Great food, raw bars by the beach, and a giveaway
Happy Thursday, foodies, and welcome to another Jersey Shore Eats newsletter!
I assume that you are like me, a food lover who eats something delicious and can't stop thinking about it. Last week, while visiting restaurants for a story on the newest restaurants at the Shore, I had some of the best food I've eaten in a while.
First up, chorizo tacos with cambray onions at Taqueria La Playa on the boardwalk in Belmar. The beachfront restaurant opened just before Memorial Day in the building that previously housed Jimmy's on the Beach. New owners Jessie Singh and Andy Bindal are serving some of the most delicious tacos I've had: There's chorizo, al pastor, steak, chicken, carnitas and suadero, a cut of beef popular in Mexican street tacos.
And those cambray onions...delicious. Known as Mexican spring onions, they get a quick toss on the grill and a sprinkle of salt, and they add a pop of brightness to the meaty tacos.
Fun fact: Singh and Bindal are the longtime owners of another Belmar business, a Mexican grocery store called Super Savers Market. They added a taqueria in 2019; its popularity led to the new restaurant.
Next is pizza from another spot you may remember from last week: Queen City Crust in Beach Haven.
Will you sit in Long Beach Island summer traffic to get there? Probably. Will it be worth it? Absolutely.
I'd never had Detroit-style pizza until I tried their pies, and Motor City is onto something with that crispy, cheesy crust. Brothers Troy and Dylan Sambalino say they're the first ones to do this style of pie on the Island, and they're serving it in a 22-seat spot formerly home to a bakery and tea shop.
I ordered a whole plain pizza, which is made with four cheeses, and a slice each of the pineapple-braised pork pizza with pickled jalapenos and pepperoni pizza with hot honey. My testers (a.k.a. my sons, ages 9 and 13) and I gobbled it all up and enjoyed our leftovers just as much.
(Pro tip: Leftover pizza should always be reheated in a pan on the stove over low heat. Cover with a piece of foil so it heats through. This makes the crust as crispy as when the pizza was fresh out of the oven.)
Back at Queen City Crust, the crust is crisp and the dough is nice and airy, lighter than a Sicilian pie. The specialty pies were good, but the plain was excellent. If you visit early, they make a breakfast pizza with pork roll and eggs that looks fantastic.
Last but not least, a drink that is perfect for summer: Strawberry horchata from Los Barbaros Birria in Belmar. The traditional Mexican rice milk drink gets a boost from fresh strawberries, and the result is a cold, creamy concoction that tastes like strawberry ice cream.
Raw bars by the beach
Seafood is often reserved for fine dining, but at the Shore, raw clams and oysters can be found just steps from the beach.
"You'll find higher-end stuff here on the boardwalk that you won't get anywhere else," said Nick Dionisio, a third-generation raw bar operator and the owner of Park Seafood Clam Bar on the Seaside Park boardwalk. Fresh seafood is delivered there daily. "There's no walk-in fridge, so when we run out, we run out. You won't find anything fresher."
Here are others to try:
Boardwalk Bar & Grill in Point Pleasant Beach: This beachside spot serves clams and oysters on the half shell, a variety of cooked seafood and steamed shellfish, and Colossal Shrimp cocktail.
Beachcomber Bar & Grill in Seaside Heights: This spot, known for its live music and party atmosphere, also boasts a raw bar that focuses primarily on clams and oysters. There's also plenty of cooked seafood, like crab legs and coconut shrimp.
Avenue Le Club in Long Branch: This upscale French spot has an immense raw bar. Come hungry for platters like "Le Petit Plateau" with a ¼ pound of shrimp, a half dozen middle neck clams on the half shell, a half dozen New Zealand mussels, and six oysters (three East Coast and three West Coast). There's also chilled Maine lobster, king crab legs, shrimp cocktail and Osetra caviar from the Caspian Sea.
The evolution of the drive-thru
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the drive-thru was a thing of convenience. During, it was a necessity. But what about after?
While consumers now may walk inside for a burger or taco, more customers are staying in their cars than they did before the pandemic, reports Asbury Park Press business writer David P. Willis. And restaurant chains are revamping the drive-thru by adding more lanes and making it more convenient for their customers to pick up their food on the go.
Personally, I've been a fan of the drive-thru lane since my first son was born. He would fall asleep in his car seat on our way to Wendy's and I, a brand new mom, enjoyed a junior cheeseburger and salty french fries in air-conditioned silence while he snoozed.
Here's what the future of the drive-thru looks like: drive-up lanes for picking up mobile orders, like the recently approved "Chipotlane" at a forthcoming Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant on Route 37 in Toms River, and double drive-thru lanes like those coming to McDonald's in Marlboro.
If it gets me food faster, I'm in!
Win up to $600 in Amazon gift cards for Amazon Prime Day!
It’s all part of the Asbury Park Press’s subscriber-only perks and rewards program!
We're giving away one $100 Amazon gift card, per day, from June 6 through July 3, 2022, as everyone gets ready for Amazon Prime Day deals set for July 12 and 13. When the sweepstake entry period concludes, we will select one grand prize winner for one $500 gift card! You may enter DAILY until 11:59 p.m. ET on 7/3/2022.
Click this link for the entry form:https://www.app.com/story/nletter/2022/06/05/enter-win-subscriber-shopping-sweepstakes/9910496002/
That's it for this week. Thank you for reading, and I wish you a safe and happy Fourth of July filled with delicious barbecue food! I am on vacation next week (any suggestions on where to eat in Lake George?), so my next newsletter will be in your inboxes on July 14.
Until then, find more local food stories at:
app.com | Facebook | Instagram
Sarah Griesemer is a food writer for app.com. Email her at sgriesemer@gannettnj.com. For more on where to eat and drink, please subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Great food, raw bars by the beach, and a giveaway
