Dearest Jersey Natives and Recent Transplants,

We have found that every night out in metropolitan Jersey seems to end the same way: a brightly-lit diner, a hot cup of coffee, a greasy plate of disco fries (if you don’t know what they are, don’t worry, you’ve come here to learn*) and a group of friends laughing at an intoxicated Guido yelling at his fake-nailed girlfriend.

But how the night begins is another matter.

It’s all too easy to give up on Jersey and head off to Manhattan for an exciting and expensive night (especially when you’ve seen all that Hoboken has to offer). But what does the Garbage…er…Garden State have to offer besides traffic jams and the Meadowlands?

Hopefully plenty or this site will crash and burn before we even get it off the ground. But if we’re right—and our 43 combined years of Jersey Girl experiences say we are—there are plenty of bars, clubs, cafés, restaurants, museums, theaters, shops and colorful characters to keep you from crossing the Hudson for entertainment.

Faceless, corporate reviewers may be able to tell you about a city’s “best” features, but GoOutJersey isn’t just a directory—we, your friendly neighborhood bloggers, will tell you the good, the bad and the hairy Garden State experiences. We’re not about the hottest trends or the newest nightclubs—if we were, we’d be in Manhattan. We’re about making the most of our time in the Armpit of America.

We want to bring back the respect to Jersey that MTV’s True Life: I have a Summer Share and I’m a Jersey Shore Girl took away. The editors and writers of this site are bold, outgoing, sarcastic writers with high expectations and a curiosity-driven approach to our home state (with just enough journalism experience to keep us objective…and still fun to read).

Come for the clever writing and stay to learn about the things we love: culinary variety, fantastic happy hours, good bargains, cheesy bowling alleys, The Meadowlands, and gigantic movie theaters; or the things we hate: traffic jams, crowded shopping centers, obnoxious clubs, The Smell, and chain-wearing males chainmales.

So, put down your bus pass or your Quick Card and make GoOutJersey your favorite stop to everything Northeast Jersey. And tell everyone you know. That way, by Summer ‘07 we’ll be the go-to guide to enjoying the fairs and carnivals and going “down the shore”.

*Disco fries are a plate of crispy french fries buried under gooey cheese and hot gravy.

— by Donna M.
Donna is both a Jersey native and recent transplant from NYC. She is executive editor and a co-founder of GoOutJersey.

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