VUE

Aer my recent visit to Restaurant Nicholas—which is tucked in its own seclusion off Route 35 in Red Bank, NJ—it's clear that there's a need for a high dining experience coupled with a few subtleties of today's comfort. e New American restaurant isn't one that's unfamiliar to New Jerseyans, having first opened back in 2000. Nevertheless, 18 years later, it remains a top choice in our state. Its secret? Knowing which aspects of fine dining's past to let go of and which new industry changes to accept. Ousting things such as tableside carving and silver cloches while maintaining an environment that's both elegant and comfortable, has been a key to their continued success—and then of course, there's the food. Restaurant Nicholas is run by Owner and Executive Chef Nicholas Harary, a native New Yorker who spent time working at Manhattan's Jean-Georges in the late '90s (when the man himself was still there). ough Harary describes his time at Jean-Georges as "a lifetime ago," the restaurant that thrilled the masses with its audacious cuisine and on-point service would serve as a sort of finishing school for the chef before he ultimately made the move with his wife to Red Bank. Here, he would cra his own philosophy, which, is in many ways an ode to restaurants past. "In the old days, we used to say that a restaurant is a spa for the culinary arts. You just sit back and relax, enjoy yourself—let us take care of you. Unfortunately that's been lost a little bit with the faster pace and casual nature, and that's why people come here. You can eat at a lot of places but you can only dine at a few," Harary said. V U E N J . C O M 109

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