Restaurants in Hopatcong
Recommended Restaurants by Groupon Customers
In 1989, Dan Gallagher and Dan Smith joined their respective names and began pursuing one common goal: to bring a contemporary alternative to Berks County's dining scene. The 40-seat eatery was successful in the Dans' hands until 2005, when Bill Woolworth and MD. Monir stopped in for dinner, fell in love with the place, and decided to buy it.
Though much of the space's original charm remains intact, the new owners gussied up the decor with white tablecloths and floral arrangements, and they solicited the help of executive chef Jason Hook to lighten the rotating menu. Jason draws on his experience studying in France and working at The Four Seasons in New York to craft healthful, contemporary French- and Californian-inspired dishes. In every preparation, he highlights the ingredients' natural tastes, often pairing local cuts of meat and poultry with fresh, seasonal ingredients and luxurious flourishes such as truffles or Lamborghini-scented foam.
Hook, Woolworth, and Monir also frequently evaluate their wine selections to ensure that they pair well with the evolving menu, which changes every week. While sipping glasses of red or white, diners can question servers about the building's rich history in the Penn's Common Historic District. Before the restaurant settled into the space, it was inhabited by an old-style soda dive, a prison doctor's home, and a grassland populated with roaming dinosaurs.
Ingredient sculptors at Lee Gribben's on Main sear up succulent seafood and steak while an in-house pastry chef dotes over decadent epilogues. Meat and seafood dishes share equal billing on the dinner menu, where they share a bunk in the surf 'n' turf plate. At lunch, chefs stuff chicken, roast beef, and veggies inside slices of bread or nearby UPS packages for quick delivery to the mouth. The deft pastry chefs at Lee Gribben's on Main handcraft an array of sinful desserts, including boston cream cake, cheesecake, and crème brûlée torched. Guests can dine inside, where vibrant, modern artwork pops against marbled green walls, or outside on the patio. Trivia and karaoke nights encourage guests to stick around and head to the full bar for after-dinner drinks.
At El Mio Cid, a mouthwatering spread of authentic Spanish cuisine enraptures palates alongside flavorful wines and dulcet pours of Sangria. A tasty array of hot and cold tapas such as baked clams, chicken croquettes, or jamon Serrano and manchego unite tables in a gleeful celebration of communal plate-passing and elaborate foodstuff bartering systems. Elegantly plated entrees burst into fields of view with breathtaking color, awakening salads with house-made dressings and steaks and chicken cutlets with flavorful herbs, peppers, and sauces. In addition to dishing out saffroned paellas, fresh seafood, and meaty meals, El Mio Sid caps off dinners with dulcet desserts, such as flan, ice cream, and sorbet.
Chef and restaurateur Lea Forant hand-selects organic and local produce for a menu of French-influenced cuisine. Although recipes, like holiday socks, change seasonally, a wide array of sandwiches, omelets, and seafood plates incorporate ingredients such as emmental cheese and smoked salmon. Chalkboards relay the daily assortment of freshly baked desserts and baristas fill glasses with house-made lavender lemonade and cranberry iced tea. Incorporating customizations for diet, taste, and budget, catering services deliver French cuisine to doorsteps. Natural light inundates the cafe's glassed-in sun porch, streaming past the striped awning and elbowing between clouds playing Red Rover.
In 2011, the Michelin Guide recommended Vareli for its upscale and creative Mediterranean fare, crafted by chef and Gramercy Tavern veteran Amitzur Mor. Chef Mor uses sustainable and organic ingredients whenever possible to inform Vareli’s ever-shifting local menu, which has featured such rich meats as Hudson-Valley duck and Pennsylvania lamb. Resident sommelier Richard Bill draws from his experience at Beacon and Ouest to complement each succulent entree with a wine list of 20 wines by the glass and 100 wines by the bottle. From Thursday to Saturday, Vareli’s kitchens remain open until 2 a.m., so patrons can sip vino and draft beer or rouse sleepwalking roommates with wafts from cheese and charcuterie boards late into the night.
On the ground floor of Vareli, a polished copper bar runs for 20 feet below a rustic arched ceiling, as wide stools belly up to the bar and to barrel-shaped plates. In the upstairs dining room, wide windows look out on treetops and burnished walls support velvety banquettes and lantern sconces. During the summer, couples close in on an intimate outdoor patio for fresh air from nearby Central Park, while colder days invite diners to gather around a cracking fireplace that the New York Times lauds for creating a cozy atmosphere.
