Have you had a chance to check out Belle Ame Café? Opened since July, the Café is situated on a quiet residential block (76 Cottage St., to be exact) and is a mere four-minute walk to the JSQ Path Station. The proximity makes it an ideal morning stop for folks back in the commuting grind and in need of a great coffee and/or breakfast sandwich to get going.

Yet another superb juicery/vegan eatery is open in our midst. The latest is VegBar, located in Hoboken at 464 Newark Ave., close to the JC border and the Hoboken Fire Station. While the first VegBar in Newark is vegetarian and mostly vegan, the Hoboken locale is all vegan all day.

Have you checked out the beautiful, dried flower arrangements at Hoboken’s Mela Fleur? If we correctly suspect a bit of pause on your end, trust us. These are not your grandmother’s dried flower arrangements. Unlike traditional aged flowers that dry to a brittle and discolored finish, preserved flowers are cut at the peak of health and then soaked for a time in silica.

Café Lafayette recently opened on a sunny corner of Maple and Monitor Streets in Bergen-Lafayette, serving up coffee, breakfast and lunch seven days a week. The menu centers around coffee drinks, smoothies, pastries, breakfast and lunch sandwiches and excellent authentic Korean food.

Attention, fans of Hidden Grounds Coffee (and those who love great coffee in general) – their second location in Jersey City is now up and running. It’s located in a sunny spot at 276 1st St., seconds from the Newark Ave. Pedestrian Plaza and minutes away from the original one at 148 1st St.

Congratulations to Pet Shop JC, the beloved Newark Ave. bar, eatery and event space that celebrated its’ 5th year anniversary this past August. Pet Shop is/was one of those places that upon opening somehow seemed fully formed as a business.

Hybrid Coffee and Kitchen is the fantastic new coffee shop at 398 Manila Ave. Situated on the ground floor of Villa Borinquen, the cheerful airy space was formerly home to a chiropractor and a hair salon. While it is the first food establishment in the spot, it is not owner Evan Santiago’s first business venture.

Just checking, Cocoa Bakery fans. Have you had the chance to check out the second location in the Heights? They opened at 475 Central Avenue back in summer 2019. At 2,500 square feet it’s triple the size of the first Cocoa Bakery downtown on Grand Street.

Argentinian Bakery Dulce De Leche is most famous for their cakes. Blissfully beautiful concoctions that taste as scrumptious as they look. The signature House Cake is a vanilla cake with layers of dulce de leche, whipped cream and peaches covered in a topping of crunchy merengue - somehow both light and decadent at once.

Sushi pizza. Sushi lollipops. Ramen tacos stuffed with pork belly, pineapple and cilantro. The softest Shrimp Dumplings ever. Crazy fresh sushi and expertly made ramen. A family-run business that passed on from father to daughter and grew in the middle of the pandemic. What’s not to love about Ichiban-To-Go?

The SLF is an invasive planthopper native to South and East Asia that eventually made its way to other parts of the world, including the U.S. It was first discovered in Pennsylvania in 2014 and spread to Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Connecticut, Ohio and New Jersey.

As any culture vulture knows, what was old and cool (either ironically or actually) will eventually re-emerge in popular culture. Needlepoint. Sewing. Baking. And of course, the old-style men’s barbershop.

There is no limit to the nice things to say about LaKoet Salon. For one, owner Kitty Varco is a creative genius. A native of Buffalo, NY, she is an expert hair colorist and cutter. She is also an amazing maker of products. Yes, LaKoet supplies top notch brands that like their own are cruelty free and natural.

Dream Vista Café just opened on York St., in the space that formerly housed Vogue Café. If you are familiar with owner Balsayat’s original café in Hoboken – Café Vista – it will be no surprise to you that the interior is gorgeous.

Yaso Tangbao opened their 4th location last November at 30 Hudson. It was the team’s first foray into JC following on the success of their popular NYC restaurants in Brooklyn and Manhattan.