Bites Nearby: Out-of-the-Ordinary Neighborhood Bistro

Janice, a small bistro on Sheridan Avenue in Ho-Ho-Kus, has a relatively short menu with a wide range of foods–from a hamburger and fries to sesame-crusted yellow fin tuna. But what you want to check out are the daily specials.

Chef Janice Tinari offers whatever dishes strike her fancy, and she ventures far beyond traditional bistro food. She started out as an adventurous cook turned caterer who walked by a closed luncheonette one day in 2001 and saw a for sale sign. 

“I knew it was now or never,” said the mother of four. Husband John Tinari, a commercial real estate executive in New York City, supported the venture, recalling that Janice was better in the kitchen than both his mother and his mother-in-law who were “great cooks.”

Janice denies being the better cook, but notes, “They cooked the same things all the time. If it was Sunday, you knew it was spaghetti and meatballs. Friday, it was fish.” Janice Tinari wanted to go beyond traditional Italian fare.  

The Tinaris bought the 1950s-style luncheonette, kept the original nine booths, the counter and the stools that are rooted to the floor with fixtures that go through into the basement.  

But thanks to their oldest daughter, artist Leah Tinari, they added a mural of all their family and friends in keeping with the bistro motif. “We wanted something to make it our own,” Janice recalled.

There are tables in front, under the mural, and John installed a new tin ceiling made from the 1922 molds used on many New York City buildings. The ceiling looks as if it had been there since the beginning even though the building is not old enough to sport original tin ceilings.

 It is a cozy space that provides breakfast, lunch and dinner to a steady clientele.  And it has been a favorite of ours since shortly after it opened.

The other day, we slipped in for dinner on a week night (reservations are a must on weekends) and started with one of Janice’s special salads and a grilled calamari and shrimp dish.

The salad was particularly nice, consisting of arugula, spinach, strawberries, walnuts and goat cheese in a strawberry vinaigrette. Both it and the grilled seafood provided a very nice start to the evening.  

My partner had one of the specials, trout encrusted with horseradish and mustard, as a main course and asked for fries instead of scalloped potatoes. The fries here are always good and both Leah and John attribute it to clean oil. John cites frequent changes and Janice notes that nothing except potatoes every go into her fryers. “I’m not much for fried foods,” she notes. 

But as someone who counts on her hamburger and fries as a comfort food, it is nice to know she makes an exception for potatoes. A burger, however, was not my choice for the night.  

I had the penne Bolognese which I felt could have used a little more meat and spices and a little less penne and vodka sauce, but it was tasty. And by leaving some of the pasta, I had room to share one of Janice’s famous desserts–in this case a pecan pie that was sweet, but not too sweet.  

Janice still does all of the baking in her kitchen and says everything, including sauces, are made from scratch. Son David manages the place while John sees to the front of the house and younger daughter Alison helps out. 

“When it started, we all helped,” David recalls. “We had no idea what we were getting into.” Janice said. “There were so many things we didn’t know how to do.”

But she did know how to cook and people liked what she offered so a decade later, Janice’s Bistro is still going. As with any business, there are problems. Food that comes out from the kitchen sometimes sits on the counter too long, thanks to an occasionally inattentive staff.  

Minor quibbles aside, Janice is a good place to be for dinner on a frosty night or a summer evening, offering interesting food, well-prepared. It has a definite place on our list of favorites. (We also intend to check out daughter Leah’s new restaurant in Manhattan. It’s named Fattacuckoo, after an expression her paternal grandmother used to end every meal. John said, “Loosely translated, it means get out of here and go play.”)

Food: Excellent

Service: Fair to good

Atmosphere: Cozy

Child Friendly: Yes

Entrée price range: $15-$29

BYOB

Reservations: 201-445-2666