I have the pleasure of visiting Ikea in Elizabeth tomorrow a.m.

Can any locals recomend a place within a short drive that would warrant a visit for lunch and an afternoon wander?

You could drive to Westfield, NJ to walk around the shops. It is not a huge town but very walkable with plenty of restaurants.

Since it is cold you could drive to the Short Hills Mall. They have a McCormick & Schmicks or Joe's American Grill if you don't mind chains.

Papa Razzi is my restaurant of choice in Short Hills Mall...it's located next to Joe's.

How far is a short drive? Highland Park is about 30 minutes from there and has a great Greek restaurant, a great Thai restaurant, and a great Chinese restaurant. The high street has some nice shops, and there are a couple of nice parks nearby. New Brunswick is just across the river which also has a few good restaurants and shops.

Rumor has it that Olive Garden has good breadsticks...

They do but the rest of the food is crap.

I'm hearing good things about Montclair.

It's a pity that you will miss the first ever restaurant week in Montclair (although of course they have 2 of them in Manhatten at this time of year!)

I like Raymond's in Montclair, which is on Church St...they do good brunches but it's fine to eat at any time there (they don't appear to be participating in Restaurant week in any case).


http://www.gotomontclairnj.com/rest-...aurantweek.htm has a list of many of the dining places in Montclair.

There is also a British shop on Bloomfield Ave (the main road) but it's expensive!

If it's too cold to be walking around, then yes the Short Hills mall is your best bet - and closer to IKEA - if you want to stay in a warm environment. American Joe's is always busy with families and the food is over-rated. I like Papparazzi or Legal Sea Foods.

I live in SH (part-time LOL!) ...but I'm out all day and overnight on Saturday otherwise I'd invite you round for a cuppa!

There's another IKEA in northern NJ but I've never been to it...think it's Parsippany or something similar sounding and it might be more convenient in location depending on where you're driving from?

And the woman who runs the place is a bit of a sourpuss as well – even when her shop was featured in the NYT: couldn’t even crack a smile when getting lots of great free publicity:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/11/dining/11cand.html
the other Ikea is in Paramus

BTW I would also recommend Raymond's in Montclair

It's a chain though, so can eat there anywhere....

Yes it is a chain...therefore it's surprising it's a very good restaurant.

aye, the one in town and the other up the road are pretty good.

sourpuss is a tad unfair. She was very helpful when I popped in there, and either way, they do the sticky toffee puddings you can only get at Waitrose!

Get some White Castles?

If you're going to shop at Ikea, you may as well eat at Olive Garden....