Downtown Denville

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Two New Business Open in downtown Denville

Last week we celebrated two more new businesses opening up in downtown Denville. Both Vikingos Cake Shoppe & Bakery and El Lechon de Negron are officially open for business, upping the flavor profile of our town’s already delicious offerings.

Vikingos Cake Shoppe & Bakery, owned by Jillian VanStrand and Jesus Gomez, took over the former Viking Bakery space on First Avenue, and after a year-long journey, they kicked celebrated their grand opening on Friday and a ribbon cutting with the Mayor on Saturday. While their name pays homage to the former bakery, the ownership, recipes, and enthusiasm are all brand new.

El Lechon de Negron is a Puerto Rican restaurant that officially opened last Tuesday and has enjoyed long lines ever since. An extension of their Union location, this one shares space with Mara’s Bakery and is undoubtedly bringing Denville something it was missing. With changing menu specials every day, and popular staples available regularly, they are filling an ethnic niche for our community.

Opening up a new business is a challenge in the base case, but opening up a new business during a pandemic is an even bolder move. These new businesses, and the rest of our small business community, continue to need the ongoing support of their customers. As we head into the holiday season, we urge you to make shopping and eating local a priority so we can continue to keep your favorite businesses here.

Mark Your Calendars: Pink Witches Night Out on 10/22

This year, Pink Witches Night Out, like many events during a pandemic, has been a bit reimagined. This is the eighth year of the popular event that brings visitors downtown to celebrate breast cancer survivors, and raise money for the Cancer Hope Network. For the first time ever, the downtown district will have a few streets closed for the evening event. Broadway, Center Street, and First Avenue will be closed to allow for ample space for the many attendees to shop, eat, and mingle safely.

Also new this year will be a live band on Broadway, a wine garden from Thatchers on Center Street, and s’mores fire pits. Returning will be the photo booth, vendors, and, of course, the very popular swag bag.

You can pre-register at Pink Witches Night to guarantee you’ll get a swag bag, and find additional details there as well. Make plans to attend this very fun, very worthy evening next month with us!

This event is sponsored by Saint Clare’s Health, and one of many events we hold during the year to bring the community together. If you would like to donate to future events and help us continue to help our downtown businesses, you can find details on our Relief Fund right here.

Welcome El Lechon de Negron to downtown Denville!

Allison Kohler, owner of Mara’s Cafe and Bakery on Main Street, is just days away from opening up El Lechon de Negron in Denville. With the excitement of their Grand Opening mounting, we wanted to get the low-down on how it all came to be. Their grand opening is set for Tuesday, September 29th.

How did you get involved w El Lechon and bringing them to Denville? The short version is Crab Rangoon! I run festivals. I’ve worked with the Negron family for the past 7 years as they’ve had their food truck at our festivals and have built a wonderful relationship with them. Their food is top notch and ranked as one of the best Puerto Rican restaurants in the U.S. In the early stages of Covid, I went to their Union restaurant for Empanada Day to support them. I ordered 16 Empanadas for me and my family. They were all excellent, but the Crab Rangoon and Shrimp Scampi were outrageous. I dreamt of the Crab Rangoon for weeks. I realized that the Denville area needed to experience this delicious awesomeness, and combining El Lechon de Negron with Mara’s makes us the ultimate lunch and dinner destination! Add in all of Mara’s Award Winning Desserts and we are the perfect Trifecta for all your culinary desires! The Negrons loved the idea of expanding their authentic cuisine to new customers, particularly Morris County. A beautiful partnership was born. 

It’s quite the gamble to open up a new business during the pandemic. What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about it?  It’s a huge gamble right now. I think you need to have a really strong product and business model to attempt to open anything right now. Even in good times, new businesses get a lot of hype but then burn out quickly after all the initial fanfare. You need a long term plan that can see past the pandemic. Connecting and partnering with your local community are major ingredients that will lead to a great start and long term success.

How will Mara’s and El Lechon share space? The building is spacious and can accommodate each business with its own working space. Mara’s and El Lechon each have their own ordering counter and will share the same dining area. 

El Lechon has quite a following in Union – can we expect the same menu items from the new Denville location? Yes you can! Including specials!!!!! Chicharron, Pastelon and Tostone Sliders will be some of our rotating specials, once we get past the initial grand opening. Union offers 7 types of empanadas daily. Denville will have 9 types. The two additional types are crab rangoon and shrimp scampi! We felt we needed to pay homage to what started it all, plus they’re delicious!

If a first time customer pops in, what would you recommend they start with from the El Lechon menu? I could tell you a love story about every item on the menu 😊As a first timer, I would tell you to start with a Pernil platter with Arroz con Gandules & Maduros, with an empanada as an appetizer and Tres Leches or Flan for dessert!

Between Mara’s, El Lechon, and your food truck festivals, how do you juggle it all?  I love what I do! Have you ever seen me and Wonder Woman in the same place?!

Be sure to follow their Facebook and Instagram pages to keep up with them.

Denville After Dark – The Finale

Denville After Dark was created to continue to support our downtown community through the pandemic, while keeping our residents and visitors safe. Streets are closed to allow for extra space while mingling, shopping, and eating, and to focus on bringing people together in a low key way. Live music, a caricature artist, and other happenings create a fun vibe that our charming downtown is known for. And tonight is the last one for 2020!

Join us for one more night of community fun. The Fall weather is perfect for celebrating outdoors, we have two new bands (Almost Autumn and Maggie Pietrucha Live) and Denville Sunrise Rotary will be on hand for last minute duck purchases for their virtual races.

Broadway, Center Street, and a portion of First Avenue will be closed to allow for extra space, but there is plenty of parking available in the First Avenue and Bloomfield Avenue parking lots, and along Diamond Spring Road, Main Street, Bloomfield Avenue, and more.

These events are not possible without the generous donations from our sponsors (Saint Francis Residential Community, Denville Strong, Hunan Taste, Duphiney Financial Network, The Peer Hyatt Selling Team, Brad Resnick Photography, Gateway to the Arts, and The Sheeran Real Estate Group), and the tireless efforts of our Board of Directors, volunteers, and staff.

See you tonight!

*Want to help our community to continue to have more events like this? Our businesses need you – donate to our Relief Fund right here.

Downtown Denville’s Restaurant Week Begins!

Downtown Denville’s Annual Restaurant Week kicked off on Sunday, September 20, and there are 15 restaurants downtown sharing delicious specials to entice you to eat local. You’ll find everything from a different ten dollar special at Thatcher McGhee’s every day to a 10% discount off chalkboard specials at Carver’s. This is a great way to discover a new restaurant or revisit an old favorite.

With many of the downtown Denville restaurants recently voted “best in Morris County,” this is the perfect time to celebrate with them, and to continue to support our restaurant community. Restaurant Week continues through Thursday, September 24, and you can find a full list of participants at Dine Out Denville. There is an interactive map this year – just click on the orange pins to find the details from each participating restaurant. Even if a restaurant doesn’t have a special this week, they all would appreciate your patronage. This year has been challenging for many small business owners, and this is the perfect time to give our restaurants a little boost of support. With many offering outdoor and indoor dining, take out and delivery, you’ll find a convenient and delicious way to eat your way through Denville this week!

Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram – we’d love to see and share! Happy eating!