“What’s next? We will just have to wait and see what options are out there. We are focused on recapturing the momentum we had just started to gain and moving forward.”

That’s what Fair Lawn Roadhouse owner Moshe Berow said in the aftermath of the fire that ripped through a Fair Lawn shopping center in the early morning hours of Friday, July 26, 2024. The flames and subsequent water damage destroyed the strip that also included Zaides Kosher Bake Shop and many other businesses. The site is now a rather large hole in the ground, the future of which is uncertain.

The first location of Fair Lawn Roadhouse had been open for exactly five months, during which they had also absorbed Mashu Mashu Kosher Sushi Bar. The business had just started to get rolling before hitting a proverbial wall of flames. But Berow did not intend to give up. The search for the new Roadhouse began rather quickly.

“We felt like we were just starting to hit our stride and the fire put the brakes on everything, so It was a priority for us to find someplace to get right back to work,” Berow said about his determination.

The original opening of Roadhouse was actually kind of a half measure. Berow had wanted to open a restaurant with seating and had been looking for a location for almost two years. But with Fair Lawn booming, he just couldn’t find the right type of restaurant space available. That led to Roadhouse acquiring the former space of Petak’s Glatt Kosher Fine Foods & Catering as that business transitioned to being a catering only operation. Which meant Berow had to settle for a deli counter with a few high stools at which to sit.

Berow’s goal was for Roadhouse to be a place that filled many community needs. That meant not just being a restaurant, but also doing prepared foods (especially for Shabbat takeout) and catering too. Berow used everything he had learned over the years to create a restaurant with characteristics of both a smokehouse and a grill, prepared foods of all types and catering for palettes that might be heimish, modern and anywhere in between.

But as much as Roadhouse wanted to be there for the community, the community wanted to be there for Roadhouse. In the hours after the fire (late in the day on a Friday), around 60 people answered a call that Berow put out to local WhatsApp chats asking for help to rescue things from Roadhouse. The group was able to accomplish a great deal in a very limited amount of time. As people showed up with every minivan, SUV or pick-up truck they could find, the stuff started to get loaded into everyone’s personal vehicles with a rented U-Haul trailer mixed in for some of the really large items.

As Shabbat neared and the job was done, Berow could not fathom the sense of community that he felt.

“I’ve rarely felt as much love and connection as I did from those embraces I got late erev Shabbat from dozens of people I am privileged to call friends,” Berow said about the Fair Lawn community.

With such an outpouring of community support, Berow got to work on paying it back. Luckily for him, a local non-kosher deli’s owner was looking to retire. The location was perfect, the place had the seating capacity that Roadhouse had always wanted, and the space was available on a timeline that appeared to allow Berow to open in time for Chanukah.

“I looked at places all over the area including Paramus, Teaneck and Hackensack, but none of them really fit what we wanted to do,” said Berow about the search for the new Roadhouse. “Then this location popped up. A perfect space in a perfect place, Fair Lawn. It was gift-wrapped by Hashem just for us. We jumped on it.”

But when it came down to literally getting a foot in the door, the previous owner still wanted to stay open through the holiday season to fill catering orders. This left Roadhouse with no outlet for the planned Chanukah menu that involved a different loaded latke every day. Not wanting to scrap the plan, Berow inquired about getting some temporary space in Teaneck and was pleasantly surprised that something was available in exactly the right time period.

The Roadhouse pop-up in Teaneck turned out to be a huge success. Not only were plenty of people thrilled to have the Chanukah-themed items, but many Teaneck residents who missed out on their chance to visit Roadhouse’s first location were able to take advantage and promised to drive the 15 minutes to the new place once it opened.

The new Roadhouse (22-08 Morlot Avenue) has the best of the old Roadhouse plus all of the perks that Berow could ask for. There’s seating for around 45 people and a section dedicated to takeout that carries everything from challah and desserts to soups and salads to go along with the deli counter everyone had grown to love.

The space is large enough that Berow already has bookings for sheva brachot and other simchas. With no other restaurant in town able to accommodate events, that’s just one more community need checked off the list. But Roadhouse didn’t want to stop there.

As a kind of reopening party, Roadhouse hosted a Super Bowl event that featured an all you can eat buffet of many of the classic “Roadhouse” items. With Roadhouse chili, Roadhouse nachos and sliders featuring the various house-made Roadhouse meats, the crowd was thrilled to have a place to call home.

“A big part of the identity of Roadhouse is the location,” said Berow passionately. “I’m from only a few minutes away. I moved to Fair Lawn to raise my kids here and the community is proud of the growth in the last few years. There’s a reason that local landmarks are featured in the Roadhouse logo.”

The Fair Lawn community has embraced the reopening perhaps even more strongly than the first.

“It’s great to not have to leave town when you have a busy schedule and just need to pick up some food for shabbat,” said frequent local patron Joseph Kimmel. “The last six months were tough after having gotten used to having Roadhouse to rely on. I’m so happy it’s back and better than ever.” 

With a bright future ahead, Fair Lawn Roadhouse looks forward to some upcoming highlights such as a new dine-in only menu. As a new center of Jewish life for the Fair Lawn community, Roadhouse is trying to seize the day and use their second chance to really make an impact for the town in both the short and the long term. Wherever the road goes, Berow will be ready for it, a year older and wiser than the last time, with the battle scars to prove it.

Fair Lawn Roadhouse is open Sunday to Thursday from 11am to 9pm and on Friday from 9am to 2pm. Reach them at (201)-256-3190 or FairLawnRoadHouse.com. They are under the strict supervision of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County (RCBC).