Hungry for some new place to dine in?
No problem.
Despite high food costs, a labor shortage and a virus that refuses to completely disappear, restaurants continue to open in North Jersey. Among the latest batch: a Korean fried chicken joint, an open-style tameki spot, a sweet-and savory-pies bakery and an outpost of a beloved old-school Italian restaurant famous for its thin-crust pizza and sliced steak sandwich.
Bon appetit!
Magpie Bakery, Bloomingdale
Australian-born Melanie Stipeikis opened Magpie Bakery with the goal to floor customers with unique, from-scratch homemade baked goods. She wants you to be wowed.
"My executive chef and I are on the same page," said Stripeikis, a Bloomingdale resident. "We want to offer baked goods as perfect as we can make them. When you bite into anything we make, we want you to have an 'Oh-My-God' feeling. This is not ShopRite. It's Oh My God."
Magpie offers a selection of specialty sweet pies as well as savory hand-pies, the latter filled with ingredients used to make chicken pot pie, shepherd's pies, mac 'n' cheese and French onion soup. The onion soup for the hand pie is quite thick, with lots of gooey cheese, so that pastry can contain it. The BBQ pulled pork pie is stuffed with pork that has been braised for nine hours and onions that have been caramelized for three hours. The current seasonal pie is stuffed with butternut squash, pears and cranberry, a vegetarian-friendly treat.
As for sweet treats, the bakery offers three flavors of that very traditional Commonwealth goodie, the scone. It's a pastry that Stripeikis is particularly fond of, thanks to her grandmother, who served it whenever Stripeikis visited her homeland. Her grandma would make a big batch, she said, which the family enjoyed with jam and cream.
"Our scones are different from what you have in the states," she said. "They're more moist, less sweet."
Magpie Bakery offers three — blueberry lemon, orange cranberry and chocolate chip — plus one special flavor, currently it's pumpkin pie spice.
As for sweet pies, Stripeikis said the shop offers "everything from apple crumb and peach raspberry to coconut custard, chocolate maple pecan and winterberry crisp." Enjoy a slice with a hot cup of fresh-made coffee at one of the tables indoors or outside at the sole table. Or take a pie home to savor with the family later.
Open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily except Monday.
Go: 2-14 Riverside Square, Bloomingdale; 973-291-6756, magpiebakerytogo.com
Kchicke'n Roll, Bloomingdale
The name tells you just about everything you need to know. Kchicke'n roll is a Korean fried chicken restaurant that also serves sushi, sashimi and sushi rolls. You can order your crispy chicken whole, boneless or wings only with a choice of honey garlic sauce or sweet and spicy sauce. "Our chefs are all from Korea," said co-owner Katherine Kim, who hails from Korea. "So they know how to cook Korean-style chicken."
Not into chicken or sushi? No problem. There's ramen, too.
Open every day except Monday.
Go: 78 Main St., Bloomingdale; 973-291-4228
Nami Nori, Montclair
Three alums of Masa, the only Michelin three-star sushi restaurant in the nation, have opened a third branch of Nami Nori, their highly acclaimed open-style temaki restaurant, their first outside of New York City. Chefs Taka Sakaeda and Jihan Lee, along with Lisa Limb, who met while working with sushi chef Masa Takayama, opened Nami Nori in the West Village in 2019 and received lots of accolades. The restaurant received two stars from The New York Times and was named one of Esquire’s “Best New Restaurant in America 2020” as well as one of Robb Report's "10 Best New Restaurants in America."
They went on to open a second branch in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and now they are offering their temaki, open-style, cone-shaped hand-rolled sushi on Bloomfield Avenue, just a few blocks from the Wellmont Theater.
The trio was looking to open another type of restaurant during the pandemic but when they learned about the space in Montclair they felt another Nami Nori would fit right in. "We love the area," said Limb. "It has a real neighborhood feel, with young, urban clientele. We felt high-quality sushi would be perfect here."
On the menu: crispy calamari with yuzu soy; Asari clam soup with miso, butter and potato; and veggie miso as well as temakis such as tuna poke with crispy shallots; coconut shrimp with green curry; and eggplant with red miso. But there are also dishes exclusive to Montclair including a heirloom tomato salad with charred scallion vinaigrette and honey-butter corn ribs as well as a cannoli with mascarpone cream and orange compete.
The 2,000-square-foot BYOB seats 38.
Nami Nori is open from 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Go: 2 South Willow St., Montclair; 973-655-8805, naminori.nyc/
Okinami, Norwood
Yearning for omakase at home? Okinami, a Japanese restaurant that has moved into the space that once housed Wild Wasabi, is offering omakase takeout as well as rolls, sushi and sashimi. The restaurant is the brainchild of three Bergen County residents who met at church and worked in restaurants: Timothy Kim as a chef at Morimoto and Sushi Noz in Manhattan; Wan Choi as a chef at Domodomo; and Kevin Kook as a general manager at Sushi Cruise in Edgewater.
"We would meet and say, 'One day we will have our own restaurant,'" said Kook.
That day clearly has come. Okinami currently offers takeout only. "We are only three guys and we want to do this right," he said. But Kook said that eventually it will also offer dine-in service.
"We offer high-quality fish for at affordable prices," he said.
The cost of Okinami's omakase is $60 and includes 12 nigiri sushi and one roll.
Okinami is open every day except Monday.
Go: 460 Livingston St., Norwood; 201-767-1300, okinamisushibar.com.
Lido Restaurant, North Arlington
A second Lido Restaurant, a beloved old-school Italian joint on Hackensack's Main Street, has opened in North Arlington.
Steve Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota, who owns the restaurant along with several members of his family, said that North Arlington is a perfect fit for the 57-year-old classic, famous for its thin-crust pizza and traditional sliced steak sandwich. "We are a family-oriented restaurant with a moderately priced menu. We like to be involved in the community and sponsor baseball leagues and such. And North Arlington is family oriented and has a volunteer fire department and recreation department. The community is excited, we're excited."
The menu in North Arlington is identical to the one in Hackensack. However there are some differences. Lido No. 2 is somewhat bigger — 30 more seats (its capacity is around 150) and it serves lunch daily (in Hackensack, lunch is served Friday, Saturday and Sunday only). Plus, there's parking space, something sorely missed in Hackensack.
Go: 11-35 River Road,North Arlington; 201-246-8900,thelidorestaurant.com.
Harvey’s Handrolled Bagels, Montclair
Matt Harvey, who co-owns Walnut Street Kitchen with Beverly Lacsina, has a bagel shop within the restaurant where he churns out traditional, hand-rolled, kettle-boiled, baked-on-cedar-boards bagels five days a week. He also sells them stuffed with sandwich makings. The most popular sandwich, called the Jersey City Devil, features homemade hash brown patty, eggs, Taylor ham and a schmear of spicy scallion cream cheese.
"It is our most popular," he said.
The most popular bagel? "The everything bagel," Harvey answered. And he does mean "everything." Lots of it.
"No matter where I used to get an everything bagel, there was never enough seasoning on it," he said. Harvey on purpose uses a heavy hand with the spices. Ditto the sesame garlic seasoning on the sesame garlic bagel. It's not subtle.
His bagel shop, he said, is not your typical bagel shop. "We don't have 30 flavors of cream cheese. We are more focused."
The shop makes its own mozzarella and Harvey has begun to smoke his pastrami himself. He is planning to offer a pastrami sandwich with Swiss cheese, scrambled eggs and homemade Russian dressing.
Harvey’s is open 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
Go: 98 Walnut St., Montclair; 973-746-0789, harveyshandrolled.com.
Bobby Wong's, Hawthorne
This casual Asian-American fusion restaurant is the first of a number of franchise locations Bobby Wong, a veteran restaurateur and chef, plans to open in North Jersey. The other two are planned for Rutherford and Irvington, said general manager Louis Micha. The restaurant bills itself as "boldly American, soulfully Asian."
Not familiar with Bobby Wong? In 1968, Wong immigrated with his family from Shanghai, China, and three years later moved to Rutherford. He eventually landed a job with restaurateur Joyce Chen in Boston and in no time went on to open a number of dine-in restaurants including Tao, Village Gourmet, Mignon and Delmonico.
On the menu: shrimp wonton, lots of chicken dishes, fries and steamed broccoli.
Go: 198 Diamond Bridge Road, Hawthorne;201-347-9877, bobbywongstaohouse.com.
In addition:
Verana, Norwood. Chef/Owner Giuseppe Agostino, who was executive chef at acclaimed restaurant Del Posto in Manhattan, is set to open Verana, an Italian restaurant and bar in Norwood, on October 27. Agostino is currently the executive chef of Maiella, an Italian restaurant in Long Island City. Tommy Demaras, a part investor in the 130 Club in Tenafly, is a co-owner. On the menu: beet caponata, Sicilian BBQ octopus, tagliatelle tartufo and Fontina-sage crusted pork chop. Open Tuesday through Saturday. 530 Livingston St., Norwood; verananorwood.com.
Prime 259, River Edge. This American restaurant and bar has replaced Sonny T in River Edge. On the menu: a 32-ounce Portherhouse steak for two ($120), linguini with clam sauce, roasted duck in a cherry port wine sauce and grilled salmon. Closed Sunday. 259 Johnson Ave., River Edge; 201-342-1233, prime259.com.
Dao Madison, Madison. High-end Chinese restaurant Dao Madison has replaced Ossinos’ Market, which closed in 2021. On the menu: egg drop soup, three-pepper chicken, Mandarin duck and mala dry pot, a Szechuan specialty of meats and vegetables cooked with a 30-spice blend. Closed Tuesday. 258 Main St., Madison; 973-313-8558, daomadison.com.
Mirak, Cliffside Park. This Korean and Japanese restaurant opened a month ago, offering dine in, takeout and delivery. On the menu: vegetable tempura, pork gyoza, veggie yaki udon plus sushi and sashimi. 83 Palisade Ave., Cliffside Park; 201-347-6999 mirakcliffsidepark.com,.
Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, Hoboken. Ready for a dumpling automat? Sometime late this month, Brooklyn Dumpling Shop, a modern automat which, despite its name, was founded in Manhattan, will open an outpost in Hoboken. It has another branch in Connecticut. BDS offers 32 flavors of dumplings. How does it work? You order online and then scan a barcode to open a temperature-controlled locker to get your meal. Among the flavors: pastrami, Reuben, Philly cheesesteak and apple caramel. 514 Washington St., Hoboken; 917-409-1691, brooklyndumplingshop.com/hoboken-nj-brooklyn-shop.
