Not mentioned here already: Grace O’Malleys. Buddy’s fries are essentially a meal in themselves

Upstairs at Choc O Pain in downtown Hoboken

They’re great. Spinach bourek and mushroom and brie croissant are our go-to foods there (and kiddo loves the grilled cheese). Dying to try that baklava cheesecake they keep posting on IG

We went in once on a Friday for lunch a couple months ago as we live close and I think we were the only ones in there, or close to it. The waiter said they hadn’t gotten the work lunch crowd back yet which probably killed a chunk of their business

Bummer, that’s our go-to when we want both sushi and cooked Japanese food takeout. Will have to order tomorrow night!

You’re welcome! Kid asked to go there this weekend…need to come up with an alternative for my sanity.

When it works, it’s incredible. When it doesn’t, it’s hell - the lack of clear communication on delays (no, you stopping on the :08 10 stops ahead of mine is not helpful). Either way thankful for it as a one car household, especially when we used to live in Port Imperial and had to take it to get anywhere good

As someone with a kid who gets dragged by said kid to LSC often, definitely go to an After Dark event. Place is like a Petri dish during the day and there’s something in the air that seems to make kids go wild and parents fall asleep 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

Yes, I called and tried to negotiate with them yesterday and their response was for me to send them a picture of the meter in case the reading was wrong 😑 the highest bill we had last year was for $317 in March after we moved in in November and had a delay in setting up our account so I was SHOCKED to see what Jan and Feb were.

We got the same email today from my kid’s school and I was SHOCKED. They seem to have not told the kids about it because they had no idea (she’s about to be 4 and if she heard about a raccoon afoot she wouldn’t be able to stop talking about it)

A lot of them are tourist/sightseeing helicopters or private use and definitely not news/police- I used to live in Port Imperial and we heard them often pre Covid, less so during the height of it all, and definitely became more frequent again before we moved out in late 2021

Fresh Direct is the most reliable, their prepared food is hit or miss if that’s something you get from Amazon/WF delivery. They have decent sales but I subscribe to Butcher Box for meat/seafood and get a delivery every other month.

Second White Star - I asked for no bun on my burger and the server suggested they had GF if I didn’t want to go without (my request was based solely on the fact I ate way too many carbs over the holidays and we got their incredible Buffalo cauliflower but I thanked him for offering it)

It’s extremely dog friendly, not so much for off leash except a strip of park by Morris Canal that’s seemingly the unspoken off leash dog area. Most businesses don’t mind them inside except for food establishments because of health codes…still see people trying at certain spots though (not a dog owner but my kid is terrified of them so I’m hyper aware of their presence at all times)

The simit (not really a bagel but they market it as a Turkish version) plate and coffee at Dream Vista are solid (cannot speak to the specialty lattes because they’re just not for me). The spinach borek and other pastries are great too.

The food there is surprisingly good (in that, I had low expectations and they were far exceeded) - the lamb burger is good along with the fennel salad (we get salmon on it).

Was going to mention Hudson Greene Market - they have a surprising amount but you need to look closely for it (I found salo by accident yesterday 😂) same feelings about Ukrainian Hata - $12 for 4 syrniki feels steep but also they’re the only game in town so they can charge what they want

I wouldn’t say it’s a direct alternative but Taste of North China in JC has spicy cumin lamb or beef which is similar in flavor to food at Xi’an; it’s my husband’s favorite Chinese dish and he rates theirs pretty highly (note, we’re not remotely Chinese and cannot guarantee authenticity. We just like eating.)

HeatTech for life, especially the base layer stuff. Also a big fan of the all of the loungewear

I can only imagine 🤢

They’re both good, I prefer Little City for kids’ stuff as they have a big assortment of Jellycat plushies and other toys/games. There is also Symposia in Hoboken for used books.

Haus25 if you need to be close to PATH, Vantage if you want to be a bit further away from things but still a relatively quick walk/bike to wherever you need to go (plus, Light Rail but the Marin Blvd stop right there was non functional today so maybe not that). I live on the next block and the front mini park in front of Haus is stunning - they did seemingly have some issues with the fire alarms going off but haven’t heard it in a while.

These are good suggestions as well as just talking to other parents at a local park. Hamilton and Van Vorst are always busy on weekends