A new food hall opened last week at the American Dream mall/indoor activity park in East Rutherford, New Jersey, with a range of gourmet, fast-casual and specialty concepts.
The 10,000-square-foot food hall, which is located near the Dream live event stage, is scheduled to include seven restaurants in total, along with oversized games such corn hole, Jenga, and Connect 4. The Lady M boutique bakery (pictured above), Vanessa’s Dumpling House, and Best Pizza, are three New York City-based concepts that are making their New Jersey debuts. The food hall also includes a self-service wine-tasting venue.
For Lady M, which makes gourmet mille crepes that blend French pastry techniques with Japanese sensibilities, the American Dream location presented an opportunity to reach more of the brand’s fans in New Jersey, according to Ken Romaniszyn, CEO of Lady M.
“We know that we have a lot of loyal customers based in New Jersey, so we wanted to provide a Lady M boutique that would be easily accessible for them,” he told SFA News Daily.
Lady M's mille crepes are made from layers of paper-thin crepes and feature flavors such as green tea, passion fruit, chocolate, strawberry, and tiramisu. It also makes other high-end confections.
The chain, which is based in New York City but has locations across the country and around the world, will operate from a total of 1,025 square feet in the food hall, with a back dining area that can seat up to 20.
Unlike most Lady M locations, the new outpost at American Dream is a kiosk format, as opposed to its standard inline boutique layout, Romaniszyn said, adding that it maintains a streamlined, modern design, and a functional operating flow.
“What’s more, we are thrilled to feature beautiful Baccarat tile artwork as an elegant design element, which helped bring our elevated kiosk format to life,” he said.
The location is not Lady M’s first food hall, however. It also had a location within the Plaza Hotel Food Hall in New York City.
The company has plans for several additional cake boutiques in the near future, including locations in San Diego, Seattle, and Houston, and more overseas. Like the new American Dream location, all new locations will be company-owned, Romaniszyn said.
Meanwhile, the new American Dream food hall will also house the first location in New Jersey for Vanessa’s Dumpling House, a family-run business with five locations in New York City, and Best Pizza, operated by Frank Pinello, host of Vice’s The Pizza Show and Frank Experience.
Other restaurants in the food hall include Vinoteca, a self-serve wine- and -beer-tasting concept that is described as a “first of its kind.” Customers can sample from a curated assortment of 64 different wines dispensed from automatic machines, as well as four self-serve beer taps. The restaurant also offers an Italian menu of appetizers, paninis, flatbreads, salads, and charcuterie boards.
The food hall also includes a Van Leeuwen Ice Cream shop, and is slated to add an outlet of Bang Cookies, which is based in New Jersey and ships its organic, soft-baked, giant cookies nationwide.
The sprawling American Dream mall, located just outside New York City, has been plagued with financial losses and delayed store openings. Attractions include an indoor ski hill, a DreamWorks Water Park, an ice skating rink, a Ferris wheel, a miniature golf course, and a Nickelodeon Universe theme park, in addition to a range of retail stores and restaurants.
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