Daimatsu is a wonderful neighborhood spot serving high quality sushi. Try the Sushi Pizza (tuna, caviar, scallions onions and spicy mayo on crispy sushi rice), the Pork Gyoza, the specialty rolls and, of course, the sushi, sashimi and chirashi, which is very fresh and comes in reasonable portions. Check the board for specials like Uni (sea urchin) and Hokigai (red clam).
This narrow storefront restaurant features a long sushi bar and one row of tables. Daimatsu is cozy and comfortable, but fills up quickly on weekends. Get there early or call ahead.
The “1969 Style” Sicilian pie
Al Santillo learned the craft of pizza-making from his father, also Al, who made his first pies here in 1957. His grandfather had a bread bakery in Elizabeth in 1918. It’s all about the 20 foot deep brick oven that has been crisping crusts and circulating the aromas of just bubbling mozzarella since 1957. The oven started its life in 1905 burning coal to bake bread at a German bakery. Al retrofitted the oven to burn gas in 1990.
Santillo’s is cash and take out only. Pies on the menu are categorized by style and year, from the “1940 Genuine Tomato Pie” – no cheese, only sauce, to the “1990 American Style” – soft crust. I recommend the “1960 style” – less cheese more sauce – that highlights Santillo’s bright and tangy tomato sauce, no matter the topping Everything is baked to order, from soft to blackened crust and can be made round or Sicilian-style. This is the place I indulge in a Sicilian pie. Santillo’s crusts burst with flavor (from that oven!). You can feel the heft of each pie when you pick up the pizza box.
The only entrance is down the alley.
Step into the Summit Diner and you can imagine what it might have been like to eat there back in 1939 when it first opened. Chrome outside, with wood paneling, eight booths and twenty counter stools inside, this is one of the oldest diners in New Jersey and among the few surviving O’Mahony diners in the country. (The Jerry O’Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, NJ made 2,000 “dining cars” between 1917 and 1952.) It sits on a corner in downtown Summit like an abandoned railroad car from the train station across the street.
The Summit Diner serves solid, cheap and filling food from the griddle and kitchen. Eggs any style, corned beef hash, Taylor Ham, burgers, fries and plenty of hot coffee. Fast service, but little space when full.
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