Next Door - Bloomfield Ave, Montclair NJ
The owners of Blu restaurant in Montclair have opened a new restaurant next door appropriately called "Next Door." It has a more casual menu and style than Blu. I have been there twice since they opened this week. The first time I was there, I had the buffalo mozzarella, which I have had at Blu and loved. It is probably the best buffalo mozzarella I have ever had. We also tried the seafood salad that evening. I can't remember everything that was in it but I do remember it had shrimp and I believe calamari in it. Delicious! For dinner we tried one of the pastas, which are not on the menu at Blu. The fettuccini with asparagus and mushrooms was delicious. None of the pastas are over $12. My husband had the meatloaf (also not on the Blu menu) and it was definitely the best meatloaf I ever had (and I make a pretty mean meatloaf). It is not covered in any kind of sauce. It is actually kind of crispy on top.
Last night we went back to try a few more things. The mushroom barley soup was great. If you have ever had the mushroom risotto at Blu and enjoyed it, you will love this soup. For dinner, my husband had to have the meatloaf again and this time I tried the tuna with ginger sauce and asian greens. This was a large piece of tuna prepared rare. It tasted somewhat similar to the tuna I have had at Blu, which of course is always great.
Next Door is also open for lunch 7 days a week. There are salads, sandwiches, and burgers on the menu which I believe is the same menu used for lunch and dinner. If you have ever been to Blu and enjoyed it, you might want to give Next Door a try. It is also a BYOB.
SuzieQ
Dec 08, 2007 12:07PM
sounds like something to try...went to blu this past spring and had a very good meal, particularily the smoked trout atop beets and apples appetizer...found it kinda pricey, so i look forward to the more casual, ie cheaper, option.
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Wow--you found Blu pricey? That's truly surprising to me. One of the things that people usually mention is how reasonable the prices are there. I can't imagine where else you can get a meal of that calibre for those prices!
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curlz:
i remember the bill for my dude and i being around $130 for apps, entree, and split dessert...anything over 100 bucks for 2 w/o wine get's put in my "pricey" (i.e. i can't afford to eat out like this all the time) category of restaurants..unfortunately .neither mine, nor my dude's, salaries support that kind of choice dining more than once a month. Hence my comment.
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Sixelagogo-trust me that I'm in the same financial situation--not spending that kind of $ often on dinner--which is why I was surprised by your comment! I've found it near impossible to spend more than $55 pp (with a very generous tip) at Blu, and that's why it's one of my go-to choices for a special dinner! Still, I think it's a marvelous value for consistently wonderful food.
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We ate at Blu Saturday night (very good meal), and noted that although the menu entrees range from $18 to a top of $24, the entree specials we had were around $28-30 (and the price was stated, so no problem there). If you order from the specials list, that might boost the cost - as the other poster noted.
But to repeat, we had a very good dinner at what we consider an extremely reasonable price.
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I went there (NEXT DOOR) last night (Wednesday) with a friend. It's a small but interesting menu. Our order was taken promptly. The restaurant was empty except for one table when we arrived. We waited over one half hour for our salad and another hour for our main course. Other tables had been occupied since we arrived and those diners had been served. When we asked why everything was taking so long, the explanation was that a large party (8 people-not that large-equaling 2 tables of 4) had some in. I won't be going back there again. I can't imagine what the service would be like when the restaurant was busy.
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I ordered a hamburger, medium rare. It came raw. The waiter told me it was medium rare and it turned me off to the place forevermore. It's a nothing kind of place in which to spend hard earned money.
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Wow...we were there for lunch on Sunday and had a very different experience. There was one other table when we arrived, and our order was taken promptly, with the food arriving in a normal amount of time. A couple of other tables filled as we finished lunch, but didn't have a problem, and the food was terrific; I shared a DUCK reuben and a gorgonzola burger, both of which were delicious, and the prices, imo, are incredibly reasonable (iirc, the reuben was $12, the burger $9). People at the table next to us were raving about their lunch, too...
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my money's not hard-earned. so I go here all the time!
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