August 2026: Top 50 Restaurants

It’s here! After months of dining out at restaurants around the state, slurping soups and digging into steaks, we present to you our annual Top Restaurants issue. This year’s list is more exciting than ever, with 50—yes, 50—restaurants. In 2024, we grew the list from 30 to 40 restaurants, and now, with our state’s increasingly diverse and vibrant food scene, we feel that 50 establishments are necessary to accurately reflect the way New Jerseyans eat. It also doesn’t hurt that New Jersey Monthly is celebrating our 50th anniversary in 2026, so we can proudly say that we’re embracing that number this year.

As always, our Top Restaurants list is accompanied by the results of our restaurant poll. Here, you’ll find the winners—as selected by you, our readers—in categories from bagels to barbecue, ice cream to Indian food. We also are thrilled to feature chef Ryan DePersio, a Nutley native, on this year’s Top Restaurants cover. One of the most celebrated chefs in New Jersey, he runs Battello in Jersey City and Ember & Eagle in Eatontown, and is opening a third restaurant, Barchino in Jersey City, this fall.

Also in this issue, you’ll find an interview with Adriana Carrig, the force behind the hugely popular bracelet brand Little Words Project; a look back at New Jersey’s shuttered rock clubs and the evolution of our state’s live music scene; and a piece on how caviar is making a comeback in New Jersey.