Places We've Lost and Replacements

I miss Churrasco on Springfield Ave. I know that Burnet BBQ isn’t too far away but I liked the food at Churrasco a lot and I liked the owners. We did takeout frequently and ate there a couple of times. 

Lots of places have come and gone on Maplewood Ave and I haven’t gotten overly attached to too many. 

Some of the places we have lost have no replacement.  I used to be able to walk to Maplewood Center (as it was called then) or Springfield Avenue and get just about any essential I needed.  This is n longer the case.  Amazon delivery is not an adequate replacement.

I liked the music and beer at Highland Place, and I'm impressed that Luna Stella was able to get rid of whatever smell Highland Place had coming from the basement. I loved the food at The Laurel. Also miss Scrivener's and Shenanigan's. Another place I really liked, but only got to go to a couple of times was The Dancing Goat. 

Sinclaire's seafood, which was in South Orange and then moved to Millburn. Also miss the places in the "Millburn" (really Vauxhall) Mall that I think were old Newark transplants.  The hot dog place, the old bakery, and Tabachnicks. 

The Blue Plate Special. 

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

The Blue Plate Special. 

Yup. No replacement ever for that. Or Laura. 

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

The Blue Plate Special. 

the new restaurant going in there is called “catracho” and has been delayed opening for ever. Think it’s Honduran or Salvadorean. But yeah, that spot has Laura’s signature all over it…. They could paint it in whatever color… it’s still blue to me.

I miss Verjus. 

Sweetsnuggles said:

I miss Verjus. 

A place from a time that seems to be passing into history. Fine dining. Quiet atmosphere. No TVs. It was a nice place for a splurge. 

Oh yeah Verjus.  Food and family was great.  

Well I miss Gary’s Ribs, then Verjus took over that place, and I miss them also. Watching that building that replaced them being 3 feet away from traffic gives me agita…I miss the old avenue… period!

yellowgato said:

What are some old fav places that are no longer around and what are your replacements?

I still miss Church's Kitchen and Tomo's Cuisine badly - the best fried chicken and sushi respectively.  

Tomo was great. The next best sushi I've had since then was at a Ryokan in Amanohashidate, then at Matsuya in Taipei and after that a grocery store in Kyoto. It's totally impossible to buy bad sushi in Japan. As a challenge, we tried one day.  For a while I lived around the corner from Tomo and would eat there a few times a week having him make my dinner to his liking.  ETA: his currry was also phenomenal. 

I also miss Verjus - classy food and classy owners.

I miss Crane's. 

I miss the Mexican place owned by Carlos, which became Luke's Kitchen (also miss that), which is now Chutzpah Kitchen (or Wild Ginger - I get the two spots mixed up).

I miss the music at Highland Place.

I miss being able to walk to Arturo's but enjoy the new Artie's.

Not a restaurant, but I miss Wooden You Know. It was a great toy store and a great addition for Springfield Ave.

dave said:

Tomo was great. The next best sushi I've had since then was at a Ryokan in Amanohashidate, then at Matsuya in Taipei and after that a grocery store in Kyoto. It's totally impossible to buy bad sushi in Japan. As a challenge, we tried one day.  For a while I lived around the corner from Tomo and would eat there a few times a week having him make my dinner to his liking.  ETA: his currry was also phenomenal. 

I never tried Tomo's curry because his sushi and other cooked dishes were just so good - esp the sushi. Had been a fan since his Cedar Knoll days. It was a place that absolutely allowed me to not venture into NYC to get great proper sushi.  He's impossible to replace because he had this whole diverse Japanese menu yet it was mainly him prepping and cooking the food alone with Fin and maybe one other server to assist him.  

I've been searching for a good replacement sushi spot in NJ but all have not been anywhere as satisfactory - Umai, Domodomo, Ilpoom, Sushi by Bou, Ai Sushi, Aoi, Bon, etc.  I have found a place that could be a very worthy successor although it has a more limited menu... trying it again this week!

I miss Churrasco (the owners were so nice and we enjoyed chatting with them when we ate there) - it had a lovely, cozy vibe, you didn't feel rushed or crowded, parking was easy and the food was so good. I miss Verjus also - especially the special theme evenings they would do. I miss Peter's Bakery - such delicious treats there. I miss the TJ Marche store (but Kokoro is a very good replacement!) My kids miss Scrivener's for out of the ordinary toys. Words is excellent, but I miss chatting about mystery books with Betty at the Book Stop. 

Tom_Reingold said:

I moved out of Maplewood many years ago and just thought of Garden of Eden in South Orange. Is that gone? They had one here in Greenwich Village for many years, and I just learned it is closing.

Without a doubt, Blue Plate Special was the specialest, all because of Laura. How terribly sad was her passing. It was so sudden, and she and I were the same age.

Hey Tom!

It was replaced by a similar market - Ashley Market. They were good for a while and then went downhill. Recently recommitted. Such an important part of the Village.

Laura added so much to this community as well as the real one! Big loss.

Anyone looking for fried chicken should try Barn Bird in the village. Amazing. 

I certainly miss Highland Place. My band played there regularly. And the smell in the basement was remedied when the township improved the sewer system beneath Maplewood Ave as part of the Clarus development. 

jimmurphy said:

Hey Tom!

It was replaced by a similar market - Ashley Market. They were good for a while and then went downhill. Recently recommitted. Such an important part of the Village.

Laura added so much to this community as well as the real one! Big loss.

I think I was there when it became Ashley. Too bad it's so hard to stay in business these days.

American Fare where the Wild Ginger is now was very good. Ed, the chef was a super nice guy. There used to be a coffee and desert place next to the theater like 25 years ago run by the sweetest young woman. We’d always stop in for a coffee and pastry after the movies.

dano said:

American Fare where the Wild Ginger is now was very good. Ed, the chef was a super nice guy. There used to be a coffee and desert place next to the theater like 25 years ago run by the sweetest young woman. We’d always stop in for a coffee and pastry after the movies.

My family loved American Fare so much we had a milestone birthday party for my mom there. Took over the whole place…but then again, it was kinda tiny! The food and service never disappointed. 

dano said:

American Fare where the Wild Ginger is now was very good. Ed, the chef was a super nice guy. There used to be a coffee and desert place next to the theater like 25 years ago run by the sweetest young woman. We’d always stop in for a coffee and pastry after the movies.

was that Jacqueline's?

In South Orange, Dancing Blender closed a while back. Now it looks like a Wing Stop will be going in there. 

Also the Gridiron Waffle joint shut down. There’s a sign there for an incoming “NYC Style Deli”. Who asked for that? What’s wrong with NJ Style Delis? Why do people keep trying to make us a borough of NYC?  

jimmurphy said:

It was replaced by a similar market - Ashley Market. They were good for a while and then went downhill. Recently recommitted. Such an important part of the Village.

Used to be my go-to but they really got bad. What does "recommitted" mean here?

Local neighborhood shopping on Springfield Avenue in Maplewood.  40+ years ago you could go to Springfield Avenue and find mom and pop stores selling basic goods and supplies.  These have since been replaced by big box stores  and shopping malls which in turn are being replaced by online vendors.  I miss being able to walk to a local store, greet the proprietor by name, examine the merchandise in the store, and walk out with my purchase knowing the quality of what I bought and not having to wait for delivery only to find the wrong item was sent.  Lost too, is a sense of community on SA which has not been regained.  

Joan's post reminded me of something.  I was taking an old VCR out of my parents' shed - it was from the 80s.  Faux wooden cabinet, and the tape carriage popped up from the top.  My dad had put it back in the original box with all of the original documentation.  One document was a book of certified Panasonic (I think) repair centers around the country.  There were dozens in each state including NJ.  All of them seemed to be local appliance and electronics stores as opposed to generic appliance repair places.  That kind of store is mostly extinct - the local store to buy electronics from someone you knew by name.

In contrast I made a trip to the electronics recycling container at Maplewood DPW last week (dropping off our old Toshiba VHS/DVD player!).  Lots of old junk in there but a few TVs that looked like they were in really good condition.  I don't know if they were put there because they were broken, or because the previous owners just upgraded to a set with a larger screen / higher resolution / more features.

Inexpensive electronics used to be equated with poor quality but that's no longer the case.  A 20" TV in the 1980s would run about $500 at your local appliance shop, about $1200 in 2020 dollars. On the Best Buy website you can get a 75" Sony TV for that same $1200.  It's hard to fight those kinds of market forces.

Did Maplewood or South Orange have a local electronics store?

mrincredible said:

Inexpensive electronics used to be equated with poor quality but that's no longer the case.  A 20" TV in the 1980s would run about $500 at your local appliance shop, about $1200 in 2020 dollars. On the Best Buy website you can get a 75" Sony TV for that same $1200.  It's hard to fight those kinds of market forces.

Did Maplewood or South Orange have a local electronics store?

My local ShopRite here in Jersey City is promoting 65" TVs for $299. 

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

My local ShopRite here in Jersey City is promoting 65" TVs for $299. 

It’s crazy how inexpensive these things have become, but there are some wild price fluctuations between brands and models with different features. I don’t pretend to understand it beyond a really basic grasp of things like resolution and frame rates. 

But anyway, if your current TV breaks you can still get it fixed for a couple hundred bucks. As you point out, it’s not much more expensive to buy a new set. 

And back to the original point - low costs, easy availability through free shipping or your grocery store, both of those things take away the demand for a local electronics sales and service store. 

mrincredible said:

The_Soulful_Mr_T said:

My local ShopRite here in Jersey City is promoting 65" TVs for $299. 

It’s crazy how inexpensive these things have become, but there are some wild price fluctuations between brands and models with different features. I don’t pretend to understand it beyond a really basic grasp of things like resolution and frame rates. 

But anyway, if your current TV breaks you can still get it fixed for a couple hundred bucks. As you point out, it’s not much more expensive to buy a new set. 

And back to the original point - low costs, easy availability through free shipping or your grocery store, both of those things take away the demand for a local electronics sales and service store. 

Not to thread drift too much, but on top of how cheap big tvs have become (not for too much longer with the tariffs) I feel like younger people aren't really doing the whole "TV in every room" thing that seemed so prevalent in the 80s and 90s, when you had a TV room, a small portable in the kitchen and everyone had one in their bedrooms, too. We have phones, laptops, ipads, and computer monitors that fill that gap, so we simply own fewer TVs than we used to. 

I belong to a few FB swap groups in the area, and you can pretty much get a 4 year old 42"+ Smart TV for practically nothing nearly every day in this area, so it's no surprise that perfectly good TVs end up in the recycling containers.