Weekend Events

It's the first weekend of August so get out there and enjoy!

Hudson Restaurant Week is continuing through the weekend and into next week, so go check out some new restaurants. There are 10 restaurants in Jersey City participating and over thirty throughout Hudson County.

The Journal Square Green Market runs today from 11:00am-8:00pm.

Do You Tea will be closed next Monday 8/3 through 8/10, so stop by this weekend to stock up for iced tea.

Jersey Fresh Peach Festival at Riverview Market

Next Sunday, August 2nd, the Riverview Farmers Market will be participating in the 4th Annual Perfect Peach Pie Contest!

This is a statewide contest run by the New Jersey Peach Promotion Council that several markets throughout NJ participate in. The winners at each market go on to participate in a second and final round for a grand prize of $300.

$1 Taco Tuesday at Dullboy

Dullboy is one of my favorite spots to have opened up in Jersey City over the past six months or so. It's flat out one of my favorite spots in Jersey City altogether. The drinks are excellent, the atmosphere is relaxed, and it's nice to have a space where conversation is promoted rather than restricted.

Recently, they've started working in some rotating specials and events to the weekly schedule like $1 oysters on Monday, gypsy swing brunch on Sundays, and what I most recently stopped by to check out, $1 Taco Tuesdays.

Community News

• Carvao BBQ is now open!
• Hudson Restaurant Week starts tomorrow.
• Carrino Provisions will be grilling up shrimp, chorizo, elote and more at this week's Mexican-themed barbecue.
• Next Friday (7/31) marks the beginning of Zeppelin Hall's Beer and Barbecue Festival running until August 10th.

Weekend Events

Start drinking a lot of coffee, Jersey City! You'll need it with all the great events happening around town this weekend!

Tonight, join the Chopping Block and El Chilango at the Lumberyard in Jersey City Heights for dinner beginning at 6:30pm and live music starting at 7pm. El Chilango has even created special shrimp and skirt steak dishes for the event!

942 Summit is hosting a special botanically-inspired Avant Garden event to benefit the Riverview Community Garden with custom-created goods and refreshments.

Arlington Park Farmer's Market

Arlington Park in the Bergen Lafayette section of Jersey City got its first Farmers Market this year! Organized through Friends of Arlington Park, the market opened two weeks ago and will run every Saturday through November 21st, from 9am-2pm

I went to go check it out on opening day and immediately loved it. The park is green and beautiful with some small playground areas and shaded benches, and the market takes place in an open area surrounding a gazebo. It's peaceful, quiet, and has enough space to spread out and enjoy your time outdoors.

Hudson Restaurant Week

Hudson Restaurant Week kicks off another season this Monday, celebrating the height of summer with two weeks of prix-fixe menus at more wallet-friendly prices!

Dinner in the Park Series

This Sunday, July 26th, Feed JC kicks off a new monthly charitable dining event, Dinner in the Park, a series of six dinners in a park in each ward of Jersey City.

Feed JC is a collaborative effort between Whealth and Andy's Market, each of them working together to make something amazing, generous, and delicious happen in Jersey City. Last year, they organized a huge, city-wide effort to provide food for the homeless on Christmas Day and have come together again in an effort to create this ongoing dinner series that will benefit the Jersey City Parks Coalition and help feed Jersey City's homless population while being part of a job training program for Jersey City youth.

Community News

• South House opened this past Friday for drinks and a limited menu. They plan to switch to the full menu and open up the roof and basement within the next few weeks. They'll be closed tomorrow, but reopen on Tuesday. 
• This Thursday, Satis Bistro is hosting a Riesling tasting for $45/person. Call for reservations.
• Congratulations to Jersey City Veggie Burger for celebrating three years in business and to Chopping Block Food Truck on their one year anniversary, both this weekend!
• This week's Tuesday BBQ menu at Carrino Provisions is Mediterranean themed with slow roasted lamb shoulder, kafta & veggie kebabs, falafel, hummus, and more. $30 for all you can eat and drink.

Project Eats: The Specials

Project Eats is ONE DAY AWAY and we've already covered what last year was like, who will be there this year, so now it's time to discuss some of the actual food*.

One of my favorite things about Project Eats and all of the The Jersey City Project's projects is that the vendors get really into it and a lot of them offer special menus, new items, and use it as a chance to introduce something they want to start making part of their regular line-up. It's like a sneak preview, except not just a preview - it's the whole thing. 

Here's some of what we know vendors will be bringing this year:

Weekend Events

Hey Jersey City! Here's what's happening this weekend:

This weekend's biggest event is the two day Project Eats happening in front of City Hall from 11am - 7pm on both Saturday and Sunday. To find out more and what you can expect, check my post here about all the vendors.

This Friday, 7/17 (before the gluttony begins) is the soft open for the newest restaurant to hit Newark Avenue, Southern-insprired South House! They're planning to open around 4-5pm seving food and drinks but most likely won't have the basement or roof open for another few weeks.

Project Eats 2015 Vendors

In case you've missed the news, The Jersey City Project's Project Eats is this weekend! This year, they're expanding it to two days, both Saturday and Sunday from 11am-7pm (this means if you time it right, you can pretty much have every meal of the day here). Here's a quick look at last year's event.

Not only is this a great festival for all the best eats around, there's a special food-centric marketplace, highlighting some of the best small businesses and product vendors around.

Recapping Project Eats

This weekend, The Jersey City Project is presenting Project: Eats*, a TWO DAY event full of some of the best eats from vendors in Jersey City and beyond. There will be food stands, trucks, and other specialty vendors selling food-related items of all sorts.

Prato Bakery Controversy

Last week, Prato Bakery was the subject of some construction and zoning complaints from a nearby neighbor which led to a temporary removal of their tables and chairs. Obviously, this action affects their business and it created a lot of concern amongst the local community, even spurring a petition to Mayor Fulop.

Prato has quickly become a neighborhood favorite, serving up delicious foccacia, sandwiches, and cantucci, just to name a few, all made fresh and on-site. They are a small business putting out great products and to see them face a lot of bureacracy and red tape, as well as suffer perhaps unnecessary, expensive, and overly restrictive punishments, is not something anyone wants to see. However, there do seem to be some grounds for the complaint, but how much is yet to be determined.

Community News

• The biggest food event of the year, Project Eats, is next weekend, July 18th and 19th. Join in the fun and visit dozens of different vendors from Jersey City and beyond.
• Thirty Acres was featured on Vice's Munchies, showing their favorite stops in and around Jersey City.
• Via Taproot Organics, Cafe Presto has joined the Journal Square Green Market, serving fresh coffee, juices, and a specialty pressed waffle menu.
• Via WiredJC, a new bar/lounge/performance space, Club Transmission, is coming to Jersey City in the 150 Bay Street building.

Non-Stop Eats!

Aall of a sudden. it seems like the entire week just filled up with amazing food events! There isn't a day without something delicious and most days have multiple somethings, so I thought I'd do a quick round-up of everything food-related happening over the next several days!

WEDNESDAY

• Prato Bakery is hosting a Prosciutto di Parma tasting at 11am
• Patsey's, a new Italian American Bistro located at 93 Franklin Street in Jersey City Heights will open tomorrow. They'll be open from 6am-3pm.
• Groove on Grove is exciting enough, but on Wednesday, the'll also have the Artists & Makers Market! Milk Sugar Love, Sincerely Sweet Confections.Koro Koro, Park and Sixth, Raval, Orale, Hard Grove Cafe and more will be there with food and drinks!
• There are still a couple of spots open at both seatings (6:30pm and 9:30pm) for Raval's Live Flamenco Show and Unlimited Tapas.
• It's the 13th Annual Newport Beach Party!
• Wednesday means Bluegrass at both Union Republic and Park & Sixth

Newport Beach Party!

This Wednesday, July 8th, is the 13th Annual Newport Beach Party!

       (photos provided by Quinn PR)

Community News

• The Kitchen at Grove Station has started carrying bee pollen truffles from local favorite Busy Bee Organics.
• This week's BBQ at Carrino Provisions will be a Pork Slope-inspired pop-up! $30 for all you can eat and drink.
• Want to know more about catering company Chilltown Kitchen and their upcoming supper club at Porto? Check out this write-up from the Jersey Journal.
• Box Spring will be moving from their current location on Newark Avenue to 218 Grove Street, replacing MORE, by the end of July.

Milk Sugar Love's July Sundae & Ice Cream Social

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of everything Milk Sugar Love. If you asked me to, I can rattle off every flavor I've ever had (and it's not a short list). So I'm extremely excited to be able to help introduce a special new ice cream creation!

Today is the launch of Milk Sugar Love's July Sundae, the Doce De Avo, part of the Summer of Sundaes created with and inspired by restaurants around town.

4th of July Weekend, 2015

Kick off the long weekend Thursday night with a special Food Truck Rally, held at the lot on Newark and Brunswick from 5pm-10pm. Chopping Block, ME Casa, and new vegan truck Green Radish will all be there!

Zeppelin Hall is having a Rib Rumble that runs from Thursday, July 2nd through Monday, July 12th with 20 different kinds of ribs.

Ahri's Kitchen

I'm going to cut right to the chase: Ahri's Kitchen is killing it.

Of the many new restaurants to open downtown over the past year, Ahri's stands out as one of the best. It's also one of the more unique, serving up authentic Korean food, something we don't see a lot of in Jersey City. Everything about this small, friendly spot is meeting, and often, exceeding expectations.

For being a fairly limited menu, they offer a lot of options with everything from appetizers to Korean BBQ to Korean ramen and everything I've had so far has been delicious. While the menu is a bit heavier on the seafood/meat side of things, there are a couple of strictly vegetarian options and some meals I'm sure could be made vegan upon request. They also specify which dishes are entirely gluten-free. It's fairly affordable too, meaning you can easily get out of there for under $20/person, having enjoyed pretty generous portions.

On the appetizer side, they recently added Korean dumplings (Mandu, 5 to an order) with a chicken, scallion, and carrot filling that was tender and delicious and I would definitely recommend them. However, in case you're not willing to eat the entire menu, either of the fritters are a much better choice (unless you're getting take-out; they tend to get a bit soggy although still delicious). My particular favorite is the kimchi fritter: crisp triangles of their housemade spicy kimchi sliced, floured, and fried, but the seafood version is also excellent. Both are packed with flavor but are light enough to be an excellent  and nonfilling start to your meal.