NJ Dining: Smashburger (UPDATED)

Update: The post now contains photos from the Clifton, New Jersey soft opening.

Smashburger

The Shops At Riverside
390 Hackensack Avenue
Hackensack, New Jersey

700 Route 3 West
Clifton, New Jersey

989 Bloomfield Ave
Montclair, New Jersey

Web Site: http://www.smashburger.com

Hackensack is indeed becoming something of a burger town, being home to the legendary White Manna, a long standing White Castle location in nearby Little Ferry as well as a Five Guys which opened in 2007.

This week, the town got its very own Smashburger, an upscale small chain of franchised burger restaurants (there are currently 78 stores nationwide in select markets) which focus on classic griddled burgers cooked with fresh ingredients using an interesting “smash” process.

A group of us were invited by the owners to give the place a try and sample the burgers. I was skeptical of trying yet another burger chain, but as you’ll sound find out, I was pleasantly surprised.

The Smashburger at the Shops at Riverside, in Hackensack NJ.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

NJ Dining: Picnic, The Restaurant (2010)

Note: With the recent 3-star review of Picnic in the Bergen Record, I thought I would update some photos. Congratulations to Christine, Annabel and Doron!

Picnic, The Restaurant
14-25 Plaza Road (Radburn Plaza Building) Fair Lawn, NJ 07410
(201) 796-2700

Web Site: http://www.picnictherestaurant.com/

Picnic, The Restaurant has gotten through its soft opening (see earlier post), but the restaurant is still very much a work in progress, as Chef Christine Nunn and the back of the house staff continues to make tweaks and modifications in the dishes and the service.

We recently returned to Picnic after I got home from a 2-week business trip and it has been very interesting to observe how a restaurant evolves organically, first hand. I’ll be updating this post periodically from time to time so you can watch the changes.

Picnic, The Restaurant, is now open.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

The Spooky Wing Ding Party

Chicken Wings. Creepy Halloween House. Lots of beer. Obsessive foodies. This is how weekends in October are supposed to be spent.

This last Sunday, I was among the privileged few to attend Mark and Debra Roman’s 8th Annual Wing Ding, an Ocktoberfest-cum-Halloween party-cum-Chicken wing cookoff that has become the stuff of legend in my home town of Tenafly.

Here, at this wonderfully decorated home, complete with a life-size Nosferatu vampire, an entire flock of black ravens, pumpkins of all shapes and sizes and a highly conversant and very loud parrot did 23 contestants do battle with their Chicken Wing recipes and submit themselves for judgement to four local food bloggers — My wife Rachel, Peter Conway from Mano a Vino, Heidi Raker Goldstein from Jersey Bites and of course myself, who would pick the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. The contestants themselves also voted for the “People’s Choice”.

The Eighth Annual Wing Ding at Mark and Debra Roman’s house was a hoot. Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.

Bergenfest 2010 Highlights

Bergenfest 2010, which was held on Thursday, September 30th at The Estate at Florentine Gardens in River Vale and sponsored by Bergen Health and Life magazine, attracted hundreds of attendees which sampled food from the county’s best restaurants and shops.

Click on the “Read the rest of this entry” link below for more.