It’s amazing how many best of lists and news items we see during the year. Whether it’s a dish, fodo style, food-hybrid, or general food-dom, Bergen County and New Jersey as a whole has made news this year. That includes Fort Lee being named an Under-the-Radar Food Destination by Zagat. Here’s a recap:

The Daily Meal

The food website covers all kinds of food from all ways of life across the US, with New Jersey making the grade in many categories. That includes sandwiches, one of the 50 Best Sushi Bars in the country, tacos in Newark, a top rated bakery for cupcakes, five of the top 101 Pizzerias in the US, the very best Food Truck, a great college food town in Princeton, and one of the top 50 Italian restaurants.

And that’s not even counting local joints like White Manna serving up one of the top 50 Cheeseburgers in the US and The River Palm in Edgewater making two lists – the Best Steakhouse in New Jersey and clocking in at #39 on the Best Steakhouses in America list.

Thrillist

The male-centric lifestlye website likes Cloverleaf Tavern in Caldwell as Best Beer Bar, Red White and Que Smokehouse in Kearny as Best BBQ, named Jersey City as our state’s Best Food City, The Shepherd & the Knucklehead Pub in Haledon as Best College Bar, and acknowledged various Jersey hot dog styles as important.

Drinking

Yes there are other good spots for booze in New Jersey (see a few above from The Daily Meal and Thrillist). Esquire named Dullboy in Jersey City to their 18 Best Bars in America,  nine Bergen County restaurants were Award of Excellence recipients this year from Wine Spectator magazine and Latour in Hamburg made the Wine Enthusiast Best of List.

Burgers

Of course burgers are all over the place… White Rose Diner was Jersey’s representative on The Best Burgers From Each of the 50 States from First We Feast and Village Whiksey (coming soon to Closter) has one of the 30 best Burgers in the US according to Zagat.

Hot Dogs

North Jersey has a ton of history with hot dogs (see Thrillist paragraph above). But that didn’t stop Rutt’s Hut (Clifton) and Libby’s Lunch (Paterson) making the 20 Bucket-List Hot Dogs in America to Try Before You Die from First We Feast, while Jimmy Buff’s (West Orange) and (again) Rutt’s Hut made the 30 choices for America’s Best Hot Dogs by Roadfood. Don’t forget to read the opus on New Jersey hot dog styles eloquently written by Saveur magazine.

Viral Food

Who could forget Bergen County’s own viral food trend this year? The Italian Rainbow Cookie Donut at Glaze Donuts (New Milford, Wayne) saw multiple hour waits on the weekend after coverage from Thrillist, Cosmo, Food + Wine, Maxim, and even appearances on Good Morning America. Their partnership with Uber for National Donut Day was also a huge buzzworthy moment.

Bergen’s Best

Bergen County had one standout restaurant in terms of fine dining nationally. That would be Saddle River Inn, which was named twice this past year by OpenTable, first as their 100 Best Restaurants for Foodies in America and most recently (and more notable) to their list of 100 Best Restaurants in America.