Hats Off to the Valley Arts District's Favorite Restaurant

South Orange Patch visited Hat City Kitchen before the paint had dried on the purple walls, so it was time that Patch make another visit to what has become a much-talked about local hangout. A year ago, Hat City Kitchen, 459 Valley St., in Orange was just another boarded up building, the forlorn former home of a down at the heels Italian restaurant, Ricky's in the Valley.

Today, the lively restaurant, bar and music club is the centerpiece of the Valley Arts District, an ambitious urban renewal project that hopes to fill the neighborhood bounded by Scotland Road, Central Avenue, Valley Road and Nassau Street with new stores, restaurants, condos, performance spaces, galleries, studios and affordable lofts for artists.

Call it the soundtrack to an urban renaissance: a wailing blues harmonica and a piercing electric guitar backed by a hard rocking band that has the joint jumping on a hot summer night.

"We bought Ricky's because we wanted a highly visible property that would be pivotal to the revitalization of the neighborhood," said Patrick Morrissy, executive director of Hands, Inc. the local non-profit organization that has been the guiding force behind the Valley Arts District initiative. "The building looked like a dump and was symbol of the neighborhood's decline. Now it looks great and almost everybody who comes there wants to come back."

Good food, music and the feel of a comfortable neighborhood tavern are Hat City's three draws.

"We wanted the cuisine to reflect the diversity of the population around Hat City," Morrissy said. "So we hired a really talented chef, Patrick Pierre Jerome, who serves New American dishes with Creole and soul influences."

As well as down home favorites like a pulled pork sandwich for $9, meatloaf and buttermilk and honey fried chicken.

On the club side, Hat City, which is six months old this week, has been tapping into the local music scene for booking bands on Friday and Saturday nights, said John Williams, the clubs' events coordinator.

Rock, blues and R&B have been the mainstays so far, but Williams said he's also experimenting with jazz, spoken word and funk, and reaching out to bands in other areas of New Jersey, and even out of state.

"We've been catering to a somewhat older audience with more refined tastes," he said. "This isn't for 25 year-olds who are out to get hammered."

The Community Band from Morristown will play the club Friday night and The Heebie Jeebies, a rockabilly band from North Carolina, comes in on Saturday night.

Williams, a local musician himself and a professional sound man who helped launch Maplewoodstock, said he's even thinking of bringing in name acts, but is still trying to figure out how to make it work economically.

He's already booked Todd Wolfe, Sheryl Crow's guitar player and sometime songwriter, to appear in the fall.

"You're taking a risk when you get away from local acts and the following they bring with them," Williams said, "so you have to do it really cautiously."

So far, Hat City's music venue has been a success, he said.

"The cover is only $5, the patrons have a good time and the bands like the fact that it's a nice room with an excellent sound system that's already set up for them," Williams said.

"The word is getting out," said Glenn Govier, bass player for Carlos Colina and Straight Up, the blues band that played the club on Friday. "For us as musicians, this is a dream. It's a great room, there's great food and great equipment."

Leslie West, the former Mountain guitarist of "Mississippi Queen" fame, has dropped in and played, and Whoopie Goldberg (West Orange) and Andre Braugher (South Orange) have also been spotted at the club.

Orange residents are also giving their new neighbor good reviews.

"It's so much better than Ricky's," said Michael Brown. "The music sounds great and everybody's having a good time."

The club is also strengthening local ties by having an open mike night on Tuesdays and hosting events such as a rock-paper-scissors tournament.

Hat City Kitchen isn't profitable yet, Morrissy said.

Any new restaurant venture is challenging, and opening in the middle of a recession certainly hasn't helped.

And a lot of people in surrounding towns still don't know Hat City even exists.

But Morrissy is doing as much promotion as he can, and is confident word of mouth will spread and bring in customers.

When the recession is over, he said he hopes the success of Hat City and the arts district will have "reignited the housing market in the Valley."

Meanwhile, if people aren't tucking into a spicy jambalaya or shrimp etoufee or listening to a band, they can always get a cold draft beer for $5 at the bar and just kick back.

"All BS aside," said bartender Howard Agriss, "this place is cool."

What do you think of Hat City? Tell us in the comments.