Heirloom Kitchen is a constantly evolving culinary destination—part New American chef’s counter, part immersive recreational cooking school. From Thursday through Sunday, guests are welcomed into an open kitchen for an intimate dinner service that celebrates seasonality, craft, and connection. Rooted in a commitment to exceptional sourcing, Heirloom Kitchen creates dining experiences that are both elevated and interactive, inviting guests not just to taste the food, but to engage with the story behind it. Let’s have a conversation, that’s what we want.

Stylized text that says 'About Us' in blue cursive font.
A dining room with a long wooden table set with wine glasses and a floral centerpiece. The room has a large window with white curtains, a modern black geometric chandelier, and a white-washed wooden wall. A metal and wood shelving unit on the wall displays various bowls, dishes, and glassware, with a potted plant on the floor beside it.

Restaurant

Thursday through Sunday, Heirloom Kitchen transforms into an intimate restaurant supper club. Guests gather for chef’s table seating around our kitchen island, where they can watch the team prepare and artfully present each dish in real time. The ever-evolving menu—guided by the seasons and often changing weekly—offers modern, globally inspired, and playful interpretations of American classics. Our style of service is polished yet welcoming, never pretentious. We can’t wait to welcome you to the table.

Cooking Classes

We offer a variety of recreational hands-on cooking classes. Examples include pasta-making, healthy cooking, ethnic cooking, basic skills, making the most of the season’s fresh produce, and digging into a meal you’ve made yourself (with a little help from our prestigious chefs, local butcheries, fisheries, and farms).

Retail Boutique

Heirloom Kitchen seeks out artisanal items from around the globe to carry in its boutiques. With a keen eye for both form and function, we stock our shelves with our favorite kitchen tools & tabletop pieces.

Whether it be learning how to make pasta from scratch, picking up an unusual gift for a loved one, enjoying a hands on cooking class or a one of a kind dinner experience on Friday’s date night, Heirloom Kitchen offers a culinary center for all the foodies out there.We are inspired by heirloom products, creative culinary discoveries, and the celebration of food!

The text 'Our Team' written in a blue handwritten style.
Neilly Robinson and David Viana smiling and standing side by side in Heirloom Kitchen with white tiled walls, one wearing a blue striped shirt and the other wearing an apron.

David Viana

  • David was born and raised in Little Lisboa: Newark, New Jersey’s Portuguese immigrant community. Growing up, he spent afternoons with his grandmother, Isaura, who introduced him to many of the dishes that grace Lita’s menu today.

    He turned his early love of food into a storied career, rising through the ranks at Mesa Grill, Eleven Madison Park, Marea and Villa Joya in Portugal. He joined the team at Heirloom Kitchen in 2016, where he received three-and-a-half stars from The Star-Ledger within weeks. In 2018 he was nominated as Best Chef Mid Atlantic by The James Beard Foundation, shortly before competing on Top Chef’s 16th season.

    In addition to leading the culinary helm at Heirloom, he is the Executive Chef at Lita and Judy’s at The St Laurent. When he’s not working he is spending time with his son, Cole, teaching him to make fejauda and taking him to Chuck E Cheese.

    @chefdaveviana

Neilly Robinson

  • Neilly is the Managing Director of Lita, Heirloom Kitchen and Judy’s at The St Laurent.

    A self taught entrepreneur, Neilly founded Heirloom Kitchen–the group’s first restaurant–in 2013 with her mom, Judy. Growing up, their family dinner table was always beautiful and bountiful. So, after a decade working in fashion in New York City she decided to return to her Jersey roots, creating a restaurant and cooking school. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, Heirloom Kitchen has grown into one of the east coast’s most beloved restaurants, with Chef David Viana leading the kitchen.

    Neilly supervises everything across Good Trouble Hospitality. She oversees people and culture, marketing and creative, and number crunching, all the while ensuring that no detail gets overlooked.

    When she isn’t working she’s busy researching where she’s traveling to next!

    *Neilly is 2024 James Beard Foundation Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Fellow

    @neillylane

“There is absolutely no substitute for the best. Good food cannot be made of inferior ingredients masked with high flavor. It is true thrift to use the best ingredients available and to waste nothing.”

— James Beard (Chef, Writer, Educator and Namesake of The James Beard Foundation)