Tapastry—Church Street’s New Tapas Restaurant!

This just in from Church Street: The Honest Dog has run off and Tapastry, a restaurant that will feature a predominantly tapas menu, is opening this weekend—in Honest Dog's old location.

Montclair residents and owners of Church Street Catering, Greg and Cheryl Spinelli, will resume operating responsibilities for the a la carte operations at 12 Church St. For the past 18 months, the Spinellis have concentrated exclusively on Church Street Catering.

From what we hear, Gonzalo Fernandez, formerly chef and owner of La Xunta in New York City, will be manning the stoves in the restaurant (assisted by the Spinellis). Meanwhile, the Spinellis will continue to run the catering kitchen (assisted by Fernandez).

According to Greg Spinelli, the plan is to open for dinner beginning this Friday with brunch service to begin on Saturday, and lunch to start next Thursday. Tapestries also plans to schedule outdoor music over the coming holiday weekend, including on Friday, Saturday & Sunday evenings, as well as during Memorial Day brunch. 

After information about the new restaurant was published on Wednesday, Cheryl Spinelli emailed Thursday to clarify her role: "I am the owner of Church Street Catering (Greg and I are partners, but the catering has been primarily mine for years) and the decision to go forward and open the restaurant with this concept would not have happened without me. As a female business owner, it is very difficult to get the recognition deserved, let alone getting it sabotaged by incomplete and/or incorrect reporting. My husband and I are partners, but it has been me who has been in the business consistently since 2004. Greg has always been involved and we are technically equal, but he has worked outside on and off over the years, while I have not. I, too, cook, but currently spend most of my time creating new menus, developing recipes, exploring new venues for my off premises events, booking and servicing my catering clients."