Idyllic Frenchtown, New Jersey: Visit Liz Gilbert's "two buttons" And Eat At The "Lovin Oven" Next Door

Lovin Oven, Frenchtown, New Jersey interior, from Josey Miller

While usually I write posts with an international audience in mind, this post will be a review in favor of a wonderful restaurant in Frenchtown, New Jersey. It's a hip, upscale hot spot with flowers and art, and wooden tables and an imaginative menu, partly vegan, with pastries and artisanal breads worthy of greater recognition.

This restaurant has the unusual name, the "Lovin Oven" and I was told to go there by a friend even though it's an hour's drive away. After hearing it shares the building with the Asian artifacts store called "two buttons" owned by the writer of the book "Eat, Pray, Love" now also a movie, Elizabeth Gilbert and her husband, Jose Nunes, I couldn't resist. Trusting this great recommendation and intrigued by the quirky name, I was pleased to finally hear the location of the Gilbert shop, which I had wanted to visit since reading the book.

I definitely recommend the Lovin Oven for sophisticated diners of any age. The scenery of Frenchtown is quaint and accessible, as it is in the other nearby towns of Stockton and Lambertville, some of my favorites in western New Jersey, all situated along the Delaware River. The new address of the  "Lovin Oven" where it has relocated from Milford is in a building with plenty of parking, shared with "two buttons" and a Pilates studio.

Service was friendly, and couldn't have been better. Not for ages have I felt sufficiently inspired to write a restaurant review here, which goes to show how worthy it is of more traffic. It was filled Friday evening, and will likely soon require reservations as they've only recently moved to this new location. After a thorough renovation, the building that used to be an old warehouse now looks unrecognizably different from the view on Google maps.

We enjoyed bruschetta with broccoli, tomatoes and cheese on fresh artisan bread. The tomato soup was very fresh and spicy. For the main course entree, grilled salmon was placed atop Israeli coucous, accompanied by broccoli and carrots. My tortellini had pesto filling and tomato sauce. Dee-licious! We followed these dishes with chocolate chip mint ice cream and Terhune Orchards plum sorbet. What a heavenly taste bouquet.

62 Trenton Avenue, (Route 29) Frenchtown, NJ 08825 - (908) 996-7714 Open Wed-Thu 8am-9pm; Fri-Sat 8am-10pm; Sun 8am-3pm. Wine welcome, byob.

For more information on Frenchtown, you might read a special article in the Washington Post by Josey Miller on July 9, 2010 or see the local magazine, the Frenchtowner.

photo: twobuttons.com