Tag Archives: Places

Mar16

Dining

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Dining

If you’re in the NY Metro area of NJ and want to find someplace to spend your money, here are a few of my personal favorite spots.

The kids are older, and mostly not too finicky about food, so they get to go with us to a lot of these places:

TERRAZZA RISTORANTE & BAR in Nutley, 507 Franklin Ave., (973) 661-4300. Very tasty food, Italian, but not a pizza and linguini place. I loved their gorgonzola ravioli with balsamic vinegar tomato sauce, and they have a salmon and steak that are house specialties that are wonderful.

And speaking of good Italian –I Fratelli Ristorante at 1099 Broad St. in Bloomfield is fabulous. (973) 338-4888. I had a stuffed portabello mushroom appetizer and I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. The calamari is cooked just right (harder than it sounds) and the eggplant rollatini is delightful, with the addition of golden raisins.

Another short trip for us is Bloomfield Steak and Seafood at 409 Franklin Ave. in Bloomfield, (973) 680-4500 is in one of our historic homes, and the atmosphere is nice and cozy. The food is American/Continental, tasty and well-presented.

Brookside Thai just opened on 378 Broad Street in Bloomfield, and the food is authentic and fabulous. They still have some kinks to work out in the speed of service department, so either plan a long, leisurely meal or order takeout. (973) 566-0057.

Our latest favorite for Indian food is Satish Palace at 397 Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair. (973) 746-4477. They have an extensive menu, and on Wednesday nights there’s a buffet. (We usually go out the back and across the street to Montclair Book Center to top off that night’s trip out.) Of course, if you’re looking for real Indian – the stuff they eat, not the stuff they serve to the general public, take the Iselin exit off the Garden State Parkway (127) and head over to Oak Tree Road. Restaurants, jewelry, groceries, clothes, bakeries, video stores, all for the Indian population of NJ.

We’re still looking for good local Chinese. We have tons of places, but since the management at our old favorite left, we haven’t been able to find anything to compare. If you have recommendations, e-mail me.

Mar16

Fabric Stores

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Fabric Stores

If you’re in the NY Metro area of NJ and want to find someplace to spend your money, here are a few of my personal favorite spots.

Up here in the Northeast corner of NJ, we really do have a lot of good stuff besides easy access to New York City. Of course, my favorite stores are fabric stores!

My favorite bargain spot, though, is Fabric Warehouse, with a location in Belleville off Main Ave, (973) 759-8080. (The Clifton location closed a while ago.) Sign up for their mailing list, and go nuts when they have sales.  Twice a year you get 50% off, and I come out of there with rayon challis for $1 a yard, cottons for 50 cents. . .and polar fleece for $5 a yard.  Can’t beat that.  

If you head on over to Hackensack, there’s New York Trims on 193 1/2 Main St.  (201) 342-2171.  It’s an old family business, and I don’t think they’ve ever thrown anything away.  You can get Guterman thread there, and nearly any kind of button (the nice ones in tubes, again) you could imagine.  There are all kinds of trims, new and old (I told you, they don’t throw stuff away) and beads and glues and beading needles.

We were very sad when we lost Fabricville on Watchung Avenue in Montclair, but now I’ve Got a Notion has moved into part of the old space, and it’s a great source for Guterman thread, all the zippers they always seem to be out of stock on in JoAnn’s, and JHB and Swingline buttons, and a growing selection of trims.  (973) 744-0079.  

And you can’t forget Acme Country Fabrics on 24 Newark-Pompton Turnpike, (973) 696-1784.  They’re our serious quilter’s store.  The fabrics are beautiful, and arranged by color.  Lots of quilting supplies, notions, and classes.  They also sell Bernina sewing machines and sergers.  Very nice folks!

A bit more South and West is Fabricland,  in North Plainfield, with loads of home dec fabrics and accessories, Bernina machines, and lessons.  Their other store is Nassau’s, in Paramus, and that’s all home decorating, and also design services.