wayne eats
WRITTEN BY ESTHER DAVIDOWITZ AND REBECCA KING
FORMER ESCAPE AND
ORAMA CHEF BRYAN
GREGG IS CHEF/PARTNER
AT CAFÉ CHAMELEON IN
BLOOMINGDALE
Bryan Gregg, who closed his small, farm-to-
table BYOB restaurant Escape in Montclair three
years ago, is heading the kitchen of five-month-old,
100-seat Café Chameleon, the restaurant and bar in
Bloomingdale. Gregg was the last chef at Orama,
the swanky, fine-dining restaurant on the banks of the
Hudson River in Edgewater. Orama closed last year.
“I’m excited to once again lead a team of talented
professionals in the kitchen,” Gregg noted in a press
release. He added that the restaurant will try to cook
with products “as local as can be” and be seasonal,
meaning the menu will change frequently. The
breads, pasta and dessert are all homemade.
Café Chameleon’s menu features pork belly with
charred stone fruit ($15); pan-seared dry-aged duck
breast ($32), roasted chicken breast with pickled
mushrooms ($25) and cacio e pepe ($18).
Gregg, who has been a repeat Featured Chef at the
James Beard House, was named Best Jersey Seafood
Chef at the 2015 Jersey Seafood Challenge. That
year, he represented New Jersey at the 2015 Great
American Seafood Cook Off in New Orleans,
where he won the Seafood Showdown.
Café Chameleon is open for dinner every day
except Monday. It plans to offer lunch and brunch
soon. On Wednesday, Nov. 20, it will hold a special
wine-paired four-course dinner featuring the wines
of Napa Valley’s Orin Swift Cellars; $109 per person.
• For more information, go to cafe-chameleon.com.
The restaurant is located at 60 Main St.,
Bloomingdale; (973) 850-6969.
What’s the difference between Carolina and Texas barbecue? According to chef
Saun Gallinoto, who, along with his wife Brandy, owns the new Carolina barbecue
joint Fixin’s Biscuits & BBQ in Lincoln Park, it’s all in the sauce. Carolina sauce has
a base of apple cider vinegar, as opposed to the Texas style’s ketchup base. The for-
mer is tangier and lighter, the latter is richer.
You’ll find a complex Carolina sauce at Fixin’s, the couple’s snug, walk-up, take-
out restaurant, which recently opened on Main Street. The secret sauce recipe is a
hand-me-down from Gallinoto’s grandfather, and made with a healthy handful of
spices and five different peppers. The smoked pork is doused in that sauce, then
smoked for 15 hours, pulled off the bone and served ($11.99). Nothing here is fro-
zen; Gallinoto says they don’t even own a freezer. Instead, Fixin’s fries are fresh cut
($2.49); the ribs are cooked for 12 hours and served with a heady sticky sauce
($14.49 for 1 pound); and the biscuits are baked with garlic and cheddar ($0.99).
• Fixin’s Biscuits & BBQ is open from noon to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through
Saturdays, from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays, and closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
It is located at 196 Main St., Lincoln Park; (973) 987-3777, facebook.com/fixinsnj.
46
HOLIDAY 2019 WAYNE MAGAZINE
FIXIN’S BISCUIT & BBQ BRINGS CAROLINA
BARBECUE TO LINCOLN PARK