In early August, a restaurant with second-floor event space, The Hudson Rose, opened in Nutley, New Jersey, about 20 minutes outside of Newark. “A lot of people have been telling us Nutley needed this,” The Hudson Rose Event Manager Jordan Sylvester says. She notes many Nutley dining establishments have a focus on Italian food, and The Hudson Rose’s New American menu from Chef Andrew Riccatelli gives attendees something a little bit different. Riccatelli is known for winning the 2017 season of Food Network’s “Chopped,” and he was recently featured as a judge on “Beat Bobby Flay,” which is also on the Food Network. “What’s awesome about Andrew is he’s always bored of his own thing,” Sylvester notes. “He’s continually looking to do something more interesting.” She says one of the most popular offerings coming from the kitchen has been the Caviar Dogs, house-made hot dogs topped with caviar and creme fraiche.
Its event area upstairs, The Harlow Room, is a flexible space that can be converted into two separate, smaller rooms. It can hold up to 200 attendees, with ample natural light streaming in through large windows and an adjacent lounge for planners to take advantage of. “What’s awesome is we offer linens, custom menus, signage, all of that to make it more personal, but also less work for the person planning it,” Sylvester says. As event manager, she is available for on-site needs, too, and notes that handling the intricate details is her specialty and favorite part of the job. “I really love being on-site and coordinating the whole event from start to finish, just to make sure everything that I spoke about is happening and make sure everything looks good—from the colors of the linens and the fold of the napkins to the lighting in the room.”
