Small restaurants have been hit hard by the Coronavirus pandemic. According to the National Restaurant Association, 2 in 3 restaurant workers have lost their jobs. The same group claims that the restaurant industry pulled in 240 billion dollars less than what it could have brought in before the pandemic. The pandemic isn’t over yet, though, so restaurants still need your help. Luckily, there are multiple restaurants near you that you can support by buying some of their delicious meals. Some restaurants are simply outstanding, so support these restaurants and your tastebuds will be rewarded generously.
The first restaurant on my list is Sal’s Pizza in North Brunswick, New Jersey. Being just two blocks away from my home, I’ve visited this impressive pizza joint countless times, and I continue to be amazed at each visit. This restaurant has a diverse menu with the obvious classic cheese pizza or penne vodka pizza to fried chicken or spinach salad. This establishment also offers a decent drink selection, with soda, lemonade, and more! The last time I ordered from here, I got my usual, which has become a favorite among my father and sister as well - a large, plain quarter slice with a Dole lemonade(which may I add is one of, if not the best lemonade I’ve ever had). The crust alone was captivating, tasting just like the “French bread” your parents might get from Stop & Shop, but with a dramatically enhanced texture and taste. Okay, I may be exaggerating a wee bit, but I’ve never eaten pizza in New York, and the crust really does stick out. The sauce is hard to put into words: simple but fantastic. The tomato sauce on the cheese pizza is amazing, and not being a huge fan of lots of cheese I crave those end parts where it’s just the crust and the sauce putting on their own show. I pretty much have used all my words on the sauce and the crust, so I just want to write one thing about the cheese. You will not be disappointed. Being the obvious novice food critic that is very strict and thorough in his judgements, you should take my word. And I haven’t even gotten to the pizza with toppings. I am a boring person, so the only pizza combinations I’ve tasted at this establishment are plain, pepperoni, and peppers/onions. Just like the other ingredients, the toppings on my pizza tasted fresh, the pepperoni hot, and flavorful. I personally favor peppers and onions. What I hope I’ve accomplished: getting you to scroll to the other beautiful restaurants in this post while running to your parents asking them to take you to this restaurant on 440 Towne Centre Drive, North Brunswick, New Jersey.
The next restaurant on my list is a little bit farther from South Brunswick lying at 4901 Stelton Road, South Plainfield New Jersey, but it is most certainly worth the drive. This unique restaurant, Brick House Tavern, is very impressive not only in the food department(which should be expected given it is a restaurant), but in the aesthetics department as well. I can testify that the building has a nice “rustic” feel to it, with the brick walls a well-appreciated change to plain drywall. This establishment has even more variety than Sal’s, with burgers, benedicts, brunch, brownies and more! *Ahem! Let me not forget that I am your average experienced food critic. The eye-catching menu offers juicy burgers, delightful egg Benedict’s, brunch options like classic chicken & waffles, and gooey brownies that will melt in your mouth! To be transparent, I’ve only had their burgers, chicken tenders, fish; appetizers like soft pretzels, but I could only imagine that they’d taste delicious. My last visit was with extended family, and this establishment was very accommodating. I don’t remember exactly how many but around 20 people were with our party without much incident. This could be a restaurant for your entire family to support. While I don’t want to go into too much detail about the house burger, let’s just say it was mouth-watering, and the same and more could be said about their fries. Due to the pandemic, I haven’t been here a whole lot, but if I remember correctly they were pretty generous as far as portions. For those with dietary restrictions, don’t worry. As far as animal products, they do sell a variety of items that are labeled as gluten-free and more that are animal free, too. Remember that juicy burger I’d mentioned. They sell Beyond Meat burgers with mouth-watering toppings just like on the other burgers. Just make sure you know what you can eat and you might convince your parents to support this establishment. Just keep in mind that this place is a little bit larger and more successful than the other restaurants, so I would guess that there might be some smaller places in greater need of support, but nonetheless, I recommend you try this place out.
The final restaurant I want to personally recommend is Ninja Sushi Japanese Fusion in North Brunswick, New Jersey. I knew I had to mention this new favorite of mine. At 1864 Arlington Drive, a small restaurant that is just barely visible sometimes is a delightful place with talented chefs during the day. This authentic establishment offers traditional and fusion style dishes like Chicken Teriyaki, tuna rolls, miso soup; California rolls, Manhattan Jalapeno, Ninja Taco. This establishment strives to provide its customers with extremely generous portion sizes and high quality ingredients. This is the place where I tried wasabi for the first time. I should have listened when I was told to only take a little bit… . Like the pizza restaurant, I haven’t eaten much Japanese except Sarku Japan, another restaurant found in malls and in North Brunswick, but to me, the food was bombastic. May I use the phrase “life-changing” again? There was hardly anything I didn’t like, so if you’ve never eaten this cuisine before, there’ll be something for you. For those who have never tried Japanese before or are sensitive to spicy foods, I’d skip the wasabi. The ginger isn’t too spicy, and I hear it’s good for your stomach. I’d recommend that you try California rolls, and definitely taste the sauce, too. This establishment is easy to miss during the day, but the food is hard to forget, and I’m sure you’ll really help the nice people running this restaurant out by treating yourself. I even hear that teachers go here during their lunch break.
I also wanted to include two local places that aren’t really restaurants. Nothing Bundt Cakes, a small bakery on route 1 in November Brunswick, New Jersey, and Insomnia Cookies, a more popular, widespread bakery chain that will provide you with “warm cookies delivered crazy late”. First, Nothing Bundt Cakes. There is only one word to describe it, or more so its employees — driven. I can attest that the cakes come out looking beautiful and with a taste that simply can’t be put into words. I guess you’ll have to try it out yourself. Insomnia Cookies you may have heard of, with numerous locations not just in New Jersey and an active social media count full of tempting pictures of cookies. They employ personable workers with ovens to keep cookies nice and warm.
To wrap this all up, you could visit many diners or nearby restaurants to find out that they have very few customers, so you should do just that - visit diners and local restaurants. I apologize for not including any restaurants in South Brunswick, I haven’t really been to any other than McDonald’s or Burger King, and besides maybe making 100 million rather than 200 million, I don’t think they are struggling as much as the restaurants mentioned above. If you do find a Pie 5, which left Kendall Park, I’d definitely pay them a visit. I do know there are many highly rated small restaurants in South Brunswick, trust me, I looked them up. Some highly rated ones I found included: Chris’ Corner Diner, Kapadokya Mediterranean Grill, and more! I hope you enjoyed this article..
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