Tag Archives: restaurants

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A deli for a deli

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Another deli has arrived on East Cherry Street to fill a space vacated just a few months ago by another deli.

GK’s Big Belly Deli shut down in March amid charges that the owner was illegally hunting deer.

It was just a few weeks ago that a “Coming Soon” sign appeared in the window at 78 E. Cherry St., and now there’s a new, permanent for D&R’s Gourmet Deli and Catering.

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The Star-Ledger’s Munchmobile stopped in Rahway again, this time at The Waiting Room (just a few dooors down from the new deli).

The garlic pork chops that were “the juiciest of the day” and the “right mix of saltiness and properly cooked,” according to the Munchers. The baby lamb chop were even better: “So tender,” and the seasoning was “remarkable” and “dynamite.” The Room’s most popular dish is the Buffalo shrimp and Buffalo wings but the Munchers said it was the voodoo chili, “with bubbling-over cheese and plenty of meat,” that deserves to be more famous than those wings.

The link includes video of owner Chris Wenson (2:42 in length)  explaining some of the renovations to the former McCrory’s building before they moved into it in 2006 and an outdoor patio in the back that’s planned for next year (which was approved two years ago by the Planning Board).

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tax appeals, taxes

Top 10 property taxpayers

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The top 10 taxpayers in Rahway make up about a fifth of the city’s total assessed value. As part of an $11.65-million bond sale in the spring, the city put together a slew of documents on the city’s debt and tax assessments for ratings agency Standard & Poor’s.

Details of the bond sale, as they relate to redevelopment, will be included in an upcoming post. For now, here are the top 10 property taxpayers in the city (here it is an Excel file, maybe easier to read), followed by the total assessed value of their property (or properties):

Merck & Co., Inc. — $249,669,700
Carriage City Properties, LLC — $27,128,400
Park Terrace at Rahway, LLC — $6,684,500
Giacobbe Investments Corp. — $5,762,400
Alard Realty Enterprises — $5,477,900
Renaissance at Rahway, LLC — $5,362,800
Woodbridge Plaza, LLC — $4,329,500
Rahway Industrial Site — $4,296,900
Ninette Group — $3,659,600
New Jersey Bell — $3,576,279
TOTAL — $315,947,979

In some cases, like Merck and Giacobbe Investments Corp., the total figure includes multiple parcels, while for others, it’s just one property, like Renaissance, Park Terrace and Woodbridge Plaza.

“The city’s tax base has experienced, what we consider, limited, but stable, growth; it increased by just 2.1 percent since fiscal 2007 to $1.55 billion in fiscal 2010,” according to the S&P report. It considered the city’s per-capita market value of $134,775 “extremely strong.” Officials expect a tax base reduction for the subsequent year, according to the report. While the tax base is diverse with the 10 leading taxpayers accounting for 21.2 percent of assessed valuation (AV), Merck alone accounted for 17 percent of AV in fiscal 2010. Total assessed valuation is $1,486,291,000 in 2011, down 3.8 percent from $1,545,974,600 in 2010, according to the report.

Primarily due to a tax appeal by Merck (the first in more than 20 years) and to a lesser extent the economic downturn, the tax base will likely decline by 4 percent to $1.49 billion in fiscal 2011, according to the report. The city has settled the tax appeal and will repay about $1.6 million over the next three years.

There are a few more interesting (at least to me) statistics within the documents, as well as details of the bond sale, that I’ll post soon.

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ABC 7 News‘ Neighborhood Eats paid a visit to Rahway recently, checking out Patria Restaurant and Mixology Lounge on West Main Street. A 2:41 report on the new eatery aired Friday, featuring a tilapia dish.

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Beana’s Mexican gets two stars

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The Star-Ledger/nj.com on Friday had a review of Beana’s Para Siempre restaurant on St. Georges Avenue. (Para siempre, by the way, means “forever” in Spanish; I had to look it up).

Of course, one of the first things mentioned is the decor (which really is one of a kind):

“You’d shriek if you stumbled onto this restaurant along a dusty stretch of Route 66, pulling out your camera to document your touristy luck to your disbelieving friends. The place is thoroughly fun and kitschy, its walls crammed with 70-year-old license plates, sombreros, commemorative dishware, velvet paintings of bullfights and countless crosses, lizards and chili pepper lights.”

Not sure what it says about a review that spends so much time waxing about Census figures and decor though. In the end, Bean’s got two stars through the appetizers (chorizo, flaky empanadas) seemed to be a bigger hit than the entrees (standbys that you’d expect), and there were some drawbacks: “The kitchen is too cozy with salt, even for those who consider salt a friend. The salsa disappoints, and service is inconsistent. And no, you can’t order a margarita.” (Always good to have BYO options though.)

“Beana’s is fun, and perhaps offers a taste of what’s to come: an ever-evolving mashup of Mexican and American, even if that means the quite unexpected…”

At last count, there were more than 50 reviews aggregated on the restaurant’s Google listing, coming through Yelp, Urban Spoon, Yahoo! and others. What do you think?

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library

New York Times calls The Rail House ‘Worth It’

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Another Rahway restaurant received a favorable review last month: The New York Times on Saturday called The Rail House 1449 “only a few short steps from excellence,” with some complaints about noise and uneven service. They loved the sea scallops and dessert (the apple tart in particular), had positive things to say about the appetizers but would pass on the crab cakes, salmon and calf’s liver.

During their first visit, “the food was almost uniformly excellent, the service was spot on, and the atmosphere was warm and cozy and quiet.” It was the second time around when a private party upstairs, coupled with creaky, uncarpeted 18th century floors made for a noisy time. All in all, The Times rated The Rail House  “Worth It,” behind the top “Don’t Miss” category but ahead of “O.K.” and “Don’t Bother.”

The Star-Ledger in February (.pdf) gave The Rail House 3 1/2 stars (3 stars = very good, 4 stars = excellent). There are no shortage of opinions at Open Table either, with almost 60 reviews.

The Rail House 1449 opened in December in the Irving Street space formerly occupied by David Drake, which closed almost a year earlier after almost five years in business. Have you paid a visit to The Rail House yet? Tell use what you think.

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The Friends of Rahway Public Library will sponsor “The Amazing Rahway Race” on May 21, beginning at 10 a.m. at the library. Based on the popular reality show, teams of 2-4 people will compete by solving clues, completing challengs and racing through downtown. Check out this flier for more information.

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Downtown, restaurants

‘Party place’ Patria gets two stars

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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 →

Commercial, Downtown, restaurants, Retail

Little Portugal ‘coming soon’ to former Nile space

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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 →
Uncategorized

New poll: Best Chinese

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It’s been awhile since we had a poll and since Christmas is almost here, this one seemed timely and appropriate:

What’s your favorite Chinese restaurant/eatery?
Dragon Palace
Hunan Kitchen
Ming Feng
New Fon Garden
New Great Wall
Panda China
No. 1 Chinese Kitchen

For the sake of the poll, Chinese is meant to encompass all Asian cuisine (Japanese, Korean, etc.). Hope that’s OK with everybody. Let me know if there’s any place that I’ve missed that you think should be included the poll.

Maybe next month we’ll come back with the pizza poll which has been popular. And I’m always open to suggestions for future polls.

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