Authentic Jersey dining experience and coffee bar open
The Urban Plum in Secaucus (submitted photo)
SECAUCUS (Aug. 19, 2010) — A new restaurant that celebrates New Jersey cuisine and a coffee bar that brews artisan-roasted beans has officially opened 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 food-lover’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.
Concord Hospitality Enterprises Company, an award-winning hotel development and management company based in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., manages more than 70 hotels representing more than 8,000 guest rooms in 15 states and two Canadian provinces including the Holiday Inn Harmon Meadow, home to The Urban Plum and Press.
The company operates under widely known elite industry brands including Marriott, Hilton and Choice and is an approved franchisee for Hyatt and Starwood. In addition, Concord operates an independent boutique hotel in New Jersey.
Formed in 1985, Concord was recently listed as one of the top management companies in the nation by independent sources and recently won Marriott’s prestigious Partnership Circle award for the sixth time. Concord properties are some of the most awarded hotels in the country, having won nearly 30 honors in the last two years alone, including Marriott’s Hotel of the Year and Developer of the Year awards. For more information, visit www.concordhotels.com.
— Submitted press release
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