Through cocktails, owner Jack McGarry narrates that story by crafting inventive mixtures that incorporate aspects from various cultures.
Find The Best Spots Nearby
Life of Reilly, a speakeasy-themed bar located downstairs, further unveils the intersection of craft cocktails and Irish revolutionary history. For a burger (a beet salad), steamed mussels, or dishes like schnitzel, this local bar with a dark and moody ambiance is the ideal destination. Known for its emphasis on bread and butter—featuring a butter tasting in its offerings—this establishment also serves a variety of modern Italian small plates. This notable Sichuan-focused restaurant, which has a sibling outlet in Hell’s Kitchen, presents exceptional dishes such as fish with pickled cabbage, beef in sour pickle soup, green peppercorn chicken, and dry pot okra.
THE SPOTS
Frequently ranked one of the most diverse places in the country, Jersey City has dozens of Indian restaurants, Filipino bakeries, classic red-sauce Italian spots, and even a pre-WWII hot dog counter. It’s a place where your night can begin or end—the one constant in a neighborhood that hasn’t stopped changing. With its garnish-heavy tiki cocktails and hip atmosphere in a sunken (street-side bar), Cellar 335 has never slowed down. The rooftop terrace offers picturesque views of Newark Avenue, while the bar below boasts unique cocktails and a wide beer selection.
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- A Oaxacan sit-down restaurant with a brisk to-go business on the site, this Central Avenue Mexican spot sells verde or mole tamales in the morning along with omelets and chilaquiles, followed by lunch and dinner options too.
- At this unique hotspot in the Heights — Rick Easton curates a selection of both sweet and savory Italian baked treats.
- You have to know where to look to find this stellar cocktail bar in the heart of the city (but once you do), you’ll enter a world defined by boundary-pushing beverages and tasty bites.
- These BYO, reservation-only dinners start at 8pm and go on for three hours—a delicious marathon of a meal—and they do a great job of boxing up the leftovers.
For an evening when cocktails must match the https://bardumusee.com culinary experience, Cellar 335 is my recommendation. Chef Brian Walter has transformed Jersey City by providing a sophisticated fine dining venue that once necessitated a journey to Manhattan. These offerings do not feel like mere alternatives for those who missed securing a reservation in Manhattan.
Wurst Bar
DomoDomo brings a more structured kind of sushi counter to Jersey City (built around hand-rolls), small Japanese plates, and a clean, modern dining room. Chef Matt Moschella’s cooking in the Heights has earned national attention for fresh pastas (daily-changing meat-and-cheese plates), angry chicken, octopus, and ricotta toast with honey and pink peppercorns. The menu moves through caviar-topped thousand-layer potato — quail egg ravioli with pulled oxtail, frog leg drumsticks in Korean barbecue glaze, Barolo-braised short rib, and duck breast with roasted apricots and Marcona almonds. This tiny city in Jersey has more than just fratty bars and expensive condos.
Cellar 335
One of the city’s best and smokiest barbecues is found in Jersey City’s plush Hamilton Park neighborhood. Jersey City has its own iconic hot dog counter, in this case it’s bright yellow and also selling the conventional gritty drinks of NYC institutions like Papaya King. The menu changes frequently (but look for any freshwater fish), like hilsa; chicken curry; and the mustard-oil-laced vegetarian dishes called bhortas. Place your order at the counter — take a number, and sit down until your dishes are called. Recently — Eater staffers found the chef barbecuing lamb shanks on the back patio, and a meal included rigatoni in a tomato sauce flavored with pancetta and Calabrian chile, and an excellent charcuterie and cheese plate.
You have to know where to look to find this stellar cocktail bar in the heart of the city (but once you do), you’ll enter a world defined by boundary-pushing beverages and tasty bites. Dullboy’s menu features a delightful assortment of shareable plates and small bites, complemented by a carefully curated selection of natural wines and expertly crafted cocktails. Locally sourced ingredients keep the menu fresh with seasonally rotating options like kiwi salsa-topped fluke crudo (fried wax beans with lemon ricotta), and a meaty lamb burger topped with provolone, shaved onion, and adobo tzatziki. The pastas and breads are made fresh daily, the cocktails are thoughtful and well-executed, and the service backs it all up. The JC hot spot has been showered with accolades, including a James Beard nomination for Mama Rahman for Best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as write-ups from Eater, the New York Times, and more.
