Raval to Become Pasta e Vino

Passerby on the Pedestrian Plaza yesterday were taken aback to see a new sign at Raval, 136 Newark Ave, showing the name Pasta e Vino. 

Community News

• Bone In is offering 5% off all orders this week with code laborday5. Orders must be in by noon on Tuesday.
• Congratulations to The Kitchen Step on receiving three stars from NJ Monthly
• The 52 Bowers St. location of  Dark Side of the Moo is closed through September 6th.
• Congratulations to Maritime Parc for being included on the 2016 25 Best Restaurants in NJ list from New Jersey Monthly. 

Jersey City Shake-Ups

There were quite a few restaurant changes and shake-ups in Jersey City over the holiday season. I'll be going a little more in-depth on some of these later, but for now, a recap:

The Kitchen at Grove Station has closed temporarily, announcing in late December they were undergoing some repairs and changes. Shortly after that, it was further announced Executive Chef David Viana and his staff had departed The Kitchen, but that the creative directors and management team were remaining and that the restaurant would reopen early this year with a new chef at the helm. To date, no announcements regarding who that new chef might be or what the anticipated date of reopening is have been made.

Community News

• Greene Hook opened up this weekend! They'll be open beginning at 5pm Tuesday through Saturday for now.
• Don't forget to register for the chili cook-off at Lincoln Park on Sept. 27th.
• Archer Bar will be giving us another preview of what's to come at next weekend's All About Downtown Street Fair.
• Milk Sugar Love is now officially offering soft serve. Don't forget there's still time to join Pint Club too.
• Join Satis Bistro for their Oktoberfest with traditional German food and beer on September 24th at 8pm.

The Battle of the Bars

Tonight, Monday, August 3rd, there will be a Battle of the Bars in Downtown Jersey City.

Community News

• Congratulations to White Star who celebrated 10 years in business this weekend and had a good time doing it!
• Every Tuesday, Hamilton Inn is hosting a special lobster feast from 5pm-11pm
• Milk Sugar Love launched their special June Sundae, a spin on traditional Filipino dessert Halo Halo, this weekend in collaboration with Eighty Mag. A portion of the proceeds will help fund the third issue.
• LITM has started offering desserts from Chilltown Kitchen, local catering company, including some gluten-free options.

Community News

• Congratulations to Jersey City Veggie Burger, 9th & Coles, HopsScotch, Dark Side of the Moo, Maritime Parc, Park Tavern, Corkscrew, White Star, and Left Bank for their nominations in the NJ's Best Burger Competition in their various categories. Voting is now open from now until June 7th.
• Here's a first look at Raval and the story behind the restaurant.
• Congratulations to Porta for being named one of the 11 Best Patios by the Village Voice 
• If you've seen Uncle Bud's Hot Sauces at the Grove Street or Riverview Farmers' markets and wanted to learn more, check out this interview from the River View Observer.

Raval Opens This Week!

Spanish tapas bar Raval , (136 Newark Ave, off of Grove) is set to have their grand opening on Wednesday, May 27th and their ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, May 29th at 5pm. Run by Restaurant Development Group, the owners of Satis Bistro, this is one of the most anticipated restaurant openings of the year (at least by me) and the team behind it has been hard at work over the past several months, getting everything ready, creating mosaics, putting up art, and finalizing the menus.

Construction Updates #2 (Downtown)

Jersey City just keeps on building! Since there's been some pretty significant progress on a number of the restaurants opening around downtown and several announcements of new places, I figured it was a good time to do a run-down of what's going on.

Ahri's Kitchen, the family-run Korean spot opening at 227 7th St. (off Erie), has been hard at work for the past several months and it looks like they're at the point of finishing touches and final logistics. They've had a couple of preview diners in and the latest rumors are that they expect to be open within the next two weeks.

Raval, Satis Bistro's tapas restaurant, is opening at 136 Newark Ave. They still appear to be doing some minor construction work, but the majority of the inside appears done and they're predicting a late spring opening (hopefully around May).