As one door closes, another opens…

When we opened Hooked JC five years ago, on a shoestring budget and in a location that gave many pause, we never could have imagined where it would take us. We hoped it would lead to bigger and better opportunities but we are truly humbled by what we accomplished through the support of our families, neighbors, friends, and ALL of you.

Jersey City and especially our nearby neighbors showered us with rave reviews to the point that one local blogger pointed out that it was a bit ridiculous Hooked JC had a better Yelp and Google rating than the Michelin 3-star restaurant Per Se (we agreed that may have been a bit much). NJ.com named us one of 10 hottest new restaurants, and American writer, editor, and authority on wine & food Colman Andrews named us “the most popular seafood restaurant in NJ.” That was a fun one! We stayed consistently 4.5+ stars across all platforms and were included in more “best of” articles than we can remember.

From day one we were dedicated to serving local fish caught off our eastern shores and are proud to say that we educated thousands of local residents and visitors alike about the wonderful flavors of local, unappreciated, and fresh fish catches such as Dogfish, Sea Robin, Skate, and Monkfish. We were dedicated to never serving any farm-raised seafood products with the exception of our fried oysters (farmed are actually better for oysters). As a scratch kitchen, everything, right down to the sauces, dressings, and seasonings, was made in-house and you could taste it.

Success can be measured in many ways and monetary success was never it for our Hooked JC. It has always been our goal to provide a benefit to our neighborhood and city first and a profit second. Because of Hooked JC, we were afforded the opportunity to take over a luncheonette that has been feeding folks for 100+ years and run by the same family for more than 60. The luncheonette was actually the first location we wanted six years ago but the owners weren’t quite ready to let it go, thus Hooked JC was born in The Junction. But everything happens for a reason and this month we celebrate one year at our newest venture Cafe Alyce!

It’s certainly bittersweet to say goodbye to Hooked JC but we are so excited that it led us back to our original dream of opening on the corner of Baldwin & Montgomery overlooking Jersey City & NYC. We’ve been feeling deja vu, as happy guests fill our space and pour 5-star reviews on us. In these ever-changing times, your favorite restaurants are facing extreme challenges. Food costs, staff shortages, and NJ’s archaic and expensive liquor laws, to name a few. We know by consolidating our resources and focusing our efforts we see a very bright future for Cafe Alyce. Dinner service is coming soon!

Thank you Jersey City for accepting, supporting, and loving us for all these years. We are proud of what we achieved and we hope to see you soon at our new home, Cafe Alyce. We promise this isn’t the end, it’s only the beginning!

build your own