September 6th – 8th: Asbury Park’s Oyster Fest. Oysters, seafood & traditional festival fare are available from over 25 vendors including Mumford’s, Tiger’s Tale, Lusty Lobster, Red Hook Lobster, Bacon on Wheels and Ike’s Famous Crab cakes. Beer, wine and fun soft drinks available throughout the festival. Crafts & Live Music too. Visit here for hours and more info.
September 7th & 8th Belmar’s San Gennaro Festival Belmar’s Main Street will be lined with the sights, sounds and aromas of Little Italy as the borough celebrates its second annual San Gennaro Festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 7th and 8th. Main Street will be lined with food vendors, crafters, and commercial vendors, and Belmar merchants will be out in force with special sidewalk sales and activities.
September 7th & 8th: Appetite: A Gastronomic Experience – Located at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, this event is a must for food lovers. Each day will feature celebrity chefs, demonstrations and lessons, wine pairings, scotch and bourbon tastings, food trucks, and even kid-specific events. Tickets range in price and may be purchased online. Win Tickets
September 8th: Dearborn Market’s Local Food Festival. Holmdel 11am – 4pm Meet the people and places behind the delicious products available at Dearborn Market–cookies, coffee, chocolates, spices, honeys, tea’s, marinades, sauces, pasta’s, pickles & more – all located in NJ and available to purchase. For details, visit our website.
September 14th: Amateur Chili Cook-Off – The Grape Escape Winery in Dayton, NJ presents the second competition in their chili cook-off. The four amateur chef finalists will prepare chili, which you get to help taste and judge! A $40 ticket to the event will also get you Postino Restaurant food and tastings of wine and chocolate.
September 14th – 15th: Fall for New Jersey Wines Trail Event: The smell of ripening apples, the hints of red and orange in the tree line, tell us that it’s time to head for the hills to pick pumpkins and applies and to taste great wines along the Vintage North Jersey wine trail. Many wineries are beginning harvest and vineyards are filled with the aroma of future vintages as their grapes reach maturity. Watch – or even join in – as “crush” begins. “Crush” is the harvest, crush-destem and beginning of fermentation of 2013 vintage wines. If you are lucky, you may even taste juice as it runs from the press into fermentation vats! See your future wines in the making along the Vintage North Jersey wine trail.
September 21st: Festival of the Sea, Point Pleasant Beach. 10am to 7pm. Rain date is September 22, 2013. This street fair is located in the heart of downtown Point Pleasant Beach on Arnold and Bay Avenues. Vistors sample dishes by the area’s finest restaurants serving everything from Lobster, Steak, Chowders, Pasta, Desserts and everything in between. Hundreds of Arts and Crafts vendors display their crafts. Free Shuttles run from noon until 7pm. They stop on Broadway and Baltimore Avenues, Broadway and Ocean Avenues, Ocean and Arnold Avenues, and the Train Station. One also leaves from Point Pleasant Boro High School on Beaver Dam Rd. and drops off on Lincoln Avenue, so there is plenty of FREE on street parking. For more information please call 732-899-2424
September 21 – 22nd: Highlands Festival at Waterloo. The Highlands Festival at Waterloo is a “Celebration of All Things Local” including home-grown FOOD! food vendors will be asked to source local food and clearly state where it comes from. Chef run workshops, locally produced food products and more at this weekend long, family friendly event.
September 21 – 22nd: Jersey Skyline Wine Festival. With a perfect view of the NY skyline as a vantage point more than a dozen of the finest New Jersey wineries will be on hand at Overpeck Park in Ridgefield Park for the inaugural Jersey Skyline Wine Festival, promoted by the Garden State Wine Growers Association. Paid attendees receive a complimentary wine glass with their admission ticket which is $25 at the gate and $20 in advance ordered through www.newjerseywines.com
September 22nd: The Morris County Sunday Supper is returning to the Hyatt Morristown from 4 – 7. A night of farm-to-table tastings from local gourmet chefs and farms. In addition to the gourmet tasting, the night will feature a silent auction, open bar, and live music. Details on the Sustainable Morristown website: http://sustainablemorristown.
September 23rd: FBCC Culinary Classic – The Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties presents their 22nd Annual Culinary Classic at The Mill at Spring Lake Heights. The event will raise awareness and funds for hunger in the New Jersey community, especially with regard to the increased need post-Hurricane Sandy. Dozens of popular restaurants from the Jersey Shore will be present to offer samples of signature dishes, wine, cocktails and local craft brews. To purchase tickets and for more information, visit the event Facebook page.
September 28th: “Grape Expectations: a unique food & wine event with a “Twist” to benefit The Montclair Public Library. Featured guest will be Eric Asimov, wine critic for The New York Times. Mr. Asimov will lead a Wine Master Class for a small group from 6:30-7:30 and will make remarks and answer questions at the main event beginning at 7:30. Top local chefs contribute dishes inspired by the novels of Charles Dickens so it will be a delicious and enjoyable event for a great cause. For tickets and information, visit http://www.montclairlibrary.org or e-mail Montclair Public Library Foundation Administrator, Anita Peterson [email protected]
October 5th & 6th: LBI Chowderfest – 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of the annual LBI Chowderfest. There will be unlimited chowder tasting, live music, a food court, a merchant market, and beautiful views of the bay! General admission tickets are $20 ($10 for kids) and may be purchased online.
October 12th, Unionville Vineyards Fall Harvest Festival will be their biggest and best festival yet, with more areas to taste wine and food, two exciting regional rock’n’roll talents, new demonstrations and pairing classes, the return of the grape stomp, opportunities to interact with the winemakers, and plenty to keep kids of all ages happy and interested.
Tickets available at www.unionvillevineyards.com/
October 12th: Point Pleasant Beach Chowder Fest. Located on Inlet Drive overlooking our beautiful Manasquan Inlet from 12-6pm. Food, Live Music, Beer Garden, Arts & Crafts, and of course Chowda! Rain Date 10/13/2013. For more Information 732-899-2424. Presented by The Point Pleasant Beach Chamber of Commerce.
November 18th: Jersey Bites Presents Forks & Corks to benefit the Algonquin Arts Theatre at the Mill, Spring Lake Heights from 6 to 9pm. This event will showcase deliciously diverse cuisine from the area’s most popular restaurants along with a cast of renowned wines and beers. $65 per person. Entertainment: The Paul Marino Band Dress: Business Attire Sponsorship Opportunities contact Teresa Staub Development Director, 732-528-4336or [email protected]
September 6th – 8th: 
Amy Casey
But, back to the beer: roughly 170 different beers will be on tap (so to speak) on the show floor, and an additional 15 – 20 rare beers will be sampled to VIP ticket holders during a special preview hour. A general admission ticket gives you access to limitless samples and the chance to meet and chat with brewers and company reps who will be happy to help you find the brew of your dreams. Food vendors – including the popular “
Deanna Quinones
The immense and consistent adulation of Dunellen Hotel’s triple onion soup is not unwarranted. It’s gotten people (including me) into the door and heightened the standards of one of my lifelong favorite foods. Unsurpassed in its richness and flavor, it’s a must-try for first course. Deep, beefy broth is molten beneath a thick crust of swiss and provolone cheeses so plentiful that they drape the sides like tapestry waiting to be pried off with your spoon. The cheese is baked atop a raft of crusty bread that maintains its integrity against the broth. The only thing holding this soup back from perfection is the sometimes-undercooked onions that I end up straining for more broth in my final bites.
Jessica Perry is a lifelong New Jersey resident and Journalism and Media Studies graduate whose love of music, food, and writing about both have taken her far beyond the Garden State lines. She hasn’t heartwarming childhood memories of Sunday suppers, but she does have a lifelong commitment to eating across the map and fervently consuming food media. While she loves traveling and sampling from her nationwide restaurant document, little can compete with readily available pork roll and 24-hour diners. When she’s not eating, she’s at a punk show or researching where to eat en route to one. She’s always accepting recommendations for the best brunches, bagels, burritos, buffalo wings, barbecue…you get the idea. Not to mention she will happily dole out some of her own whether you’re in Long Beach, N.J. or Long Beach, Calif. – See more at: http://www.jerseybites.com/the-team/#sthash.cptivYzE.dpuf
If you are craving the more traditional glass of wine, have no fear they have those too. In Marie Nicole’s newly renovated bar don’t expect just an “ok” dining experience. This season the bar has gone through a facelift and expansion. The new interior is comfortable yet sophisticated. That’s hard to balance but Marie Nicole’s accomplishes it.
Winner this year for Best Crab Cake was Two Son’s version (formerly My Two Sons). Choosing this cake as the winner was a no brainer for me, I loved it from first bite. Deep-fried and filled with claw and lump crab meat, it was divine. Beyond the tasty meat and seasonings, the crispy panko crust was fried flawlessly. Limiting my bites to save room for other entries was definitely difficult as I found myself craving that cake hours later.
Winner in the Best of the Rest category went to The Empanada Guy and his Lobster Empanada. No argument from me on this vote, this pocket of perfection was exceptional. A fellow judge, Michele McBride of 90.5 The Night, likened it to a handheld Lobster Bisque. The Empanada Guy and his red truck had quite the line all afternoon and after eating this, I would have stood there for an hour too!
An Award of Excellence went to the Bacon on Wheels Truck for its Soft Shell Crab Taco. All the judges loved this and I was no different in paying up some praise. As a newbie soft shell eater, I realized how much I had been missing out on. I do believe it will be hard to find one as good as this version though, for the way in which it was designed and executed was outstanding. Sporting an ancho mayonnaise, a fresh tomatillo salsa verde, some cilantro and queso fresco cheese, it had us fighting for leftovers.
We ended our judging duties with a sugary surprise from Waffle De Lys- a warm Belgian waffle with fresh strawberries, chocolate drippings and fluffy whipped cream. What a sweet way to end our salty seafood duties!
