buzzworthy
West Orange
PIRIRA, PERFORMED
AT LUNA STAGE
Bloomfield
NEW RESTAURANT
OFFERS BEER BONANZA
BEER HOUSE GASTROPUB, a
recent addition to Bloomfield’s
growing restaurant scene,
offers family menu staples
such as burgers, pasta, salads
and pizza, but it’s the beer
menu that’s likely to leave you
drooling. Stellar draft selections
include Allagash White Witbier,
Lagunitas A Little Sumpin’ Extra
and Troegs Sunshine Pils; the
extensive number of draft beers
are available by glass, pitcher
and growler. For the non-beer
drinker, there are cocktails
and wine. Other enticements
include a happy hour, daily
specials and games shown
on nine hi-def TV screens.
• 412 Bloomfield Ave.,
(973) 337-5724, beerhousenj.com
Montclair Montclair
Award-winning chef-owner
SHEREE SARABHAYA is well-
known to area diners from her
long-lived Spice II in Montclair, and from her Boon
Thai Kitchen in Livingston. With her latest restaurant,
KAI YANG, she brings a new concept to local casual
dining: Thai rotisserie chicken. Sarabhaya’s cuisine is
inspired by her experiences growing up in Bangkok,
where she enjoyed freshly-prepared Thai market
street foods including kai yang (grilled chicken).
Her version of the dish uses organic chicken that
is rotisserie-grilled and accompanied by traditional
papaya salad, sticky rice and dipping sauces;
variations include pork and beef. Kai Yang also
features several of the chef’s signature Thai dishes
from Spice II, which closed in August. The new
space, which seats 40, is decorated in the vibrant
colors of a Thai street market and is open
for lunch and dinner every day except Tuesday.
• 345 Bloomfield Ave., (973) 509-2110 TAYARI JONES, a former
member of the MFA faculty
at the Newark Campus of
OCT. 20
Rutgers University and the
5 P.M.
author of several novels, will
join historian and former
Princeton University professor Dr. Nell
Irvin Painter in conversation as part of the
MONTCLAIR PUBLIC LIBRARY’S OPEN
BOOK/OPEN MINDS series. Jones’ recently
released work, An American Marriage, is
about an African-American couple coping
with the innocent husband’s arrest. The day
it was published, Oprah Winfrey announced
that it would be a pick of her book club.
Ticketed reservations, which include a copy
of the book, are required. The dialogue
will be held at Central Presbyterian Church.
• 42 Park St., montclairplf.org
KAI YANG OPENS ON
BLOOMFIELD AVENUE
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB AUTHOR
COMES TO OPEN BOOK/
OPEN MINDS AT MPL
Montclair
MONTCLAIR FILM WINS TWO GRANTS
TO SUSTAIN YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMMING
MONTCLAIR FILM recently won not one, but two major grants to provide year-round
programming. The USA Today Network, which is funded by the Gannett Foundation (and is
the publisher of this magazine), awarded a $25,000 Fan Favorite grant to the organization.
With support from more than 285 donors in April and May, Montclair Film was one of four
organizations nationally to receive Fan Favorite support for the “A Community Thrives”
campaign on Crowdrise. Montclair Film was the only organization in New Jersey and the only
arts organization among more than 500 submissions to receive a grant. In addition, The New
Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA) provided the organization with $30,000 in general
operating support for its 2018-2019 season, the third and final award of a three-year cycle.
14
FALL 2018 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
Stephen Colbert interviewed Samantha Bee
at a Montclair Film event in 2017.
JONES:
You have until Oct. 28 to see PIRIRA , a play
by J. Stephen Brantley that won a New York
Innovative Theater Award for Outstanding
Premiere of a Play. The plot is this: As the African
nation of Malawi erupts in rioting, American aid
workers Jack and Ericka seek shelter in the storage
room of a struggling NGO, while at a Manhattan
florist shop, Malawian student Gilbert and his gay
co-worker Chad begin another day as usual. The
new play explores the challenges of international
aid across interpersonal borders, and how we bridge seemingly impossible cultural divides.
Featured actors are (clockwise from top left) Naja Selby-Morton, John Keller, Kevis Hillocks
sand David Gow. • Tickets $29-$39; all sales final and for general admission. 555 Valley Road,
(973) 395-5551, lunastage.org