Back in May 2023, I did a list of hidden gem restaurants suggested by New Jersey folks. I have encountered quite a few kindred spirits during my internet travels. If you want to see the original list, just click the link below.
Original 2023 Hidden Gems List Can Be Found Here.
I enjoy finding new places to eat. What I love most is finding old places that are new to me.
The history of several long-standing New Jersey restaurants such as the Smithville Inn excites me. It’s like traveling back in time to an era very different from the modern-day eateries we frequent.
The original Smithville Inn was built by James Baremore back in 1787.
According to the Smithville Inn’s website, “It was just one room on a well –traveled stagecoach route and it may not have been planned as an inn. But houses were far between in those days, and word of the Baremore’s hospitality spread until inn keeping became their living.”
His family continued to operate the Inn through the years and by 1874, it had grown to six times its original size, and its fame seemed permanently established. Yet sometime after the turn of the twentieth century, it was abandoned.
In 1949, the Inn was rediscovered. Its long and colorful past was carefully studied, and in 1952 a local couple purchased the Inn and seven acres of property, restoring the structure and opening it in 1952 as a 42-seat restaurant.
The best part besides their incredible chicken pot pie, is the Historic Smithville Inn has been designated as a Historic site by the United States Government.
Not every hidden gem is going to be historic and that’s ok.
Traveling around the Garden State is fun and educational. Learning about towns I’ve never been to, restaurants I’ve never eaten in, and people I’ve never met.
I’ve met people I never expected to be friends with during my travels.
I perused through some of my favorite Jersey sites, and social media food pages and came across a thread where New Jersey folks were discussing their favorite hidden gems.
Now, it’s time for me to share Part 1 of some of the places that piqued my interest in early 2024. I hope they pique yours as well.
The Harvest Moon Inn - 1039 Old York Rd, Ringoes, NJ 08551
New American cuisine in a formal dining room or a rustic tavern in an 1811 Federal-style building. I’m a sucker for any restaurant that has a fireplace and a piano.
The current menu has a Pan Roasted Pekin Duck Breast with roasted sweet potatoes, maple glazed delacota squash, and broccoli in a bourbon and roasted shallot demi glace . That sounds fabulous. But if I’m sitting on the tavern side, a burger and an ice cold beer are in order.
