So did everyone go to Hot Rods and Harleys on Saturday? As you can see, my friend Batman stopped by for the festivities. Between Friday’s monsoon and Sunday’s gray skies and rain, we really lucked out with the weather.
Tag Archives: Luciano’s
Gimme an I-G-O
On our way to check out Saturday’s block party on East Cherry Street, my eagle-eyed girlfriend Kathleen spotted some lettering near the roof of the Hotel Indigo at Sky View. There was no sign of the letters Tuesday night on my way to a City Council meeting.
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On Friday night, my friend Vince and I were at Luciano’s for a few drinks. The Alice Project entertained the bar/lounge, which was pretty crowded when we arrived around 9:30 but cleared out by 10:30. The Alice Project has played Luciano’s before but their one-of-a-kind cover of “Video Killed The Radio Star” was unique enough for me to take a chance on their latest album. Their sound reminded me a little of Sheryl Crow or more precisely, (and more obscure), Marry Me Jane. I would definitely check them out next time they’re around.
I’ll be catching up on some posts the rest of this week, so be sure to check back.
Happy six months everybody
Paper is what you give for a first anniversary. What do you give for a six-month “anniversary”? Ah, you don’t have to get me anything; reading the blog is gift enough for me. Six months technically isn’t an anniversary anyway, which is why I hate when people say x-month/week anniversary. But happy six months to everyone.
Another record number of votes in the the latest poll, besting the last poll, which had 73 votes. Of course anyone with too much time on their hands could skew the results, so it’s by no means scientific — but it sure is fun!
“It’s almost six months since we started. What do you think of the blog?”
Positively blog-irific! I can’t get enough! — (58/76) 76 percent
I like to check in, but I’m not addicted — (15/76) 19 percent
A blog among many — (1/76) 1 percent
Ah, you’re just a shill for the (insert political party here) — (1/76) 1 percent
Don’t quit your day job — (1/76) 1 percent
Wow, thanks for all the love, the checks are in the mail. But seriously, even those who didn’t gush about the blog, I’m always open to suggestions about anything at all. And since the brain trust is running dry lately for new poll questions, feel free to pass along any suggestions. Let ‘er rip in the comments section anytime. And try checking in on comments from older posts, you’d be surprised what you find.
The first couple of months were focused on just getting something posted and it wasn’t until about mid-January that I got around to tracking visits to the blog and jazzing it up, i.e., subscribe by email, etc. I’ll try to experiment some more but I tend to worry about just getting news up.
In case you’re interested, here are some statistics about the blog (gotta love Google Analytics even though they probably have more info on me than I care to think about). Since mid-January, we’ve had 8,569 visits from 2,792 visitors and almost 18,000 page views and with more than 2 page views per visit. We now get more than 100 visits almost every weekday (one reason why I tend to post stuff during the week more often lately), with a high of 181 on March 31. Average time on site is almost 3 minutes and the percentage of new visits is still almost 33 percent.
Of the more than 2,600 visits that found the blog by keyword searches, almost 600 (22 percent) came from searches for “rahway rising,” “rahway blog” and “rahway rising blog.” It appears some people still just type in the name in a search and access the blog that way; bookmark it, baby! Or better yet, subscribe by email or RSS feed. There are 68 subscribers by email, slow and steady growth the past two months (maybe a handful of new ones each week).
Here’s a quick breakdown of the most common keyword searches that ended up visiting the blog:
Luciano’s — 343 visits (13.1 percent, of the 2,600+)
SkyView — 182 (6.9 percent)
Cubanu — 167 (6.4 percent)
Rahway Center Partnership survey — 62 (2.3 percent)
Dornoch — 47 (1.8 percent)
There may have been slightly more in some categories, but I lumped all related searches into one, i.e., Luciano’s had searches for “luciano’s rahway,” “luciano’s restaurant,” etc. Not surprisingly then, the top three most viewed posts in the first six months all were related to Luciano’s and Cubanu opening or reviews. Rounding out the top five were the posts about condos rejected at the Koza’s site (big among nj.com readers ea few months back) and the state of the city address, which mentioned several development projects.
Most readers usually access the site directly, but 4.6 percent came through nj.com, and another 3.8 percent through craigslist (New York and New Jersey).
Thanks to everyone who’s been reading and those who have commented — especially those who don’t do it anonymously — it’s really kicked it up a notch the last few weeks.
Spreading the tax burden
I’ve been meaning to post about this for a few weeks but it’s gone through a number of drafts trying to avoid getting bogged down in a lot of numbers. There haven’t been many meetings the last couple of weeks, so now is as good a time as any.
During the budget process this year, city officials boasted about the increase in “net valuation taxable.” That’s basically the value of the entire city when it comes to taxing property and it rose $10 million, or about 0.67 percent, to $1.517 billion. The bulk of the $10-million hike was attributed to several projects. City officials provided this breakdown of main additions to the tax rolls for 2007, with the following improvement values added to existing land assessments:
Riverwalk [32 units] $4,930,800
Best Western Motel (Route 1), $2,149,600
Mini-U-Storage [partial assessment], $1,223,600
Quick Chek (Route 1), $523,000
Sterling Place [three homes] $477,100
Luciano’s [14 apts, partial assessment], $199,300
Subtotal $9,503,400
Those figures are strictly for building improvements and don’t include the separate land assessments. The partial assessments are just that, as they weren’t completely done at the time assessments were made. What’s it all mean for taxpayers? Well, the idea is to keep the valuation going up so there’s more places from which to collect taxes.
For instance, when completed, Riverwalk is expected to be assessed at more than $14 million. Under the 2008 budget, with a municipal tax rate of $1.713 per $100 of assessed value, that would have equaled about $250,000 in municipal property taxes. [Don’t forget, there’s also the county tax rate (about a 1/4) and school board tax rate (1/2) that make up the total property taxes.]
Does that mean taxes go down for everyone else? Ideally perhaps, but this year’s increase was eaten up within the municipal budget. Tax Assessor Bill Marbach estimated that without the $10-million rise in the assessed values, the tax rate might have gone up about 3 cents rather than remaining the same this year. For an average assessed home in Rahway ($133,000), a 3-cent hike in the tax rate would have meant $40 [$0.03 x ($133,000/100) = $39.9 — got that?]. For a home assessed at $500,000, the effect would be closer to $150 [$0.03 x ($500,000/100) = $150].
New developments and properties will add to the tax rolls but won’t they also in theory put more pressure on services, like the Police Department? When I posed that question to City Administrator/Redevelopment Director Peter Pelissier earlier this year, he said he doesn’t expect to hire more cops, but instead use the existing squad more efficiently.
Four new police officers were sworn in earlier this year, replacing retiring officers, with another expected this summer that will bring the police force to its full complement of 80. The city last summer approved a new seven-year contract (through June 2013) with PBA Local 31, which represents Rahway police officers.
Under the agreement, officers are scheduled to receive 4-percent annual pay hikes, but new hires also will begin to contribute to health benefits, be enrolled in a Point Of Service health plan, and no longer receive longevity pay. The clothing allowance was raised to $1,000. The starting salary as of July 2007 was $33,280 and by 2012 will be $40,490.
Luciano’s: A review
Saturday night was our first time to Luciano’s which has been open almost a month. All in all, it was quite good. We had somewhat of an early reservation (6 p.m.) so we were one of a few people in the dining room, but it filled up pretty quickly and by the time we finished about 7 p.m, it was pretty full.
As you walk in, the bar area is to the right and what appeared to be a private party room to the left. The main dining area is in the back. It’s a little more expensive and upscale than some of the other restaurants downtown but it’s not at the level of a David Drake. The bill came to $100 (not including tip). That included a round of martinis and a bottle of wine (we went with a low-end bottle, $25 I think, but they had a wide range in terms of $$$). We split an appetizer and each had a salad and entree (we happened to pick some lower-priced entrees).
Without question, my girlfriend Kathleen and I both enjoyed the spinach and artichoke fontina fondue the most. Whether we’re Champps in Menlo Park Mall or some Applebee’s, we’re big fans of spinach and artichoke dip. But this, this was on another level. They even brought out more foccacia upon request (because you know there’s always way more dip left over). The salads were pretty standard; Kathleen had mixed greens, I went with pear and walnut.
For dinner, I had chicken stuffed with spinach, proscuitto and provolone, along with whipped potatoes. There was a zesty type of sauce/reduction, just enough to cover the base of the plate; unfortunately, I’m forgetting what it was but it was real nice. Kathleen enjoyed her orriechette, which had no shortage of sausage and broccoli rabe with big hunks of garlic.
After filling up on bread, and then the foccacia with the fondue, I had no room left for dessert. But the menu looked nice, and included varied single-malt scotches and port wines, in addition to the sweets. [Dessert sidebar: We randomly stopped into The Waiting Room Friday night for a drink and decided to split a cheesecake (one piece, not an entire cake). When I think dessert, I don’t generally think Waiting Room, but I might now.]
As for the service, we really couldn’t have asked for much more. Even our waiter was named Luciano, and he was another highlight.
First impressions: This may sound odd, but the first thing that came to my mind was how big the tables seemed. Tables are set for four but it just felt like we could almost seat six comfortably. And the dining room appeared roomy, the tables weren’t too close together.
When we walked in, Kathleen got kind of a banquet hall vibe to it, but she warmed up, particularly thanks to our waiter. I think that may be because it’s an entirely new place, built from scratch and not renovated from a previous restaurant. I would expect some more character to permeate it over the years.
We met a friend for a drink at the bar after dinner, her first thought upon entering was something to the effect of, “Wow, this doesn’t look like Rahway.” This from someone who lives in Rahway; a good sign I’d say. Again, I noticed just how spacious the area behind the bar was. Not that it cut into the space on our end, it just struck me (again). There’s a flat-screen TV on either end of the bar, one above a big fireplace (that one was playing college basketball, the other News12).
All three of us enjoyed the bar. I thought maybe it was just me, but the others mentioned it too: I was taken aback by the bartenders in hot pants. Don’t get me wrong, they looked great, but it definitely surprised me, and didn’t strike us as consistent with the old-world Italian theme that Luciano’s seems to go for. What we also liked about the bar was the piano and bass duo playing in the corner. A nice touch; no too loud either.
If anything else comes to mind, I’ll post an update but I think that’s about it. Has anyone else been to Luciano’s yet? What did you think? If you plan to check it out, be sure to come back and comment on this post.
Luciano’s open for business
Luciano’s Italian Ristorante & Lounge opened for business Thursday after an invitation-only grand opening the previous night. It’s the second restaurant to open downtown in the last month or so, joining Cubanu.
If you’re having trouble finding anything about it on the Web, you’re not alone. A fruitless Google search led me to make a phone call for the Web site, which has a menu (senza prices) and hours, but not much more . A woman answering the phone suggested dinner for two with a bottle of wine might run about $100. Strangely, the Web site displays their location about five blocks too far up Main Street, at Elizabeth Avenue.
The three-story building at Main and Monroe streets also houses 14 rental apartments and had been open for private parties late last year.
Keep an eye out for a review in the coming weeks. Ciao.
Luciano’s set to open
Luciano’s, which from the outside has looked like it was ready for business quite some time ago, is expected to officially open in January.
The 250-seat Italian restaurant at the corner of Main and Monroe streets will host some parties during the remainder of this year.