Tag Archives: The Original Nile Restaurant

‘Party place’ Patria gets two stars

Patria Restaurant and Mixology Lounge received a fairly positive review from The Star-Ledger/nj.com earlier this month. It was described as “fun and savvy, a smart, stylish mix of urban culture, food and music.”

The review gave kudos for some “exciting concepts” as far as the menu — watermelon mojitos and crab cake sliders — and big thumbs up to the desserts, but “for the most part our dinner seemed like a gentrified version of Latin cuisine. It was fine enough, but not as fiery and exciting as the place itself.”

Continue reading ‘Party place’ Patria gets two stars

Little Portugal ‘coming soon’ to former Nile space

A restaurant called Little Portugal is “coming soon” to the former home of The Back Porch and The Original Nile.
Continue reading Little Portugal ‘coming soon’ to former Nile space

Catching up on tenant turnover

There’s been a bit of turnover in some downtown spaces the last few months, particularly along East Cherry Street.

Continue reading Catching up on tenant turnover

The top posts of 2008

And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, or not, the most viewed posts of 2008 (I’ll be scouring garage sales and flea markets for an appropriately gaudy trophy to present to the top spot):

1. Cubanu: A review, 855 page views
2. Luciano’s set to open, 847
3. On tap for 2008: Park Square, Sky View, 837
4. Luciano’s open for business, 446
5. Luciano’s: A review, 427
6. Pizza Pizza, 404
7. Zoning Board KOs condos at Koza’s, 387
8. Rahway welcomes Hollywood, 330
9. Eatery targets July opening, 267
10. The Waiting Room by a mile, 238

Hmm…I sense a restaurant theme. Maybe we’ll focus a bit more on that if that’s what readers want, although of the 132 posts in 2008, 20 were restaurant related. It’s likely a common way to find the blog, while looking for info about new restaurants, particularly Luciano’s and Cubanu. In 2009, we’ll also try to more consistently offer news outside of downtown, like Route 1 or St. Georges Avenue.

New eatery targets July opening

The Original Nile Restaurant will replace the former Back Porch Bar and Grille, with plans to open by the start of next month. Hassana Kaba, an area Realtor and former River Place resident, owns the restaurant with her husband and is hoping to have all inspections, permits, etc., completed by July 1.

Kaba, whose parents owned The Nile Restaurant in Elizabeth many years ago, described the fare as southern-style “comfort food,” soul food and general American cuisine with random specials. She’s hoping to have the outdoor seating on the deck available for the grand opening, though the restaurant won’t being serving alcohol (the previous tenant still holds the liquor license, from what I understand).

[Thanks to reader “nomad” for the photo above]