3 of NJ Magazines Best Restaurants in NJ are right in our area

Lorena's

Verjus 

Common Lot

https://njmonthly.com/articles/eat-drink/best-restaurants-2016/

Wow. Is Common Lot even a year old? Impressive, it's already at the grownup table with some estimable peers. Well done.

NJ Monthly said:

Lorena’s, Maplewood

The blissfully luxurious food that has made Lorena’s a high-end destination for 11 years is not about to change, but the destination itself very well might. Chef Humberto Campos Jr. and his wife, Lorena, are “actively, aggressively looking,” Campos says, “to create Lorena’s 3.0.” In 2005, they opened their upscale BYO in a tight storefront at this address that allowed just 32 seats. Campos’s virtuosity melding French and New American drew raves. Two years ago, they managed to expand within the building, freeing up kitchen space and spreading 55 seats comfortably across two dining rooms. That was Lorena’s 2.0. But with customers coming (even weekly, Campos says) from as far away as tony Rumson, Deal and Montvale, as well as Westfield, Cranford, Red Bank and, of course, Maplewood, 55 seats doesn’t cut it. Neither, frankly, does remaining a BYO. “The next phase has to be spectacular,” Campos says. Finding the right space in the right location with a liquor license at the right price is a very long-odds trifecta. That means expanding as a BYO in the existing building is still a possibility. Lorena’s, Campos promises, won’t disappear. Even so, if you’ve never had his octopus with red-pepper marmalade and crispy guanciale; his signature Scottish salmon tartare with crème fraîche, wasabi tobiko and crisp wonton; or his short rib and beef tenderloin duo—well, there’s no time like the present. BYO. 168 Maplewood Avenue, 973-763-4460.

That Lorena's is eyeing an expansion w/ full licensed bar and doesn't seem interested in the Highland Place's gravesite speak volumes.

grocerylist said:

Wow. Is Common Lot even a year old? Impressive, it's already at the grownup table with some estimable peers. Well done.

It is not even 6 months old.