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It’s no surprise that Summit House is also making all of their own pasta in-house daily, and keep one to two pasta-focused dishes on the menu at a time. I tried the campanelle, which I was told diners have been raving about, tossed with corn, mushrooms and a hint of spice. Although Summit House doesn’t take to the farm-to-table moniker, rest assured that what you’re eating is always in-season, made from scratch, locally-sourced and humanely raised.
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The halibut, on the other hand, is not to be missed either as it speaks to the soul of true Mexican cuisine. The crisp, flaky fish sits on top of a pozole-style sauce made with fish stock, hominy, green beans and is finished off with a drizzle of chorizo oil. “We’re not trying to be avant-garde; we’re trying to work within a certain philosophy,” Baker explained to me over dinner.
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Alongside his now business partners and neighbors, the two couples took on the tumultuous task of restoring a 120-year-old building and laying out the plans for what is now known as the new Summit House. The building at 395 Springfield Avenue came to life 1894 as Summit, New Jersey's first purpose-built YMCA. It served many different businesses over the generations that followed, including more than 50 years as the Fanny Farmer candy store. We took our time to renovate the old place, leaving the more than century-old brick walls exposed, a reminder of the rich history of this community we call home. With a casual café and bar, an open-kitchen dining room and private dining area, we hope you'll feel welcomed, appreciated and catered to whenever you step foot through our doors.Welcome to Summit House. The mains at the restaurant come to the table shareably sized, simple in both presentation and composition.
Restaurants open on Christmas Eve and Christmas in North Jersey - NorthJersey.com
Restaurants open on Christmas Eve and Christmas in North Jersey.
Posted: Mon, 06 Dec 2021 08:00:00 GMT [source]
They’re not interested in cutting any corners, going the extra mile to purchase whole cows raised in Far Hills to use for their burgers. They’re also dry-aging all the prime cuts and treating their vegetables as if they were proteins, ensuring that no stalk, leaf or stem goes to waste. Chef AJ is as comfortable in the woods as he is in the kitchen, enjoying hiking and hunting with friends and cooking over an open flame. He’s also dedicated his free time to supporting benefits for social causes, teaching aspiring chefs, and creating pop-ups and charity dinners with friends and colleagues. Summit House is home to three distinct dining areas that, when combined, can accommodate up to 120 seated guests. Whether for a corporate dinner, birthday celebration, holiday party or any other events, our team will work with you to create a perfect environment.
Summit House offers elegant cuisine inspired by the Garden State's diverse edible bounty – served with care in a warm, lively atmosphere. Sourced from local farms, fisherman and select purveyors, the Summit House menu features a raw bar specializing in East Coast oysters, peak-season vegetables and humanely raised meats. It also means working with local, national and international charities tied to our region, and supporting neighboring businesses whenever possible.
Fagan, a physician, said having another life science anchor in town (Bristol Myers Squibb also has a location in Summit) means a lot, too. “Kenvue, notwithstanding your over 135-year rich history in New Jersey, as a new company, rightfully, on behalf of your shareholders and your employees and your other constituents, had to reassess and ultimately recommit to New Jersey. Mongon said some of the expected 3,000 workers on the campus will begin moving in during the opening quarters of 2025. Other standout starters included the chicken liver mousse topped with apricot preserves and the grilled Spanish octopus with crispy Yukon potatoes, broccoli and brown butter crumble. They’re repurposing the unused broccoli stems from Summit House’s charred broccoli side dish and the key to the octopus, I learned, is to sous vide it first and then finish it to order on the grill.
The Old Fashioned is made with Four Roses Yellow Label bourbon and a Manhattan is composed of High West Double Rye, whiskey cherry Montanaro Vermouth di Torino and maraschino angostura bitters. If you choose to indulge in the latter, the drink comes with an impressive tableside presentation complete with smoke and all. More progressive cocktail iterations include the “Mule of the Moment” and the clarified piña punch—a riff on a tropical colada—made with plantation pineapple rum, velvet falernum coconut water, lime clarified milk and simple syrup.
What makes for a great dining experience, we agree, is twofold. Impeccable service and high-quality cuisine are first to come to mind, but other, more modern-day elements to consider are things like design, layout, lighting and artwork. Restaurant table layout seems cramped and table on top of one another. The bar is awesome and great cocktails but unless you have a seat at the bar, you are standing on top of people at the bar and up against diners at tables. Kenvue, the multibillion-dollar consumer health care spinoff of Johnson & Johnson, said it proudly retains its 135-year history in the state. But, when it was created as a new company in 2023, Kenvue could have easily found a location in New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California or anywhere else.
Not only was Summit House built to be structurally sound, but the executive team behind the restaurant is equally as stacked. General Manager Justin Lord comes to the restaurant from Per Se, where he spent his time as a sommelier working alongside Thomas Keller. Behind the bar is Bobby Frascella, former Iron Shaker competitor and manager of Summit House’s wine and beverage program. And in the kitchen is Chef Aya Hasegawa, who recently took the lead from Chef Martin Kester, both of whom came from Ninety Acres. After moving to town nearly 10 years ago from Santa Barbara, California, Baker instantly felt the urge to fill the neighborhood’s void for something fresh and contemporary. Baker, whose father was a professional chef, grew up in the restaurant industry and found himself wandering down a similar path years later as a food and beverage manager for Four Seasons Resorts, before moving on to wine and spirit sales.
He excelled as executive chef at Jockey Hollow Bar & Kitchen in Morristown until its temporary closure due the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as at A Toute Heure in Cranford and Liberty House in Jersey City. He joined Summit House in 2023 from Montclair Hospitality Group, where as corporate chef he supported menus for restaurants that included pastaRAMEN, Ani Ramen House and Mochinut. Fossil Farms Chef Bianca Concepcion will join Summit House Chef AJ Capella in the kitchen to prepare a meal like no other. Indulge in a six-course meal of culinary excellence complete with wine pairings. “From this campus, in this town, we will work very hard every day to come up with new ideas, new solutions — always driven by science and guided by strong human insights. Summit House is also very serious about its bread, which, whether for the table or hamburger buns, is made in-house every day.
They offer an impressive wagyu tri-tip, scallops with bacon and other American standards you’d expect to see at a fine dining restaurant, with their own signature twist, of course. To my surprise, Baker boasted about their roast chicken, to which I replied, “I always order the chicken.” It was perfectly juicy on the inside, browned on the outside—everything that Ina Garten taught you a good chicken should be. The way they’re elevating it at Summit House is by adding flavors of apricot, fennel and almond.
The bar program follows suit, offering expressions that impart peak, seasonal ingredients. Although Summit House is much more than just a cool, trendy place to grab a drink, if that’s what you want, it’s perfect for that too. The cocktail menu reads as a mix of classics and inventive originals.

In fact, they’ve enlisted a staff member to helm the daily bread program and maintain the 25-year-old sourdough starter. They’re also grinding their own spelt flour sourced up the road from Castle Valley Mill in Pennsylvania. Taking almost five years from ideation to completion, what they envisioned was a concept that incited the imagination of visitors. What they ended up with was something resembling the likes of a Danny Meyer restaurant, where basic principles such as eye contact and a smile mean as much as the food that’s coming out of the kitchen. Yes, ingredients and technique are of the utmost importance, though the overarching mission is exceptional hospitality.
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