Trenton, NJ Business Dinner

I need a recommendation for where to take two Parisian bankers for a business dinner in Trenton, NJ on October 20. I really have no idea what their preferences will be -- other than not being in Trenton

You're right to get out of Trenton for dinner (or any other reason), the question is how far you're willing to go. Princeton is about 15-20 min away, and has lots of options. My recs are 2-3 years old, FWIW.

La Mezzaluna
25 Witherspoon Street
Princeton, NJ 08540
(609) 688-8515

Mediterra Restaurant & Tapas Bar
29 Hulfish St
Princeton, NJ 08542
(609) 252-9680

There are a lot of other fine places on the same block, Witherspoon St. as it starts from Nassau St. walking North (away from the university). If you're going during the week, you could probably just show up and get in anywhere. Over the weekend you'd better have a reservation as it's a popular place to go for dinner. Also a very nice, upscale area to walk around at night. Do not assume the restaurant you walk into will have a liquor license, ask before you're seated so you can run and buy a bottle or three at one of the many wine stores nearby.

Harvest Moon Inn
1039 Old York Rd
Ringoes, NJ 08551
(908) 806-6020
about 25-30 min from Trenton, but really fits the bill nicely for your occasion. Really good New American restaurant in an old colonial house setting.

Americana Diner and Restaurant
359 US-130
Hightstown, NJ 08520
(609) 448-4477
20 min from Trenton, near exit 8 off the NJ Turnpike
not a place for clients, but if you're looking for a great chow option on your own I'd recommend it. It's a very nicely done refurbished diner done in 50s style and great food.

Here's my report from Trenton, folks. This was a hellish trip in a number of ways (not entirely the food), including arriving in Trenton 5 hours late and then finding out the TRENTON MARRIOTT LAFAYETTE YARD HOTEL had overbooked and, literally, there was no room at the Inn! So, they hauled me over to the Extended Stay America in Princeton, and let's just say I was hungry and depressed at that point (even though I did manage to get my entire two-night stay and meals comped by the Marriott). So, anyway, here I am feeling sorry for myself and starving in a room that feels like a good place for a terrorist cell to set up camp, and I call Mrs. JiLS to whine a little, and she says (she's always making good suggestions like this): "Wipe off the tears and order a pizza." Ah, yes, that's the ticket. So now it's about 11:30 and I pick the first family-owned spot I can find that's still delivering at that hour, VINO'S PIZZERIA (to the rescue!). A quick phone call with the engaging, pleasant and accommodating folks at Vino's and, about 12:15 I'm in receipt of a lovely pizza pie. And what is it I receive? It's definitely the east-coast style of thin crust - no shortening, chewy throughout, crisp and brown on the bottom, some "bubbly" parts, you could see the "stretch marks" on the bottom from when they tossed the dough. Fun and delicious! The sauce is applied lightly and has a strong fresh flavor, and not too much cheese, but very good, oily (I like that) and sliced big, so you have to fold it over. And only $8.30, plus tax and a nominal delivery charge. HOWEVER (and at the risk of starting another one of those "Chicago vs. the World" pizza threads), the sausage was absolute CRAP. Little, brown disks of nondescript meat manque that looked and tasted like Colorforms. And there, voila! My theory that in Chicago, pizza is viewed as a vehicle for the toppings, and in the east coast style, the toppings are an afterthought on a pizza that would be delicious "naked."

The next day found us visiting my client's property in Cranbury (probably the most beautiful little slice of Americana in existence, by the way; my clients said it reminded them of the mythical American town in their English primer books from French grammar school). Lunch was at the Cranbury Station restaurant, a family style place off Rte. 130. (Rich -- I saw the Americana diner you suggested, and several others that also looked promising, but this was the choice of our witness, so there we went). Again, nothing extraordinary happened here (unless you count the extraordinary rudeness and incompetence of our waitress), although the crabmeat stuffed flounder I had was pretty good. Next time, I'll hit the diner.

The actual client dinner (the one I started this thread about) took place at The Archives restaurant in the Marriott in Trenton. It was fine, I suppose. We were all too tired from jet lag and tramping about a wooded site in Cranbury to think about doing anything that required a drive to Princeton.

One last comment, the old, downtown parts of Trenton are actually very beautiful, filled with 18th century rowhouses, etc. But Rich, you are right, there is nothing worth eating there.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Lunch was at the Cranbury Station restaurant, a family style place off Rte. 130. (Rich -- I saw the Americana diner you suggested, and several others that also looked promising, but this was the choice of our witness, so there we went). Again, nothing extraordinary happened here, although the crabmeat stuffed flounder I had was pretty good. Next time, I'll hit the diner.

Jim,
I cringed reading your report; such a shame, and such a chow opportunity lost.

I also think your witness is not very credible. If someone drives PAST the Americana diner looking for dinner, then he lacks all forms of sensory perception.

Well, our witness didn't actually drive past Americana with us, and I think the fact that the hostess called him "Mr. B" and he took time to chat up about half the tables in the place may indicate why we wound up at Cranbury Station for lunch.

I was just doing some catching up, as it were, going back and reading some of the things I missed while I was away from LTH for a bit in the early fall, and I came across this thread... Since pizza has been the topic of recent discussion in the Chicago forum, I though it might do well to bring JimILS' Trenton report back up and add a comment or two.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:...... So now it's about 11:30 and I pick the first family-owned spot I can find that's still delivering at that hour, VINO'S PIZZERIA (to the rescue!). A quick phone call with the engaging, pleasant and accommodating folks at Vino's and, about 12:15 I'm in receipt of a lovely pizza pie. And what is it I receive? It's definitely the east-coast style of thin crust - no shortening, chewy throughout, crisp and brown on the bottom, some "bubbly" parts, you could see the "stretch marks" on the bottom from when they tossed the dough. Fun and delicious!

The chains have made terrible inroads into all of the traditional pizza country of New Netherland and driven many a fine old mom-and-pop shop out of business (of course, some of those moms and pops just decided to retire to Florida too) but there are still a number of such good, wholesome, honest pizzerias in the region. I'm glad you found one that night; at some point there will only be upscale restaurants that serve pizza alla napoletana or pizza alla californiana and the chains, no family pizzerie, at least outside of the bigger cities, which resist homogenisation so much better than the suburbs.

The sauce is applied lightly and has a strong fresh flavor, and not too much cheese, but very good, oily (I like that) and sliced big, so you have to fold it over. And only $8.30, plus tax and a nominal delivery charge. HOWEVER (and at the risk of starting another one of those "Chicago vs. the World" pizza threads), the sausage was absolute CRAP. Little, brown disks of nondescript meat manque that looked and tasted like Colorforms.

Believe me, there is lots of first rate Italian sausage made throughout New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and New York State. Just don't look for it in the pizzerias. Sausage was definitely not an especially favoured topping when I was growing up and though, of course, people did eat it, I'm sure we ate more pizzas over the years with anchovies (and often no cheese) than with sausage. Consequently, I don't think the average pizzeria in Jersey (or New York) goes out of its way to get especially good sausage. They probably just get mass produced stuff from the same guys who supply the canned tomatoes and olive oil.

Hmmm... It just occurred to me; I've never seen sausage on pizza in Naples or elsewhere in Italy. Is that a specifically Chicago innovation, I wonder?

And there, voila! My theory that in Chicago, pizza is viewed as a vehicle for the toppings, and in the east coast style, the toppings are an afterthought on a pizza that would be delicious "naked."

Cultures evolve and Chicago has decided to develop pizza along its own lines, for better or worse (I think a bit of both). But what you say is very much true of 'East Coast' pizza (I generally prefer to speak of New Netherland, since I do not feel especially at one with New England) and that is a continuation of the original governing aesthetic of pizza-making. It's bread, flavoured with a little stuff on top. If the bread is really good, it's really good; if the bread isn't good, no quantity of cheese or sausage or pineapple or whatever else will cover up the basic shortcoming.

The next day found us visiting my client's property in Cranbury (probably the most beautiful little slice of Americana in existence, by the way; my clients said it reminded them of the mythical American town in their English primer books from French grammar school)... ...
One last comment, the old, downtown parts of Trenton are actually very beautiful, filled with 18th century rowhouses, etc.

New Jersey's image across the country is generally very negative, in part because folks pass through the industrial areas on highways going from one city to the north or west to some other city to the south. There are large stretches of the state that are ruined now but the blight is mostly of fairly recent date. And folks living in glass houses elsewhere in the country shouldn't throw stones, because the same kind of blight is just around the corner for them: witness much of Chicagoland or for that matter, the Triangle in North Carolina. Badly planned development, overcrowding, and lots of things lost that should have been preserved.

There's still a bit of the old architecture of New Jersey around, though most has been lost. The Dutch style of the Raritan Valley and the north, especially Bergen and Passsaic counties was shared with other strongly Dutch areas, such as the Upper Hudson and Mohawk Valleys and innner Long Island. Very beautiful farms were a well known feature of the Hollanders' settlements. Unfortunately, the last of the Dutch urban architecture got knocked down in Hudson county, New York and Albany some time ago. Robert Moses and Nelson Rockefeller oversaw the final destruction in New York; in Jersey, it was just the gradual work of lots of small time developers and politicians.

The very handsome English colonial style of the middle states that so characterises Princeton has been more fortunate; in addition to Princeton, there are bits in unexpected places, such as Trenton, and good concentrations in places like Society Hill in Philadelphia and Georgetown in Washington.

Anyway, I'm blethering; thanks for the report. Your appreciation of the pizza and the some of the old architecture has awakened a feeling of nostalgia. I'll have to order some anchovy pizza from Masi's this weekend (it comes with no cheese).

Antonius

Antonius wrote:Believe me, there is lots of first rate Italian sausage made throughout New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and New York State. Just don't look for it in the pizzerias.

No kidding! I have had my share of that good Italian sausage, based on many years' experiences with two sets of in-laws in the Hudson Valley and Syracuse. In New Jersey last month, I was left wondering "why bother" with putting something so lousy on the pizza? Why even bother stocking such crap? Would it not be better (I won't go so far as to say more moral or more scrupulous, just NICER) to simply say, "No, we don't do sausage." You might momentarily disappoint a wayward soul like me, but believe me, actually sending me the Colorforms sausage resulted in far more disappointment than would denying me any sausage. By the way, I did ask the owner for advice on toppings (I basically threw myself at his mercy), so I don't know whom to blame -- all I know is, next time I'm keeping it simple.

Americana Diner and Restaurant
359 US-130
Hightstown, NJ 08520
(609) 448-4477
20 min from Trenton, near exit 8 off the NJ Turnpike
not a place for clients, but if you're looking for a great chow option on your own I'd recommend it. It's a very nicely done refurbished diner done in 50s style and great food.

**************************************

Aaah!

Holy $&^*@ !!!

What a shock in the pipick, to be years and miles removed from the place, only to see, after what feels like a lifetime later, a reference to my HIGH SCHOOL HANGOUT, the ol' Americana! Yep, well, the cat's out of the bag, now, I guess - I went to high school in Hightstown NJ. Back when I lived there, this particular strip of Route 130 was pretty desolate, save for the few late night diners and scattered strip mall businesses. A recent visit (well, more like 4 years ago) revealed that the area had changed a little bit (the second run movie theater was now showing Bollywood fare, and a few of the old vacant lots had been developed thanks to a new highway bypass). The Americana, about 20 years ago, was a dumpy joint, perfectly serviceable as far as standard breakfast/sandwich goes, but nothing to write home about. They were bought out some time ago (maybe, oh, I dunno, 10 years?) and totally refurbished by the new owners (who may or may not be related to the family that owns the Hightstown Diner - actually in the small center of town, 2 miles from Rt. 130 - as well as the venerable and massive Mastoris Diner further south on 130). The new look, thankfully, also extended to the kitchen, and the place, at least when I dropped in for a late (11:00) dinner during my last visit, offered some very good food. The menu (typical of many east coast diners) was more of a tome - pages and pages of every conceivable permutation of egg, sandwich, burger, pasta, steak, salad, fish, etc... They featured some dishes one never expects at a diner (pseudo-nouveau touches like sesame crusted tuna steak or penne with porcini and red wine sauce), but everything was surprisingly first-rate, from the freshly baked bread and cinnamon rolls (lifted from Mastoris's M.O.) along with the sour pickles and coleslaw (all gratis, brought out the second you're seated) to the top-notch burger with mashed potatoes and house green salad (my usual "safe" pick at most east coast diners). The Americana had come a long way, and it's good to see that someone else has discovered its charms.

I wish I would have read this post earlier or at least known that someone was planning to go to the Cranbury Station. AVOID. Cranbury is a cute little town (parts of the movie I.Q. were shot there, apparently cause it evoked 1950's Princeton more than Princeton itself) but the food there is sorely lacking. I can't think of one decent place to eat there, in fact. (all of the Cranbury kids would go to hang out at - you guessed it - the Americana). Along route 130, though, there are some interesting places: happily, an Indian Restaurant in the Superfresh shopping mall has taken hold and seems to be quite popular. Expensive, but, hey, you don't have to drive 45 minutes to Edison to get decent Indian. The Stewart's drive-in seemed to be thriving (good california cheeseburgers and fabulous root beer) as well as Sal's pizza (good pizza, awesome Italian subs and cheesesteaks) and Jim's country diner, which apparently was sold by Jim (another member of the Mastoris clan) with no noticeable drop in quality. The most surprising thing, though, was the new shopping mall just north of the Americana on rt 130 - in addition to a state of the art, 16 screen movie plex (it's about time!), there's a Friday's (yeccch) and some other lackluster businesses (fabric store, cell phone hut, blah, blah...). The other main attraction in the mall, though, is the biggest Shop-Rite supermarket I've ever seen. Huge. Not quite Wal-Mart supercenter size, but for a place that only sells food, I've never seen its equal. Stepping in, one is overwhelmed by what's on offer. It does not try to be a gourmet shop (and it isn't), but there is a bakery, fresh fish and meat, produce, every canned/bottled/packaged good imaginable, and so on. Basically a supermarket, just much bigger and cleaner than what I'm used to. What knocked me out, though, was the kosher section. Two aisles (!!!!) of every conceivable kosher product, plus an on-site Rabbi. I guess the recent influx of Orthodox and Hassidim in the area warranted some kind of kosher shopping, but the Shop-Rite people went to the extreme here. Not that I'm complaining - I stocked up the cooler and made a lot of people back home (I was living in Florida at the time) smile. Knishes, pickles, Hummous, tahini, fruit juices, yogurt and cheese from Israel, rye bread, bialys, etc... awesome.

Now, as far as Trenton goes, the pickins are indeed slim. For a semi-formal business dinner, there are maybe a couple of Italian holdouts in Chambersburg one could go to, a decent Spanish restaurant (I want to say Valencia, though that's probably not it - we went there for my brother's HS grad. dinner), but Princeton probably offers more in that arena (along with Victor's Pizza - very good - and the most bizarre sandwich shop in the area, Hoagie Haven, which is either loved or reviled by the local populace. I usually both love and hate it - love it as I'm eating one of their unnaturally good tasting steak sandwiches, and then hating it - and myself - about an hour later). If anyone should find themselves in Trenton, though, please take time to visit one of the last, great, old-school pizza places in the region. De Lorenzo's on Hudson Street (there is a sister establishment, not quite as good, on Hamilton Ave) is a converted rowhouse that's been there, well, forever, and still serves em up with one oven and one patient old man making them at a leisurely pace. Obviously, you'll have to wait, but it's worth it. De Lorenzo's makes a Tomato Pie, which is pizza, basically, just not loaded down with mozzarella - transcendent crust (blistered, crispy, chewy, malty, all that good shit... don't know how they do it in a gas oven) a sauce that is velvety and studded with occasional hunks of San Marzano's, faint garlic and olive oil and a liberal sprinkling of grated romano. That's it. They will do a mozzarella, traditional pie if you ask, but, believe me, just let them do what they know how to do. The Italian sausage is good (I don't know what went wrong at Vino's - Italian sausage is generally good at pizza places but not my favorite topping - that's meatball). Ahhh.... a De Lorenzo's pie with a Birch Beer - life does not get much better. Check em out if you're ever in the greater Hightstown area (ha!)

Rebbe

I visied Mezzaluna tonight. I'd aimed for Conte's but missed, and since I was in a pay parking spot I didn't feel like moving.
The campus-area dining is certainly pricey -- $23 for mushroom risotto and $11 for calamari, and that was typical for the bottom end of the menu pricing in the neighborhood.

Food was excellent: crusty bread with flavored oil was brought to the stainless-steel table; the calamari were crisp and light with a tomato sauce with evidence of real tomatoes (skins). I'd forgotten to ask for the spicy version of the sauce, and the waiter said, "I'll go get the crushed red pepper, and you can stir in however much you want." Nice honesty, but takes some of the mystique out of it. The risotto had a lot of shallot and a variety of fungi (although a fair proportion was basic button, there were a lot of goodies in there too, all with perfect texture). Perhaps a bit more sauce than I usually see in a risotto.

Overall, I enjoyed it very much, althought it would have been a bit less if I had to pay for it myself. And compared to last night's meal, it was nirvana (airport area hotel with delivery chinese. The soggy General Tso's chicken resembled excement on al dente broccoli, and given my usual eating habits I'd wager my personal feces have more garlic and chili)

I heartily second De Lorenzo's pizza, mentioned above. This was my first introduction to the general class of east coast pizza.

Cranbury Pizza in Cranbury is also excellent. I'm also a fan of Conte's Pizza in Princeton.

It's fashionable to complain about the food in Princeton. Indeed, there are a lot of very expensive, mediocre restaurants there. But there are some gems. One place I highly recommend is the Blue Point Grill. It's a very basic seafood restaurant. The fish is incredibly fresh (and is also sold at the retail store next door) and prepared simply. I believe it is BYOB and they do not take reservations.

A great place for dinner in Trenton is Pete Lorenzo's, an old fashioned steak house. Great ambiance and excellent steaks.

Pete Lorenzo's
66 S Clinton Ave
Trenton, NJ 08609
(609) 695-6868
http://www.petelorenzos.com/index.html

De Lorenzo's Tomato Pies
530 Hudson St
Trenton, NJ 08611
(609) 695-9534
delorenzostomatopies.com

Conte's
339 Witherspoon St
Princeton, NJ 08542
(609) 921-8041

Blue Point Grill
258 Nassau St
Princeton, NJ 08542
(609) 921-1211
jmgroupprinceton.com

Cranbury Pizza
63 N Main St
Cranbury, NJ 08512
(609) 409-9930

A little late on the reply, but the best place I know of around Trenton is Rat's, fine dining in a French Chateau, located in the art park - Grounds For Sculpture. The sculpture park is huge, taking up the entire former State Fairgrounds. Makes for a great day, touring the gardens, then eating a very fine meal in one of the restaurants almost-private rooms.

http://www.ratsrestaurant.org/ratsrestaurant.php

I'd second Mezzaluna and Conte's in Princeton, but it's also worth traveling up the Delaware river to explore the river towns of Lambertville (The Lambertville Inn has some great game specialties including a great alligator chili) and Hopewell in PA, especially if you're looking for the architecture Antonious mentions. Farther up, Frenchtown and Milford has some great places in historic buildings, the Frenchtown Inn stands out.

It looks like I'll be in the Trenton area next week for biz; actually, specifically, Lawrenceville. Any help for this part of the world would be appreciated.

Also, for other help, I'm not quite sure how to work this around a day of leisure. I was thinking maybe getting a hotel in Bensalem, PA and splitting the dif between Philadelphia and Lawrenceville. Really, I have litte understanding or experience with this part of the world and need help.

For leisure options, you might want to check out the New Hope (PA)-Lambertville (NJ) area, which is not far from Lawrenceville. It's been about a decade since I was there, but these are cute little towns across the river from one another. There are a lot of antique shops in the area.

If you are interested in old, ethnic neighborhoods, I enjoyed visiting the Chambergsburg area in Trenton. This is an old Italian neighborhood that still has charm and good pizza.

While I can no longer comment on Trenton food (having left there in '91) I can offer some leisure suggestions.

The Old Barracks Museum on Barrack Street and the New Jersey State Museum are both "downtown" and are worth visiting. The Barracks because it is the last intact French and Indian War era British barracks in NJ. Originally the Brits built 5. This one is important, both because it is largely intact and because this was George Washington's destination when he snuck across the Delaware River in the middle of the night. Also worth seeing is Washington's Crossing State Park, just upriver from Trenton. If you'd like to continue the Early American theme, you can also visit the Princeton Battlefield. Taken together they represent a turning point in the Revolutionary War. In Princeton, I also recommend the Princeton U. Art Museum.

New Hope PA and Lambertville NJ are towns separated by the Delaware River and connected by a bridge. Both have arts-y and tourist-y shopping and some food options. Plus the countryside is pretty. There's a little bar we used to frequent called the Boat House. (8 Coryell St).

Almost forgot...back to a food theme...very worth a visit is Howell Living History Farm which is on the road to Lambertville. Heritage breed chickens, draft animal plowing, a farm under continuous cultivation since the 1730s and a staff dedicated to reintroducing sustainable agricultural techniques to third world countries.


Have fun.

Thanks for the help guys. So, I'm flying into Newark & driving to Lawrenceville. What's the good chow route? I'm thinking maybe trying one of those Italian hot dog places, but I don't want to just meander the state. Anyone know what makes sense, not just for that but in general. A really good deli would also work.