Hat City Kitchen

Hat City Kitchen wins "Diners' Choice Winner 2011

Hat City Kitchen, which opened in the Valley Arts District of Orange a year ago, its name evoking the local factories that once employed thousands and supplied haberdashers the world over. The owner is Housing and Neighborhood Development Services Inc., which has rehabilitated scores of homes in the area and which envisioned the 1890s building that houses the restaurant as a bustling performing-arts space. The cuisine, billed as Creosoul, seemed unlikely for Mr. Pierre-Jerome because his culinary strong suit is French-accented fine dining: lobster, venison, quail, foie gras. Not crawfish, ribs and grits.

Each week senior editor Eric Levin takes you inside the dining pages of the magazine in an exclusive video. Patrick Pierre-Jerome, executive chef of Hat City Kitchen in Orange, talks about the delicious cooking of his mother and grandmother, and how they influenced him.

The Old Settler

By John Henry Redwood

The Friday, October 22 performance of The Old Settler is the Grand Opening Night of Luna Stage’s new home in the Valley Arts District. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime occasion! Join us for a pre-show champagne reception and receive a special souvenir of the event.

Kitchen in Orange calls itself the place to be, and once you find the place, nestled a few streets off of Scotland Ave on Valley Street) and step inside, it does feel like you’ve discovered something special. The name is a nod to the neighborhood known as the Valley (which straddles Orange and West Orange) formerly famous for being the hat-making capital of the world. Today, the Valley is getting a new identity as an artist district with help from Hands Inc.

The results of our 27th Annual Readers’ Choice Restaurant Poll were tabulated by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Florham Park.

Hat City's go-to guy is a musical wizard and technical guru to Maplewood's music scene.