2 Collingswood Restaurants Named Among NJ's 30 Best By NJ Monthly

COLLINGSWOOD, NJ — Two Collingswood restaurants made New Jersey Monthly’s list of the state’s best restaurants. Hearthside and Zepolli have been named among the state’s 30 best restaurants by the publication.

Here’s what New Jersey Monthly had to say about Hearthside, located at 801 Haddon Avenue: “The beating heart of Hearthside is its side-by-side wood-burning oven and grill, which you can see through the glass walls before you even enter. Inside, your nostrils will pick up what chef/co-owner Dominic Piperno calls “the singe.” (Don’t worry, the place is well ventilated.) While the fire is literal—cooking superb steaks, fish and vegetables—it is metaphorical, too. “The energy [in the open kitchen] is terrific,” Piperno says. “We’re all flowing, all on the same path.” The brilliance of Hearthside lies in its balance: The smoky signature of the wood-fired dishes and the finesse and imagination of the salads, pastas, crudos and desserts. The latter group include a juicy hamachi crudo with rhubarb, macerated strawberries and chili; delicate agnolotti filled with smoked celery root in brown butter with black pepper and chopped almonds; a graham-cracker-crusted strawberry ice cream bar on a stick that is as delightful as it is whimsical. For the full experience, sit at the counter. You’ll be close enough to high five the chefs. Odds are you’ll want to. BYO.”

To make a reservation, call 856-240-1164. Read more here: New Restaurant A ‘Game Changer’ For Collingswood, Critic Says

Here’s what the publication said about Zepolli, located at 618 Collings Avenue: “Heading into our ninth year,” says chef/owner Joe Baldino, “people are coming from Philly, from Central and North New Jersey, even New York. It’s pretty exciting.” You might think foodies would tire of a menu—dedicated to Baldino’s ancestral Sicily—that rarely changes, except for a couple of daily specials. But standards like the light, lip-smacking tagliatelli al limone never lose their luster. Likewise his bracing Sicilian fisherman’s stew with saffron and Tunisian couscous, and his sumptuous spinach-and-ricotta gnocchi topped with Sicilian caciocavallo cheese. In the narrow storefront with just 32 seats, Baldino has no room for a walk-in fridge, so he has to make the dough for his namesake zeppoli in small batches. Result: He sometimes has to ration these fluffy, crisp, hot-from-the-fryer delights. “If I run out of the dough,” he says, “people put a frown on.” The upside of being small? “You can really hone it, taste every single thing and make sure it’s exactly the way you want it.” Case in point: peerless pistachio gelato. Fortunately, his freezer is big enough that he never runs out. BYO.”

To make a reservation, call 856-854-2670. While seven restaurants on this year’s list didn’t make it last year, both of these Collingswood restaurants did. Last year, they were also named among the top 50 restaurants in the region by Philadelphia Magazine.

Read the entire NJ Monthly list here.