Monday, July 11, 2011

Boardwalk Treats

Any New Jersey kid will tell you boardwalk food rules. Not matter where you go on the Garden State Coast Thea's some kind of seaside amusement area that has a large variety of fun foods ,. You can get sausage an dpeppers, fried Oreos and boardwalk staples cotton candy and candy apples. It a fun way to end a day at the beach.

I recently reconnected with boardwalk food at Keansburg Amusement Park. Technically the place isn't really a boardwalk and it's not on our state's oceanside.It's on the Raritan Bay with amazing views of Manhattan Brooklyn and Staten Island. However the park has the some kind of fun, (and somewhat seedy) allure of any of our other boardwalk like Seaside Heights or Wildwood. The food is relatively the same. A lot of Italians have had business since the boardwalk's early days in Altantic City so there's always pizza and calzones. Seafood also always predominates and almost every Jersey boardwalk has a raw bar where diners can also chow down on fresh fried fish and chips as well as crab legs, and raw oysters. These and other fast food places sell beer too, a boardwalk staple.

Sweets play an important part in boardwalk cuisine, Zeppoli, those yummy fried Sicilian dough balls, had their own stand at Keansburg. I was tempted to buy a bag of the fresh made, freshly sugared treats however got waylaid by those classics: candy apples and cotton candy. No trip to any boardwalk would be complete without them. I had a Granny Smith that was perfectly enrobed in a crunchy candy coating and topped with fresh coconut. The cotton candy was typical sweet and sticky,but fun to inhale. Other treats were ice cream along with waffles Italian ices (both are staples) and fried anything. Most boardwalks also have a homemade candy booth where there's everything from homemade fudge to saltwater taffy,along with molasses pops and haystacks .

Boardwalk food is a summer treat that has to be experienced. Anything from pizza to fries , to ice cream or fudge is spend to a fun day at the beach. If you're in Jersey visit our boardwalks for some culinary treats.