Authentic Jersey Dining Experience and Coffee Bar Debut in Secaucus

SECAUCUS, N.J. (Aug. 12, 2010)—A new restaurant that celebrates New Jersey cuisine and a coffee bar that brews artisan-roasted beans officially opened today in The Plaza at Harmon Meadow, creating a social hub for the thousands of people who work and shop there.

The Urban Plum, a 190-seat restaurant and bar, and Press, a coffee shop that offers “world-class neighborhood coffee to go,” are located at the south end of the mall at 300 Plaza Drive. Both represent the first upscale food-and-beverage establishments to open in The Plaza at Harmon Meadow.

The Urban Plum is tagged as an “American gastropub,” a characterization coined by pub operators in England who upgraded their menus to offer high-quality food based on traditional pub recipes. In the United States, “gastropub” suggests a more intimate dining experience.

Brian McSherry, regional vice president for Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company, which manages The Urban Pub and Press, said the restaurant features regional New Jersey cuisine prepared mostly with locally sourced produce and seafood.

He describes the menu as “an opportunity for cultural spillover,” with grilled Atlantic char sharing the dinner lineup with “a big bowl of fresh spaghetti and meatballs with Mom’s gravy,” slow-roasted short ribs and the restaurant’s signature Big Burger.

“Urban Plum can be an Italian-American food lover’s favorite restaurant or an American foodlover’s favorite or just a food-lover’s favorite,” McSherry said. “If, along the way, we expose our guests to cuisine they haven’t tried before, that’s great, too.”

Press features coffee brewed with beans from Gimme! Coffee, a New York-based roaster that subscribes to the proposition that  roasting small batches is the key to “teasing out” coffee’s aromatic compounds because the roast can be timed perfectly and the
beans heated evenly.

In addition to the coffee lineup of drip coffee, straight espressos, cappuccinos, café lattes, café mochas and blends, Press offers full hot and cold breakfast entrees, soups, salads, pressed sandwiches and flatbread entrees. “We want each and every one of our guests to enjoy a great experience at The Urban Plum and Press and to be thinking about their next visit,” McSherry said. “Our goal is to make every guest feel as though they are part of our family.”