Downtown Denville

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Celebrating Small Business Saturday

We can think of no better way to celebrate Small Business Saturday than to share this two minute video highlighting our wonderful downtown community. You’re sure to recognize many of your favorite stores, restaurants, and sights (and maybe even a Denville resident!), and perhaps discover a new place you’ve never noticed before.

Although Small Business Saturday is a great way to celebrate small business owners everywhere, we’d like to think it’s not just relegated to one day a year. They need your continued support each and every day.

Enjoy the video, and please share it. Although this holiday season looks very different than seasons past, the festive lit wreaths are up, the clock tower is decorated, there are reindeer at the point, a snowman statue at the fountain and even little decorated trees throughout the downtown district. We hope you enjoy visiting downtown as much as we love having you.

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!

Indoor Dining Opens in Denville

What a long strange trip it has been. As New Jersey takes another step on their path to reopening, Denville restaurants ready themselves to offer indoor dining at 25% capacity. With restaurant margins being what they are, while this is a positive next step, it still continues to be challenging to run a restaurant in 2020.

We checked in with several of our downtown restaurants to get their thoughts on indoor dining. Jason Robbins, General Manager of Thatcher McGhee’s said, “These bizarre times are unlike anything I’ve ever seen. But these bizarre times have brought out the best in many, especially the town and people of Denville. When restaurants couldn’t open at all, people supported small business by ordering in, and when outside dining opened, we were allowed to extend our area and people came out in droves. Now with the excitement of indoor dining, we know they will once again show us their support by joining us to celebrate.” Thatcher McGhee’s, on Broadway, was recently voted #1 Irish restaurant in Morris County.

Carver’s on First Avenue is a popular breakfast and lunch destination. A small, quaint restaurant with a downhome vibe, the lockdown hurt their business substantially. “The pandemic has decimated our daily business to a mere 1/3 of our regular sales. Each sale during this time kept us holding on. The greatness of Denville as a community has kept baking and soup making at a high in spite of everything. We are elated indoor dining is resuming and hope to serve as many folks as possible! We will serving at a first come basis as we try and navigate through the changes and requirements. Thank you Denville for keeping Carver’s strong,” said the owner, Carver Parrish.

Jesus Gomez, owner of El Mejicano, is “excited to be able to see our friends back in our home even if it’s in a limited capacity!” He and his staff have been busy with take-out orders during the pandemic, and he is also co-owner of the new bakery that is opening up in a few weeks, Vikingos Cake Shoppe & Bakery.

The Second Half on Main, a popular pub downtown, has been doing take out orders and serving in their beautiful outdoor dining area. Diane Gentile said, “We are beyond grateful to our awesome patrons and the Town of Denville for their unwavering support through these very difficult months. We cannot wait to welcome those that are ready back indoors.”

Whether a restaurant is doing indoor dining, outdoor dining, takeout or delivery, they all need your continued support to survive the current and ongoing challenges small business owners face in 2020. You can support them by eat locally, of course, leaving reviews on their Yelp! and Google pages, and following and sharing their social media accounts. A strong community is what allows small business owners to continue to deliver consistent and quality products and services. Our tag line, “where a community comes together,” has never been more true than this year.