Openings and Closings

Chengdu 1 Palace recently opened and offers Szechuan cuisine that is hot, hot, hot!

CHENGDU 1 PALACE, GREEN BROOK
The chile peppers were big enough for us to pick out of the dishes at the newly opened Chengdu 1 Palace in Green Brook, which was good for us since some of our dining companions liked their food hellishly hot and that was how it was ordered. Once the peppers were removed, the heat level was perfect for us.

Ask for the pickled broccoli stalks and peanuts when you are seated. Both are addictive. Starters were favorites: spicy baby wontons and Dan Dan noodles with chile sauce. Bright green sautéed snow pea tips were deliciously boosted with garlic. Spicy lamb in special pepper sauce packed a punch from cumin while the caramelized sauce with a smoky flavor gave a feisty taste to the Kung Pao chicken. Shells on the hot and spicy jumbo prawns created crunch. The one disappointment was the Ma Po Tofu with minced pork, which had large, rather than finely diced, cubes of tofu and not as much sauce as we prefer.

Orange slices, lots of laughs with friends and fortune cookies—mine said, “When hungry, order more Chinese food”—completed our meal. If you are a fan of Chengdu 1 in Cedar Grove, you now have another Szechuan restaurant to patronize that has a similar menu.


Peas shoots.
Photo courtesy of Lowell Saferstein

Chengdu 1 Palace
100 Rt 22 West
Green Brook
732-752-6888

OTHER OPENINGS

Asian Fusion Restaurant, 25 Highwood Ave, Tenafly (201-871-8888).

Benny’s Bakery & Ice Cream Shoppe, 11-08 Saddle River Road, Fair Lawn (201-791-0730).

CrisPanino, signature sandwiches and tapas lounge, has opened at 1507 Parkway Ave, Ewing Township (609-771-1414).

Hard Grove Café, a Cuban restaurant, has moved from 319 Grove St, Jersey City to 143 Newark Ave, Jersey City (201-451-1853).

Inkanto: Fine Peruvian International Cuisine, has opened at 3115 Rt 35 North, Hazlet (732-888-9458); BYO.

Krispy Pizza, whose slogan is “If it’s not krispy, it’s not pizza” has opened at 33 Hudson St, Jersey City (201-685-7313).

Kumo Asian Bistro, 69 West Main St, Somerville (908-252-1777); BYO.

Mamoun’s Falafel, 20 Witherspoon St, Princeton (609-430-8480); BYO.

Michelle’s, offering Latin American food, has opened at 57 Kinderkamack Road, Westwood (201-497-6446); BYO.

Morristown Pancake House, 20 South St, Morristown (201-340-4171).

Only1place, 83 South Washington Ave, Bergenfield offering dessert, paninis, soup, smoothies (201-385-0214).

The Park West Loft, a 4,000-plus square-foot private event space above the Park West Tavern, at 30 Oak St, Ridgewood has opened (201-445-5400).

Prime Steakhouse has opened at 251 Pascack Road, Washington Township (201-497-8999); BYO. It features hand-selected, dry-aged (butchered on premise,) USDA prime steaks, as well as a raw bar and seafood.

Sweetgrass, offering seasonal fare with a southern flair has opened at 9B East Broad St, Hopewell (609-333-8912); BYO. Some items on the fall menu include zucchini fritters with pickled beets, roasted pear compote, champagne-walnut oil; shrimp & grits; seafood stew with fish du jour, shrimp, clams, andouille sausage, cornbread; chicken with andouille cornbread stuffing, Cajun-shrimp butter, sweet potato; and bourbon-apple tart with caramel ice cream and apple chips.

Taphaus, a new American restaurant and beer garden, has opened at 2 Second St, Jersey City, (201-626-6000). There are 48 beers on tap and views of the NYC skyline.

Wonton & Noodle, offering Thai, Japanese and Chinese food, has opened at 71 Spring St, Newton (973-940-8884); BYO.

CLOSINGS
3 Forty Grill,
Hoboken has closed after 11 years and has been sold. It will reopen as a BBQ restaurant next spring. Gift certificates will be honored at Haven in Edgewater.

Elevaton Burger, Montclair

The Stable, 20 E Ridgewood Ave, Ridgewood, has closed and will reopen as Finca, a small-plates restaurant whose name means estate in Spanish. Vincent LaMonte, who runs Cravings Tapas Bistro in Ridgewood, owned by Marcello Czernier, who is also the owner of Finca, will be executive chef.

Send press releases and restaurant news, openings or closings, information on staff changes, wine tastings, and cooking classes, to [email protected].

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