Readers'
and Critics' Choice -
Restaurant Poll Winners 2008
Posted
July 10, 2008
Our
critics do a lot of eating, and every
August we look back and share the
best of the best with you. And you
do the same by voting in our Annual
Readers' Choice Restaurant Poll. Discover
which restaurants we honored and which
are your favorites.
Here
are the results of our 25th Annual
Readers' Choice Restaurant Poll, which
were tabulated by PricewaterhouseCoopers
in Florham Park. The winning restaurant
in each of three regions (North, Central,
and South), received the majority
vote in its category; we have also
added our critics' picks. All readers
who submitted a ballot became eligible
to win dinner for two in our random
drawing. This year's winner is Salvatore
Manente of Secaucus. He will receive
a gift certificate to Scalini Fedeli
in Chatham, the restaurant chosen
as the Best of the Best in the North.
key: north central south
critics'
picks
BEST
ITALIAN
Scalini Fedeli,
Chatham Catherine Lombardi Restaurant,
New Brunswick
Frescos, Cape May
Osteria Giotto, Montclair;
Ristorante
da Benito,
Union; Angelo's Fairmount
Tavern, Atlantic City
RESTAURANTS;
Local Hero
February 24, 2002
By DAVID CORCORAN
"WHERE has this
place been all my life?" asked
a friend, a battle-hardened veteran
of hundreds of New Jersey restaurants,
as we left Ristorante da Benito after
a long evening of superb food and
wine.
The answer is simple,
if surprising. Benito has been here
for ages -since 1985, to be exact,
when it opened under the unassuming
name Benito's. But in 1998, it was
apparently struck by a bolt from space,
an event that transformed it from
a solid neighborhood restaurant, the
sort of place that turns up on every
other comer in every other town, into
a destination.
That was the year the
owner, Benito Hissen, brought in a
visiting chef from Verona, in northern
Italy, to ground the menu in the cooking
of Mr. Hissen's own native region.
(He grew up in Manzano, near the Austrian
border.) He brought in a designer
to remake the restaurant from the
inside out. And he hired a full-time
chef, Richard Biondo, a young American
with French training, to run the kitchen
and plan the daily specials.
This sort of full-body
makeover can easily backfire, adding
nothing but an extra digit to the
cost of a meal for two. But in this
case the gamble paid off, for it's
clear that Mr. Hissen knew exactly
what he was doing.
He is a splendid host,
for one thing, the sort who hovers
in the background seemingly attending
to a thousand things at once, but
instantly there when you have a question
about a dish or a bottle of wine.
(His wine list is one of the state's
most impressive -- long, painstakingly
chosen and fairly priced.) He seems
genuinely happy to see you, and regularly
sends out little presents to diners
who show an interest in the food and
wine -- plates of bruschetta or gnocchi,
and even, for a newcomer who asked
essay questions about the wine list,
a half-bottle of dessert wine to go
with a giveaway tray of biscotti.
The redesigned restaurant
is large -- 46 tables -- but divided
into three manageable, and very different,
spaces. We felt lucky to be seated
in the wine room, by far the most
romantic of the three, a candlelit
grotto with French windows and wooden
racks for hundreds of bottles of wine;
they give off a faint glow, like stars.
The brightly lighted barroom and a
third room, called the Sala d'Oro
for its golden wallpaper, seemed noisy
and impersonal on quick inspection.
But the surroundings
quickly fade when the food starts
arriving. The chef, Mr. Biondo, may
have learned from Frenchmen, but he's
plainly at home in the high Italian
idiom of Benito's menu. An appetizer
of sauteed jumbo shrimps over fava
beans seizes your attention like a
thunderclap, with balsamic-and-herb-dressed
beans playing off against crisp garlic
crostini and firm, perfectly cooked
shrimp. It's a great, elemental dish.
A soup of toasted barley
and shiitake mushrooms, ladled tableside
from the pan into your bowl, is bolstered
by a stock with the powerful, transporting
aroma of roasted turkey. Caesar salad
for two, another tableside production,
is rich and potently garlicked.
In an apotheosis of
the dish that virtually every checked-tablecloth
Italian restaurant in North America
used to serve as clams Casino, six
littleneck clams are baked gratin
style with shiitakes, red peppers
and brandy. Unlike bread crumbs and
dried oregano, these are ingredients
that make for contented clams. Our
only disappointment among the appetizers
was portobello alla Genovese, a good
grilled mushroom topped with veal
patty minced to the consistency of
baby food.
Pastas are easily substantial
enough to be main courses. A special
of orecchiette with scallops and wild
mushrooms was suave and well balanced.
But we were dazzled by the swirling
contrasts of flavors, textures and
colors in a pasta from the regular
menu: earthy whole-wheat penne with
beets, walnuts and Gorgonzola, an
"Iron Chef" miscellany of
ingredients that turned out to be
made for one another.
Mr. Biondo has a sure
hand with seafood. Beautifully cooked
striped bass draws just enough extra
flavor from lemon emulsion and parsley
pesto; shoestring potatoes and sauteed
escarole add their own textural contrasts.
Baked cod is smartly offset by a chickpea
puree, with shiitakes and braised
celery root.
Four small lamb chops
of very high quality come with ideal
accompaniments: wild mushrooms and
an eggplant tart. Even humble chicken
breast is tender and flavorful here,
glazed with lemon, rolled around fennel
and served with a fine, unexpected
combination of wild rice and Savoy
cabbage.
Oddly, the only main
course that fell short was the simplest
and most expensive, the $38 veal chop.
Nothing wrong with it, exactly; the
meat was certainly first-rate. But
unadorned on the plate except for
a garnish of good broccoli rape, it
became a monolith, a mountain to climb.
I lost interest halfway up. Veal osso
buco, another piece of meat the size
of Hulk Hogan's fist, had far more
going on: it was ropy and moist, atop
a fine risotto Milanese.
Benito's pastry chef,
Pascal Durand, is not only French-trained;
he is French. Somehow, he learned
how to make terrific ricotta cheesecake,
a moist and creamy affair with a delicate
undercurrent of orange zest and Grand
Marnier. His chocolate flan, Valrhona
chocolate cake, apple tortino and
tiramisu are equally good. And his
sorbets are even better, especially
the mango -- deeply flavored and almost
miraculously smooth.
Is Ristorante da Benito
the best Italian restaurant in the
state? To know for sure, you would
have to do graduate study at a dozen
or so top contenders. What is certain
is that in a few years' time Benito
Hissen has turned his plain old standby
on Galloping Hill Road into a thoroughbred.
It's a stunning accomplishment."
Ristorante da Benito
222 Galloping Hill Road, Union
(908) 964-5850
EXCELLENT
ATMOSPHERE Haute Italian,
in a large, recently remodeled three-room
space.
SERVICE Cordial and knowledgeable.
SMOKING Allowed in the bar.
WINE LIST Broad, balanced and fairly
priced, with good bottles in the $30's.
RECOMMENDED DISHES Caesar salad for
two, barley-shiitake soup, shrimps
with fava beans, vongole (clams) gratinato;
orecchiette with scallops, whole-wheat
penne with roasted beets; roasted
lamb, veal osso buco, cod, lamb chops,
striped bass, lemon-glazed chicken
breast; chocolate flan, chocolate
cake, almond torta, apple tortino,
tiramisu, ricotta cheesecake.
PRICE RANGE Dinner appetizers: $6
to $12; entrees: $20 to $38; desserts:
$8. Lunch a few dollars less.
HOURS Weekdays, noon to 10 p.m.; Saturdays,
5 to 10:30 p.m.; Sundays, 2 to 8.
CREDIT CARDS Major cards.
RESERVATIONS Recommended.
WHEELCHAIR ACCESS Accessible, with
everything on one level.
RATINGS Poor, Fair, Satisfactory,
Good, Very Good, Excellent,, Extraordinary.
Ratings reflect the
reviewer's reaction to food, ambience
and service, with price taken into
consideration. Menu listings and prices
are subject to change.
January 2002
By Valerie Sinclair and Anthony Giglio
Share
Ristorante da Benito's rice-pudding-and-berry
napoleon special with that
certain someone. Photograph: Erik Rank
On a chilly winter
evening, a cozy dinner might be just
the thing to lift the spirits and
warm the soul. A romantic meal can
take place anywhere, but it often
involves a restaurant where two people
can dine leisurely and intimately
in an attractive setting. For some
diners this means a quiet, softly
lit room appropriate for hand-holding
or ear-nibbling, for others a sophisticated
place with tasteful background music
and a sense of excitement that adds
spice to the evening. For couples
with young children, such a meal provides
a few hours alone to talk and laugh
without interruption, and for longtime
couples, it can be an evening spent
rediscovering what drew them together
in the first place.
Although the Garden
State abounds with restaurants suitable
for a romantic occasion, we would
happily book a table for two at any
of the four we review this month.
Ristorante da Benito
Union
1/2
Food: Italian Ambience: Bright and lively Service: Impeccable and European Wine List: Excellent variety Price Value: Expensive but
worth it
I'm not sure I'd describe
Ristorante da Benito as romantic in
the Hollywood sensedim lights,
candles, a pianist, and men on bent
knee at every other tablebut
somehow my wife and I feel special
here. From the moment we're seated,
we're pampered by a staff of impeccably
professional men in white jackets
who glide through the room like swans.
And actually, that's why it's romantic.
The waiters and captains flit around
us silently, awaiting signals that
we need something but never bothering
us with opinions, advice, or idiotic
questions like, "May I take that
completely empty plate, sir?"
In essence, we feel intimately secluded
in an otherwise vibrant dining room.
Our waiter approaches
without menus and asks whether we'd
like cocktails before dinner, thus
setting the pace for a long, languid
meal. While sipping a round of Americanos
(Campari and sweet vermouth), we listen
to a handful of daily specials, then
order. Immediately a plate of crispy
fried zucchini disks arrives, compliments
of Chef Richard Biondo, a graduate
of the Culinary Institute of America
who worked for some of New York's
top French chefs, including Alain
Sailhac of Le Cirque fame and Jean-Jacques
Rachou at La Côte Basque. Biondo
shares the kitchen with co-chef Carlos
Rodriguez, formerly of New York's
Giambelli.
We begin with a plate
of giant jumbo shrimp sautéed
with creamy fava beans perched atop
a fabulous garlic crostini splashed
with balsamic vinegar. Golf ball-size
dollops of savory baked goat cheese
quiver in coats of shredded phyllo
dough drizzled with a red-wine vinaigrette.
I love the inventive semi-carpaccio
of tuna, served with a cucumber emulsion
and a celery-root salad. The only
appetizer that doesn't thrill me is
the air-dried filet mignon bresaola
stuffed with mascarpone and Gorgonzola,
because the cheeses completely mask
the delicious beef flavor.
A fantastic minestrone
soup served right from the pot contains
vegetables that the chef evidently
has just sautéed in olive oil
before covering them with stock; it's
the freshest soup I've ever tasted.
The Caesar salad for two, prepared
with great fanfare at a central table,
is absolutely delicious.
One night we decide
to eat Italian-style, sharing a pasta
dish before the meat or fish course.
Chef Biondo's pastas are, in a word,
flawless. Try his linguine with clams
or angel-hair pasta with chopped shrimp
and fresh tomato sauce. Or better
yet, ask whether the excellent special
of ravioli with sage and butter is
available.
Main courses include
a good deal of veal, as is typical
of an Italian menu, where veal is
listed far more than chicken or beef;
I'd recommend any of them but especially
the simple, fragrant scaloppine with
wild mushrooms and fresh herbs, mushroom-sautéed
scaloppine stuffed with prosciutto
and parmigiana, fork-tender osso buco
with saffron-scented risotto ala Milanese,
and the delicious, giant broiled chop.
The grilled lamb chops are great too,
as is the medallion of beef with a
wonderful potato tórta.
Though I seldom order chicken out,
I'd highly recommend the fennel-stuffed,
lemon-glazed breast of chicken, served
atop a bed of wild rice and Savoy
cabbage. I'd also steer you toward
any of the fish entrées, especially
the mouthwatering striped bass bathed
in lemon emulsion and parsley pesto.
For dessert, nothing
suits me more here than the plate
of vanilla, almond, or chocolate biscottifresh-baked
and not rock-hardserved with
sweet, nutty Vin Santo wine, into
which you dip the biscotti between
bites. Bravo!
Anthony Giglio
222 Galloping Hill
Road, Union (908-964-5850). Open Monday
through Friday, noon to 10 pm; Saturday,
5 to 10:30 pm; Sunday, 2 to 8 pm.
Wheelchair access easy. American Express,
Diners Club, MasterCard, Visa. Dinner
for two without wine averages $90.
"Beautiful terra-cotta
decor" is part of the dramatic
redesign at this exquisite Italian
in Union that's a hit with those fond
of tableside preparations that includes
the last of the real Caesar salads.
Even better, the services makes you
feel like royalty.
Benito's
Italian kitchen evokes cinematic glories
by Teresa Politano/For
The Star-Ledger
Thursday September 18, 2008, 1:38
PM
THREE
AND A HALF STARS
Remember
that hot chocolate scene in Tom Hanks'
"The Polar Express"? It's
a whimsical song-and-dance routine,
where waiters serve steaming cocoa
on a moving train with impossibly
perfect timing and rhythm.
The
dining room on a busy night at Benito's
is like that. Waiters whisk and deliver,
weaving and bobbing from table to
kitchen, with such impossible pace
and efficiency that you're sure they'll
crash. But they don't. It's as if
it were choreographed.
Dining
is often theater, and dinner here
also sparked memories of another movie.
"Big Night," starring Stanley
Tucci and Tony Shalhoub, is a great
foodie movie where the chef, from
Italy, insists on authenticity and
perfection. If you ever wished to
find a restaurant with the Italian
kitchen philosophy of the movie "Big
Night," Benito's would be a contender.
The
food here is simply stellar. This
is not your typical Northern Italian
menu; many dishes are the kind that
take hours to make, and you can just
picture the kitchen filled with stuff
like homemade veal stocks, lamb shanks
and bone marrow.
Despite
all that, Benito's still seems to
be an undiscovered secret. Maybe that's
partly thanks to location -- it's
in Union, after all, a sprawling township.
And the building itself is easy for
drivers to miss; yes, it's modern
and crisp, but it sits unassuming
at the corner of the crazy intersection
of Five Points.
Still,
this is a restaurant that's been here
since 1985, and, in addition to the
mindful and impeccable service, also
has a more-than-impressive wine list.
If the rest of the state hasn't discovered
this place, the locals have. Benito's
gets quite crowded on a weekend night,
with many folks who celebrate every
occasion here, and even some who simply
consider this fine-dining spot a weekly
neighborhood hangout.
Part
of the reason is Benito Hissen himself,
a handsome, gracious and well-heeled
host in the grand European tradition
of such things. Hissen brings to the
restaurant an old-fashioned, formal
elegance, one that seems to regretfully
be lost nowadays. But don't interpret
that as being fussy or stuffy. Hissen
is generous, authentic and warm. Nor
is the restaurant itself fussy; the
decor inside is as modern, crisp and
clean as the outside.
Five
types of bread arrive before the appetizers,
with an olive oil and herb sauce,
and a crisp bruschetta topped with
fava beans.
Crab
cakes ($14) were crisp outside, succulent
and tender inside. The accompaniment,
a julienned carrot and apple salad
in an orange-mustard vinaigrette,
was surprisingly simple and refreshing.
The goat cheese, beet and asparagus
salad ($10) was also crisp, and came
with more-than-generous squares of
goat cheese.
Pastas
here are homemade, and the fettuccine
with homemade veal ragu ($24) is one
of those dishes you'll remember forever.
This is an amazing, call-your-grandmother
kind of dish, so savory and rich,
with layers and layers of flavor.
The braised short ribs ($32), a special
for the evening, were one of those
kinds of dishes as well. This dish
was served with the bone, but honestly
did not require visual proof that
it was so tender as to have just fallen
off. What a hearty, delicious dinner.
Desserts
are impressive as well. The pignoli
tart ($8) was studded with pignoli
nuts and was as soft and airy as the
best pignoli cookie you've ever had.
Molten chocolate cake ($8) was sweet,
chocolately, rich and warm.
We
left Benito's with the same feeling
we get at the end of a great holiday
dinner. Happy and oh-so-well fed.
And feeling as though the world is
a better place.
Ristorante da Benito
222 Galloping Hill Road
Union, New Jersey 07083
908-964-5850
- HOURS -
Monday thru Friday: 12 to 10 PM
Saturday: 5 PM to 10:30 PM
Sunday: 2 PM to 8 PM