Originally Tattersalls Lodge in the 1930s, this restaurant was known as Whitey and Iva’s in the 1960s. The property now belongs to Battinelli Enterprises. (Photo provided) (
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In 1965, newsman Ed Cropley and his wife Dorothy, a teacher at Eleanor G. Hewitt School in Ringwood, decided to expand their newspaper, The Ringwood Citizen, with a new edition called the West Milford Citizen. Local restaurant owners were among the first advertisers. The paper struggled financially from the start and survived only a few years before closing. Dorothy died first, followed by Ed, and both are buried in the Midvale cemetery.
One frequent advertiser was Whitey and Iva’s Restaurant on Greenwood Lake Turnpike in Hewitt. The eatery promoted a businessman’s lunch for $1.25 with everyday specials, full-course dinners for $2.25 and à la carte meals for $1.50. The menu reflected the tastes of the time: salads and soups, sauerbraten with potato dumplings, roast turkey and dressing, corned beef and cabbage, roast sirloin of beef, veal cutlet and a seafood dinner. Homemade pie was a point of pride, and takeout orders were welcome.
An early postcard photo, likely from the 1930s, shows the building with a roof sign reading “Tattersall’s Lodge.” Little else is known about Tattersall or about Whitey and Iva, even their last name. The property has been owned for about 30 years by Tony Battinelli, a landscaper, and his wife Allison. They spotted the listing in a newspaper and bought it, later demolishing the old restaurant to make way for the garden center and gift shop the family operates today.
Another popular spot was St. Charlie’s Inn at 3219 Route 23 in Oak Ridge. Chef Keith Champy, a young graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, offered dinners priced from $13.95 to $19.50. Dessert chef Barbara Steen, also CIA trained, became known for pumpkin cheesecake. Advertisements described two intimate country-style dining rooms flanking the entrance and a third airy room in the rear with a high ceiling and many windows. All pasta was homemade, including a favorite wheat pasta topped with five varieties of mushrooms in a light champagne sauce. The owner at the time was Tony Govorein of Dumont. In the 1940s and ’50s the building housed Hiram’s Restaurant; today it is Jimmy Geez North, a sports bar and grill known for wings and a family atmosphere.
The Appalachian Lodge at 736 Warwick Turnpike in Upper Greenwood Lake promised luncheon and dinner daily “in our newly decorated and air-conditioned dining room atop Moe Mountain.” Brothers Don and Bill Welch and their wives operated it in the 1960s, though the building began as Joe Sempf’s Tavern during the community’s early development. The Welches advertised a four-course brisket dinner for $1.60 on St. Patrick’s Day. After the restaurant changed hands it became Decker’s Steak and Seafood Bar and later The Hewitt House under Youssef Genid, who had worked in restaurants both in the United States and abroad. Chef Don Lightweis, another CIA graduate, prepared dishes such as Hawaiian chicken and the Atlantic Catch, a platter of lobster, king crab, shrimp, scallops and stuffed clams. Early-bird specials were offered from 4 to 6 p.m., and seafood buffets on Wednesdays and Fridays. The final incarnation was Café Amore, which burned to the ground in a late-night fire and was never rebuilt.
Mitchell’s Colonial Manor on Union Valley Road stood in the Pinecliff Lake area where Provident Bank is located today. Bob Mitchell owned the restaurant, and longtime residents remember his mother doing the cooking before a 1965 advertisement announced that Sam Raimondi, formerly of Livingston and The Fairfield Inn, was “now serving the best Italian-American foods seven days,” with seafood specials on Fridays. A later fire caused heavy damage.
Billings Candlelight Inn on Greenwood Lake Turnpike, now Jessie’s Country Kettle, was described in the Citizen as “one of the better eating places in West Milford.”
The Cropleys also carried ads for nearby establishments such as Neil’s Restaurant on Newark Pompton Turnpike in Riverdale, known for Sunday family dinners. Since 2017 that location has been The Black Bull. La Casa Roma on Ringwood Avenue in Haskell offered Mother’s Day dinners from $1.65 to $3.50.
The township’s newest entry is Cuban Breeze at 3055 Route 23 North in Oak Ridge, most recently the site of Paradise Restaurant. Like the places that came before, it joins a long and changing menu of local history.
