The OFFICIAL Towns in North Jersey Discussion Thread ...

[The Sybian]

That billboard pic is going in my “things that are exceptionally Jersey” scrapbook.

Looks like she was about to reenact the Sharon Stone leg crossing scene as the picture was taken, and they intentionally cropped her cooch out of the picture.

[DSafetyGuy]

That billboard pic is going in my “things that are exceptionally Jersey” scrapbook.

Looks like she was about to reenact the Sharon Stone leg crossing scene as the picture was taken, and they intentionally cropped her cooch out of the picture.

Yes, quite fortunate the billboard company name remained "in front".

[A_B]

Fuck this fucking fuck of a fucking state.

[Giff]

Were they out of Jersey jerseys?

[A_B]

Were they out of Jersey jerseys?

They’re out of common sense when it comes to road and exit planning.

[rass]

Can't argue with that, though I'm not sure that they're any dumber than anyplace else. Upper-tier volume just makes every minor change into a never-ending debacle.

I'll catch you next time through?

[A_B]

I have no excuse just generally an asshole.

[A_B]

Seriously. Fuck this state with a broom handle.

[rass]

Maybe if you didn’t post and drive you wouldn’t miss your exits.

[rass]

Finally one that I’ve been to!

[mister d]

I've never heard of "East Newark" before.

[sancarlos]

I've never heard of "East Newark" before.

It's just east of Newark.

[Giff]

aka Even More East Orange

[mister d]

Some day I'm going to write something just so I can use North Orange as the fictional setting.

[GoodKarma]

I watched the documentary Class Action Park last night about Action Park in Vernon. Any of you east coasters go there as kids and was it really as crazy/dangerous as they say?

[The Sybian]

I watched the documentary Class Action Park last night about Action Park in Vernon. Any of you east coasters go there as kids and was it really as crazy/dangerous as they say?

I read the book by the owner's son, who was head lifeguard through his high school and college years. Pretty sure I wrote all about it. Book was batshit crazy and hilarious. I never went there, but everyone I know who went there tells stories right in line with the legend. My friend was a lifeguard at a resort property the same family owned, and he said they constantly poached lifeguards from his resort to fill in at the wave pool, and he would hide to avoid being chosen. He read the book and said that if anything, the author downplayed the dangers. Great stories about how the father made him or other employees do test runs on rides before the inspectors came. The father had to have some sort of mental illness with a manic component.

[rass]

Made it to Namkeen again. Got the chicken sandwich “hot” this time (I got the more blatantly Indian spiced one last time) and that was about perfect. Hot enough to give me pause but not so much that I couldn’t feel my mouth for an hour afterwards or taste the chicken. My wife got mild and it was almost too much for her but she loved the texture of the chicken. We brought a tender home and the 13 year old, who usually prides herself on trying spicy, really disliked it. Not even the hot, just the general taste. Kids…

[rass]

Exciting weekend you guys. After last night’s chicken adventures I finally (references from Jersey food Twitter) made it to Massa Roman Square Pizza in Scotch Plains.

Great variety of slices available and the crust was distinctive and the toppings that we tried were great (she got eggplant over a traditional mozz and sauce and i got potatoes and sausage). Wish they were a little closer.

[wlu_lax6]

I watched the documentary Class Action Park last night about Action Park in Vernon. Any of you east coasters go there as kids and was it really as crazy/dangerous as they say?

I read the book by the owner's son, who was head lifeguard through his high school and college years. Pretty sure I wrote all about it. Book was batshit crazy and hilarious. I never went there, but everyone I know who went there tells stories right in line with the legend. My friend was a lifeguard at a resort property the same family owned, and he said they constantly poached lifeguards from his resort to fill in at the wave pool, and he would hide to avoid being chosen. He read the book and said that if anything, the author downplayed the dangers. Great stories about how the father made him or other employees do test runs on rides before the inspectors came. The father had to have some sort of mental illness with a manic component.

My wife has some stories from the park. Dangerous.and her dad liked the lax oversight

[rass]

OK, this place (which I fortunately never made it into before it closed) has been dormant for about 10 years. And yeah there's been pushback to suggested development. But I think we're just the guys to open a upscale dive bar. Or a downscale gastro pub.

Who's in?

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[P.D.X.]

If the facade wasn't intentionally s'posed to look like a hawk's face, then damn.

Let's change it to Owl's Tavern.

[mister d]

Are there successful places outside of the downtowns in the Millburn/Maplewood/SO strip that I'm not thinking of? Even if people aren't coming and going via train, that still seems like where all the congregation takes place.



(My totally foolproof plan once we finally get beer + wine licenses is a hybrid coffee shop / sandwich-centric bar that flips over service at 11:00 or whatever. Smaller, rotational menu with the bread and everything done in house, small tap list + a takeout focus since I don't think bars can survive in towns where 97% of families have school-aged kids. Right now nothing can open without huge investor backing or being part of a hospitality group because the licenses are so f'ing prohibitive. (But it wouldn't be up on Springfield Ave.))

[A_B]

OK, this place (which I fortunately never made it into before it closed) has been dormant for about 10 years. And yeah there's been pushback to suggested development. But I think we're just the guys to open a upscale dive bar. Or a downscale gastro pub.

Who's in?

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[rass]

I can only think of one or two middle-of-a-neighborhood bars in our town, and one of those (the more upscale, the other is a wonderfully pure dive) is right off the campus of Kean and I think benefits from that (though it's not an easy/quick walk). Everything else I can think of is downtown (though the train station is not there) or on a major road or highway (or right off).

West Orange used to have a number of places scattered around, again I think because "downtown" WO had no train either so wasn't a hub the way it is in SOMA or Millburn.

[mister d]

Right. When we first moved here I assumed Springfield Ave was in the process of building up into like a 2nd downtown area but our realtors and people who lived here longer said it would never happen. They're definitely right, almost 7 years in now.

[rass]

Right. When we first moved here I assumed Springfield Ave was in the process of building up into like a 2nd downtown area but our realtors and people who lived here longer said it would never happen. They're definitely right, almost 7 years in now.

They have added a lot of condo/apt housing there the last couple of years, the stretch between like Wine Barrel and Wawa.

[A_B]

Right. When we first moved here I assumed Springfield Ave was in the process of building up into like a 2nd downtown area but our realtors and people who lived here longer said it would never happen. They're definitely right, almost 7 years in now.

They have added a lot of condo/apt housing there the last couple of years, the stretch between like Wine Barrel and Wawa.

Everyone knows that the dictionary isn't the only place White Flight falls between Wawa and the Wine Barrel.

[mister d]

Loogit this fuckin' guy thinkin' he knows the demographics of our fuckin' area get da fuck outta here.

[A_B]

Loogit this fuckin' guy thinkin' he knows the demographics of our fuckin' area get da fuck outta here.

Oh sorry. I was thinking of North Orange.

[rass]

Right. When we first moved here I assumed Springfield Ave was in the process of building up into like a 2nd downtown area but our realtors and people who lived here longer said it would never happen. They're definitely right, almost 7 years in now.

They have added a lot of condo/apt housing there the last couple of years, the stretch between like Wine Barrel and Wawa.

Everyone knows that the dictionary isn't the only place White Flight falls between Wawa and the Wine Barrel.

That was pretty good.

[DSafetyGuy]

OK, this place (which I fortunately never made it into before it closed) has been dormant for about 10 years. And yeah there's been pushback to suggested development. But I think we're just the guys to open a upscale dive bar. Or a downscale gastro pub.

Just make it an "Over the Top"-themed place. Arm wrestling, pinball machines, truck parking...

[govmentchedda]

Are there successful places outside of the downtowns in the Millburn/Maplewood/SO strip that I'm not thinking of? Even if people aren't coming and going via train, that still seems like where all the congregation takes place.



(My totally foolproof plan once we finally get beer + wine licenses is a hybrid coffee shop / sandwich-centric bar that flips over service at 11:00 or whatever. Smaller, rotational menu with the bread and everything done in house, small tap list + a takeout focus since I don't think bars can survive in towns where 97% of families have school-aged kids. Right now nothing can open without huge investor backing or being part of a hospitality group because the licenses are so f'ing prohibitive. (But it wouldn't be up on Springfield Ave.))

I'm about to head to a newish brewery here in town that does espresso service until noon or so and sells their beers at all other hours. They don't provide food per se, but they do have a wood burning food truck in the parking lot that does Montreal style bagels in the morning and pizzas after.

If it were me running a brewery, I'd do a basic tasty AF sourdough roll and have really good butter.

[mister d]

New Jersey’s 44 greatest bagel shops, ranked

This list confirms my suspicion that NJ is actually a bad bagel state, especially relative to geography. On the flipside ...

The Best Bagels in America

... would appear to confirm that its a NJ problem and not me problem given that my 3 favorite places all made the list.

[govmentchedda]

New Jersey’s 44 greatest bagel shops, ranked

This list confirms my suspicion that NJ is actually a bad bagel state, especially relative to geography. On the flipside ...

The Best Bagels in America

... would appear to confirm that its a NJ problem and not me problem given that my 3 favorite places all made the list.

Very nice! Looks like there's one near our hotel this weekend for the Stadium Series game.

[mister d]

Bagels are the anti-pizza in my mind. I'll die saying the NYC area has the best standard (NY style!) pizza, the top-level is better than any other regions top-level, the mid-level places destroy other cities mid-levels and the area mostly avoids the absolute horror-shit I've had in Philadelphia and Boston.

Bagels are a craft, have little to no tie to geography and most of the famous NYC places kinda suck. Too big, too squishy.

[govmentchedda]

Every now and then a small bagel place will open up around here and I'm almost always (there's a good one in St. Pete) disappointed. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to make a tasty bagel.

[Giff]

There's one here people from your area swear by, but I've never been a big bagel guy until recently when that's all my kids will eat for breakfast.

[mister d]

Every now and then a small bagel place will open up around here and I'm almost always (there's a good one in St. Pete) disappointed. It doesn't seem like it should be that hard to make a tasty bagel.

But it is! The timing is almost impossible since bagels get worse by the minute. You have to do enough volume to be in constant turnover AND have a setup that allows for that volume to be covered by constant production rather than baking ahead to ensure inventory.

[rass]

I've had: 27, 23 (both of those were mainstays for at work bagel breakfasts), 14, 12 (good spreads, as mentioned, but more bread-y than I prefer), 7 and 6 (they used to have a sundried tomato cream cheese that I loved)

I like crispy on the outside and chewy (vs fluffy) on the inside. I thought 15 looked great - seeing the little bubbles on the outside is ideal for me.

[mister d]

Agreed on that last part; 15 is the only one that looks like I think it should look. I was incredibly fired up for Jarrett to open in West Orange but I'm 0-2 on being blown away or even "this is better than Sonny's".