Food & Drink in Old Bridge

Bakers at Peace of Cake craft their cupcakes with fresh ingredients for rich texture. They create a rotating menu of flavors, including raspberry swirl stuffed with jam and cookie dough filled with real cookie dough and crowned with chocolate frosting.

Blue Water Seafood Company’s expansive menu satisfies the deepest desires of seafaring appetites. Appetizers such as oysters on the half shell ($16/dozen) launch the stomach on a seafaring journey, continued by jumbo lump crab cakes ($17 lunch; $23 dinner) and fried clam strips ($15 lunch; $18 dinner). Blue Water's live Maine lobster ($26/lb., dinner only) is steamed and served with roasted potatoes and fresh vegetables upon order, bringing forth celestial flavors from the abyssopelagic depths. The maritime menu is bordered by an assortment of terra firma tasties including lemon chicken with artichoke hearts and crispy garlic ($14 lunch; $18 dinner) and New Zealand lamb chops ($35, dinner only).

Great brooklyn pizza.we even bring in the water.

When Baja Fresh opened its doors in 1990, freshness wasn’t on the menu at many fast-food restaurants. Disappointed with soggy burgers and floppy fries, the founders built a casual Mexican eatery around fresh, colorful produce and a commitment to healthy living. Cooks prepare meals by hand, using ingredients that hail from real-world farms rather than freeze-dried packages. Tacos and burritos brim with a choice of meats, including pork carnitas and charbroiled steak. Filled with shrimp tacos, tortilla soups, and grilled-chicken salads, a Healthy Choices menu guides diners toward meals that are low in fat, calories, carbs, and smog.

Aside from about 20 grams of protein, what do ahi tuna and steak have in common? They’re both black stone items on the menu at The Cambridge Inn. Diners get to step into the role of chef and cook the thick cuts tableside over heated black stones themselves. That experience anchors a staggering menu of new american eats that covers a wide swath of the culinary landscape, from steaks, burgers, and ribs to veal saltimbocca layered with prosciutto and mozzarella. Paired with sandwiches, salads, and more than 20 appetizers, the almost-steakhouse food is served in smaller lunch portions. It’s also incorporated into the Friday night all-you-can-eat prime rib buffet, and the Sunday champagne brunch, complete with an omelet station and a Virginia ham carving station, which is just like any other ham-carving station, only the chef dresses like Edgar Allan Poe.

Eat This New York’s resident foodie describes his first trip to Bagel Boy as a when “the line was practically out the door.” But he was rewarded for his patience when he bit into a plain bagel, just one of the fresh varieties that all three stores bake fresh each day. Offered up oozing with cream cheese or topped with BLT fixings, the bagels come in a many types of styles though really only one shape. At lunchtime, bagels switch off with soups and sandwiches packed with imported Italian meats such as hot cappicola.

Manhattan Bagel’s expert dough-smiths craft 21 flavors of fresh-baked bagels daily, serving them alongside a menu of deli-style sandwiches made with Boar’s Head meats and cheeses. Vainly search for the beginning or end of a traditionally flavored bagel ($.89 each, $8.99 a dozen), such as everything and pumpernickel, or explore the innovative tastescape of the french-toast variety, which doubles as an engagement ring for a Parisian giantess. Diners can festoon their bagels with cheese and eggs cooked any way ($2.49) or wrap mandibles around the grilled Ellis Island pastrami sandwich, sealed with gooey swiss cheese and onion ($6.49). Patrons can also sip on a selection from the espresso bar while noshing on the Wall Street roast beef ($6.49), a diversified sandwich portfolio of roast beef and mild horseradish sauce on a cheddar roll.