• Cajun-inspired pasta, obscure sandwiches and more most impressed food writer Kara VanDooijeweert this week.
• This column publishes on Saturdays, and typically features standout eats from Morris, Essex, Bergen, Hudson, Passaic and/or Sussex counties.

Unpopular opinion: I don’t hate paper straws.

I mean, I don’t like paper straws — and I used to think I hated them — but, recently, the cardboard-y drinking tubes have been receiving so much backlash in public discourse that I realized my feelings towards them were minuscule compared to most others’.

On TikTok and Instagram, it’s not uncommon that a video complaining about the straws pull over 100 thousand views. On Reddit, threads titled “I [truck]ing hate paper straws” have 460+ comments. At Election Day a few weeks ago, I saw someone wearing a shirt proclaiming “I don’t care who wins, just get rid of paper straws.”

Well, North Jersey, good news — if you’re in the subsection of society that thinks paper straws should throw themselves in a fireplace and burn, you’re going to love this week’s top local dishes; because, while the former are considered dry (and off-putting on a sensory level), these culinary champions are as wet as food comes.

None running the risk of turning your tongue into a desert, these are the three best things I ate this week.

Rasta Pasta, Tops Diner

Though it’s probably more of a modern American restaurant than a diner at this point, there’s no question; Tops Diner is one of New Jersey’s favorite spots to eat. Recently, the chic spot was ranked the best restaurant in the state by the Yelp “elites” (app users/contributors selected by community managers as “experts” on their local food scene), and, while writing an article on the aforementioned, it was subconsciously (re)tucked into the back of my mind.

World Insurance Associates announced that it acquired the business of Van Syckel Insurance of Bound Brook, New Jersey on August 1, 2025.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Van Syckel Insurance, which was started in 1865, is managed by Ryan Van Syckel, the great, great grandson of the founder.

The agency provides home and auto insurance, flood insurance, workers’ compensation and business insurance.

World Insurance, based in Iselin, New Jersey, serves clients from more than 300 offices across the U.S. and U.K.

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New Jersey

NEW JERSEY (WABC) — It was a frustrating morning for some commuters on NJ Transit after Midtown Direct rail service was diverted into Hoboken Terminal.

Delays of more than 30 minutes were reported by passengers and the transit system.

NJ Transit rail tickets and passes are being cross honored by NJ Transit and private carrier bus and PATH at Newark Penn Station, Hoboken, and 33rd Street-New York.