So celebrity Chef Marcus Samuelsson has set up shop in the old Hahne’s Department store on Halsey Street. If you consider yourself an NJ Foodie you owe it to yourself to go. They are operating on a limited soft opening menu but that will change, and we can’t wait to go back and try everything as they flesh it out. The chicken and waffles, shrimp and grits, and the “973” Pizza with Taylor ham and egg are all executed with big city perfection, the pizza dough being on par with Razza/Arturo’s. The room is unlike any other in Newark, the high ceilings and bar area more reminiscent of Soho NYC. Only 55 seats, but plenty of bar area space, with attentive knowledgeable staffers all around. This place is the biggest endorsement of Newark since the Prudential Center, and even if it sucked I’d implore you to go…but it doesn’t. It doesn’t suck one bit at all.
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Wow, thanks for this. I had no idea Samuelsson was opening a place in Newark. The one thing that bothers me is that he has been opening restaurants right, left and center. Just hope he isn’t overextending himself.
He does have a large footprint, but this isn’t an airport or the Hamilton Princess, Bermuda. This is as significant as The Red Rooster, which changed the dynamics and perceptions of Harlem but here, in our own Brick City. You want to make a difference? Support the efforts of anyone willing to put their name on the door of a place where you may not have trodden not that long ago. (It’s quite safe, on site parking)
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