Restaurants in Jersey City

At first glance, shrimp pappardelle and fried Oreos don't seem like they belong on the same menu. But executive chef Jonathan Lemon specializes in these culinary surprises, building The Linc's menu from a variety of unexpected combinations.

"The Linc is contemporary, modern American," said Lemon in an interview with CBS 2's Tony Tantillo. "It's comfort food, diner food, fine dining all rolled into one." For his part, Tantillo praised the tuna tartare's spice and called the buttermilk fried chicken with red-velvet waffles "a great twist on a southern classic." Upscale components, such as lamb and smoked tomato chutney, transform into American staples such as meatloaf, winning over palates with updated but homestyle flavors.

In addition to dinner entrees, The Linc dishes up a variety of sandwiches, and brunch is served every day of the week. Even dinnertime diners have a few all-day breakfast specialties to choose from as they squint at the bejeweled chandelier (ensconced in modern, wrought-iron hoops) and pretend it's the sunrise outside their window or an early-morning fire in the building next door.

Amor Cubano captures the delicious essence of Cuban cuisine with sumptuous brunches, lunches and dinners of juicy steaks, tender stewed meats, and tasty cocktails. Plates of grilled chorizo, flavorful ropa vieja, and mouthwatering plantains invite taste buds to a sizzling culinary salsa dance, and fresh mussels, shrimp, and fish serenade palates with Spanish-language sea shanties. Throughout the restaurant, brick accents and artwork sate optic appetites, and regular live Latin music and dancing keep toes tapping to exotic rhythms.

For more than a decade, Vegetarian’s Paradise 2 has lavished vegetarians, vegans, and curious carnivores alike with a meatless mélange of Asian-soul-food specialties. Tapping an eclectic range of culinary traditions, skilled chefs transform soy protein into kung pao chicken, textured bean curd into zesty paella, and broccoli into treehouses for frolicking rice grains. The eatery also treats vegan sweet teeth to a flavorful array of nondairy ice cream, banana splits, and soymilk shakes.

Inside Mélange Green & Gourmet’s sunny storefront, chefs stock glass cases with dozens of deli meats, cheeses, and cold salads. Though the tiny shop champions classic American deli fare such as from-scratch soups and sandwiches, they also pepper the menu with Mediterranean accents such as gyro lamb or naan. Mélange Green & Gourmet specializes in catering orders and strives to suit time-crunched patrons by taking orders by phone and whisking meals to apartment buildings or submarine portholes free of charge.

Seen from afar, the food crossing the counter at New York Pão de Queijo might convince you that the bright, tiny storefront is a typical burger-and-shake shack. It's the details that tell you something else is going on—namely, Brazil's wildly creative, colorful take on the American burger and its accessories.

More than 10 beef, veggie, and turkey patties come gussied up with a kitchen sink's worth of fixings, including corn, potato sticks, sausage, house-made Brazilian cheese, banana, and pineapple. Smoothies attempt to balance out the towering feats of indulgence with nutrient-dense combos of papaya, passion fruit, peach, açai, and oats. The kitchen's commitment to snackery is also evident in the signature pão de queijo, a yuca-based bread puff filled with deliquescent cheese. Among other treats, The Daily Meal has praised its traditional bauru ham sandwich and its "great quick snacks" that can easily be downed while playing a typical soccer match.

East of Eighth takes diners on a tour of New York City’s diverse cultural heritage with a selection of authentically prepared dishes representing more than 10 distinct communities, including the French, Cajun, and Spanish. Binding the disparate culinary traditions together is a focus on contemporary bistro fare, from matzo-ball soup to pâté-topped breads to chorizo quesadillas. After dinner, the delectable oral history continues with crème caramel and strawberry shortcake that compete for diners' attention with the restaurant’s bounty of eye candy—an illuminated fountain, an aqua garden teeming with multi-colored foliage, and the always lively West 23rd Street in Chelsea bustling below wall-size windows. Theatergoers on their way to catch a show or impersonate an understudy can feed their inner critics by selecting dishes from a special pre-theater menu.