I have a tendency to be a bit of a New York City snob (maybe elitist is a better word?). I’ve had amazing food in many places, but I don’t think any place can come close to rivaling NYC as a food city. And I especially don’t think of my home state of Jersey as being a food mecca. So when my mom told me about this “AMAZING” place called Sublime in Gladstone, NJ… I was skeptical.
But the menu sounded quite promising in its descriptions (since the menu is seasonal and changed all the time, I included our menus below).
And it was designed with a nice aesthetic and we were greeted by an incredibly friendly hostess. Our service the entire meal was actually fantastic.
And has a brand new porch area that looked lovely to sit at. (It was a bit too cold for that when we ate there)
I started with a craft beer flight (they were already speaking my language!)
It was a really nice trip through very different beers and we had fun passing them all around for everyone to try.
Then we began eating. They began with the tuna sliders which were mini spicy tuna burgers on brioche bun with sliced tomato, cucumber, and sriracha mayo. Everyone besides my sister and I (who are both allergic to peppers) enjoyed these.
We also had a wedge salad which was topped with applewood smoked bacon, radish and hard boiled egg. Yum.
I began with the crab and avocado salad which came with jumbo lump blue crab eat with avocado, red onion, cilantro and lemon/thyme vinaigrette. This was so fresh and so full of flavor. I just loved it. And what a beautiful presentation.
First entree up was the NY Strip which was a grilled 16 oz. strip over truffled fingerling potatoes and topped with an herbed garlic port wine reduction. This was cooked perfectly and had all these great rich flavors and textures. Really enjoyable.
Someone tried the Macadamia Crusted cod which was a red miso marinated Chatham cod crusted in macadamia nuts served over mango sticky rice and sake braised baby bok choy. SO. GOOD.
We also had the sea scallops, which were pan seared diver sea scallops over truffled smashed potatoes with sweet creamed corn and fried leeks. The crisp on the fried leaks was a great foil for the tender scallops. Each bite was better than the last.
One person got the seafood yaki udon, which had sautéed shrimp and scallops with seasonal vegetables and udon noodles in a sweet garlic oyster sauce. Very tasty.
And I got the short ribs. These were boneless Rioja braised short ribs with oven roasted vegetables and Yukon gold smashed potatoes. I’m pretty sure I moaned when I ate these. Everything short ribs should be. Tender, packed with flavor, in a slightly sweet and rich sauce. Sensational.
Sheesh! This took me by surprise. I was sitting here having a really fantastic meal… and in NJ. (Though the prices could certainly rival NY!)
Always trust the mama.
She then informed us that the desserts were really phenomenal and not to be missed. Well fine mom, twist my arm.
We started with the banana rangoons, which were deep fried wontons filled with banana and toasted hazelnuts served with dark chocolate sauce. Awesome.
Then we had the milk chocolate praline pudding, which was housemade and topped with fresh whipped cream. Great flavor, but it could have used a little more texture in my opinion. Some sort of crisp. But we’d be splitting hairs to make this meal any better.
And then… it came.
The single most impressive apple crisp I have ever had… in my life.
It is listed on the menu as “For 2” but this thing could easily serve about 6 people. It came with vanilla bean ice cream and caramel sauce that just dripped right down the side of the dish. It was an apple crisp for the records. Usually toppings on apple crisps don’t stay crispy. They just get kind of mushy and I assumed that was the way it always had to be. Au contraire my apple crisp loving self! This was so good that I actually told the waiter that I wanted to send word back to the pastry chef that this was incredible and I was impressed. He came back to tell me that the chef mentioned that he bakes it at a low temperature for a very long time to get the crisp. Good. To. Know.
I still can’t believe how wildly good this meal was. I’m not sure if it was the sheer surprise of it, or if the food was just that sensational. My mom has always been quite a good judge of food, so I should have trusted her more. I just couldn’t believe a restaurant like this would exist in a little town in the middle of the Jerz. All the food was outrageously good, but that apple crisp gets its own 0.5 Nom Point boost.
Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10
Tags: apple crisp, banana rangoons, beer flight, gladstone, milk chocolate praline pudding, new jersey, nj, restaurant review, restaurants, scallops, short ribs, steak, sublime, tuna sliders, wedge salad
