One of New Jersey’s best known and most highly acclaimed restaurants is getting a sibling.
Only it’s not quite another restaurant.
Nicholas Harary, who with his wife, Melissa, has owned and operated Restaurant Nicholas on Route 35 in Middletown since 2000, is opening Nicholas Creamery at 84 First Avenue in Atlantic Highlands in May. Hard on its heels, the Hararys will open a second Nicholas Creamery at 540 River Road in Fair Haven.
What’s the scoop on the ice cream parlors?
It’s going to be all about handmade, 100 percent organic, small-batch ice cream using natural dairy products. Nicholas Creamery will work with local farmers and food artisans to source the freshest seasonal ingredients. The plan, too, is to serve made-to-order waffle cones prepared the old-fashioned way—that is, with a hot waffle-maker and a flick of the wrist.
The creamery will feature the classics (chocolate and vanilla) as well as creative flavors that will include Jersey Blueberry, Brown Sugar Bourbon and Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Cup. Patrons will be able to order custom sundaes as well as curated options.
The plan is to use all-natural, high-quality ingredients to create ice creams in their purest form. A Shore-area creamery, in other words, on the order of Bent Spoon in Princeton.
The Atlantic Highlands’ Nicholas Creamery will open in the storefront that’s long been the home of Nancie’s Ice Cream in the downtown district of the Bayshore borough. The Fair Haven locale also is in the heart of the shopping district of the small borough located on what’s locally known as “the peninsula.”
Updates on the progress of the Nicholas Creamery shops will be posted at nicholascreamery.com and on the Nicholas Creamery Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Atlantic Highlands and Fair Haven can vie for bragging rights as the Luckiest Town at the Jersey Shore.
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Now open:
Barbes, 1300 Park Avenue in Hoboken. French-Moroccan. Open for dinner only; bar. Owner is Omar Balouma. 201-610-1000; barbesrestaurant.com.
Peshawri Grill, 164 Franklin Turnpike in Mahwah. Indian. Lunch and dinner; BYO. 201-252-2789; peshawrigrill.com.
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Coming soon:
Brasserie Bonjour, 2 Hilliard Avenue in Edgewater (in the old La Vecchia Napoli location). 201-969-8444.
House of Garlic & Tahini, 410 Washington Street in Hoboken. Mediterranean. Lunch and dinner; BYO.
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Reopening:
Battello, which closed in August 2017 due to construction on the nearby pier, is reopening sometime this summer at 502 Washington Boulevard in Jersey City.