"It's extremely difficult because it is an old building," Demetri Malki told The Montclair Girl about the former Chase Bank at 475 Bloomfield Avenue. "So anytime you need to take down a wall, you have to hire a company… and it just takes forever and a day to do anything."
He was talking about walls roughly 24 inches thick and filled with concrete. Those walls stand between Montclair and Cassaforte, the Italian steakhouse Malki is planning with La Rocca Osteria's Robert Pantusa. Malki and his partners bought the building in April 2025. In late August, the permit plans had been in for about three months, and approvals were still needed before construction could officially begin. The target opening is April or May of 2027, "if everything goes according to plan."
Montclair's 2026 dining news has a clear pattern. Dates announced a week or two out held. Dates announced months out slipped. Most of the names people are talking about this fall are carrying dates of the second kind.
The Short-Notice Dates Held
Look at the openings that actually happened this year and when each date was first made public.
Pig & Butter, chef-owner Sherry Grimes's restaurant at 401 Orange Road, is one. Montclair Local reported on July 30 that it would open Friday, Aug. 7, with regular service starting Wednesday, Aug. 12. It did. "It feels good to be back home," Grimes told the paper. She called the Montclair location "stepping outside the box" because it adds dinner service. The menu is contemporary American with Mexican, Korean, Southern, Thai and Jamaican influences. Dinner runs Wednesday through Sunday and brunch Friday through Sunday.
Mambo Cuban Restaurant + Lounge is another. Its Bloomfield grand opening at 412 Bloomfield Avenue was announced the day before. It opened with a ribbon-cutting on Sept. 18 and is the chain's third New Jersey location, after Union and Harrison.
Oggi Gelato fits too. The Sicilian chain's first New Jersey shop is at 40 Church Street, in the former Oasis retail space. Montclair Local set its grand-opening party for Saturday, Oct. 10, with free gelato, a DJ and prosecco.
The Long-Range Date Slipped by Four Months
Farmhouse Fried Chicken shows the other kind of date. In November 2025, Dan Campeas and Dayanna "Day" Ordóñez Brito, the owners of Dan + Day's, announced an "elevated fried chicken concept" for 223 Bellevue Avenue, aiming for early April 2026. The ribbon-cutting took place Aug. 14, according to Montclair Local.
That date was about five months away when it was announced, and it came in about four months late. The restaurant is open and serving fried chicken sandwiches and bone-in chicken. Upper Montclair went most of a year between DaVinci's Brick Oven Pizza closing on Sept. 20, 2025, after more than 25 years, and Farmhouse opening in that space.
Farmhouse turned one restaurant space into another. The two projects targeting 2027 are converting a furniture store and a bank.
The 2027 Openings Are All Long-Range Dates
Basta Alla Pasta, 5 South Willow Street. Chef Joseph Gramaglia of Saly G's is taking part of the former Urban Natural furniture store. He plans a 50-seat room where fresh house-made pasta is the only main course. "Pasta will be our focal point," he told Montclair Local. The two local outlets give different targets. Montclair Local says late winter or early spring 2027. The Montclair Girl narrowed it to late January through mid-February, with construction planned to start in mid-October. That makes it a furniture store becoming a restaurant, with an opening date set months before construction began.
Cassaforte, 475 Bloomfield Avenue. This is a bank becoming a restaurant, behind concrete-filled walls, with approvals still pending as of late August. Malki pictures a casual place where people come "on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and just enjoy a nice meal." The project will be about two years from purchase to its target opening if the spring 2027 date holds.
The Montclair Girl's late-September roundup still listed both as coming soon, with no firm opening date for either. Based on how Farmhouse went, both are hopes rather than reservations.
The Announced Names With No Opening Date
Three more projects are further back. Each has a name and an address but no opening date.
- Lenwich, 520 Bloomfield Avenue. The New York sandwich shop dates to 1989, has more than 14 New York City locations, and recently opened in Hoboken. Its signs were up by Sept. 28. Montclair Local has said it will report when an opening date is announced.
- Industry Tavern, 1 Lackawanna Plaza. The landlord confirmed a signed lease in the historic terminal space, Montclair Local reported. The Montclair Girl described the concept as a "classic, warmly nostalgic tavern." No owner, menu or opening date has been announced.
- Mexicali Rose, 428 Bloomfield Avenue. The Restaino family is bringing back the Tex-Mex name that closed in 2011. It's moving from the original 10 Park Street location to Bloomfield Avenue, according to NorthJersey.com. No opening date or menu has been announced. The Montclair Girl reported that the restaurant's website says only, "The ultimate Mexican dining experience is almost here."
The Addresses Move Faster Than the Openings
Montclair's dining news this year keeps returning to the same storefronts. Following an address tells you more than following a single restaurant, because these spaces have spent long stretches empty between tenants.
| Address | What was there | What's next | Where it stands |
|---|---|---|---|
| 520 Bloomfield Ave. | Lululemon, left Oct. 2023; Tous les Jours, opened late Dec. 2024 and closed Aug. 20, 2026 | Lenwich | Signs up, no date |
| 1 Lackawanna Plaza | Pig & Prince, then Pineapple Express Barbecue, which announced its closure Jan. 29, 2026 | Industry Tavern | Lease signed, no date |
| 223 Bellevue Ave. | DaVinci's Brick Oven Pizza, closed Sept. 20, 2025 | Farmhouse Fried Chicken | Open since Aug. 14, 2026 |
| 475 Bloomfield Ave. | Chase Bank, building bought Apr. 2025 | Cassaforte | Targeting Apr. or May 2027 |
| 5 South Willow St. | Urban Natural | Basta Alla Pasta | Targeting early 2027 |
The 520 Bloomfield Avenue row shows the pattern. The storefront sat empty for about 14 months after Lululemon left. Tous les Jours then lasted less than two years, and now a third name is on the windows. Signs going up is an early step. Lenwich's arrival is official, but its opening date is not.
The table also leaves out a recent closing. Chip City at 2 Church Street closed Friday, Oct. 2, when the company shut all of its locations. One name on the list has changed without any downtime. Rooster's Nashville Hot Chicken at 369 Bloomfield Avenue, open since January 2023, became Hotbirds this summer, and the restaurant says everything except the name and look is the same.
How to Read the Next Announcement
This year's track record gives a simple set of rules for any Montclair opening date.
- A date announced a week or two ahead, with a ribbon-cutting or party, is reliable. Pig & Butter, Mambo and Oggi all opened on their announced dates.
- A date set months out is a target. Farmhouse's early-April goal became mid-August.
- A date that depends on approvals, permits or construction that hasn't started is the least certain. As of the latest reports, that describes Cassaforte, and Basta Alla Pasta was only scheduled to begin construction this month.
- Signs on a window confirm the tenant. The opening date comes later, as Lenwich shows.
For a dinner this week, the confirmed list is short and close by: Farmhouse on Bellevue, Pig & Butter on Orange Road, Oggi on Church Street, Hotbirds on Bloomfield Avenue, and Mambo just over the line in Bloomfield. Everything else on this fall's lists comes with a date that hasn't been tested yet.
If you're watching these storefronts for business reasons, as an owner, landlord or investor deciding when a block's next chapter really starts, we track that kind of timing and can walk you through it. TK Real Estate Group follows Essex County's main streets the same way we follow its homes. Schedule a Free Consultation and we'll go over what's actually moving on the blocks you care about.
