By Sebastian Henriquez
Special to The Independent Press
Bloomfield Avenue is one of the main Northern New Jersey thoroughfares, passing through one of the most densely populated parts of the most densely populated states.
Unlike some of the other east west roadways like Route 46 or Route 3, much of it has more of a neighborhood feel as do the restaurants and shops along the avenue.
The history of the avenue begins in the late 1790s with Israel Crane who lived with his family in what was originally known as Cranetown but later became Montclair.
Crane established a general store along the road that went from Caldwell to Newark, which was a difficult trip that took a day to complete.
He had the idea of creating the Newark and Pompton Turnpike Co. which built a toll road of 11.2 miles long: the future Bloomfield Avenue.
Today, the avenue crosses through seven municipalities: Newark, Bloomfield, Verona, Montclair, Glen Ridge, Caldwell and West Caldwell.
Crane died in 1858, long before he could see Bloomfield Avenue become a bustling center of commerce.
Today the avenue hosts paint stores, car dealerships, yoga studios, drug stores, tire stores, barber shops and even a marijuana dispensary. And restaurants, a lot of restaurants ranging from typical fast food to Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Ecuadorian, Portuguese plus soul food, steak houses and sports bars.
One restaurant that has been around for more than six decades and is known for its Italian style hot dogs is Dickey Dee’s. When it was built, the area was mostly residents of Italian descent but as time passed, the demographics changed.
Robert D’Innocenzio has owned and worked at the place for more than a decade. He is the third owner of Dickey Dee’s and said the place has always been able to prosper because they focus on the neighborhood.
“We have customers that are my grandfather’s age, in their 90s all the way down to kids. For some, their grandparents brought them here, and now they are coming here and they have kids as well. So you know we have generations of customers,” D’Innocenzio said.
“This is a neighborhood place – everybody comes in,” D’Innocenzio said. “We sell pizza, sandwiches, stuff for everybody.”
The most famous dish in Dickey Dee’s is the double Italian hot dog, which is made with round pizza bread cut in half to form a pocket; two fried hot dogs go inside the pocket with peppers, onions and fried potatoes.
Dickey Dee’s was established in 1958 by Dominick D’Innocenzio and Enrico Bruno. It has been family owned ever since. The pair worked at the telephone company together, and at the time there were few Italian style hot dog restaurants. They saw this as a great opportunity to open up a store with their wives.
In the restaurant’s early stages while D’Innocenzio and Bruno were working at the telephone company during the day, the store was run by D’Innocenzio’s wife.
“It just popped off for them, and it gave them a life,” said Robert D’Innocenzio.
A newer place along the avenue is co-owned by Olivier Muller, who is also the chef at Faubourg Restaurant and Bar. Faubourg is a modern French type of brasserie with a bar/lounge. Faubourg was established on the avenue in 2019.
Six months after Muller opened the restaurant, COVID arrived and all the employees had to be laid off. Muller and his partner did take out and deliveries for a couple of months until they were able to seat people outside.
“It was quite a challenge, you know and also coming from New York we had to find all the stuff that we needed here in New Jersey. It was a process, you know but I feel like we found many talented chefs at service who would support our ideas, and I think that the restaurant is doing very well,” Muller said.
Muller, and his partner Dominick worked in New York for 20 years before establishing Faubourg. Muller worked for restaurateur Daniel Boulud, who owns restaurants in New York City and around the world. Muller was part of the crew that helped Boulud open new restaurants.
“I have helped Daniel to open 12 restaurants,” Muller said. “We wanted to do one for ourselves. Dominick one day called me
and said ‘hey come to New Jersey, There is something to do here.’”
The name of the restaurant, Faubourg, is symbolic. It is a French word that originally meant the equivalent of “fore-town,” which is essentially a suburb.
“Faubourg is the suburbs, or the outskirts of a city, so we are almost an outskirt of Montlcair, but Montclair is almost an outskirt of New York, and there are all sources of meanings,” said Muller. “In Paris the faubourg area has a lot of energy, there are bars, restaurants, cafes and all sources of stores.”
History and change on Bloomfield Ave. added by Editor on
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