What is their corkage policy?
it’s BYO, Jay!
Nothing definitive, but I am very excited to see Chef Christine Nunn return. Picnic was one of my favorite restaurants in the area.
Heirloom Kitchen. I’ve been twice. Once was disappointing, once was terrific. The staff is amazing though, and will definitely give it another shot.
Something I haven’t seen listed is Viaggio. It’s also my own fault. It’s absolutely the single best Italian restaurant in NJ, hands down. Creative, unique, and consistent.
Having said that, here’s a “things on the horizon” list.
Robbie Felice from Viaggio is opening a new restaurant in Westwood, NJ called Osterio Crescendo. It will have a liquor license. Stay tuned!
Felina- This is Anthony Bucco. Two locations coming (apparently). New Hope and Ridgewood.
White Birch- This is opening in Flanders. This is Chef Sam Freund from Slamwich in Madison. This is white table cloth though, and looks incredibly promising. Just FAR.
Ian, White Birch sounds like it could be interesting so thank you for mentioning it! Curious about how in the heck they would locate it Flanders. We’re in Peapack and could do the schlep but even we think that’s a bit loco.
I haven’t spoken with Sam in detail about it yet (just the classic Congrats!), but I’m sure there was a good reason.
I’m psyched about chef Robbie’s new place is it will be half the distance from my house…on the other hand I wish it was byo!
I’m (hopefully) going to see Robbie next Thursday. I’ll ask him and report back.
The team behind South + Pine in Morristown opened a sister restaurant in Madison called Central + Main. It’s BYO and casual, with a similar, but more extensive, menu than the original.
I went here last night for the first time and thought it was great. Duck tacos, mussels and Lamb sirloin were all very good. 2010 Cos D’estournel I was totin’ was solid, if not too young. Looking forward to going back to Central + Main.
I went back again and had the scallops with root vegetable hash - delicious, wanted to lick my plate!
Nice, that looked good too. The whole menu looked good. Good to have another solid spot in the area, let alone BYO. The weekend before we went to Daddy Matty’s, also in Madison, also BYO. BBQ joint. Really good ribs. They do a lot of catering, but have a comfortable casual dining room.
Viaggio was killer. Would definitely go back. And I am adding Central and Main to the list! Thanks folks!!
Ian - while I’m perfectly happy to let this become a general restaurant recommendation thread theoretically it’s for a BYOs. So any idea on what the BYO/corkage policies are for these restaurants? Even just “they don’t allow BYO” is fine.
Other than Heirloom which of course we already know.
BTW - the chef at Heirloom Kitchen is on Top Chef this coming season. The restaurant had originally claimed he was away studying in Europe to conceal his participation.
White Birch is BYOB for sure (and I’ve gotten excellent feedback so far on the quality of the food).
Robbie asked me about things like corkage for Crescendo, and is definitely going to allow our crowd to bring big time wines for a reasonable fee. I’ll let everyone know more when it opens.
Felina is TBD too, but I think he’s being open minded as well.
Did not realize it HAD been illegal for a restaurant to advertise that they are BYOB (not sure what advertising actually “means” as I’ve certainly seen it on restaurant websites). But apparently now it’s not.
Actually, this is QUITE the interesting discussion to have. If you look in the NJ ABC handbook under BYOB, it does outline the law that you can’t advertise that you are BYOB, but at the end it says BYOB is not under the purview of the ABC (which is funny). We recently had to do our due diligence on this as we opened a store in a market where we did not know the local rules, and the enforcement of anything pertaining to BYOB laws is passed off by the ABC (since the ABC only governs LICENSED establishments, not unlicensed) to the local municipalities, meaning each town has their own laws…or doesn’t (in the case of Morristown). Montclair has very clearly defined laws for BYOB, which is interesting.
Ian thank you for posting about White Birch - we’ve got a reservation to try it Saturday night.
We went to Le Petite Temptation in Cranford last night for the first time. Small venue, only 16-20 seats at 5-6 tables. A fixed price menu @$55 for five courses with desert. Starter was a cauliflower purée soup with a bit of star anise, very light and a good start. Next was a chef selection of sea scallop tartar, we both like this. For the appetizer I had a tomato stuffed with escargot and my wife had endive stuffed with shrimp, both good.
For mains we had a duck leg with roasted eggplant and halibut with roasted anise.
The menus change monthly, will make a return trip.
I’m a fan of Corto in Jersey City: https://www.cortojc.com. You may want to bring stems (they serve in bcaro style glasses) but a small changing menu of fresh-made pastas and proteins. The owner has their own salumeria so the meat and cheese plates are usually quite good as well.