TOMS RIVER-A new restaurant could be coming to a pad site at the Ocean County Mall in the near future. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, a chain restaurant is planning to open here, but first needs approvals from the Toms River planning board.

Founded in 1978, BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse offers a Southern California twist on Chicago style pizza, complete with their own handcrafted beers on tap.

“We started as a pizza shop before we were a restaurant and brewhouse,” the company states. “Now we have over 18 signature flavors of pizza, from tavern-cut to deep dish to made-to-order combinations. And we craft our hand-pressed deep dish pizza dough to be double proofed — which means it rises twice — which means it looks and tastes better — which means you might have to have more than one slice.”

Later, as the company grew, they began to brew their own beer.

“We wouldn’t be a brewhouse without beer. We offer a variety of our very own award-winning brews on tap every day,” the company added. “In addition to our 11 signature beers and cider, which over the years have won us over 160 awards, we also offer seasonal and local brews as well.”

The Toms River location will be the company’s second location in New Jersey after opening in Teterboro in 2016. The company operates over 185 restaurants in 24 states. It would be the company’s fourth restaurant in the Greater New York City Metropolitan Area with two others operating in Nanuet and Valley Stream, New York.

A unique feature to BJ’s is their beer dinners, which include a welcome beer, a five-course meal, complete with an intermission palate cleansing beer and of course an after-dinner beer, all for just $45 per person.

Signature menu items at BJ’s include root beer glazed ribs, chicken wings, Chicago style deep dish pizza, New Orleans Jambalaya, bison burgers, and steaks.

Kids menus include the usual offerings for just $6.25 per dinner.

A meeting will be held January 17th at the Toms River town hall at 6 pm with the township planning board. The restaurant will be 9,947 square feet and the company hopes the township will allow them to build an outdoor patio deck.

Photos by BJ’s Brewhouse and Restaurant.