Maritime Parc, located in Jersey City’s Liberty Landing Marina, is approaching its 10-year anniversary. To celebrate, the restaurant is getting a serious makeover. A February 26 Instagram post announced that the “a la cart restaurant at Maritime Parc” will be “temporarily closed for remodeling.” The post promised a spring reopening with “more seats, an expanded lounge area and a fresh new look.” We reached out for some intel.
“We’re creating a bar/lounge atmosphere so guests can just chill and enjoy light bites,” says executive chef and partner Chris Siversen. The reopening is slated for late April.
Maritime Parc is in an elite class of Jersey dining establishments, having made NJM’s Top Restaurants list every year since 2011, including last year’s Top 30. Manhattan-based Stephanie Goto designed Maritime Parc, which operates a restaurant on the ground floor and a catering and event space on the second and third floors. (Among her other clients, designer Goto counts New York City restaurants Aldea and Corton as well as the personal kitchen of chef Daniel Boulud.) The event spaces on the second and third floors will remain open during the first-floor renovations—very useful as wedding season looms.
Unlike most restaurants doing major overhauls, Maritime Parc has to compete with essentially a next-door neighbor—Liberty House, which is even closer to the Hudson River—for diner attention, wedding business and stunning views of the Hudson and Lower Manhattan. As it happens, yet another competitor for a la carte and especially wedding business—Battello, directly on the riverfront about half a mile north—has recently reopened after extensive repairs to its supporting pier. Any interior overhaul needs to at least rival its rivals in views, drama and elegance.
Working with Maritime VP Jette Starniri, Siversen has been hands-on in the redesign. “Everything’s going to be different here at the Restaurant at Maritime Parc—from the light fixtures to the floor,” he says. “We were inspired by the cool, sleek palette and lines of a space in Denmark, then reimagined it so it would work for a waterside restaurant with views of lower Manhattan. Also I wanted to have different texture elements we didn’t have before, like concrete, drapery, marbleized textures and copper.”
The new look won’t simply refurbish: with more seating and the bar plan to “expand significantly,” we get a sense that nightlife will be a focus.
No word yet on how the menu may change, but Siversen’s food won’t take a backseat to the interior: the open kitchen will be refreshed as well. “My culinary focus will remain the same,” he says, “and we’re still going to have our $25 oyster-beer-burger Thursday nights.”
Maritime Parc, 84 Audrey Zapp Drive, Jersey City; 201-413-0050