Prior to the trip a Face book post asking for suggestions with people offering their must haves and visits of Lakewood food establishments. One comment points out to how Lakewood changed from a town with only a Bakery and selling Pizza off the back of a truck that came into town to upscale restaurants.
Video reviews here of the Lakewood Tour
Caffoteria video here and below see
The FB post:
Let's talk Lakewood Restaurants....
So as you all saw my family and I are heading to the world famous, bustling town of Lakewood, NJ for a few days. I'm driving down tomorrow evening and will be there until Sunday afternoon. So of course, we gots to eat during the week and Shabbos and I need to check out the restaurant scene. So let me know which places you like and what dishes you recommend.
Here's a quick itinerary of the places I plan on visiting and keep in mind, I am not an eating machine and that pool in that 5 bedroom villa we are staying at, is calling my name. And btw, I'd love to invite all of you to a pool party, but I've seen some of you in bathing suits (kidding). But I don't want to spend all my time restaurant hopping but family vacation, but I'll try to visit as many as I can...in the name of research, of course.
Keep in mind, I am going with my 3 little kids, 10 and under, so as much as I would like to go to fancy places, not sure.
* Snaps Kosher
* South Side Sandwich Spot (to bus the tables) see Video
* Prime 95 see Video, more
* Yapchik (maybe for Shabbos) see Video
* Panini Cafe see Video
* Ottimo Cafe
Who else? Please discuss and hop on board. Thanks.
No tour of the yeshivos and Torah institutions?
ReplyDeleteאם אין קמח אין תורה אם אין תורה אין קמח
Remember when there was no sit down pizza in Lakewood ?Oy,
ReplyDeleteראה....כי הייתי זוללה. The eateries are Lakewood's claim to fame today....
Rebetzin Rishel Kotler respectfully asked the first fast food eateries to not have public seating. Her own son disregarded the tradition that she attempted to instill in our community. The pizza and bagel stores only had limited barstool seating to limit the amount of socializing in public. The VAAD and kashrus agencies could have easily continued this tradition. But as money and new business entered the equation, the head of the VAAD decided to disregard her wishes. It seems that the VAAD picks and chooses what is allowed according to the great Lithuanian traditions of the past. Do you think that this town is what Rav Aaron had in mind? Do you think he would be proud that PR firms need to be hired and local news needs to be paid off in order to mitigate the obvious chillul hashem caused by doing as we please in this town? One need only read the websites and Facebook pages of groups forming in our neighboring towns to see that no PR campaign will fool anyone. There was a reason we didnt want our town to look like Flatbush. Instead of focusing on creating a single nice shopping and eating area in town, we built mall after mall with an overkill not seen anywhere else. Why have two or three pizza shops that are profitable, when you can have 6 that struggle? I am surprised we dont have competition to BMG yet.
ReplyDeleteI think you are mixing issues. The neighboring towns don't care about how many eateries Lakewood has
DeleteYou think Rav Aron had a colorful toy store that sells every imaginable game ever created in mind?
DeleteWe sure didn't have that when I was a kid growing up in lkwd
Now that is a memory jogger. Where did we buy toys in Lakewood when I was growing up? Efros? Feldman's? The Army-Navy store? Oh wait, we were too poor to have toys.
DeleteWexelbaums lol
DeleteRav Shneur would say you can buy everything at Wexelbaums except for שכל.
Deleteand Ki Tov, and Estherdales
DeleteWeinbrand
DeleteFrom R' Miller, zt"l: Q: What are you supposed to think when you see Jewish people going to kosher restaurants? A: Jewish people keeping kosher are Am Kadosh!! Am Kadosh!! כִּ֣י עַ֤ם קָדוֹשׁ֙ אַתָּ֔ה לַֽיהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ לֹֽא־תְבַשֵּׁ֥ל גְּדִ֖י בַּֽחֲלֵ֥ב אִמּֽוֹ
ReplyDeleteYa but what do you think if someone would have asked him about going around and filming different restaurants, talking about the food, writing reviews and being a foodie?
DeleteThe vaad PR word is "gentrification"
ReplyDeleteRav Nosson Wachtfogel ZT"L didn't want any sit down eateries. That's why we only could have a pizza truck before Pesach. Those were the good old days. SIGH.......
ReplyDeleteIt’s a lost battle !!
ReplyDeleteThe good news is whoever lives here can always move out if they’re not happy with what’s going on
https://www.theonionkichel.com/2018/12/mishpacha-magazine-to-feature-regular.html?m=1
ReplyDelete