New Restaurant White Maple Cafe Opens in Ridgewood NJ

With summertime temperatures soaring, fine dining fans have quickly found a brand new place to cool off, relax with friends, and have a crazy good meal: newly opened White Maple Café in Ridgewood.

 

Owner and executive chef Ryan Brining—formerly of NYC’s legendary Daniel (just so you know, that’s a VERY big deal)—has completely transformed the old Heidi’s Bakery space into a ravishingly rustic-meets-modern restaurant complete with exposed brick, white maple wood beams, an oversized communal farmhouse table for large parties, mosaic tile floor, and a live plant wall (can we get one?). We love that the tables are not TOTALLY on top of one another (rare for a BYO joint), and, of course, outdoor seating is also available.

 

We stopped by for lunch recently and were blown away by both the food and the quality of service. Our party ordered up a bunch of shared appetizers. By far, the standout was the Rocket Chips ($7), homemade root chips served with an arugula and blue cheese dip. The word “yum” doesn’t even begin to describe the robust flavors that took our tastebuds to another level of savory satisfaction!

 

We also dived in to White Maple’s Big Bowl of Mussels ($17), which arrived in a white wine tomato broth and was accompanied by slices grilled sourdough. Of course, we had to order the hand-cut fries ($5) because, well, FRIES! They didn’t disappoint and brought us back to our days feasting at a certain UES French bistro in the City.

 

Another huge fave was the Kale Pesto Fettuccine ($16), which was topped with zucchini, squash, tomato, walnuts, and goat cheese—a to-die-for vegetarian treat (there are plenty of other great vegetarian and gluten-free options, too!)

 

Dessert here is NOT to be missed. We passed a few around our table including the Chocolate Pudding with whipped cream ($6), Cookies and Milk ($7), and the Apple Crisp with Maple Gelato ($9). It’s hard to say which was the best. The cookies went the quickest, but I really enjoyed the complex flavors in the apple crisp. The maple gelato was a perfect accompaniment to the warm apple sweetness.

 

All in all, White Maple Café is a great place to enjoy a healthy yet yummy lunch or a light dinner. I highly recommend.