The newly renovated Gladstone Tavern is a shining star in Gladstone, NJ.Gladstone Tavern in Gladstone, NJ, was built in 1847 as a farmhouse. The gas station now located across the street was originally the farm’s stable.

Tom Carlin, chef and owner of the restaurant and the historic building, said that over the past 165 years, it has been a hotel, a bar, an Elks’ Lodge and other restaurants.

“When we gutted the building to renovate it in 2005, we found the original builder’s signature on a wall,” said Chef Carlin. “We found old photographs here and there, some stuck to glass that were likely once framed, that we were able to reprint and use as décor in the renovated dining room.

“We know that during Prohibition the building was a speakeasy,” he continued. “An underground pipeline ran from the stable, where the alcohol was being produced, to the tavern.”

The building is also listed as an official haunted site in Haunted New Jersey: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Garden State, by Patricia A. Martinelli and Charles A. Stansfield (Stackpole Books, August 2004), adding to its list of curiosities.

But Chef Tom Carlin, owner of Gladstone Tavernwhat Gladstone Tavern is most well known for today is its great food, warmth, hospitality and the very special dinner menus that Chef Carlin develops and creates throughout the year. He changes the standard menu four times a year, in tune with the seasons, but he also holds special weekly menus to celebrate an event, a harvest or anything else he and his customers want to celebrate.

“During this summer we featured a peach menu the last week of July, and the first week of August we did a corn menu,” he said. “We’ll follow that with other special menus depending on what is at peak season locally, such as a tomato menu, an apple menu and then a pumpkin menu. We’ve even done a ‘haunted’ menu to show our respect to the community members who believe we really are haunted.”

Chef Carlin said that his annual peach menu is the favorite of the restaurant’s patrons. Every course, including cocktails and beverages, features fresh New Jersey peaches. Diners can enjoy peach sangria and then start their meal with a peach orchard salad or peach bisque, for example. Main courses on the peach menu include grilled local swordfish with peach chutney and peach barbecued baby back ribs. Wrapping up the meal, the dessert menu offers peach melba and white peach-opal basil sorbet parfait.

“The corn menu this year included cornmeal-crusted brook trout, and the pumpkin menu will offer a jack-o-lantern martini, pumpkin ravioli and pumpkin crème brûlée, as examples,” said Chef Carlin. “I try to make each dish on the special menus unique and delicious.”

Gladstone Tavern sources as much of its fresh produce as possible from local growers. Chef Carlin is especially fond of Melick’s Town Farms, a family-owned farm that has been in operation in Hunterdon County, NJ, since around 1725.

“I coordinate with the Melicks on what items will be at peak when, and I try to build my special menu weeks around that schedule,” said Chef Carlin. “Of course, there are many fresh produce items that I need daily that aren’t available locally, and then we have those months when little to nothing is produced locally. That’s where I turn to Baldor in the Bronx [NY]. I have been buying from Baldor since 1980 and was working at other restaurants, and I’ve used them ever since. Aside from always being pleased with the quality they offer, the service is great and they are a great group of people to do business with.”

Chef Carlin’s education was inspired by his mother, Phyllis Carlin, who is an artist. He graduated from Rutgers University in Newark, NJ, in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in fine art.

“Mom does oil painting and ceramic sculpture, but she was always into cooking, and everything we ate when I was growing up was made from scratch,” he said. “And she was a stickler for presentation. We could not put a carton of milk on the table: It had to be poured into a pitcher. I inherited her regard for creating a warm and inviting table setting.”

Chef Carlin worked part time in restaurants during college, and his appreciation for all things gastronomic won out over his initial plan to become an artist. In fact, he said that cooking is his art.

“I wasn’t sure what to do with my degree in art, so I just kept cooking,” he said. “The more I cooked, the more I realized it was what I wanted to do with my life.”

He has enjoyed a rich and impressive history in the New York and New Jersey culinary worlds. Early in his career he apprenticed at several fine restaurants in New Jersey before jumping into Manhattan.

His first New York City gig was at Jonathan Waxman’s Jam’s, a wildly popular spot for California cuisine in the 1980s. Over the next 25 years he worked alongside many popular and celebrity chefs, such as Tom Colicchio, Gladstone Tavern’s peach menu features New Jersey peach shortcake.founder of Craft and Colicchio & Sons restaurants and a judge on “Top Chef,” a reality competition show on the Bravo network. He also worked with Alfred Portale of Gotham Bar & Grill and Barry Wine of The Quilted Giraffe.

Chef Carlin then headed to the pleasant surroundings of the Gladstone-Peapack countryside, where in 1997 he earned an “Excellent” rating from The New York Times as chef at Rudolfo Restaurant.

“We think of Gladstone-Peapack as one of New Jersey’s best-kept secrets,” he said. “There are a lot of farms and it’s known as horse country. It’s a beautiful area that is full of families that are attracted to its small town charm, quaint and pristine landscape and friendly ambience, which is apparent on any given night in Gladstone Tavern. It’s highly common for a table for two to be turned into a table for four, six, eight or more as people come in the door and see their friends.”

Prior to Chef Carlin and his partners buying and renovating the building, Gladstone Tavern was home to another restaurant. But it had closed several years earlier and the building became severely dilapidated. Today, it is a shining star in its community.

In honor of “horse country” and in recognition of the horse that stood in front of the building in one of those old photos that were discovered during renovation, there’s a life-size model horse standing on the front porch, which is also used for outdoor dining when weather permits.

“The area and the people suit me perfectly,” said Chef Carlin. “I stop by Melick’s Town Farms every day and pick up whatever they are harvesting, such as asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb and, of course, peaches.

“Year-round, Baldor keeps me supplied with the items that I use constantly, such as baby arugula. I find it to be one of the most versatile fresh produce items. It goes in my pasta dishes, salads, sautéed dishes and so much more. I use baby spinach in the same ways, but arugula is my go-to item. I also use a lot of Romaine lettuce, beets and tomatoes. I love the entire cornucopia of fresh produce.”