Jersey City Has Two Splashy Restaurant Openings This Week
Two splashy new restaurants with hidden-gem potential will open in Jersey City this week.
Two splashy new restaurants with hidden-gem potential will open in Jersey City this week.
Jersey City Has Two Splashy Restaurant Openings This Week
First, a tucked-away spot with a chef from Hudson Valley; next, a destination in a marina with NYC views.
Debuting Tuesday, June 3, tucked in an alley named for a nautical rope company, there’s Maxwell Alley (12 Coles Street, at Maxwell Alley). The project is backed by the owner of a Jersey City wine shop who hired the owners of former Hudson Valley bar Lawrence Park, and a chef who worked alongside the James Beard-nominated Efrén Hernandéz at the Tavern at Rivertown Lodge, sibling to Casa Susanna.
Marc Censits, founder of CoolVines that opened its first Jersey City location over a decade ago, has teamed up with Matt Colvin, who is doing cocktails for the restaurant. Colvin, the spirits and beer lead for the wine shop since 2014, left Jersey City to open his upstate bar and opted to return to Jersey City with his wife, Margie. He helped recruit chef Alex Tronstad, who led the kitchen at the Tavern at Rivertown Lodge, overseen by Hernandéz.
Tronstad says the menu will reflect her time working upstate with its nod to the area’s farmers and seasonal ingredients. She’ll change out dishes daily with the likes of spring carrots glazed in tamari with furikake; fluke crudo with strawberry; and pastas like fresh tonnarelli with guanciale or agnolotti with peas in brodo. Larger dishes range from roasted halibut with fennel gratin; duck with snap peas; or pork loin with grilled cabbage. Tronstad is originally from Massachusetts and went to Bard College, which led to her staying in the Hudson Valley as a chef for over a decade, working with Hernandéz for four.
Censits says the wines put together by wine director Tim Farrell will run the gamut from affordable house selections and others by-the-glass to “rare and curious” pours that are “undervalued” “global” and “quirky” from a handful of makers that are tough to find on restaurant menus or in the shop. Cocktails will touch on savory or sweet drinks and will include syrups, washed liquors, tinctures, and more.
The space had been Gringo’s and, with updated neutrals and floral accents, is lighter and brighter than the former watering hole. Tory Censits led the design through the firm Sometimes Metalworks based in Far Rockaway; she is the daughter of the Maxwell Alley owner. The restaurant will open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday and for weekend brunch, with reservations on Tock.
The other new Jersey City restaurant is opening Wednesday, June 4: The Feathered Fox sits at the marina (84 Audrey Zapp Drive) at Liberty State Park. It’s a revival of a Livingston, New Jersey, steak and seafood spot that will show off views of Manhattan in its new location. The restaurant from chef Christopher Siversen and Marc Haskell had been in the Westminster Hotel since 2021 until it closed to make way for townhomes. Siversen was behind Maritime Parc, which had been in the marina space since 2009.
The menu starts with raw bar options like hamachi crudo, seafood towers, and sushi rolls, moves on to starters like an iceberg wedge, and heads toward entrees like halibut with oyster mushrooms, lobster fettuccine carbonara, and steaks.
Erin Green leads the cocktails, with a mix of classic and signature drinks, while Jette Starniri has assembled an international wine list with seafood- and steak-friendly options. The restaurant is open for dinner Wednesday through Sunday for dinner as well as weekend brunch. Reservations are on OpenTable.
