Story and pictures by Steve Moctezuma
“We’re thrilled to get another quality restaurant in the town center,” said Township of Montclair Mayor Ed Remsen, who cut the ribbon marking the official celebration of Gencarelli’s Cucina & Dessert Lounge’s Grand Opening, held on January 25, 2008. “There’s already a buzz about the place. This is the restaurant capital of this part of the state and they should do very well,” he said.
Representatives of the North Essex Chamber of Commerce (NECC), Merly Layton, executive director, and Marlene J. Waldock, president, also joined in the ribbon cutting ceremony. Afterward, they presented Debbie Gencarelli and her daughter, Nicole, a plaque which stated: “The North Essex Chamber of Commerce congratulates Gencarelli’s Cucina & Dessert Lounge, January 25, 2008.”
“I will always remember the New Year's Eve celebration of 2008 we had here—we had a ball. It was a fun time. The food was great. We had a fabulous time,” said Waldock. “We wish them a lot of luck and success—which they are already having.
“We’re very excited the restaurant has become a member of the chamber,” added Waldock. The NECC currently includes businesses operating in nine towns/boroughs: Caldwell, Cedar Grove, Essex Fells, Fairfield, Montclair, North Caldwell, Roseland, Verona, and West Caldwell.
In addition to serving as president of the NECC, Waldock conducts a program called “Because We Are Women,” which she says is “an empowerment initiative to help women really find out who they are—and decide what they want for themselves and then make choices based on what they want—not what somebody else wants.” For more information, call 973.498.0046 or visit www.becausewearewomen.com.
“I’ve always had a love for the food business,” said Debbie Gencarelli. “This is something I wanted to do about 20 years ago, but I put in on the backshelf.”
Many of Gencarelli's family and friends are already in the food industry, and prior to opening her own restaurant, she used to privately cater events. She wanted her daughter, Nicole, to go to culinary school; instead, Nicole earned an associates degree in design, and then work in the design field for six years.
Ironically, after Nicole finished design school, it was Nicole’s turn to prod her mother to open a restaurant. Initially, Debbie Gencarelli rejected the idea. “I kind of slept on it,” she reflected, “and I really couldn’t sleep all night—but finally I said, ‘This definitely is a dream of mine and we should do it.’”
So Debbie Gencarelli enlisted her daughter to help design the restaurant’s interior décor, as well as to carry out the daily operational/managerial work of the restaurant. Nicole’s flair for design is immediately apparent when patrons walk into the cozy, intimate restaurant.
Debbie Gencarelli is usually at the restaurant in the evenings and weekends. She enjoys greeting patrons, and working in the kitchen with the chef, Joe Frisari.
“The nice thing about Joe is that he is originally from Italy, and shares a lot of our philosophies about cooking,” said Gencrelli, “like don’t skip on ingredients, freshness, and simplicity always makes a great meal. At Gencarelli’s we serve typical southern Italian soul food...it’s inviting, and it’s served in large portions-- as every Italian loves. Pretty much it’s really the food that people’s grandmothers made and they want to taste it again…”
Gencarelli also mentioned that “We will be starting Tutto Pasta Tuesdays. This will be an opportunity for our customers to taste a wide array or special pasta dinners that will include an appetizer with salad for $18.95 per person. Some of the other choices wil include manicotti, farapalle pollo, fettucine panna, and fusilli campagna.”
Gencarelli’s “signature dishes” include: appetizers like mozzarella in carroza ($9.00) and fried calamari ($10.00); special’s such as Mrs.G’ Sunday Gravy(rigatoni with red gray, meatballs and sausage, $16.95), and chicken parmigiano (breaded chicken cutlet covered in red gray with topped mozzarella and parmigiano cheese served over linguini, $16.95), signature salmon (8 oz. grilled salmon served over sautéed spinach, $20.95), and steak Portobello ($22.95), 14 oz. rib eye grilled to perfection topped with sautéed onions and porotbello mushrooms served with garlic toast, $22.95).
Many patrons, including the O’Brien family, Nancy and Bob Manley, Karen and Andrew Rubinstein, and Jodie Green, complimented the food and service at Gencarelli’s. “The food was magnificent…their hospitality was fabulous…this place is going to be hard to get into pretty soon…,” they remarked.
The chicken pasta and sea bass were very popular dishes.
Jennifer of East Hanover, and Ray of Manhattan said this was their first visit to Gencarelli’s. They both said that “the food was exceptional and the people were very friendly.” They both agreed that the “sea bass was amazing.”
Patrons said that their waitresses (Skye and Robin) were friendly and helpfully answered questions about the menu. The waitresses never tried to speed meals in order to “turn over tables” for new patrons.
Gencarelli’s restaurant has an extensive line of premium gourmet coffees, wines, and desserts. Their coffee is specifically selected for their restaurant, and directly imported from Italy. The restaurant’s Italian expresso maker grinds the coffee beans—so it really is freshly ground, robust coffee without an aftertaste.
“There’s nothing like having a great meal and ending it with a wonderful dessert and coffee,” said Gencarelli.
Gencarelli’s Cucina & Dessert Lounge is located at 381 Bloomfield Ave., Montclair, NJ. Hour of Operation: Closed on Mondays. Open Tues.-Ths. 11:30 a.m.- 10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.- Midnight; Sun. 3-9 p.m. For more information, visit: www.gencarelliscucina.com, or call 973.744.8881.
Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must. Do you agree?
Posted by: Air Jordan | March 15, 2011 at 05:10 AM
Allow the vibrations of the light earth dream to dissolve ties of attachment to others in your life dance.
Posted by: Jordan 1 | September 06, 2010 at 10:47 PM
Debbie and her staff is awesome. It's my new spot to eat now.
Posted by: Matthew R. Kee | February 06, 2008 at 02:50 PM
And you can "Meet" the family, and watch Chef Joe prepare some culinary delights, by going to Inside Montclair with Wayne Robbins - found on the right side of the page..just click it.
Posted by: wayne robbins | February 06, 2008 at 02:45 PM