Community News: Razza Collaboration with Marc Vetri, Orale Opens in Hoboken, and More

Jersey City

• Razza is offering reservations to their collaboration with Marc Vetri, author of Mastering Pizza and chef/founder of some of Philadelphia's most critically acclaimed restaurants. The dinner is a three course dinner taking place on 12/5 and will include some of the pizzas from the book. Tickets are $65/person and come with a signed copy of the book, but remaining reservations are limited. 

Your Guide to Project: Eats 2018

The biggest food festival of the year, Project: Eats, is back for the 5th year in a row! Project: Eats attracts thousands of attendees, all coming to enjoy food trucks, small businesses, and pop-up vendors from all throughout New Jersey and beyond. Located outside City Hall at 280 Grove St., it will run on Saturday 6/23 and Sunday 6/24 from 11am-7pm. 

Here is your guide to enjoying the festival:

Community News: Charity Bartender Drag-A-Thon, Angel Azul Celebrates 20 Years, Rose Wine Dinner & More

Before we begin with our more local Community News, I wanted to mention the current human rights crisis of children being separated from their parents at our borders which is nothing short of an atrocity. These are events happening in our greater national community which are contradictory to any kind of morality I can personally imagine and flat-out shameful. I urge you to take some time to learn more and I'm including a link (via Slate) to the best round-up I found of ways you can help, be it though donating time, money, or knowledge.

Now back to our regular Community News programming:

Jersey City

• Join burlesque performer and censorship fighter Lillian Bustle and Pet Shop for Jersey City's first ever Charity Bartender Drag-A-Thon! Held this Thursday, 6/21 beginning at 9pm, all donations will go towards the Trevor Project. 
• Project: Eats is back this weekend, 6/23-6/24, for it's 5th Annual Festival, celebrating food, drinks, and fun. Stay tuned for more info!
• As part of the festivities, take advantage of FastBoy Delivery's Project:Eats special, where from now through 6/24, you can get free delivery with code PROJECTEATS18 when you check out. 

Farmers Market Season Returns for 2018

This Saturday marks the start of Farmer's Market season in Jersey City! Markets throughout the city will begin opening over the next several weeks and run through the fall and early winter, bringing fresh produce, healthy snacks, skincare, baked goods, fish, grass-fed meat and more.

Hooked JC to Host Fancy Dinner Series

Photo from Hooked JC

Hooked JC, one of the best new restaurants in Jersey City, announced they will be offering special "fancy dinners" in their recently-opened back room.

A Look at Jersey Girls Food Tours

*Full Disclosure - my ticket was complimentary, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. I was not asked to post a review in exchange for coming on the tour*

Recently, I was invited to join Jersey Girls Food Tours on a downtown Jersey City tour. If you're not familiar with Jersey Girls Food Tours, it's a Jersey City-based company that organizes food tasting tours in Jersey City and throughout New Jersey. I'd been on a tour a few years ago when they first started up, but over time they've grown and modified the structure of the tours, so it felt like a brand new experience. The concept behind the tours is to offer attendees a chance to try a bite or two at every spot while learning a little more about that particular restaurant, the chefs, and to give everyone chance to get to know more about the story behind the restaurant and the food.

Community News: Old World/New World Wine Class, JC West Side Chili Cook-Off, and more

Jersey City

• The JC West Side Chili Cook-Off has been announced! It will be held on Sunday, 10/8 beginning at 12pm. If you're interested in competing, read the rules here. 
• Congratulations to Bambino Chef on being featured on News 12 New Jersey to share some healthy, simple, fun lunch box ideas. 
• Join Chris Leo of PS Wine Bar and Lourdes of the Vine for an Old World vs New World Wine Class on Tuesday 9/26 at 7pm. Tickets are $45/person.

Community News

• Congratulations to Liberty State Park on its 40th birthday. To celebrate, they'll be having a Bring Your Own Picnic celebration with cake, lemonade, and flags on Tuesday, 6/14 beginning at 5pm. 
• Congratulations to Bucket + Bay for their feature in New Jersey Monthly.
• Departed Soles is celebrating their first anniversary on Thursday, 6/16 with extended tasting room hours and the launch of a new beer, The Polish Goodbye. 
• Iron Monkey is hosting a Meet the Brewer night with Yards Brewing Co. this Thursday, 6/16 beginning at 7pm.
• Ozu Foods has restricted raw fish dishes to eat-in and take-out only during the summer months. 

Project Eats 2016 is Almost Here

The Jersey City Project is back again with another year of Project Eats* and it's less than two weeks away!

Upcoming Events in Jersey City

It's the first day of April which, despite the temperatures still being low for a while, means we're getting close to market season and outdoor events! Spring and summer are often a whirlwind of activity in Jersey City so here are a few dates to book in your calendar now.

The Chilltown Kitchen Supper Club Experience

Last summer, Chilltown Kitchen started hosting monthly supper clubs, each one with a different theme and corresponding tasting menu. Founded by Alysis Vasquez, the supper clubs are centered around the idea of communal dining and a shared experience. The meal is a multi-course format and prepared by a group of local chefs using seasonal ingredients.

Recently, I attended the January supper club which was "The Italian Menu". In the interest of full disclosure, I need to be clear that I did not pay to go. I was invited to attend as a guest, not in exchange for publicity or a review of any kind, but just as a kind offer to say thank you because I'd been sharing the menus on social media. The decision to post my experience is entirely my own and I am striving to make it as unbiased as possible. That said, I had long wanted to attend and was excited to find out just what it was like.

The supper clubs are pop-up events in different restaurants and are generally held on Monday nights when those restaurants are closed so that they are a) less expensive to run and b) more welcoming to a private group in the space. So while the reasons are practical, the effect is actually fantastic. To have an entire space dedicated to this one group and this one meal very much feels like you're a member of a secret dining society where you are part of this private and unique culinary experience - which, in fact, you are. In short, it's exactly the right vibe for a supper club.

Top Food Events in Jersey City

There are a lot of exciting culinary and drinking events happening around town over the next few weeks, so I thought it would be helpful to just compile one complete list of dates.

Ongoing Events
Sam A.M. is still holding weekly supper clubs every Tuesday through Thursday. Check in with them on a weekly basis to see the menu for each week; they usually post it on Monday.

Every Friday & Saturday through October and November, Whealth will be serving a three course tasting menu celebrating fall harvest at Smith and Chang. The series begins on Friday, Oct. 2nd and tickets are $45/person

9/24 
Oktoberfest at Satis Bistro, beginning at 8pm. Advance reservations are required.

Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Cocktail Party at HopsScotch beginning at 7pm

9/25
South House is celebrating their Grand Opening with some live Blues bands.

Oktoberfest at Zeppelin Hall begins on Friday and will continue every weekend through October 24th. There will be German party bands, traditional German food and beers.

Dinner in the Park Series #3

This Saturday is the third event in the Dinner in the Park Series, a program benefiting Jersey City parks and helping feed the homeless with each dinner estimated to feed over 100 less fortunate. This great project is being put on by FeedJC, a collaboration between Whealth and Andy's Market, and also act as a training ground for Jersey City teenagers hoping to work at restaurants and in food service.

Each dinner is held at a different park in a different ward of Jersey City to help celebrate that culture and neighborhood. Lincoln Park and Van Vorst Park have been checked off the list and this week's dinner is in Pershing Field in Jersey City Heights.

To get a better sense of what you can expect from these dinners, check out my photos from the dinner in Van Vorst Park :

Weekend Events

Jersey City is feeling very multi-cultural this weekend so get out there and enjoy it!

Today is the Journal Square Green Market with Bang Me Bakery, Taproot Organics, Stella's Empanadas, & more. This market seems like it's growing by the week, so make sure to check it out.

La Festa Italiana will continue every night through Sunday with music, games, 50/50, bull-riding (!) and lots and lots of food.

After water damage from a fire in the upper floors of their building shut them down, Taqueria Viva Mexico is opening back up today!

Departed Soles Brewing Company will be opening its doors on Friday from from 4-7pm and Saturday from 12-5pm for taste tests of some of their pilot kegs.

La Festa Italiana Part II: The Eats

Beyond all the music, games, and general fun that La Festa Italiana offers, they've also got a lot of offer to eat and drink, so check out this mini photo-tour of what's available and all the reasons why you should be heading there this weekend!
We'll start with the important things: drinks! Lots of beer and specialty cocktails from White Star Bar and the church's homemade limoncello and wine and peaches.

Chilltown Kitchen Announces Next Supper Club

Local collaborative catering company, Chilltown Kitchen, has announced the details for their next monthly supper club.

La Festa Italiana Begins Tonight!

Get ready for five straight days of enjoying rice balls, wine and peaches and live music! La Festa Italiana on 6th and Brunswick begins tonight!

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.

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.

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: