Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen, the popular Jersey roadside stand, has reopened amid zoning issues
Sweet Amalia offers takeout but not indoor dining “for the foreseeable future."
Post updated, Saturday, Aug. 19:
Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen, the nationally known South Jersey farm stand, restaurant, and market particularly renowned for its oysters, reopened Saturday, two days after it closed while wrestling with zoning issues.
Sweet Amalia now offers takeout but not indoor dining “for the foreseeable future,” management posted on Instagram. Customers can shop inside, order food to go, and dine at the outside picnic tables.
Management wouldn’t elaborate on the zoning issues, and officials from Franklin Township did not return calls.
Sweet Amalia, on Route 40 in Newfield, Gloucester County, opened in 2021 as an outgrowth of co-owner Lisa Calvo’s Delaware Bay oyster farm. Calvo had used the rustic building to sort her harvest for delivery to Philadelphia restaurants. But when the pandemic shut down restaurants and jolted the oyster business, Calvo, Ed Pappas, and a chef-customer — Melissa McGrath, known for her sandwiches — decided to convert the building into a marketplace and rustic eatery.
Critical and popular acclaim followed for the shellfish, sandwiches, and retail, which showcased produce and other local products. Sweet Amalia made Inquirer critic Craig LaBan’s best-of lists in 2021 and 2022 and last November made Esquire’s list of best new restaurants in America. It also was a semifinalist for a James Beard Award in 2023.
Sweet Amalia is using its Instagram to post updates.