Friends' Merchant Series: Fisher's Cafe

Editor's note: As part of their fundraising efforts for this year, the Friends of the Hasbrouck Heights Library is asking area businesses to offer discounts to library supporters who join their Friends Merchants program. Friends' Justin Watrel has prepared profiles of participating businesses, which Patch has agreed to publish one to two times per month throughout the year. Patch plays no role in selecting the businesses or writing the profiles.

There are many reasons to visit Fisher's Cafe in Hasbrouck Heights. Some of those may be the  thick milkshakes, patty melts, egg platters with corn muffins and a hamburger between a grilled cheese called a “Jay Melt” not to mention that all the comforts of what dining was like back in the day when meals weren’t rushed and people went out for good food and to meet friends.

Fisher's Cafe brings honest cooking and a friendly smile by people who know what you like to eat.

Owner Alex Reyes has been running this way for 10 years. Born and raised in the Dominican Republic and now a East Rutherford and Asbury Park resident, Alex was self- trained in the business from the bottom up. “I came to this country in 1991 and didn’t find that many opportunities at the time. Then I started to work at the State Line Diner in Mahwah as a dishwasher and worked my way up. I moved up to waiter and then I went to school to learn English and then I moved on to cooking at the restaurant.”

“My next job was at a luncheonette in Ho Ho Kus where I worked as a waiter. When an order came in and it was something easy, I would ask my boss I could prepare it. Then one day he asked me if I would like to learn how to cook. Later I switched to cooking. I then went to school and got my certification in cooking from the New York Cooking School and I never looked back. Then at the end of 2000, I saw an ad that Fisher’s Café in Hasbrouck Heights was for sale and
I decided it was time to own my own business. When I bought the restaurant, there wasn’t much business. Fisher’s had been in business since 1934, but its reputation had long past it.”

“I wanted to bring my own ideas with me to Fisher’s when we reopened the restaurant. I brought with me all I knew from my time at the luncheonettes that I had worked in and menu items that I thought might be well received. I later added things that people asked for and now continue to add new food items to the menu. We do good business but you can never read what a customer might want to eat and how tastes change,” Alex said.

“We are very lucky that we have a very loyal and dedicated following,” Alex continued. “We have a lot of the same people dine with us all the time. They like the atmosphere and love the food. This concept has been so successful, that in 2004, I started to franchise the restaurant. There are now seven ‘Fisher’s Café’s’ in New Jersey. Aside from the original Hasbrouck Heights restaurants there is another in Bergen County over in Fair Lawn."  There are the five franchised restaurants in Asbury Park,Passaic, Hawthorne, North Arlington and Fairfield.

"I have found that customers like the personal luncheonette concept as a gathering place. The goals of our restaurants are the same, good food and service, nice atmosphere and good conversation. We want to be the place that people want to eat at.”

“We are also consistent with our menu in all our restaurants and you can enjoy the same meals in each one,” Alex said. “Only the North Arlington and Hawthorne restaurants serve dinner and in the evening, the Hawthorne restaurant menu converts to a Cuban menu. We used to serve dinner for a while in the Hasbrouck Heights branch, but now we only do so the last Friday of each month during the summer. Another feature we introduced is an ice cream parlor serving Hershey’s ice cream.”

Fishers Café has an extensive menu of breakfast and lunch favorites that include omelets, such as the Asbury (turkey, onions, bacon and Swiss cheese) and the Heights (broccoli, bacon and cheddar cheese), eggs any style, pancakes, French toast and breakfast wraps for breakfast.

For lunch, there is an array of hot and cold sandwiches and burger platters. Some their specialties  include grilled Panini’s called the Cubano (roast pork, ham, Swiss cheese, sliced pickles, caramelized onions and mustard on focaccia bread) and the Heights Chicken (grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, tomato, caramelized onions on focaccia bread), quesadillas that include crispy chicken and Philly cheesesteak and a bacon cheeseburger deluxe.

“What the true success of my business is that I enjoy what I do every day,” Alex said. “I like coming into work and seeing the customers and enjoy making them happy.”

Fisher’s Café
245 Boulevard
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
201-288-2244