Medical weight loss in Riverdale, NJ

he best businesses adapt to change in creative ways. Take Vibe for instance, an entertainment event company in Riverdale which hosts events like bar mitzvahs and sweet sixteens. When COVID-19 shut down events and indoor gatherings, the owner transformed the space into a restaurant called Vibe Burger; serving farm-to-table comfort food in a fun venue.

Vibe Burger is more than just a restaurant, however. The space also houses arcade games, a mini-golf course, and even virtual reality rides. Though many events have been canceled or scaled down, they can host small private parties. They also offer off-premise event planning through their other business, The Entertainment Company. But with NJ being cautious about indoor gatherings, they are focusing on the restaurant side of things for now.

With this in mind, Vibe Burger can serve 32 guests outside on their outdoor patio beneath tents. They also offer touchless ordering and payment via either your phone or tablets that they provide. “It’s for the long term,” says Brian Rosenbaum, who owns Vibe Burger along with his wife, Jennifer. Of course, they also have indoor seating.

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What’s on the Vibe Burger Menu

Vibe Burger owes its menu to award-winning Owner and Partner/Executive Chef Darryl Harmon; in fact, you’ll find many crossover creations at both Vibe and the recently opened Shell N’ Tail in Jersey City. In particular, Harmon has a line of seasonings he incorporates into many recipes. “We have unique stuff,” says Rosenbaum. “It’s different than places you order takeout from. Most are freezing and reheating. We don’t do that. We’re making it all fresh. You can taste it.”

So far, the Wagyu beef hot dogs are popular, and come with fondue cheese, a secret onion sauce, and mustard. In addition, their signature burgers are a big hit. For instance, the Nacho Ranch Flip is a smashed patty with a cheese blend, pico de gallo, and avocado crema; then topped with Doritos. Vibe Burger also receives fresh local seafood deliveries daily. Other menu options include salads, sandwiches, chicken sandwiches, cheesesteaks, and wings. Gluten-free options, vegetarian meals, and a kids’ menu are also available. Click here to see the full menu.

But make sure you save room for dessert. Those with a sweet tooth can indulge in over-the top shakes, handmade ice-cream sandwiches, or ice cream sundaes. Meanwhile, Rosenbaum says their homemade desserts options will rotate; current favorites include the peach cobbler as well as the bread pudding.

Visit Vibe Burger at 92 Route 23 North in Riverdale. For more info, click here to visit the website or click here to give them a call.

Reservations?

Yes

Gluten-free options?

Yes

Vegetarian options?

Yes

Takeout?

Yes

Delivery?

Yes

Liquor license?

Yes

Kids’ menu?

Yes

Click here to find the latest restaurants open in New Jersey.

All Photos: © Vibe Burger / Facebook

RIVERDALE — Wes' Tavern, a run-down dive bar on Hamburg Turnpike known for $6 lunch specials, will be demolished and replaced with a strip mall with a new restaurant/bar.

Planning Board officials approved the mixed use building for 57 Hamburg Turnpike in the spring, and work on the project is expected to begin in March. The developer will be submitting blueprints for the borough to review in about 35 days.

The footprint of the new building is about four times the size Wes' Tavern. It's a two-story building with 3,500 square feet for the bar/restaurant space on the first floor. There are another 4,275 square feet of retail space available for lease. The building will house eight one-bedroom apartments on the second floor. There is also a basement for a total building square footage of 23,625 square feet.

The 1.16 acre property Wes' Tavern currently occupies between Drace Place and Mead Avenue will also be improved.

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Officials welcomed the building and property upgrade with unanimous approval. Marketing of the new retail spaces has begun. Final transfer of the property is contingent upon final building approvals, explained the developer.

The new building will be noticeably different from the "horrible" one there now, said one planning board member. The roofs of the existing white building are sagging and black dirt clings to it. A railing outside appears broken and pieces of siding and trim are broken.

"The property is clearly out of date and in need of a face-lift, if you will," said John Palus, the project's engineer.

Along with the obvious aesthetic building improvement, if the developer moves forward there will be significant landscaping and drainage improvements around the property. A total of 151 plantings are planned and the building will be pushed back off Hamburg Turnpike. It will also get a small outdoor patio with a accessible ramp alongside it.

In an effort to improve the awkward layout of the property, the developer is reducing the entrance from two driveways to one. The site will get new asphalt and an underground infiltration system will be installed to capture rain run-off.

"We think it will be an outstanding-looking building," said Doug Bern, the applicant's attorney.

Scott Berkowitz, one of the principals for the development, said the idea to overhaul the site came out of conversations he had in the borough's building department. Berkowitz founded a metal fabrication company called EVS Metal. It was originally located in Pompton Plains and was relocated to Kenner Court in the borough. Joesph Young, the owner of Cornerstone Chiropractic in Riverdale, is also a partner.

"We love Riverdale and we don't need to make a lot of money on this," he said.

Berkowitz said he sees this as a fun opportunity to upgrade the site, create a town center, and give back to the community.

"It’s just the right thing to do," he told the NorthJersey.com and USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey. "Give people a place to go. Clean up that mess. Start the new sidewalk. Put a patio out there. You gotta do the right thing at times and if you have a couple bucks you know, why not."

Berkowitz is excited to get the project moving but said it's a slow process and there are a lot of steps even after Planning Board review. He expects the plans to be finalized by the end of the year but construction will have to wait until after the winter.

From Wes' to Scotty's

At first the restaurant and bar will reemerge as Wes' Tavern and at some point it will become Scotty's Oyster Bar — a concept Berkowitz said he came up with.

He envisions a family restaurant that sells seafood and bar food but isn't high end or "snooty." He's seeking someone to partner with to lease the space and run the restaurant. The restaurant will be completely built out with a kitchen and ready to go, he said.

Berkowitz said he prefers to give a chance to someone new with a dream, instead of a restaurateur who already owns multiple businesses.

"We’re going to make it a turnkey solution for anybody who wants to walk in and give their heart and soul to something," Berkowitz said.

"It’s going to be a place where you can bring your family, your friends and hang out and have reasonably priced food and good times and make some memories," he said.

All of the retail and restaurant space on the first floor of the new building is being advertised for lease by the The Goldstein Group.

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The new building

The approved plans for the building call for a colonial feel with brick, masonry and siding. Awnings and signs will define the commercial components of the building, according to the plans.

An elevator is included in the plan to access the apartments. The apartments will be about 750 square feet in size. There are 76 parking spaces.

Berkowitz said the property is too narrow and deep to have it front facing on Hamburg Turnpike. The bar/restaurant side of the building will be the most visible part from the road, but the rest of the building will have enough of a presence to be seen from the road.

During the Planning Board hearings neighbors raised concerns about rodents outside and asked how the dumpsters will be handled. Others asked about water run-off and about car headlights shining onto their yards. The developer agreed to put in fencing to act as a screen from car lights.

The site is located in Riverdale's Community Redevelopment District Zone in downtown Riverdale.

The Planning Board also recently approved a mixed use retail and residential building for 4 Hamburg Turnpike down the street.

Follow Jai Agnish on Twitter: @JaiAgnish. Email: [email protected].

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Bograd's Fine Furniture, one of the last remaining high-end furniture retailers in the area, has ended its 89-year run.

The family business closed the doors of its Riverdale store after selling the 38,000-square-foot property to an auction company. The business will sell its final pieces at an auction next weekend, both online and in-store.

“I’m very proud of what we did at Bograd’s, and that will never change," said Mark Bograd, former president of the business. "We ran a very fine furniture business, ran it for many years, and we ran it the way we wanted to run it. Like anything else in life, it has its time."

Bograd's was founded in Paterson by Sam Bograd in 1930, during the Depression. The high-end retailer called Passaic County home for six decades, before moving to Morris County in 1996. The Bograd family flirted with closing the business in 2011, but after a deal to sell the building fell through, the business re-emerged with a new strategy.

In mid-2013, the retailer reopened in a smaller-format store at the same Riverdale location under a more modern name, @Bograds. In its final years, Mark Bograd served as president, and his father, Joe, was chief executive.

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This year, the family closed on a deal to sell its Riverdale property to A.J. Willner Auctions. The Bograds shared the news in a letter to customers posted on the company's Facebook page. The final auction will take place on June 15 for remaining items, the letter said.

The decision to shut down the business was a combination of Marcia and Joe Bograd's retirement, an opportunity to sell the Riverdale property and the reality that small furniture companies face fierce competition from larger chains and online-only retailers, like Wayfair Inc., Mark Bograd said. That's why he has decided to join the ranks of one of company's competitors, White House Designs for Life.

White House Designs for Life is a small furniture retailer, much as Bograd's once was. The business, founded by Karen Arakelian, has three locations: White House Living in Wayne, White House Luxe in Fairfield and White House Design Resource, the retailer's interior design arm, which has its own space attached to the company's Fairfield store.

Rather than having two small retailers competing for the same consumers, Mark Bograd said, the two operations could unite to compete against the goliaths of the furniture world together.

"My feeling was rather than try to re-create again another Bograd’s, that I would do better to try and join an organization that was succeeding and build on that success," he said.

Longtime Bograd's customers can reach out to Mark Bograd for assistance, even with items purchased at the defunct store, the company said in its final letter. Many of the brands carried by Bograd's are also available at White House, and many of Bograd's former employees also work at Whitehouse, the Bograds said.

"It’s a comfortable place for me to move, and I think it's good for our customer base to still have a fine place to shop," Mark Bograd said.

RIVERDALE — Residents said they are worried as hearings continued on a closely scrutinized three-home development at the top of a mountain in a neighborhood known for crumbling rock walls and rock slides.

A vote on the application for the Hidden Hills or Dube Development, is expected at the next Planning Board hearing on Nov. 1. The plans are a variation on an application the Board denied in 2007. It's a three-lot subdivision on 12.5 acres off Mathews Avenue near the Butler border.

Access would be up Overlook Drive through the 31-home Enclave development and a cul-de-sac at the end of Skyview Terrace. Down below is Rock Creek Crossing, a town house development built in the late 1990s.

The specter of falling rock haunts homeowners there, particularly those who live in building C, behind natural rock walls.

"I literally lose sleep at the thought of this," said Jason Margelefsky, who lives on the ground floor of the building.

He and his neighbors remember when in 2005 a rock slide closed down Timber Ridge Road, one of two ways in and out of the development, for six months.

"Fortunately there are no houses on that side," he said. "If something like that were to fall that would be in my living room."

Geraldine Mondello, another homeowner in building C, said about a year and a half ago a 7-foot by 3-foot rock came down.

"We say it's the Tilcon," she said in reference to Tilcon New York which does regular rock blasting in a quarry a mile away. "But this work here is going to be right behind us and these rocks are going to come down."

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On the opposite side of the Hidden Hills property to the north is a rock wall that collapsed in 2011. The massive rock slide there closed Overlook Drive for three days, sealing off the main road to the 31 Enclave homes. A temporary road had to be constructed off High Street in Butler.

Professionals representing Hidden Hills gave repeated assurances the construction of the new homes would not disturb the rock wall and would not lead to a disaster. Rock will need to be removed from the site, but blasting will not be used, they said.

"There will be no damage to any rock wall because it is just too far away from where the work is to be done," the geo-tech engineer, Eugene Schwarzrock, testified.

He said the new homes would not add any additional stress on the rock face near building C. He also said boring and drilling will not disturb the rock on the Overlook Drive side.

Several questions were also raised about rain water and whether there would be an increase in water runoff, or a shift in how water flows towards the neighborhoods and rock walls below.

Patrick McClellan, the engineer for Hidden Hills, said the objective of the project is to have zero increase in runoff. He said steps were taken to protect the other properties and that there will not be an adverse impact. A dry well will be installed on the property to help manage water runoff.

The rock expert testified that water running off the Hidden Hills site will not be a problem.

"We are not changing the groundwater evolution," Schwarzrock said.

David Merritt, an attorney for the Rock Creek Crossing Condominium Association, was skeptical. Merritt, and an attorney for the Enclave at Riverdale Homeowners Association, continuously put several tough questions to the Hidden Hills experts over the course of the three hearings.

He said that the homeowners bought in to the risk of the natural conditions but, "they did not buy in to the risk of those conditions being worsened by the property above them changing the way that the water flows."

Follow Jai Agnish on Twitter: @JaiAgnish. Email: [email protected].

RIVERDALE — Local historian Tom Riley will be presenting his popular presentation "Nazis in Riverdale?" at the borough library on Wednesday, Oct. 3.

The retired educator, who grew up in Bloomingdale, said he first learned of the infamous German Bund camp on Federal Hill from the ghost stories in his youth.

The camp, active in the 1930s, was in Bloomingdale but was reached from behind Slater's Mill off Hamburg Turnpike in Riverdale. The bridge behind the mill was washed out in 1903.

"There really was a German camp on Federal Hill," Riley said. "So, of course, that just got my imagination going and I was just a sponge for anything to do with Federal Hill."

Camp Bergwald was raided several times by the FBI, and 19 members were put on trial in 1944. Four were convicted as spies for conspiring to transmit military information to Germany in violation of the Espionage Act in 1943.

"So you had spies right here looking down at you from Federal Hill," Riley said.

The camp was ultimately confiscated by the United States government and the land eventually bought by Tilcon Quarry, which owns more land on Federal Hill.

Riley recently had a chance to do some exploring on Federal Hill as part of the production of a new documentary available on YouTube called: "Bloomingdale — An American Small Town."

Remnants of a camp building, visible today, are included in the film, along with some archive footage of camp activities. The film producers received special permission to explore the camp site, accompanied by Tilcon security.

Riley's presentation also includes photographs. Camp Bergwald was a youth camp for boys and girls 8 to 18, Riley said. Members spoke German, and along with normal camp activities they were indoctrinated with a "heavy dose of national socialism," he said.

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Members handed out fliers and sold pamphlets and Nazi collectibles, he said. At its height there were 20 chapters across the United States, most concentrated in the Northeast.

"Make no mistake: They were just as anti-Roosevelt-administration as anybody possibly could be," Riley said. "The same spiel that Hitler was spreading across Europe at this time, this German American Vocational League are spreading right here."

The group evolved from the Friends of Hitler Movement, the Friends of New Germany and then, by 1936, the German American Bund. Riley cited a 1944 New York Times article that traced $13,000 used to purchase the land on Federal Hill back to Nazi Germany, the Vocational League and the German Labor movement.

Federal Hill, it turns out, also played a role in the Revolutionary War and was part of a beacon system. The early-warning system was used to alert Gen. George Washington of British troops' movements.

Washington even put down a mutiny on Federal Hill, and two of the three mutineers were executed. So the ghosts stories about mutineers that Riley heard as a child had some merit. So did the ones about Nazis on Federal Hill.

The site where Camp Bergwald and the beacon were located may end up being quarried, the historian said. There is no access to the old Bund Camp site, he said, and the area is fenced off. The camp is now within the active blast area of Tilcon.

Register online for the event at riverdalelibrary.org, or call the library at 973-835-5044.

Riley is also known for his presentations on the connection of Babe Ruth and minor league baseball to the area. Keep an eye on the local library calendars for his talks.

Follow Jai Agnish on Twitter: @JaiAgnish. Email: [email protected].