From: Rella’s Italian Tavern in Brielle, NJ

Do you love lemon, butter, and white wine? Clearly the answer is yes to all three, but when you combine those ingredients you get a trifecta of taste and it’s called francaise sauce. I am definitely a chicken francaise fan, but there’s something even more delectable. Artichoke francaise! I guess you have to enjoy the taste of artichokes, I personally do in my antipasto. However, I would argue that these are so tasty that it will make you into an artichoke groupie.

Each piece of artichoke is lightly battered, fried and doused in the lemon, butter, white wine sauce that I mentioned above. If you love Italian food you will know one of the best parts of a dish like this is being able to dip your bread in the sauce when the meal is complete. It’s like two meals in one.

You can find these at Rella’s, which is a tavern in Brielle (located next to Manasquan.) What this means for all of you beach-goers who like to go “DTS” as soon as Memorial Day hits, is that you now have a great place to go. We got a bunch of apps with our drinks at the bar area and we were good to go. What I loved about Rella’s was the neighborhood feel. It’s just a good new spot to check out where “everybody knows your name!”