The two New Jersey restaurants recently rated most romantic by OpenTable are booked solid for Valentine’s Day, but, with just over a week to go, you can still find a few tables in prime time at some of the state’s best, newest and most creative restaurants. Here are 14 restaurants scattered around the Garden State that are offering special Valentine’s Day menus and still had availability via OpenTable as of Monday morning. What are you waiting for?
Truth in advertising? Find out at Brandl in Belmar, where the 4-course Valentine Day’s menu features the Get Naked Platter, a combo of oysters and shrimp cocktail. The scallop with bacon jam amuse bouche intrigues, as does the lazy lobster with vanilla bean butter and asparagus risotto. Menu 703 Belmar Plaza, Belmar, 732-280-7501.
The modern Greek Lithos Estiatorio in Livingston is offering a 4-course menu for $70 a person, featuring the likes of truffle-poached oysters with caviar, whole sauteed lobster and feta cheesecake with a fig balsamic glaze. Included is a complimentary glass of Champagne. Menu 405 Eisenhower Parkway, Livingston, 973-758-1111.
In Bernardsville, you can dine on burrata with pickled persimmon, seared sea scallops with roasted endive and fennel puree, and chocolate cake with strawberries and pistachios as par of Osteria Morini‘s 3-course menu for $59 per person. Menu 107 Morristown Road, Bernardsville, 908-221-0040.
Freehold’s brand-new 618 has an indulgent Valentine’s Day menu that features crispy duck breast with blood orange mostarda, cabernet-braised beef short ribs with lobster mascarpone risotto and an espresso-soaked almond cake with ganache and coffee buttercream. The $89-per-person price includes wine pairings. Menu 618 Park Ave., Freehold, 732-577-0001.
At Verve in Somerville, you can find the exotic — wild boar carpaccio with macerated blackberries — to the classic — seared tornadoes of filet mignon served on brioche with roasted root vegetables and a bordelaise sauce. The morello cherry cheesecake sounds like a winner. The 3-course Valentine’s Day menu is $75 per person. Menu 18 E. Main St., Somerville, 908-707-8655.
Spuntino Wine Bar has a 5-day-long Valentine’s Day menu that starts Feb. 10 and includes crab cakes with whole-grain mustard and upland cress.Courtesy Spuntino Wine Bar
The holiday starts early at Spuntino Wine Bar in Clifton, with the 5-course Valentine’s Day menu available starting Feb. 10. For $65 per person ($85 with wine pairings), choose among beet carpaccio with gorgonzola and a Riesling vinaigrette, strawberry mascarpone bruschetta, a pan-roasted striped bass with duck confit and beet coulis, and a chocolate terrine with black truffle gelato. Menu Clifton Commons, 70 Kingsland Road, Clifton, 973-661-2435.
In an inventive mood? Try the pulled Long Island duck fricassee with duck egg in a hole, the slow-cooked Colorado lamb neck with a pecorino and parsley polenta or the warm cookie dough dessert with white chocolate gelato at Millburn’s MoonShine Modern Supper Club. Menu 55 Main St., Millburn, 973-218-6042.
Halifax, overlooking the Hudson in Hoboken’s W Hotel, has a 4-course Valentine’s Day menu that features beet risotto with goat cheese and candied walnuts, filet of beef with truffled potato gratin, and a chocolate trio — dark chocolate layer cake, milk chocolate ice cream cone and a white chocolate truffle heart. It’s $79 per person, an additional $29 for the wine pairings. Website 225 River St., Hoboken, 201-253-2500.
Seafood lovers can find a table at New Brunswick’s Due Mari, which is offering creamy lobster veloute, tagliatelle with lump crab meat and bottarga and pan-seared cod with shaved Brussels sprouts and a saffron-mussel emulsion as part of its 3-course Valentine’s Day menu for $75 a person, $110 with wine pairings. Menu 78 Albany St., New Brunswick, 732-296-1600.
Inside the Spring Lake’s Victorian Hewitt Wellington hotel, Whispers has a 3-course Valentine’s Day menu that includes sea scallops with a wild mushroom risotto, roasted black sea bass in a Champagne cream sauce, and a surf-and-turf with Brazilian lobster tail and center-cut filet mignon for $95 a person. Menu 200 Monmouth Ave., 732-974-9755.
The regional Italian menu at Spigola Ristorante in Hamilton ranges from octopus over a chickpea puree with preserved lemon to veal osso buco with cavatelli, whipped ricotta and prosciutto bread crumbs to baked gnocchi. The three hearty courses (dessert not included) are $75 per person. Menu 3817 Crosswicks-
Hamilton Square Road, Hamilton, 609-585-5255.
Jose Garces’ Distrito in Moorestown has a 4-course Valentine’s Day special — tuna ceviche with serrano coconut sauce and lime sorbet, carne asada with crispy adobo onions — but save room for this dessert dubbed El Fuerte: coffee ice cream, marshmallow, spicy peanuts and a Patron XO sauce, all for a relatively modest $45 per person. Menu Moorestown Mall, 400 N.J. 38, Moorestown, 856-252-0300.
The $34-per-person 3-course menu at Aqua Blu in Toms River is swimming in seafood: oysters with a salsify bechamel, sea scallops with a soft parsley polenta, tagliatelle with uni and chive, but for a $20 per person upcharge, meat lovers can feast on 32-ounce dry-aged tomahawk rib-eye. Menu 3410 Route 37 East, Toms River, 732-270-1180.
Classics are the rule at Mara’s Continental Cuisine in South Amboy, with a 4-course menu that features oysters on the half shell, an herb-crusted petite veal rack, a grilled skirt steak with cognac and shallot reduction and bucatini carbonara. It’s $79 per person. Menu 3602 Route 35 North, South Amboy, 732-525-0045.
Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy or like her on Facebook. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook, and check out Remote Possibilities, the TV podcast from Vicki Hyman and co-host Erin Medley on iTunes, Stitcher or Spreaker, or listen below or here.
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