Tag Archives: Sally Deering

Live On Stage, Local Live Theater

STAGEfest 2013 at The landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Journal Square

danceteam    
Presents Sally Deering’s
One Act Play   
  ”SIT ON MY LAP”     
The play is about an old Vaudevillian and the reporter who
comes to interview him at the Actors’ Home —
              and its a comedy!!             
                                  Starring  William Cantor and hank morris
Directed by   dorcey winant –  Production Designer  David Bayne
Fri, Mar. 22, 7:30 pm, Tix $10

  Sat, Mar. 23, 12:30 pm, Tix $15
           Sun, Mar. 24, 4 pm, Tix $10
7:30 pm, Tix $10
For more info:  201-667-3636
                                             To Order Tix Online at Brown Paper Tickets
Dining

Hearty Fare, Cool Drinks and Lasses in Plaid -A Peek inside the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery

 By Sally Deering

 

 At the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery in Hoboken, owner Nirav Patel gives his customers a big bang for their buck: hearty portions, an extensive beer list and 39 flatscreen TVs.  As an added bonus, the waitresses don uniforms that are a mix of Scottish lass and sports bar hottie. It’s all in good taste, Patel says. He prefers to compare the Tilted Kilt to the bar on TVs “Cheers” a neighborhood hangout where everybody knows your name.

 “We’re a pub,” Patel says on a recent afternoon. “I’m not into the Hooters thing.  I’m the brother of three sisters and my sisters come here all the time because the food is amazing. In fact my middle sister is my partner in the Jersey City Tilted Kilt I’m opening. I would never do this concept if it was degrading to women.”

 And although the waitresses are eye-catching in their plaid uniforms, the dishes are the stars at the Tilted Kilt served in portions that are flavorful and generous. Continue reading Hearty Fare, Cool Drinks and Lasses in Plaid -A Peek inside the Tilted Kilt Pub & Eatery →

Business Views, General, Hip New Stores

Tachair Bookshoppe -Jersey City’s new Go-To Spot for Book Lovers, Writers and Serious Coffee Drinkers

By Sally Deering

TACHAIR BOOK STORE PHOTO 1
Tachair Bookshoppe’s Carol and Aleta Valleau and Aleta’s son Paul inside their hip new book store.

 When they opened Tachair Bookshoppe last July, Carol Valleau and her daughter Aleta Valleau took a gamble that local book lovers wanted something more than downloading a book to their Kindles and Nooks. The mother/daughter booksellers gambled on the idea that book lovers want a place to browse new books, thumb through old classics and maybe read a chapter or two while sipping a fresh brewed coffee. It seems their gamble paid off – big time.

 “To have the ability to walk down the street and find a bookstore, it’s nearly impossible,” Carol Valleau says between trips to the counter to help customers with their purchases. “We’re the only book store in Jersey City.”

 “We’re an independent bookstore to the ‘T’,” Aleta Valleau says.

 Tachair Bookshoppe offers new and used fiction, non-fiction, biographies, textbooks, and a warm and friendly atmosphere to browse the shelves. There are tables, too, where you can grab a seat to read, relax and strike up a conversation.  The coffee is delicious too. Continue reading Tachair Bookshoppe -Jersey City’s new Go-To Spot for Book Lovers, Writers and Serious Coffee Drinkers →

Dining

Bayonne’s Bella Sorrellas, a Fine Italian Restaurant

    Italian Cuisine served with a Whole Lotta Love

 By Sally Deering

 

Bella Sorrellas Restaurant Bayonne
David Rivera, owner, Bella Sorrellas

Bayonne has its share of Italian restaurants and Bella Sorrellas on the corner of 50th Street and Broadway, stands out from the crowd with a menu of classic Italian dishes served with a home-style flair. Owner David Rivera opened Bella Sorrellas three years ago where the old Welcome Inn used to be. The son of Ana and Demetrio “Lumen” Rivera, David grew up watching his father run his Jersey City restaurants: The Seagulls Bar & Grill on Communipaw Ave; The Old San Juan on Jersey Ave; and The Fan Bar on Grove – and he knew early on he wanted to be a restaurateur like his dad.

“I was about 5 and my father picked me up at school and took me to his restaurant, The Seagulls,” Rivera recalls. “I went behind the bar and started cleaning the glasses. He asked me what I was doing and I said, ‘I want to be like you’ and he hugged me and said ‘One day you will.’ Since I was 16 I worked with him after school and through college.”

Rivera worked ten years as transportation supervisor for Christ Hospital in Jersey City and decided he wanted to go back to the restaurant business.

Chef Leo Compi formerly of Just Sonny's Restaurant in Jersey City
Bella Sorrellas Chef Leo Compi with owner David Rivera

            “There was something empty in my heart,” he says. “My father’s philosophy was ‘make sure the customer is fed well and feels at home’. He was in the business over 30 years. Everybody loved my father and I wanted to be like that. ”

            Rivera followed in father’s footsteps and Bella Sorrellas (which is Italian for “beautiful sisters” and named for his daughters Analexa, 18, and Isabel, 5) is a cozy corner bistro with an extensive Italian menu. The star of the show – as always – is the food and Rivera works closely with Chef Leo Compi (formerly of Just Sonny’s) a friend for more than 10 years. Continue reading Bayonne’s Bella Sorrellas, a Fine Italian Restaurant →

Dining

Houlihan’s, Still Delicious After All These Years in Weehawken

By Sally Deering

Houlihan'spic2Houlihan’s restaurant has always been a big attraction on the Weehawken waterfront. Located in Lincoln Harbor with stunning views of the New York Skyline, Houlihan’s offers customers a hearty lunch and dinner menu, divine drinks and delish desserts and even though it’s been a Weehawken staple, the restaurant’s standards are as high as the day it opened.

The décor is cool and the atmosphere cozy with overstuffed booths and tables that give patrons enough space to hold a private conversation. The three-sided bar is large enough for groups to gather to watch their favorite games on the big HD TVs and the lighting, warm and relaxing.

houlihan'spic1 “We’re very customer-oriented,” general manager Keith Miller says. “Our goal is to make every customer a repeat customer. Regulars and repeat customers are the pulse of the restaurant.”

If the customers are the pulse, the food is Houlihan’s heart and soul. The cuisine is Asian, Italian and American-inspired. Everything is cooked to order and only fresh ingredients are used. Continue reading Houlihan’s, Still Delicious After All These Years in Weehawken →

Dining, New Restaurants

Casual Dining in a Beautiful Mexican ‘Courtyard’ “Life is a Fiesta…Eat it Up!”

   By Sally Deering  

Co-Owner Carlo Oritz
Co-Owner Carlos Oritz

Step inside Blue Moon Mexican Café on Montgomery Street in downtown Jersey City and you’re transported to a warm and inviting Mexican ‘courtyard’ with large comfy booths and tables under the warm glow of paper lanterns strung across the dining room and an upstairs balcony of tables that overlook this sexy, spacious restaurant.

 On a snowy afternoon right after the Christmas holiday, I stopped in to meet Carlos Ortiz, who owns and manages Blue Moon Mexican Café with his brother Jose Ortiz. Together with their sisters who help with accounting and marketing and their mother who helped with the overall design, the Ortizes – who are originally from El Salvador – have created a warm and relaxed eatery with a terrific menu of Mexican dishes. Continue reading Casual Dining in a Beautiful Mexican ‘Courtyard’ “Life is a Fiesta…Eat it Up!” →

General

Sally Deering’s Blog Superstorm Sandy

DAY 5: LET’S PAUSE FOR THE PAWS

By Sally Deering

http://sallydeering.wordpress.com

(Liberty Humane Society cares for homeless animals post Superstorm Sandy.)

(Weehawken, NJ) Surviving Superstorm Sandy is like riding “The Time Machine” and landing in 1974 during the gas shortage. As of 12 noon today, motorists began lining up for gas rationing. And although we’re moving in the right direction, there’s still so much to be done to get back that ‘normal’ feeling. Continue reading Sally Deering’s Blog Superstorm Sandy →

General

Sally Deering’s SUPERSTORM SANDY

DAY 4, THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

 

Photo by Newsboi

(Weehawken, NJ) It’s Friday, four days since we Jerseyans woke up to the nightmare of Superstorm Sandy and still 1.4 million New Jersey residents and businesses are without electricity. One harrowing scene after the other is broadcast on TV and the Internet and those of us with power are not only living through this, we’re seeing what our neighbors just a few miles away are dealing with, and it’s devastating. 

There has been so much heartbreak throughout New Jersey, but seeing sections of the Jersey Shore floating in the Atlantic was the saddest. Seaside Heights is gone, just gone. Atlantic City lost sections of its beach and boardwalk and little Asbury Park which has been going through a renaissance took some hard knocks, too.  To us Jersey folks, ‘The Shore’ is a living scrapbook of our childhood memories, teenage romances; days away from the urban landscape with friends and time with our kids and their kids who will follow us in our sandy footsteps. Seeing these popular shore places torn to bits has given all us Jerseyans a heavy heart. Continue reading Sally Deering’s SUPERSTORM SANDY →

General

Sally Deering’s Blog -SUPERSTORM SANDY

DAY 3 POST SUPERSTORM SANDY: HANG IN THERE JERSEYANS

 

Photo by Sally Deering

It’s only been a couple days since Superstorm Sandy played some vicious Halloween tricks on New Jersey and now my fellow Jerseyans are picking up the pieces like empty candy wrappers in a Trick-or-Treat bag.  As of Thursday evening, 1,818,200 New Jersey residents are without electricity and that means no computers, TVs, lights and other necessities. Many are without heat or hot water. Take a walk through our towns on the Hudson River waterfront and it feels like the Wicked Witch of the West blew in and destroyed Munchkinland. Continue reading Sally Deering’s Blog -SUPERSTORM SANDY →

Dining, General, Restaurant Views

restaurant VIEWS- Ten Ingredients: Chef Abel Ruiz of Amelia’s bistro shares his Passion for Cooking

 By Sally Deering

Photo of Chef Abel Ruiz Sally Deering

 Nestled in the historic Paulus Hook section of downtown Jersey City, Amelia’s Bistro on Warren Street is a warm, welcoming and beautiful restaurant with a lovely menu. As soon as you enter, the attentive staff greets you at the door with a smile. Designed with an artful eye, the restaurant is reminiscent of Paris bistros with its muted gold walls, dark wood accents, white tablecloths and stained glass low-hanging lamps dimly lit over the bar and throughout the dining room.

When you are brought to your table, the waiter takes out a large ink stamp and stamps the white butcher paper on top of the tablecloths, a unique way to inform you of the day’s specials. For a recent lunch, the specials were Lobster Bisque; a Thai Steak Salad; and Caper Crusted Sole Sandwich. I tried the sole and it was magnificent, moist and flakey and the artichoke hearts nestled on the home-made Focaccia bread (baked on the premises) were a great tangy addition to the fish. The accompanying French fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside – sheer perfection on a plate.

With more than 20 years’ cooking experience, Chef Abel Ruiz creates Amelia’s dishes with country flair and the freshest ingredients. 

 Let’s meet Chef Abel Ruiz!

RVO:  Chef Ruiz, can you share with our readers where were you born and raised?

CR:  I was born in Mexico City, Mexico. I came to the States when I was 17.

 

RVO:  How did you get into cooking?

CR:  When I first came here I started doing odd jobs. Then I met someone who owns a restaurant and he saw something in me. He said, “Why don’t you come work for me? You’re a natural.” I worked the counter and started learning the business. Once I got my hands on the pans I couldn’t go back. When his Sous Chef quit, I became Sous Chef and worked my way up.

Continue reading restaurant VIEWS- Ten Ingredients: Chef Abel Ruiz of Amelia’s bistro shares his Passion for Cooking →