At Manera’s Restaurant in Brick Township, a major goal of the staff is to emulate the essence of fine dining when it comes to plating, flavor and service; an essence which has been cultivated by the restaurant’s head chefs for over three years.
Recently, Night & Day had an opportunity to drop by Manera’s, taste some of their signature dishes and speak to the staff that make it all possible — including the restaurant’s co-executive chef.
“We specialize in steak and seafood primarily,” said Eric Leinen, manager of Manera’s Restaurant in Brick.
Leinen first introduced one of his favorite offerings at Manera’s in Brick Township: the salmon entrée.
“We have our salmon entrée, which is served over a butternut squash purée, bok choy and a pomegranate-soy reduction sauce,” said Leinen. “I get that once a week — I love our salmon here especially.”
Salmon tends to be fairly hearty, and from Manera’s grill the fish remains intact as a perfect filet atop the butternut squash purée. Although many consider butternut squash an autumnal vegetable, when the purée is specifically combined with the pomegranate reduction, it makes for a fresh, dually sweet-and-savory accompaniment to the grilled fish.
As for appetizers, it’s hard to go wrong with a tower of fresh seafood. Much like the salmon filet, Manera’s seafood tower comes out on a two-tiered, iced dish featuring six Blue Point oysters, six middleneck clams, six large shrimp and three snow crab claws. Additionally, the seafood stack is served alongside several house-made condiments including cocktail sauce, mignonette and a creamy horseradish-whole grain mustard sauce.
“Some people, with the shrimp, they steam with just water; we steam our shrimp with oranges, lemons and limes so you can get the flavor of citrus with it — it’s not just simple salt,” said Manuel Castro, one of the co-executive chefs of Manera’s, alongside Oscar Morera who mans the restaurant’s other location, in Manahawkin.
“Our fish distributor comes daily,” said Leinen. “It’s all made to order here.”
These two create Manera’s: Manuel (Castro), who’s in the kitchen here, is the ‘Man-’ and Oscar Morera is the ‘-era;’ so you get Manera.
“It started all the way from the bottom with our love for food,” said Castro, who explained that he began his culinary career at 16 as a dishwasher. “Me and Oscar have been in the business for over 20 years; basically, we’re doing what we love… We’ve worked different places together, so that’s how our friendship built up. He runs Manahawkin, I run Brick, but everything’s a combination of both, just like the name.”
Leinen also explained Manera’s hanger steak — also known as the “butcher’s cut,” so-called for being a cut so desirable that butchers will often take it home for themselves — and its accouterments.
“The hanger steak is house-marinated,” he said, “then grilled and topped with an herb compound butter, and served over roasted red pepper mashed potatoes and broccolini.”
The hanger steak entrée itself, cooked medium rare, was a melt-in-your-mouth-tender meal, owing both to the “Texas marinade,” as Manuel calls it, and the compound butter. The portions are also generous, with the savory steak pairing well alongside Manera’s unique roasted red pepper potatoes and crunchy, slightly-charred broccolini.
Leinen explained how he believes Manera’s strives to be one of the aforementioned “places to go” in Brick and the surrounding areas.
“We’ve been here in Brick for about three-and-a-half years,” said Leinen. “We take pride in our service. As far as how we handle guests? We try to give the best customer experience we can offer. The staff and the owner…we take a lot of pride in the appearance of the restaurant — whether it’s the place setting or how we plate everything.”
“Manera’s also does a lot of big events,” he continued. “We do baby showers, bridal showers, the unfortunate repast, retirement parties, birthdays — you name it…We get a little bit of everything here. Every weekend is a little bit more unique as far as the type of events we do.”
Leinen further said that he feels the restaurant manages to set itself apart from other local eateries through its full-service, no-rush dining experience.
“I feel like what we do that’s different than a lot of places in the area is we pace a lot of stuff out,” he said. “So, when you get an appetizer, we don’t rush you, we don’t put the soup and salad out right after you get the app; everything’s kind of spaced out so that you feel like you can really enjoy yourself instead of everything coming out on top of one another.”
Manera’s is located at 950 Cedar Bridge Ave. in Brick Township, and is BYOB. The restaurant has an additional location at 291 Route 72 East in Manahawkin. Visit manerasrestaurant.com to make a reservation.
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