Community News

• Check out the latest issue of The Digest Online featuring Park & Sixth as well as great interviews with Dale Talde about Talde JC and Kevin and Alex Pemoulie of Thirty Acres. Such Jersey City love!
• DOCO Market & Cafe is now Goods & Greens. An official website is still in the works, but in the meantime, stop by and feel free to ask about their CSA program with Veritas Farms
• ModCup is holding brew classes again and the next one will be held on Sunday, April 6th at 10am. 
• All Kinds of Whoopie is now going to be known as Cholita Dessert Bar in honor of the expansion of the business so keep that in mind when trying to look them up.
• Join See Spot Rescued, Jersey Cats, and Hound about Town next Saturday for their adoption event where Milk Sugar Love will be providing ice cream sandwiches, including a dairy and gluten-free option!

Monteleone's Bakery - A Reminder of Jersey City's Past

Monteleone's Bakery, near Journal Square, is the embodiment of Jersey City past. Housed on the ground floor of a small brick building with a wall of shelves and a couple of display counters, you get the impression upon walking in that not much has changed since they first opened several decades ago and truthfully, probably not much has.

Primarily an Italian bakery with countless varieties of cookies, there's a strong sense of the traditional and classic in all the baked goods. Nothing is baked to be a visually-inspiring creation, but just a sweet dessert that becomes a taste of the nostalgically familiar, evident even in the boxes tied up with red and white string.

Community News

• Congratulations to Razza, Madame Claude's Cafe, and Liberty House Restaurant for being named in CBS New York's "Best Romantic Restaurants in Hoboken and Jersey City"!
• This weekend, Battello officially started offering brunch on the weekends! While there is no official menu up yet on the site, there is a waffle  you can start ogling. 
• If you want to know more about Battello before checking it out, Ryan DePersio, executive chef, was recently featured in NJ.com's dining section. 
• According to The Jersey City Life, Eric Girerd of L'Atelier du Chocolat is planning to open a shop in Jersey City near the Grove Pointe Apartment Complex. This would be the second location for the shop which focuses on high-end truffles and filled chocolates.

Second Street: Not Just for Sandwiches

Bread + tomato sauce + mozzarella = happiness

This is an equation that has been proven over and over again. Second Street Bakery, already well-established as a wonderful Italian deli, is one more example proving this theory true.

The pizzas available at Second Street aren't what we typically think of when conjuring up the image of a pizza; they're a bit more rustic, more free-form and only come in the most classic variety: bread + tomato sauce + mozzarella. But this is all you need to enjoy a delicious treat.

Creative Diversity - A Jersey City Resource!

Many of you may have already heard about Creative Diversity, run by JC CreativeEco on Twitter. For those of you who haven't, JC CreativeEco is all about promotiong the creative side of Jersey City - individuals, small businesses, and communities - and how our creative spirit can help drive the economy of Jersey City.

Community News

• Congratulations to Thirty Acres, Brownstone Diner, Sri Ganesh's Dosa House, and Riverview Farmers Market, along with other local businesses, for their inclusion in Refinery 29's list of reasons to move to Jersey spotlighting Jersey City!
• In preparation for the upcoming season, Riverview Farmers Market has begun updating their website - check it out for all your market info needs. In addition, they're currently accepting applications for market vendors if you're interested in being involved.
• Congratulations also to Kraverie, Barcade, The Warehouse Cafe, Sapthagiri, and Zeppelin Hall for being featured in Movoto's list of great things about Jersey City. Read through to get inspired!

Brunch At Thirty Acres

One of the nice things about Thirty Acres is that they frequently update their menu, so while this can be difficult if you form a strong attachment to something, it also means they are constantly creating new and delicious dishes. When I saw the changes to their most recent brunch menu, I knew immediately that I needed to make it a priority to go.

We started with drinks: the Michelada and the Stiff Java. Both were excellent and surprisingly large. The Michelada was spicier than I expected, but definitely not unbearable especially with the tang of the pickle to distract your taste buds. It was served with the rest of the beer so that you could keep refilling and the heat and vinegar flavors stayed strong until the end. The Stiff Java was like drinking the best coffee dessert you could ever have - dark and rich, but still sweetly refreshing. The intensity of both drinks was a nice change for a daytime brunch cocktail - instead of feeling light and dainty, these were bold wake-up calls and helped break through the richness of the meals.

The dish that first caught my attention and that I was most excited to try was the steak tartare club. For some reason, I'd actually been craving streak tartare for a few weeks and then the thought of it in sandwich form with bacon? There was no way I was missing out.

Fundraiser for Grant Avenue Fire Victims

Last week, there was a devastating fire on Grant Avenue in Jersey City and dozens of people have been displaced from their homes.

If you'd like to help, consider stopping by Port-O Lounge this Friday, March 14th. Mayor Steve Fulop, the Jersey City Municipal Council, and the United Way of Hudson County are holding a fundraising drive to help the victims. A representative from United Way will be there between 6pm-9pm, collecting checks to help with the fire victims' relief fund. No donation is too small and it makes a big difference to those who were affected by the fire.

St. Patrick's Day Events in Jersey City!

It's that time again! Time to remember everyone's Irish, wear all the green you own, and drink more Guinness and Jameson than the rest of the year combined. Or time to just enjoy beer and good food while ignoring the sea of green surrounding you. Wherever you fall on the spectrum and whatever you like to do to celebrate St. Pat's, Jersey City has something for you.

I will update as I see more events, so keep checking back in!

Sam a.m. will be hosting their first official Supper Club on Thursday and it is St. Patrick's Day themed! Email samamcafe@gmail.com for reservations - space is limited and BYOB! Missed this one, better luck next time! However, they will be serving a corned beef hash omelette as a weekend special and luckily there's more ahead!

Dogfish Head Beer Tasting at Amelia's Bistro

This is a guest post from my friends & fellow food lovers, MP & VB. I didn't attend the tasting, so they generously offered to take pictures and write up a post on the experience, so a big thank you to them. Text is primarily from MP who runs Wandering Lunch, a very helpful NYC food truck tracker. 

Last week, Amelia's Bistro had their third beer and dinner tasting menu. This is the second one featuring Dogfish Head after the first date sold out and they mentioned they would be doing new tastings monthly and the next one will be with Weyerbacher. Beer pairing menus are not very common around Jersey City yet so it's nice to know they will continue at Amelia's.

The event was held in their private party room in the basement of the restaurant. Don't expect any cell reception. Right away,we were handed beers (the Indian Brown Ale) and told to sit anywhere. There were also free gifts waiting on the table at everyone's place: an IPA glass, a key chain bottle opener, and a "Hopocalypse Now" coaster. There were two long tables so we knew we would be getting to know our co-diners. As more people filtered in, it was easy to get the conversation started. The majority of the people at our table were beer enthusiasts, as we are, and the topics centered around that to begin. As the beer flowed, the conversation expanded and the volume definitely increased. There was a representative from Hunterdon Brewing Company (a beer and liquor distributor), the supplier for the event. He was knowledgeable and it was great talking to him about beer and Jersey City. The atmosphere was the best part of the event.

Community News

• Congratulations to Battello Restaurant who will be officially open to the public beginning this Tuesday, March 11th! Reservations can be made online through Open Table
• If you're looking for some brunch suggestions around Jersey City, check out this post from The Chilltown Chronicle discussing some favorites.
• The new Mod Cup Cafe continues to be a big success and now they are hoping to expand the team! Stop by the cafe this week to speak with Justin (and bring a resume) if you're interested.
• Speaking of Mod Cup, it appears they are now selling exfoliating coffee soap and they are also changing the brewing class schedule so that going forward, it will be held once a month.

The Mozz Boss

A few weeks ago, when Uber was running their NJ free ride promotion, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to visit an area of Jersey City I don't otherwise often go to, Greenville, and check out The Mozz Boss. That's right - I'm so dedicated, I used my free rides to get sandwiches to benefit all of you (actually, the logisitics just ended up working out well, but still).

I first saw The Mozz Boss at La Festa Italiana last summer where they had a booth, but I never ended up trying anything although I did see people walking away with delicious looking bowls of food and stuffed-to-the-brim sandwiches. A couple of months later, when I heard they'd opened up a storefront in Jersey City, I put it on my to-try list but took a while to get to it - my mistake.

Walking in, I was amazed at how much space there is. There are plenty of seats - a rare commodity for most downtown delis. It seemed like most of the cold cuts were Boar's Head brand (despite the stickers) and there were some salads and antipastis to choose from as well. I went in on a Sunday when they close early and felt like they had less available than they might otherwise.

Community News

• Congratulations to Orale for their review in the New York Times!
• Although they're busy with their new cafe, ModCup will still be holding their brew classes but on Sunday mornings instead of Saturday.
• White Star Bar has a new website! And speaking of White Star, their Paulus Hook location is temporarily closed while they do renovations.
• Here's a great article about The Thirsty Quaker opening!