Seems like there’s a 6th Guy in town!

FiveGuys is no longer the only new greasy burger joint in town.

If you drive just 10 minutes down from Livingston Mall on Columbia Turnpike, you’ll find a bunch of new strip mall development happening.  One of them houses the latest Smash Burger restaurant.

We decided to check it out this Saturday night – seems like everyone had the same idea.  Lines the length of the store from counter to door.  Loud and crowded, we waited a good 15 minutes to order, and then got seating and waited another 7-8 minutes for our food to be delivered.

Yelp.com reviews and others give it a so-so rating.  We do the same. . . 

The decor was clean and new.  Price is about $5-7 for most burgers — you’ll have to shell out another 2 bucks for fries and about another 2 bucks for sodas.

Smashburger at Florham Park, NJ

187 Columbia Turnpike
Florham Park, NJ 07932

Here’s some of the first impressions of the food itself:

• SALTY - overwhelming over anything else.  Every item has TONS of salt.  The burger meat itself was salty.
• GREASY - part of the experience you’re paying for – unhealthy comfort food, but wow, even the buns are shiny from the grease.  By the end of our meal, some of the remaining sweet potato fries weren’t crisp, they were just gloppy sponges of grease.
• PUNY - when fries are an add-on, you expect a decent portion.  They were puny.  Plus the way the “dishes” are made, which is basically wire baskets with a piece of wax paper covering the bottom, fries get lost and fall out or touch the table under it.  Something just seems…eewy to eat food that is touching the table that other people just eat off of back-to-back.  Especially, when the competition, Five Guys is known for their huge portions of overflowing crispy fries.

Here’s one thing to note, that might help inform why such an experience where the concept seems great, but in terms of execution, they are just a little off — apparently, the same operator for this location also runs Markers Restaurant, an upscale casual American Grille, located in Jersey City, NJ as well as other franchise concepts including Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, Cinnabon, Seattle’s Best Coffee, and Carvel Ice Cream.  You can see lack of focus within the food spectrum — some of that lack of focus spills over in execution here.

The big question is would we go back?  Probably, but only if we’re in the area – definitely not a planned event.

QUESTION: What’s your opinion of Smashburger? (and which location are you talking about?  Please let your comment below!

But who cares?  WHY?

Because Papa John’s Pizza just opened up in the UPS Store strip mall on South Livingston Avenue (184 S. Livingston Avenue to be precise).  It’s across the street from TD Bank (the old Commerce Bank).

Apparently, it’s under a new franchisee owner.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to change your speed dial just yet.  The new owner took over the old telephone number for Papa John’s on Mt. Pleasant Avenue, so it will ring through just fine.  But they got a new number too.

Here’s the new telephone number for pizza delivery:

PAPA JOHN’S PIZZA

973-533-1300

Tell them FingerClickingGood.com sent you!

Gotta love their $12 XL Pizza deal with multiple toppings.

QUESTION:  What’s your favorite pizza topping at Pappa John’s Pizza? Leave your favorite in a comment below!

Penang is back in East Hanover NJ.

It took awhile, but they’ve finally finished the renovations for the Malaysian-Thai cuisine hangout.

And what a transformation.  They’ve upped the vibe a notch – closed up the open kitchen, neat dramatic wallpapered wall with indirect lighting, brought in spacious 6-person upholstered booths, neat-o illuminated orange glass dividers for the long bench seating.  The upper deck now houses 3 big round tables that seat 10 people each.

The hostess said they didn’t sacrifice any seating for the new configuration.

The menu stays the same.  The popular standard fare is still yummy — Roti Cani, Pad Thai, Seasme Chicken, Buddhist Veggie Delight…

Penang is next to Don Jose, in the Home Depot shopping center.

Penang Restaurant

200 New Jersey 10
East Hanover, NJ 07936-2606
(973) 887-6989

Have you been to the new Penang Restaurant on Route 10 West in East Hanover NJ?  What’s your take on the new decor?  Please leave a comment below!

The kids eat well every time we go.  But a couple of weeks back, when we ventured out in January for some Penang, we were welcomed by closed doors.

You could see through the papered windows that they were gutting out the place for renovation.

CLOSED.

But this week, it seems that they have finally opened the doors again according to their website:

So glad. So glad. . .It makes me start to think about what I’m going to order when we go back (soon!). . .

Penang East Hanover
200 State Route 10 # 8
East Hanover, NJ 07936-2606
(973) 887-6989

If you’ve been to the new and improved Penang, please post a comment and share your experience!

It is so sad to see another restuarant option go out of business…this time the victim is Hale & Hearty Soup.

We never got a chance to try out the NYC-originated super-expensive priced soup joint.  I’m sure you’ve noticed too like us that every time we drove by the store was either empty or closed (at odd hours when you’d think a restaurant would be open).

If you recall, this is the cursed spot where Beyond Bagels used to be.

Wonder what other retail concept would work in this somewhat awkward location right off Livingston Circle on Route 10 Westbound.

Hope someone thinks of something gooooooood to replace Hale & Hearty…something a little heartier I guess! (sorry, couldn’t resist that one)

Looks like the Livingston Towne Center has another casualty.  Fresh City which morphed into a new concept restaurant to stay alive in the same space, Cafe Foozy’s, has now closed its doors as well.

If you look at reviews of Cafe Foozy’s, you’ll see that some of the “rave reviews” seem to be planted without any transparency.  You’ll see reviews that mention “and I just heard they do birthday parties too, I’m going to find out if I can book my kid’s next party there…” type of comments.  Given the lack of authenticity, this closing wasn’t such a surprise:

• Chow.com review
• FingerClickingGood.com/livingston
• ChowHound
• Yahoo Local
• UrbanSpoon