Maybe you’ve been in this situation before: You’re looking to dine at a new restaurant on the weekend, so you do some research, pull up a few NorthJersey.com food articles or visit @NorthJerseyEats on Instagram to see what’s good. You finally settle on a spot that matches your appetite only to see a hundred other people had the idea sooner and the next reservation isn’t available for a month.
Drats.
Out of a professional obligation to remain objective, I don’t pull strings with the chefs and restaurateurs I’ve met over the years if I want a seat in their restaurant, so I’m in the same boat as you. It took me almost a year to eat Elements in Princeton due equally to both my own procrastination and the restaurant’s demand. What I’ve learned (and yet failed to remember so many times), is that the key to getting a reservation in a hot restaurant is forethought. Plan your visit way earlier than you think, maybe a month…