The Sizzle BBQ was established in 2017 by Maria Monjes with the help of her family. She was encouraged by her father, who had an empanada shop in Argentina for over 30 years, to open something up here in New Jersey. She never did but when her father passed away he left a small box with her name on it and in there were all of his recipes. That was when she decided to drop everything and go on the adventure of opening up a family restaurant.

By family restaurant, we really do mean it. I, Maria’s son Joaquin, helped her managing the front of the house, establishing customer relations, answering emails, doing proposals, and more. My little sister, Camila, was 12 years old when we opened and she was the one that came up with the name of the restaurant. Something about the sound of the meat sizzling caught her attention and one day she just blurred it out. “The Sizzle BBQ,” she said. And from there came the name. She also works as a waitress here even at the age of 14. Most of the empanadas are hand folded every day with the tender love and care of our aunt. Our social media and website are also ran by my other aunt all the way in Argentina. So as you can see, we really are family operated. But we don’t do it alone. We have help from others that we’re grateful for and have become family along the way.