Raymond's

The Restaurant

Raymond's has anchored 28 Church Street since 2001, the pedestrianised crosswalk that runs perpendicular to Bloomfield Avenue in the centre of Montclair, and has earned its position as the town's most reliable all-occasion table across two decades of careful operation. The dining room runs to about 120 covers across a main room, a long marble-topped bar, and a glass-fronted patio that opens to Church Street in season. The space is warm and well-worn in the best sense: bistro-style banquette seating, soft incandescent lighting, framed black-and-white photographs of mid-century Montclair, an extensive list of daily specials chalked on a large board above the bar.

The kitchen runs an sharpened American comfort menu with serious technical execution, the burger (a half-pound dry-aged blend on a brioche bun with truffle aioli) has won repeat regional press recognition; the elegant seafood platter for two ($90) brings raw oysters, shrimp cocktail, lump crab, and lobster on shaved ice; the perfectly grilled hanger steak with chimichurri and shoestring fries is the room's signature; a daily fish preparation, a wild-mushroom risotto, and a roast chicken-for-two ($65) round out the most-ordered dishes. The bread service, warm sourdough rolls with cultured butter, is a quiet town favourite.

The wine list runs to roughly 160 references with depth in North American and Italian regions and a sensible by-the-glass programme. Brunch, served daily from 9 AM through 3 PM, has become the town's signature weekend gathering: a serious eggs benedict in three preparations, a buttermilk pancake stack with maple-butter, a working bloody Mary programme. The bar runs late into the evening on Thursday through Saturday. For a team dinner, a family birthday, or a Sunday brunch with the in-laws, Raymond's is the Montclair table that handles all three with the same warm hand.