Between Trenton itself and its inner suburbs (Lawrence, Hamilton, Ewing) you have a wonderfully diverse set of inexpensive, ethnic restaurants close-by. Drive to the “outer” suburbs (Princeton, Bordentown, Hopewell, Lambertville, New Hope), and you can find wonderful, upscale dining.
Benedicion opened in late 2019 and delivers superb pupusa in the authentic Salvadoran style. Lightly oiled, perfectly grilled. Served with the traditional, home-made curtido (a pickled salad made from cabbage, onions, chopped up jalapenos, and cilantro), and salsa roja (mildly spiced, tomato based sauce).
Until now, we’ve never found a local Puerto Rican restaurant we could get excited about. Frankly, the cuisine is tough to prepare well. Unlike Mexican which depends on spiciness, PR cuisine depends on subtle textures and flavors (usually including a lot of garlic). Subtle is hard. Take Mofongo, a classic PR dish. It’s a ball … Continue reading Subtle Intensity
La Taqueria (located on a decidedly suburban site in Lawrence) is better than most Mexican/Guatemalan joints in the area, slightly more expensive than similar places in Trenton (but still a bargain), and much more nicely appointed. If you find yourself in Lawrence looking for a quick, inexpensive bite, it’s a good place to stop.
Mostly a take-out joint, Guate Rico Deli’s food is all home made, absolutely fresh, and expertly prepared. Compared to other Guatemalan restaurants in town, the cooking uses fat and salt with a lighter touch, making it a place where you can eat often.
One of the few restaurants in this area that takes the trouble to spice each dish individually. Offers a range of Indian cuisine hard to find elsewhere. Strongly recommended.
(Covid Update Dec 2021 – in business) Lady and the Shallot serves a limited but well-conceived menu of exclusively vegan, gluten-free, and tree-nut-free food. Execution is great, but not transcendent. Vegetarian or vegetarian-leaning eaters will be completely happy here, especially if they are gluten-sensitive or nut-allergic or lactose intolerant. Non-vegetarians will enjoy the fresh-made food … Continue reading Plant Power
What do two guys from NJ know about Philly cheesesteaks? Quite a lot, apparently. Their 100% rib-eye steaks provide the perfect balance of flavor and grease.
Superb home-cooked fried chicken and many other soul specialties. Less greasy and salty than most. Pleasant place to grab a lunch or fast dinner downtown. Take-out and catering as well.
128 West State Street Café is an elegant, little, post-modern eatery that serves freshly-made espresso drinks, and a limited menu of impeccably prepared breakfast and lunch foods. It’s open for breakfast and lunch, from 7 AM to 4 PM, targeting the downtown and statehouse crowd.
Trentini’s Restaurant has been quietly serving decent Italian fare at its storefront in the Roebling Market ever since its founding in 2002. Trentini’s looks like a standard pizza joint (and the pizza’s OK). But walk past the pizza parlor into the back room, and you find yourself in a quiet, immaculately clean, and intimate dining room with waitress service. With most of the old-line Chambersburg restaurants gone, it’s one of the few options for good Italian within the city limits. And it’s a real bargain.
Fat Jacks delivers excellent BBQ, particularly if you like it charred, as we do. The food uses premium ingredients and is cooked to order, so call ahead.
Surprisingly ambitious food in Ewing, delivered at a fair price. Great desserts. Bargain for lunch. Reservations recommended
If you’re looking for a bar with food (as opposed to food) you may fall in love with Casa Blanca. It’s one of the most Anglo-friendly bars in town, newly renovated, with a diverse crowd and good, reasonably priced food.
La Cabaña is a Costa Rican restaurant offering food that, at its best, is utterly sublime, rivaling in both quality and presentation much, much more expensive restaurants. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and one of the best places in town for Sunday brunch.
Right around the corner from the ballpark: great pizza by the slice or by the pie. Superb Latin fusion cooking. A great place for a quick meal before a Thunder game.
Cafe Un, Deux, Trois is one of our “go to” places in New York City for a meal before a Broadway show. Cargot — an updated, Princeton-take on a similar dining concept — may assume a similar role for when we take in a show at McCarter (which is literally across the street). Cargot opened … Continue reading French-ish
Ever heard of an Arepa? Or a Cachapa? Neither had I. But Trenton’s only Venezuelan restaurant serves up these national specialties, along with a superb Latino-fusion menu.
Tikal offers an American fusion menu: center of gravity is Guatemalan, but look for other Latino cuisines as well as Italian American standards. Full bar. Gorgeous new renovation. Friendly service.
One of our favorite Indian restaurants shut its doors a couple of months ago. But fear not, it’s reappeared at 5 Points. Is it still as good? The original chef has returned to his paying job, but his cousin cooks most of the same menu adequately (if not quite as expertly). Still one of the better Indian restaurants in Mercer County, and quite reasonably priced.
The Dinky is a tiny, sophisticated, but still casual spot for cocktails and a light meal. The menu is limited, but expertly prepared. Cocktails are superb. A bit pricey, but not crazily so.
Superb tomato pie in town, with a crisp, flavorful crust that’s not at all dry.
Located on Main St (206) in Lawrenceville, mid-way between Princeton and Trenton, Fedora delivers reliably good breakfasts, lunches, and dinners (its “hat trick”) at prices that will seem like a bargain once you experience its quality.
El Negro de Oro (“Black Gold”) is the only Trenton restaurant we know that specializes in Ecuadorian cuisine, including such traditional dishes as: Hornado (roast pork) — at El Negro it’s served with hominy corn, Maiz Tostado (toasted corn nuts), potato cake, and salad (see header image). Seco de Chiuo — a rich, slow-braised goat … Continue reading Ecuadorian Dream
If you’re looking for a casual meal of the highest quality, and are willing to pay a fair price for it, Comfortfood is the place to go. The menu is eclectic and surprising with food for all including vegans and carnivores.
(Covid Update Dec 2021 – in business) Antojitos y Helados (literally: Snacks and Ice Cream) is a tiny Guatemalan restaurant in the heart of Chambersburg. As a restaurant, it’s fine… the meals are authentic, fresh, and home-cooked. However, because of its tiny size (only 3 small tables) the menu is extremely limited, and you have … Continue reading Fire & Ice
There must be a dozen decent Guatemalan restaurants in town, yet somehow RL manages to be among the best. Maybe it’s the friendly, family atmosphere. Or maybe its the food: presentation is just OK, but the portions are huge, prices are low, and the flavor is outstanding.
Paradise specializes in Hyderbadi cuisine, though the menu encompasses dishes from across the sub-continent including Mughlai and southern specialties. All meat served is Halal. If you’re in the right mood, it’s biryanis are subtle and expertly prepared.
Non Solo describes itself as serving “southern italian cuisine”: the menu provides most of the red-sauce “Italian” classics boomers will remember from their childhood: plus about a dozen veal or chicken dishes ranging from the omnipresent Francese to more exotic preparations like Saltimbocca or Romano. There’s also a fair selection of sea food, salads, and a nice selection of specials (15 on the day we visited).
Johnny’s has been operating at the same location since the early 1970s. He makes the best Trenton Pork Roll sandwich in town.
Aurelio’s serves the best Latino cuisine in Princeton. There are something like half a dozen restaurants in Trenton that are as good or better, and at least 2 in Hamilton. Still, operating an inexpensive restaurant with good food in Princeton is no small feat, and if you like Aurelio’s, you owe it to yourself to start exploring Trenton restaurants as well.
Yes, it is (kind of) the Latino KFC. A “fast-food” chain that started in Guatemala, Pollo Campero operates one in Trenton. While originally focused on fried chicken, Campero now offers “Citrus Peruvian Grilled” Chicken as an alternative. And what an alternative! It comes PERFECTLY cooked: succulent and flavorful: without a doubt some of the best chicken we’ve ever had anywhere. Normally we don’t like to review chain stores; but when they can deliver something this good, we make an exception.
OK, I admit to loving dives. Especially ones like this where the sensibilities of the owner, even wacky ones, are plain to see. It reminds me of the places I used to eat growing up, from a time when most restaurants were owner operated, and McDonald’s were found only in California. In Manhattan, you might … Continue reading Squirreled Away
(Covid Update Dec 2021 – in business) Reggie Hallett, founder and head chef, is a man with a mission: “I am a firm believer that you should be able to have the option of great food while enjoying friends at a great local bar”. There’s plenty to suggest that he’s onto something: even on a … Continue reading Bar-B-Que Bar
Diner food, diner prices, better quality. Just across the bridge in Morrisville: open 7 days for breakfast and lunch (7-3).
Jim Hamilton, a Broadway set designer turned restaurateur, started Hamilton’s Grill (“HG”) more than 25 years ago. As you’d expect from a set designer, place and settings are impeccable. The restaurant is tucked away on a quiet alley. HG’s menu has been farm to table long before that term entered popular consciousness. The menu changes seasonally, and there are always a few specials. The food is simple, but exceptionally high quality and perfectly presented, featuring grilled seafood and meats. Unusually for a restaurant of this quality, it’s BYOB.
Located in a tiny strip mall just off Rt 206 in Hamilton, El Gallo Tropical serves up what is possibly the best Mexican food in the area. That’s saying a lot, as a host of good-to-superb Mexican dives have opened in the Greater Trenton area over the last few years. My friends from Cali to … Continue reading Southern Standoff
(Covid Update Dec 2021 – in business) In the 1980’s, sculptor J. Seward Johnson created a plan for a contemporary sculpture museum in Hamilton, NJ. He purchased the land that had housed the NJ State Fairgrounds, and by the 1990’s “The Grounds for Sculpture” was a thriving public indoor/outdoor art museum. In 2000, Johnson opened … Continue reading Artful Dining
(Covid Update Dec 2021 – in business) Saluté is a pleasant, relatively small (60 seat) Italian restaurant in a nondescript strip mall in Morrisville. The aesthetic and menu are very much like a Chambersburg eatery from the 60s, though newly renovated. Faux stone panels and crystal light fixtures evoke a “rat pack” bachelor pad, as … Continue reading Ratpack Returns
A charming dive just south of the border with Trenton, Mexico Lindo is another worthy addition to the growing list of Mexican restaurants in town, serving up authentic, home-made specialties at prices that out-of-towners find astonishing.
DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pie (“DTP”) in Robbinsville is operated by the third generation of the same family as DeLorenzo’s Tomato Pie on Hudson Street, which closed in 2012 (when the second generation retired). Make no mistake, the pies in Robbinsville are really good. At the core of DeLorenzo’s excellence is its crust, as good as any we’ve sampled. It’s relatively thin, yet the undercarriage is crisp and stays crisp throughout the entire meal.
