Restaurant News

This week Rosie tells us about Millie’s Old World Meatballs & Pizza, Next Door in Montclair, the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival at Crystal Springs in Hamburg and much more news about NJ restaurants.

MILLIE’S OLD WORLD MEATBALLS & PIZZA, MORRISTOWN
It is no surprise that Vince and Brandon Carrabba, brothers who grew up in Brooklyn and Staten Island, have opened a restaurant featuring what they are passionate about: pizza and meatballs. Inspired by the cooking of their grandmother Millie and her family recipes, Millie’s Old World Meatballs and Pizza in Morristown has become a casual dining option for those seeking artisanal pizza and casual Italian food. Although there are a variety of meatballs and pizzas offered, salads, cheese platters, calzones and sandwiches are also on the menu, along with daily specials printed out with prices.

We were recently invited to a press dinner and chef Peter Martinez (when you dine here check out his tats), who has trained with several world-renowned pizzaioli, regaled us with explanations of ingredients used in his dishes. It’s obvious that he is deeply committed and cares about the food he cooks. We started with three fabulous salads:

An antipasto of greens with black olives, grape tomatoes and red onions, tossed in a housemade balsamic vinaigrette surrounded with Italian cheeses salami and soppresata.

House salad with grape tomatoes, mozzarella, greens and Parmesan Reggiano tossed in a balsamic truffle vinaigrette dressing.

Our favorite was an antipasto with greens, candied walnuts (for crunch) and crumbled gorgonzola (for creaminess) tossed in a vibrant housemade apricot vinaigrette. The salad was encircled with applewood smoked bacon creating a dish with multidimensional flavor.

Antipasto.

Then we shared the quarter-pound fried meatballs, three to an order, made with top-grade sirloin and served in three different sauces: warm ricotta, vodka, and marinara.

What distinguishes Millie’s from other pizza establishments is that they offer pizzas from two different ovens, and each method creates a distinct flavor and character. The bright-red, 900-degree wood-burning oven, which cooks pizza in 90 seconds, was shipped from Italy. It creates a Neopolitan pizza with char marks and a light and airy soft crust. One of our favorites was a special of the evening made with meatballs, vodka sauce, ricotta, mozzarella, basil and Parmesan Reggiano. Other recommendations are the grape tomato pie created with mozzarella, white truffle cream, basil, grape tomatoes and prosciutto; and certainly do not bypass the Margherita made with fresh tomato sauce, house-made mozzarella, basil and Parmigiano. Some other options are pistachio pesto with mild or spicy Italian sausage, mozzarella, and Parmigiano; arugula with goat cheese and fig spread, mozzarella, prosciutto, arugula, and shaved Parmigiano; and the vegetarian pie with fresh tomato sauce, mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini, artichokes and black olives.

Millie’s Wood Burning Oven

One of the most decadent and scrumptious pizzas we were introduced to, and a most delicious surprise, was a pizza made with mashed potatoes, mozzarella, applewood smoked bacon, sour cream and Pecorino Romano. Created in the 650 degree coal oven, it had a crisp crust with smoky flavors and creamy and salty addictive topping. More mainstream pizzas, made in the coal oven, were the signature pie topped with peeled tomatoes sautéed with garlic and seasonings, homemade mozzarella, basil and grated Pecorino Romano; a white clam pie, sweet or spicy sausage pie; and vodka pie.

Millie’s Grape Tomato Pie

If you must have dessert an addictive Nutella pie topped with house-made cannoli cream and powdered sugar is available.

Millie’s Nutella Pie
Photos courtesy of Lowell Saferstein

The décor at Millie’s is modern with exposed brick walls, chalkboards with menu items listed, photo illustrations of owner Vince Carrabba’s prize-winning Rottweilers, mosaic tiles, and the eye-catching, red-domed, wood-fired pizza oven. An open kitchen with bar seating allows diners to watch the pizzaioli at work.

The Lounge at Millie’s is available for private events. It is located at the rear of the restaurant and features comfortable seating and three flat-screen TVs with seating for up to 25 people.

The restaurant is open daily from 11:30 AM. Outdoor seating is available weather permitting.

PSST! Millie’s offers a value-priced weekday express lunch from 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM, featuring choices of salad and soup of the day; 6-inch personal pizzas; and meatball half-heroes. Dine in only and no substitutions.

Millie’s Old World Meatballs & Pizza
60 South St
Morristown
973-267-9616
BYO
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NEXT DOOR, MONTCLAIR
Since December, 2007 when chef/owner Zod Arifai opened Next Door, the restaurant next to his acclaimed Blu, he has been showcasing comfort food at very reasonable prices. There is some similarity in the dishes at Next Door and Blu and sometimes the menu items are the same but less expensive. For example the “impossible to take off the menu” according to chef Arifai, seafood dumplings in a spicy coconut broth are $2 less at Next Door. Meaty duck breasts at Blu are served with caramelized turnips, braised red cabbage and a fig-red wine emulsion while duck confit is offered with a sweet and sour glaze, potato puree, wild mushrooms and brussels sprouts at Next Door. More casual choices, such as meatloaf, chicken, pastas and the burger that won first place in the NJ Monthly burger contest in 2011 are also available at Next Door but not at Blu. Take note that the burger is presented on a Balthazar brioche roll and adorned with caramelized onions and white cheddar and appropriately is listed as “the one.”

At a recent dinner we started with a baby arugula, Gorgonzola, orange, walnuts and cranberries salad which was refreshing and large enough to share. Butternut squash soup topped with cranberries and diced apples had harmonious flavors. Pumpkin ravioli were ethereal. Cranberries also were present in a colorful entree of perfectly cooked moist salmon accompanied with Brussels sprouts and butternut squash. Mild tasting and delicate skate was scored and charred creating texture. Paired with cauliflower, wild mushrooms and full-bodied truffle foam this was a most impressive dish. Medium rare tender lamb loin was fortified with creamy polenta, earthy wild mushrooms and an irresistible garlic herb sauce.

Desserts are special and satisfying. Our “must have” is the chocolate and peanut butter crisp with caramel ice cream, always a favorite and also available at Blu. We also had a glorious chocolate truffle terrine with banana caramel and crispy hazelnut and a poached pear with cranberries and pumpkin ice cream.

You do not dine at Blu or Next Door for the ambiance. It is all about the exceptional food.

Next Door
556 Bloomfield Avenue
Montclair 973-744-3600
BYO

Butternut squash soup with cranberries and diced apples.

Salmon with butternut squash and Brussels sprouts.
Photos courtesy of Lowell Saferstein
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WASSAILING THE APPLE TREES
“Wassailing the Apple Trees” will be at Terhune Orchards, 330 Cold Soil Road, Princeton on January 26 from 1 to 4 PM to celebrate the ancient British tradition of gathering around a bonfire to chant a traditional verse that invokes the positive spirits in the orchards. Bring your own noisemakers and tie cider-soaked bread to an apple tree to keep the trees safe from evil spirits until the next year’s apples appear. The Princeton based Handsome Molly Dancers will perform traditional and rural molly dances of 19th-century England and chant to drive away evil spirits. Free hot mulled cider, donuts, and marshmallows to roast will be available. For information or directions call 609-924-2310.
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NEW JERSEY WINE & FOOD FESTIVAL
Tickets for the sixth annual New Jersey Wine & Food Festival which will take place March 28 to 30 at Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg have gone on sale at the event website.

This year’s guest of honor is David Bouley who will create a multi-course menu for the annual Wine Cellar Dinner on March 28 and serve a dish in the VIP section of The Grand Tasting on March 29. The Wine Cellar dinner will be paired with rare back vintages of Ornellaia, one of Tuscany’s top producers. Ornellaia winemaker Axel Heinz will be the Featured Winemaker during the weekend and will select some special wines from the winery’s collection for the Friday dinner.
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CHAMPIONSHIP DINING PROMOTION
NJ Transit has a Championship Dining promotion through February 9 which gives a discount when a pass, a fare receipt, bus, rail or light rail schedule is presented to the server at participating restaurants.
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