New Jersey
This spicy pasta was the best thing we ate in North Jersey this week
North Jersey food truck makes Thanksgiving egg rolls
Looking for something unique to serve this Thanksgiving? Try a Pumpkin Pie (or Gobbler, or Sweet Potato) egg roll platter from Uncle Sal’s Egg Rolls.
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.
When I landed in Newark after a long weekend in Chicago, then, it only felt natural to pay the Essex County icon a visit on the way home.
Sitting among the restaurant’s beige booths, gold decor and live DJs, I ordered dishes from the famed Mac & Cheese to a cheesy house-made veggie burger. I was most impressed, though, by the Cajun-inspired Rasta Pasta, which — topped with blackened jerk chicken, spicy parmesan cream sauce, garlic, peppers and more — will always be my go-to Tops meal.
Go: 500 Passaic Ave., East Newark; 973-481-0490, thetopsdiner.com.
Breaded Steak Sandwich, Ricobene’s (Chicago)
As alluded to above, I spent the past weekend in Chicago, and, while I typically wouldn’t include an Illinois bite in a Jersey eats newsletter, something peculiar happened when I was abroad:
I noticed an old news article from our databases claiming, at one point, that the Breaded Steak Sandwich from Ricobene’s (of the Bridgeport neighborhood) was “the best sandwich in the world.”
Naturally, then, I had to try it — and see if it still held up.
Composition-wise, the sandwich consisted of a breaded steak cutlet (closer to a country fried steak than a veal Milanese chop), marinara sauce and, upon request, mozzarella and hot giardiniera (I HIGHLY SUGGEST making that request) on soft-baked Italian bread. It costs $11.99 for a “regular,” and is admirably messy beneath its tight tinfoil wrap.
As soon as I began to devour mine, I made a quick realization: It wasn’t the best sandwich in the world. Mushroom and onion cheesesteaks, Jersey-style sloppy joes and old-fashioned tuna melts are all better sandwiches.
With fried steak that stayed crispy under sauce, giardiniera that added crunch and heat, and a blanket of cheese that dripped from both ends of the fluffy roll, however, it was an elite-level sandwich.
Just not an unbeatable sandwich, from the perspective of someone who hails from the deli capital of the world.
Go: 252 W. 26th St., Chicago; 312-225-5555, ricobenespizza.com (Breaded Steak “Sandwich Kits” are available for shipping nationwide through Goldbelly, if you’d like to try the dish without leaving New Jersey).
Jamaican Rum Hot Cocoa, Miracle on Centre
More of a beverage, but I still technically ate it, and — once I put a sandwich from Chicago in my North Jersey culinary highlights — I’m pretty sure I abandoned all conventionality, anyway.
So, exceptions being the name of the game this week, I present the boozy hot cocoa from Miracle on Centre (a festive Christmas bar that pops up inside of Cowan’s Public each year).
Listed on the menu as the Coconut Hot Chocolate, the thick drink is loaded with Jamaican rum, amaretto, chocolate hazelnut and coconut before being absolutely smothered in coconut-infused whipped cream and finished with cacao dust.
AKA; it tastes like eating Santa’s cookies and milk at the same time, and it’s the perfect way to get hammered while listening to Andy Williams.
Go: 229 Centre St., Nutley (INSIDE of Cowan’s Public through January 4); 973-542-8151, cowanspublic.com.
Hungry for more?
Want more on this week’s latest food news? Check out some of my (and others’) best articles at NorthJersey.com/food.
Until next weekend, North Jersey.
Remember to book your Thanksgiving reservations, order your feast to be catered or secure your after-dinner pie.
And then, on Turkey Day itself, tune into @northjerseyeats — because I have a video of a very special visitor coming to New Jersey for December (and he’s bringing laughter, fear and drunken chicken parm with him).
Kara VanDooijeweert is a food writer for NorthJersey.com and The Record. If you can’t find her in Jersey’s best restaurants, she’s probably off running a race course in the mountains. Catch her on Instagram: @karanicolev & @northjerseyeats, and sign up for her North Jersey Eats newsletter.
New Jersey
Monmouth County hospital among World’s Best Hospitals for 2026
Ranney School student plays music for Monmouth Medical Center patients
Ava Silva Costa, a sophomore at the Ranney School in Tinton Falls, has started Arturo Healing Hearts, bringing her violin music to area hospitals.
Hospitals are an important need in the world.
And finding a facility with high-quality medical care that’s reliable is also important.
Newsweek, the premier news magazine and website, has partnered with Statista to release a dependable guidance list of the World’s Best Hospitals – United States for 2026.
In it’s eight year, these ranking highlights the leading hospitals around the globe so readers can find information tailored to their needs and location the report stated.
Each hospital was reviewed and given a score based on four data sources: recommendations from medical experts; hospital quality metrics, existing patient experience data and Statista’s Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Implementation Survey.
In typical New Jersey fashion, the Garden State makes the list among the 2,500 hospitals that were evaluated this year.
Nine hospitals from the Garden State made the list with one representing Monmouth County. With an overall score of 61.79% and the Infection Prevention Award, Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch made the top 9 list for roster in World’s Best Hospitals 2026 from Newsweek.
World’s Best Hospitals 2026 in New Jersey
- No. 53: Atlantic Health Morristown Medical Center in Morristown; overall score: 70.74%
- No. 56: Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack; overall score: 70.07%
- No. 134: The Valley Hospital in Paramus; overall score: 65.36%
- No. 186: Atlantic Health Overlook Medical Center in Summit; overall score: 64.42%
- No. 254: Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood; overall score: 63.13%
- No. 320: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick; overall score: 62.26%
- No. 364: Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark; overall score: 61.82%
- No. 366: Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Plainsboro; overall score: 61.80%
- No. 367: Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch; overall score: 61.79%
New Jersey
Newly released body cam footage shows response to massive industrial explosion in Gloucester County
LOGAN TWP., N.J. (WPVI) — Newly released body camera footage gives us a first look at the heroic actions of first responders on the scene of a massive industrial explosion in Gloucester County earlier this month.
The explosion happened at an industrial facility in Logan Township, New Jersey, on March 4 and left several workers injured.
The initial blast could be heard miles away.
Now, we are getting a look at the frantic rush to help in the moments after it happened.
New details released after massive explosion at Logan Twp., New Jersey factory
In the footage, you can hear the police officers frantically trying to locate people who were injured by the blast at Savita Naturals.
Large propane tanks burned in the background as rescuers tried to account for any survivors.
At one point, first responders are seen running inside the building to look for people. You can see damaged walls and debris everywhere.
Four people were injured in the blast, with one of them being thrown off the roof and into the woods near the water tower.
Amazingly, the worker was found alive by a fence. He was badly burned, but able to talk.
First responders had to load him in a truck and get him to the road, where a Logan Township officer tried to keep him calm as they waited for an ambulance.
Body cam video shows an officer calling the man’s wife to let her know he was alive.
That officer stayed by his side until he was finally loaded into a police car and rushed to the hospital.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.
New Jersey
How hunters are helping to feed those in need throughout New Jersey
How hunters in NJ are helping feed the hungry, food pantries
See how hunters in New Jersey are working with food pantries to help feed the hungry in the state.
For more than 25 years, hunters around the Garden State have been making a difference by working with Hunters Helping the Hungry, a nonprofit organization that raises money and coordinates the efforts of hunters, butchers, and food banks throughout New Jersey to help put food on the table for those in need.
The program began during the 1997/1998 hunting season, a result of the efforts of three Hunterdon County hunters along with help from a butcher named John Person and Kathy Rummel, the director at the time of Norwescap.
“We started out 25 years ago just as hunters, you know, wanting to go out and get some extra deer. New Jersey had very liberal deer quotas and bag limits. You could get unlimited does,” said Lester Giese, one of the founders of Hunters Helping the Hungry. “I was on a trip, and I was going through West Virginia, and I saw at one of the gas stations a brochure for Hunters Helping the Hungry. I picked up the brochure and looked at it and said, ‘What a great idea.’ When I got back, as it turned out, the state legislature just recently passed a law to allow venison donations.”
Five deer were donated during that first season, according to Giese. Today, the organization averages about 1,000 donations per year, which amounts to between 23,000 and 28,000 pounds of venison, he said.
Overall, since the program’s inception, Hunters Helping the Hungry has facilitated the donation of nearly 2.5 million servings of venison.
While the program originally started as a way to assist hunters who could harvest more deer than they could use, the organization’s mission has expanded. According to its website, Hunters Helping the Hungry currently aims to:
- Continue paying butchering costs for hunters who are able to take more deer than they can use;
- Support municipal and private property owners that pay for the butchering process directly while they attempt to reduce the deer population on their property;
- And set aside a portion of grants from the state Department of Agriculture to support and pay for the butchering of deer taken by farmers and their agents during depredation hunts.
These efforts ultimately help New Jersey’s food bank system and provide a source of protein to those in need, while also keeping the state’s deer herd in check
“So, kind of a nutshell, we started out just a small group of us with a small focus,” Giese said. “And now we’re trying to do a lot of things for a lot of people.”
The process: From forest to food pantry
In New Jersey the deer hunting season runs from the second week of September through the second week of February. According to Hunters Helping the Hungry board member Mark Charbonneau, this is one of the longest hunting seasons in the United States.
Hunters who want to make a donation bring their legally harvested deer to one of the state-inspected butchers that partner with the organization. Processing fees are paid to the butcher by Hunters Helping the Hungry from a fund consisting of donations and grants.
The butcher processes the deer at no cost to the hunter and gives it to one of the participating food banks, such as Norwescap, which partners with pantries in Warren, Sussex, and Hunterdon counties.
Venison issued to the food banks is distributed to over 400 charities around the state.
Although New Jersey’s deer hunting season starts in the fall, Charbonneau, a board member of about 20 years and a hunter of about 40, says that the process starts well beforehand.
“The process actually starts before hunting season starts. What I mean by that is hunters will start scouting certain locations to be able to know where deer are, to be able to prepare to harvest them legally and as ethically and quickly as possible,” said Charbonneau, adding that less than 2% of the New Jersey population are deer hunters.
Charbonneau continued, “So when you start that process of scouting areas, setting up your locations, then going afield, then harvesting your game, then removing your game from the field, then field dressing it properly, then bringing it to a butcher, then making that donation, there’s a lot of steps involved and there’s a lot of time involved.”
JB Person, an Hunters Helping the Hungry board member and the owner of GameButcher in Lebanon, is one of several participating butchers that process the donated deer.
“What the hunters do is come here, they have to fill out some paperwork, and along with the paperwork we request they also fill out a donation slip. They donate the whole deer,” Person said. “What we do is skin it and process it into various cuts – roast, steak, chops, and ground meat. Everything is cut, wrapped, and frozen and then when we have a bunch ready to go, I get in touch with Norwescap and then they come and pick it up.”
Game Butchers averages between 150 and 200 donated deer per year, according to Person, who added that Hunters Helping the hungry is “in desperate need of butchers.”
How to donate deer to Hunters Helping the Hungry
Hunters looking to make a donation can take their legally harvested deer to any of the participating butchers listed on the Hunters Helping the Hungry website.
Once the required forms have been filled out, the butcher will process the deer. The food bank will then pick up the processed deer from the butcher and distribute the frozen venison to various food pantries, emergency shelters, churches, etc.
If the dressed weight of the deer is more than 50 pounds, Hunters Helping the Hungry will pay the entire processing fee, according to the organization’s website. If the dressed weight of the deer is less than 50 pounds, the hunter will be required to pay the first $50 of the processing fee.
Throughout the 2025/2026 hunting season, a total of 802 deer were donated to Hunters Helping the Hungry. This amounts to 26,846 pounds of venison which yields 107,384 servings.
“The number one thing that people need to know about our organization is that the hunters of the great state of New Jersey are the reason for our success,” Charbonneau said. “The hunters have taken it upon themselves in the great state of New Jersey to go afield every year and harvest game to help those not as fortunate as most.”
For additional information about Hunters Helping the Hungry and how you can donate and/or get involved as a hunter or a butcher, visit the organization’s website at https://www.huntershelpingthehungry.org/.
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