That's right, on November 24th we will close Catherine Lombardi so that Santa's elves can transform Catherine Lombardi in to The Miracle Bar at Catherine Lombardi! This is a concept started by our good friend Greg Boehm in New York and it's taking the nation (and the world) by storm. We are going to be The Center of Holiday Cheer for all of Central Jersey and Beyond. It will be impossible to escape the spirit of the season. Wait until you see how these halls will be decked! You can drink from our special Miracle cocktail menu in Miracle glasses,... Continue reading

Antiquum Farm Wine Dinner Stephen Hagan Returns Wednesday, Oct 30 at 7PM I am not a landowner overseeing the operations of a vineyard. I am the operations...and a part of Antiquum Farm. --Stephen Hagan The Hagan family at Antiquum Farm does things a little differently...well, a LOT differently. The pictures above accurately represent how they run their farm (and their lives). Their wines (especially their pinot noir) have become favorites on our list all year round. They are extraordinary. The Hagans planted every single vine on their property...by hand...themselves. They run a farming operation that is unbelievable in its integrity.... Continue reading

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere! A Celebration of The Martini Friday, November 1 5-7 PM With Robert Simonson, Dale DeGroff, Jill DeGroff, Mark and Francis! There will be Martinis, Hors d'Oeuvres, Artists, Authors, Sparkling Conversation And Dale DeGroff is Even Going To Light Things on Fire An Old-Fashioned Cocktail Party Martinis at 5 (you can be fashionably late) Great Personal And Original Gift Ideas! Robert Simonson is one of the most celebrated drinks journalists of our time. He covers cocktails and other adult beverages for a little paper called The New York Times. He's a regular contributor to Punch and Imbibe... Continue reading

The Story of Whisky Presented by Robin Robinson Friday, October 18th - 7pm Our friend Robin Robinson's forthcoming book, "The Complete Whiskey Course: A Comprehensive Tasting School in Ten Lessons," will be released on October 1. It's a survey of whiskey on the model of Kevin Zraly's Windows on The World Wine Course Book. We love it already! Robin will present a one hour tasting / class / repartee / hoedown and take us through a journey of Knappogue Castle, Aberlour, Lot40, Jefferson's, Iwai and Amrut whiskeys. This book is handsome and makes a great read, a great reference, and... Continue reading

Jacqui Naylor Sings Catherine Lombardi Becomes A Jazz Supper Club Sunday, October 13 at 7:30 PM An Evening of Jazz and Wine Tasting Complimentary with Dinner in Either Restaurant If Not Having Dinner: $25 Music Cover We have Jacqui back every year. We turn Catherine Lombardi's dining room into a lovely and charming jazz dinner club. It's a throwback to another era. With our red walls, low ceilings and intimate lighting, it's perfect...just perfect. I hope you can join us. In my younger and more vulnerable years, I was in Madrid with some friends. After the best bullfight I've ever... Continue reading

Wine Dinner with Doug Margerum Thursday, October 3 Tasting 6:45 - 7:15 PM Dinner 7:15 We've loved Margerum wines for years. We've been trying to get Doug out for a dinner since 2015! Well, we finally we have a date set. Doug Margerum will be here Thursday, October 3rd and we hope you can make it. He will host a tasting of wines from his two estates: Margerum and Barden! Then we'll sit down to dinner with even more wines. This collection has have never been showed in one place before in Jersey! It's going to be extraordinary. With his... Continue reading

Labor Day Weekend Sunday Steel Drums and A Gin Garden Party This Sunday, September 1 Sunday, we'll have delicious gin cocktails, party games, and prizes. The music will be the steel drums of Rick Dalgetti and his band Fusion! Steel drums sound great on the streets of New Brunswick. Come down and help us make some noise! Music : 4:15pm - 7pm Continue reading

The Stage Left Butcher Shop is open for business! Simply Put, We Get The Best Meat Now you can too If you're cooking at home on Labor Day weekend, you may as well cook with the best. At Stage Left Steak, we get the finest. As we often do on these holiday weekends, we are offering a selection of our meats for your home grilling. 45 Dry Aged Prime ~ 3 Lb Porterhouse $85 45 Day Dry Aged Bone-In Prime Filet Mignon ~ 1.5 LB $49 Whole Flat Iron Steak 1.5 - 2 LB $16/LB 45 Dry Aged Bone-in Strip... Continue reading

Wine Dinner September 5th, 2019 6:30pm White Rock Vineyards has produced some of the most well-balanced, age-worthy, delicious Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay in the Napa Valley since the 1970s. We have had White Rock on our wine list, every single vintage, since 1993. We first visited the property waaay back in 1996. This was a time when California wine makers were pursuing ever more powerful wines, and ever bigger scores, throwing balance out the window. Henri was different. He brought a European sensibility to this extraordinary California terroir. He was right of course. We followed him through many vintages and... Continue reading

The Spirits of Japan Sunday, August 18 You may not know that Japanese spirits are on the rise. Some of the Japanese whiskies are as impossible to find as rares scotch or bourbon. There's a reason. The art of distilling western style spirits in Japan dates back before WWII. Click here for one of the greatest whisky love stories ever lived. After living in Scotland, learning the trade and taking a Scottish wife, Masataka Taketsuru moved back to Japan in 1920. That is the birth of Western spirits in Japan. Then followed 10 decades of meticulous devotion to detail, that... Continue reading

Big Night: Dinner and a Movie Friday, August 23 - 6:30pm Our favorite food film of all time, Big Night, came out in 1996. A cult classic, it's a hysterical account of the sometimes heated relationship of two brothers who open a very authentic Italian restaurant in not-so-worldly New Jersey of the 1950's. Tony Shaloub, Stanley Tucci, Minnie Driver, Isabella Rossellini, Liev Schriber, Marc Anthony, Allison Janney The music, the dialogue, the cinematography, are just perfect. At the center of it all, is the food: A huge feast and all the love and care and drama that goes into it.... Continue reading

A Tomato Celebration Burgers, Bloodies, Snappers and Danielle Illario!!! Sunday, August 11 ★ Music 4 - 7 It's Time! Jersey tomatoes have arrived and are in full swing. We're celebrating Tomatoes and Corn and everything else fresh and Jersey on Sunday, August 11th. One of the highlights will be a The Cannaught Bloody Mary, invented by Augostino Perrone. It was in London years ago, that I came across the best Bloody Mary ever created. Sometimes made with gin, sometimes made with vodka, sometimes called a snapper, the definitive history of The Bloody Mary and The Snapper was written by our... Continue reading

New Brunswick Restaurant Week 2019 New Brunswick City Center restaurants are as diverse as they are exceptional and now you have the perfect excuse to get out of the kitchen heat and eat out! Our restaurants have cooked up some great offers to get the foodie in you out the door and diving into new experiences and flavors. Visit a new spot or an old favorite...your taste buds will be happy with the sensations and your heart will be pleased with the local support. But beware, once you get a taste of these great dishes in City Center you'll be... Continue reading

Sunday, August 4 An Italian Sidewalk Takeover Blue Crabs and Spaghetti A Feast of Aperitivi: Campari, Aperol, Averna, Braulio & Cynar Music by the Inimitable Lusy Yeghiazaryan Blue Crabs in Marinara with Spaghetti, Clams, Garlic Mussels, Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms, Wine and Aperitivi! Sunday, August 4, we party Catherine Lombardi style. It is a joyous summer tradition in the Lombardi family: blue crabs tossed in bright, fresh marinara and served over spaghetti. Is it messy? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. The sauce gets a little crabby. The crabs get a little saucy...and all is right with the world. You see... Continue reading

Sunday, July 28 Jill DeGroff, Saloon Artist To be featured in one of Jill's your portrait done by Jill is a great honor in the bar world. Come meet her on the 28th. Maybe she'll draw you! Reception Courtesy of Jefferson Bourbon Cocktails by Dale DeGroff 4:30 - 7 PM Complimentary Cocktail with Dinner Stage Left Steak Reservations Jill DeGroff is a roving artist who plies her craft at saloons around the world. Much of her work pays tribute to luminaries in the bar industry, musicians, writers, barflies and all species of cocktailians. . Jill’s books, LUSH LIFE; Portraits from... Continue reading

Sunday July 21st Los Cintron Brothers They've Played for The King of Spain! They'll be at Stage Left Steak on Sunday, July 21st Natives of Spain, now residing in NYC, they performed for 12 years at The Metropolitan Opera in "Carmen" at Lincoln Center and currently play for audiences around the world. True ambassadors of Flamenco, they have played for King Juan Carlos & Queen Sofia of Spain, President Menen of Argentina, Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman, Busta Rhymes, President Arzu of Guatemala, President Clinton, Princess Caroline of Monaco, Placido Domingo, Paco de Lucia, Alec Baldwin, Queen Noor of Jordan, Prince,... Continue reading

Bastille Day Sunday, July 14th Cocktails by Hennessy All French Wine 1/3 off Did you know that Mark is French? Yup, his dad was born in France and Mark was born in Montreal. Quite a citizen of the world that Mark Pascal. So this year, we're going to do a little celebrating on Bastille Day! Actually that's what we call it in English-speaking countries. In the Francosphere, it's simply La Fête Nationale. Our pals at Hennessy are going to be supplying some of their lovely Cognac, with which we will make some extraordinary cocktails. In the frozen drink machine will... Continue reading

The Stage Left Steak Butcher Shop Now Taking Orders ★ Get Your Steaks From Us Simply Put, We Get The Best Meat If you're cooking at home over Fourth of July or either of the surrounding weekends, you may as well cook with the finest. At Stage Left, we get the finest. As we often do on these holiday weekends, we are offering a selection of our meats for your home grilling. 45 Dry Aged Prime ~ 3 Lb Porterhouse $85 45 Day Dry Aged Bone-In Prime Filet Mignon ~ 1.5 LB $49 Whole Flat Iron Steak 1.5 - 2... Continue reading

Mezcal and Matt Witte Sunday, July 7 ★ Music 4:30 - 7:15 New Brunswick Music Legend Matt Witte will perform. Click here for more info and Video Our Awesome Beverage Sponsor is Del Maguey Mezcal Complimentary Tasting of Del Maguey and With Dinner Vida, Chichicapa, Arroqueno and Papalome! Plus Del Maguey Mezcal Cocktails $9 Reservations here or 732-828-4444 Continue reading

Thursday, July 4 Fourth of July Cookout Sponsored by Tullamore Dew 'XO Rum Cask' Irish Whiskey Flor de Cana Rum with Rum and Whiskey Cocktails Did you know that New Brunswick was the home of the first ever celebration of Independence Day? Yup, by order of George Washington in 1778. At Stage Left, we willcelebrate on the sidewalk with our annual Cookout. Our regular menu (including our famous burger), Wild-Boar-Chili-Cheese Dogs, Ribs, our entire Steak Menu! It won't be exclusively a meat-fest, as our compressed watermelon and corn galore and wood-grilled pineapple will round out the menu nicely. The New... Continue reading

An Old Fashioned Evening! Celebrating 14-Year Olds and Cigars Sunday, June 30th Sunday June 30, we'll have a fantastic lineup of 14-year single-malt whiskies. Come in to dinner and taste through The Balvenie and Glendiffich from Scotland and Tullamore Dew from Ireland. While these are generally a little pricey to be used on cocktails, we'll be offering them in prestige old-fashioneds or just neat at $10. Alec Bradley will also be here rolling some delicious cigars from 4:30 - 7:30. If the weather cooperates, we'll be smoking them on the sidewalk cafe. Cigar and Tasting are complimentary with dinner (or... Continue reading

Maine Beer Company All Draft Beer Dinner - Tap Takeover Sunday, June 23 at 6:30 PM Maine Beer Company is making some of the best beers in The United States! They make small batches that are somewhat hard to get, especially on draft. Well, we got them AND we're doing a Maine Beer Company All Draft Dinner Tap Takeover. Hors d’Oeuvres ★Lunch General Tso Pork Belly Hot Pepper Corn Bread ★ Woods and Water Mango & Ramp Fried Chicken Orange, Garlic Fingerlings & Pickled Ramps ★ Another One Lamb Fermented Garlic, Bone Marrow & French Onion Puree ★ MO ★... Continue reading

Beefsteak and Rum Was $129 Now $99! (Includes Carnage, The Rum Tasting, A Diplomatico Rum Cocktail and Cigar) The Diplomatico Folks Have Made This Quite a Steal. They want all Dads and other carnivores to Attend. Thanks Diplomatico! Carnage, Beverage, Music and Cigars by Diplomático Rum Father's Day Sunday, June 16th Though the centerpiece of Beefsteak Culture was (and is) the frenzied consumption of beef and beverage, with diners eating with their fingers and drinking with abandon, serving styles varied. Here's a 1939 article in The New Yorker that lays out the differences. The article is entitled "All You Can... Continue reading

Memorial Day - Stage Left Style! Gin & Lobsters We'll have tables on the sidewalk and lobsters on the grill. 4 PM - 9 PM Reservations by Clicking Here We can't think of a better way to ring in the summer season than with Lobster and The Newest gin from Hendrick's: Midsummer Solstice. Hendrick's rocked the gin universe with the introduction of their limited edition 'Orbium' Gin (aromatics of Quinine, Wormwood and Blue Lotus Blossom) this spring. Now they've done it again with Hendrick's 'Midsummer Solstice' (aromatics of summer flowers). Master Distiller Lesley Gracie has dubbed this a release from... Continue reading

Cinco de Mayo with El Tesoro Tequila Cinco de Mayo is an odd holiday for Stage Left to commemorate. While we think that some claims of cultural appropriation are overblown, it's always felt a little inauthentic of us to 'celebrate' this holiday as some sort of excuse to get drunk on Tequila (as if we needed an excuse). Especially as so many of our employees (and so many of the good people of New Brunswick) are actually from Mexico or of Mexican descent, we felt we had to be a little more thoughtful about it. I thought, "How would I... Continue reading