut veal chop special, but was trying to watch the diet). Of course, we ordered one each of the chocolate and vanilla souffles (so much for the diet). Both were out of this world good. The tab came to $135 per couple before tip (and that's without drinks..byob). There are plenty of places in the area where I can usually have a very good meal for that amount of money or less with drinks. I can't see returning with regularity at those prices, but for an occasional splurge, the food on this particular evening was well worth it.

I've heard both Cracker Barrell and Outback rumors for that site.

And make sure to order it *runny* Had one recently that came out a bit too firm. There wasn't enough eggy goodness to sop up.

+2. My go to place in Asbury these days. Very noisy and busy on a weekend dinner, but you can call ahead to get on the wait list. In addition to SusieQQ's comments on food, I'd throw in the pastas and nutella pizza dessert.

I was also intrigued by Beasty Burger...been following them on Facebook and they have some great posts. Made it in this past weekend and the burgers were a disappointment. They weren't bad, but nothing about them stood out. Some creative combinations on the menu...I had the Jersey Burger which included cheese, pork roll and a fried egg. Others had bacon burgers, plain cheeseburgers. All burgers came with an au jus dipping sauce which came in handy for the dry, toasted rolls they were served on. My kid said the mac and cheese was outstanding. Skip.

There's a recent thread about the absence of dining options around Great Adventure. If you search it out, you will see the names of places that came up. Sorry, can't help you in Cookstown.

The old Charley's in Long Branch used to serve what I considered to be the best prime rib. The newer (but not so new anymore) Charley's Ocean Grill still serves a prime rib, but I have not had it. If its anything like its predecessor, it should be quite good.

Cafe 360 in Freehold on Main St. The gelato is quite good. Had a blood orange the other day that was intensely flavored.

Yes, not favorite restaurant, but the places that do a good job at putting out quality content via social media. One more I just thought of is Just, but they promote their nightclub way more heavily than their food. But when they do post about their food, the post is usually very well done (still haven't made it there for a meal yet).

Oh, and a relative newcomer, Beasty Burger, has been doing a good job as well.

What NJ restaurants and food stores are particularly good at keeping the public up to date (specials, promotions, new menu items, etc.) Personally, I find the following to do a pretty good job via Facebook:

Restaurant Nicholas
10th Ave Burrito
Jersey Shore BBQ
The Cheese Cave
Surf Taco
Via 45

I'm sure there are others that I'm forgetting at the moment. What are your favorites?

Also love the pizza, salads and apps at Porta, but gotta disagree on the entrees. I've had several pastas and found them all very good.

I haven't been to La Cipollina in probably 15 years, and can't recall seeing a post on the place in a long time, if ever. If the steak was that good, I may need to pay a visit as ribeye is also my favorite cut (my favorite place, but not in Monmouth, is Old Homestead in AC).

100% kid friendly.

I (and many others) love it. As noted, they specialize in seafood (crabs, crab legs, mussels, shrimp, etc.) in their specialized garlic sauce (I always order a pound of the snow crab legs). Also get multiple orders of the crab fries (feed 2-3 hungry people) that come dusted in an old bay like seasoning with sides of melted cheese for dipping. Sandwiches, burgers, pizza, etc. all are very good.