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News 12 Staff

MainSt6a0517NJLE_2024-05-17-06-36-16

It is Friday in time for main street, New Jersey this morning. We are in downtown Somerville. Yeah, Lauren do. She is checking out local businesses there. First up is Turf surf and earth Lauren. What's that? It is Turf Surf and Earth mackenzie. Your husband here. Can you get all that here? You can get all of that here and more. Actually, we have so many things on the menu. Everyone gets very overwhelmed when they come in and look at it. But we do have a lot of options here and it sounds like you have a lot of good for you options too. Yes, that was the whole point of our menu was just to be healthy when they come in. You can get a meat, a seafood, a vegetarian vegan option and everything's healthy. We make everything in house, all of our sauces and everything's just fresh. I feel like that's kind of hard to find sometimes. So that was our whole base. We wanted to do that for everybody. And what made you want to open this place up because you've been in business for almost five years now, five years, next month we're so excited, thanks. Um, I don't know. So my husband actually owned turf and surf in Warren for a while. Um, he had gone to Penn State and he just fell in love with food. Love that. And so he wanted to cook and he wanted to run his own business. So they opened it up with his parents. Um, but then like veganism and vegetarian, it became such a huge thing. Um People started to flock towards that type of food. So we wanted to add on and expand to the menu. So we opened up one in Somerville here and that's like our main concept now is we kind of push the veganism and like the health side of it. Um It's like quick and easy. It's fast food. We try to make it get out fast, but it's not fast food if that makes sense. But you also have like eggs. You also have yes, we have mini and cheese and eggs if you want it, but we'll also offer the other options for everybody else. Um, a little bit healthier. But yeah, it was just kind of honestly something fun. We just wanted to open it up, see how it went. We were, we went a little crazy. So was it like working with your wife or what's it like working with your husband? It's a dream from true. Good answer. Um It's a little hard, I must say we have some of our, we have some days. Um, but it is really fun. It's awesome that we're, we could be together all the time. We just had a baby. He's six months, so we bring him down all the time. We'll just hang out in the kitchen with us. It's kind of wholesome to be down here as a family and have the grandparents watch the kid and serve tables. It's amazing. What a great family business. Let's chit chat some more and we'll send it back to naked Sima. We're in Somerville today. Lauren de New New Jersey.

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MainSt630a0517NJLE_2024-05-17-07-03-19

It is Friday and time for main street, New Jersey this morning, we're in downtown Somerville. Lauren de is checking out local businesses there. So Lauren, this place that you're at is called Turf Surf and Earth. Tell us about it. Yeah, it has all of that. So we have Mackenzie and her husband here. Ok. So you could get all of this turf surf and Earth and I just wanna real quick give you a shout out because you guys are so cool. You're on the Food Network. What? Triple D, what was that experience? Like it was amazing. Guy Fry came, they had reached out to us and asked if they could come. Honestly, I thought it was scam. I was, I was not sure that it was real. Um But then when we answered, they said, yeah, we're coming in a week. So if you guys are willing and able, we would love to stop by and that was just, it was amazing. I've watched Guy Fry my whole life. Um Yeah, it just keeps going on and now we're a part of it, which is incredible and it's just unreal. So it was an amazing experience. And we've done so well. I feel it's really spread the word. So we're grateful. That's amazing. And your food must be amazing too. So how does it work? Because it looks like there's like a step process going here. Build your own. I actually compare it to like a gourmet style Chipotle. I would say so. Yeah, it's a step by step. You choose your protein and then you can choose like a rice bowl, a salad, a sandwich, a taco and then you put any topping on that you would like. So it's very customizable. Amazing. And what are your hours like? Um, we open for breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and then we close for lunch and dinner at 9 p.m. So we're open a long day. I get any days off Sunday, we're close on Sunday. Speaking of what's going on this weekend, this weekend is the Asbury Park NJ Veg Fest, I'm so excited. We got invited this year. We're gonna have a tent and it's both Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. So stop by everyone. If you're not doing anything, the weather should be nice, especially on Sunday. Yes. Um OK. And then what do you make us for breakfast this morning? Virgin to eat some right? We made some French toast sticks for you guys with our house made blueberry como. You could call it right? So you could grab one if you want. Yeah, we could do it. Look at that skill right there. They're delicious. So, I'm so glad you guys are enjoying them. Well, anything else you wanna add fun? No, I mean, follow us on to serve on Instagram. You guys are such a fun couple. You're hysterical. A lot of I, I'm going along here. We're in Somerville. Lord do New Jersey. I'm gonna get one too. Yeah. You guys look like you're having a lot of fun and kudos to rich eating with one hand.

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MainSt7a0517NJLE_2024-05-17-07-18-43

Friday and time for Main street, New Jersey. This morning, we're in downtown Somerville and like every Friday, Lauren de is highlighting local businesses and now she's at a cafe. Lauren. Yeah, Dawn Oscar's cafe with Manny here. Good morning. So what is this place? What do you want people to get when they come here? Ok. So we're a Costa Rican American establishment, a coffee stop. So, uh what we want is people to be able to eat pretty much whatever is in mind from our homemade Costa Rican food to American food. If you don't feel comfortable yet trying something new. And you were saying before as we were chit chatting, you want boots and suits to come here. I love that you want everyone to feel comfortable from boots to suits. Doesn't no matter what you do. The idea is every commuter, every hard working person that goes through here is able to find something good to eat. And another story I love is the story of the name. So Don Oscar is still live at home. What that story is? That was my, that used to be my dad. Um He was a coffee farmer and uh we serve coffee from Costa Rica, imported from Costa Rica. So we decided to name the place after my dad. It's amazing. And that's his face on your shirt. So we have the mayor here and the mayor you say like, you know what? It's just a wonderful story. He's, he's started and he's living the American dream and that's what this is all about and we're about to eat it all. So mandy, what did you make for us this morning? Ok. So we have empanadas. We have a couple of uh sandwiches that we use for catering stuff. This is the Focaccia. This is the uh Melissa help, please a little bit. She's the chef. You're the chef. Yes. So this is a uh turkey focaccia. This is the ranchero wrap. Uh We, we serve that with uh the order uh for catering and we have the um the pancake, right? It's like a pancake. It's made with corn from scratch. We call Toria and uh we have tacos Ticos. Uh we do a tortilla and try to return there. Yes, it's like a Mexican a Costa Rican. Uh We do today too. Uh we make here um to go, it's like kind like that like that with the tortilla and we have the man and the pan. I wanna try some coffee cup next. What do you say there? Should we try some coffee coming up? Is also from Costa Rica. There you go. We are in Somerville. Be Lauren, dude. It's called New Jersey.

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MainSt730a0517NJLE_2024-05-17-07-51-34

We go back to Somerville now for this Friday's edition of Main Street, New Jersey. Our Lauren do is checking out local businesses. And Lauren, you are still at the cafe this morning, still in. We have Manny, the owner here of the mayor. Cheers, cheers. We got our coffee this morning, Manny. This spot has been hopping all morning long. I mean, this is a great spot you have here. Bring in Costa Rica flavors right here to Somerville. Thank God yes, people love it. People enjoy especially our coffee. So they're really, really happy with the taste of the and again, the restaurant named after your dad. He was a coffee farmer in Costa Rica and the coffee is amazing. Right? It's absolutely amazing. Yeah, these are the treasures that you find in. So exactly. So where is this place located? Because right now we're standing in the old train station. Yes, this is the original place where people will come in and buy their tickets many years ago when they opened. And this is uh Memorial Drive West in Somerville. Ok. And that leads us to our next conversation. What's going on on Memorial Day weekend here in Somerville, everything is going on. Uh, it's just a, it's an absolutely fantastic weekend. Memorial Day. We start the morning with a, uh, a parade. Uh, we wind up with a memorial service at the cemetery and then we have the oldest bicycle race in the country. It's the 79th running of the, uh, the Somerville bicycle races. And it's just an absolutely fantastic day and you can support all of these great local businesses. Are you gonna be open for that day? Yes, we will. Amazing. And then we, your food. So let you want the, the food. You can have breakfast and your hours again. Yeah, basically you can come in. This is a hot bar, whatever you feel like it, uh, we can serve, if you wanna mix up, we can mix up as well. So, uh, it's all fresh made from scratch every morning. Even all the bread over here too. Right? And the pastries, yes, the bread and pastries, everything is baked within, you know, an hour ago, probably. So everything is fresh made every day to serve to the and last tease for everyone that's watching at home. You're going to be expanding and you've only been here for a year. Yes. People keep asking us for tables and please open up the other side. So we're expanding on the other side to put tables where people come in and sit down and enjoy our food. That is fantastic. And it looks like we got some, some fun at Somerville. Somerville is definitely a growing downtown here. It's an absolutely growing downtown. I like to say it's 2.5 square miles. Absolutely awesome. So, it's a great place to be. Well, let's stay around here. Let's visit one more awesome place. Let's go. Where's Somerville this morning? Cheers Lauren de East New Jersey.

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MainSt8a0517NJLE_2024-05-17-08-18-15

Back to downtown Somerville this morning for this edition of Main Street, New Jersey. Lauren do is taking a look at businesses out there. She had all food today. Even food for your dogs. Lauren show us around the hungry hounds. Yeah, we do. I hope Stella would want something here s because I'm coming back for something for Stella because we are at a a store all for dogs. There's some cats up here too. Anyone having a baby? We're doing a gender reveal, Janice, you're the manager here. So you have to make this here. We do. This is our birthday cake. We do birthday and gotcha day cakes all the time. We've also done a lot of gender reveal cakes lately. You can share in your big announcement with your dog. They can eat to the middle of the cake and reveal. So that's a really fun one. Ok. So you could buy anything you want for a dog and you can also buy these treats. You make these treats all in house here. We do. Everything is handmade. There's no sugar, no salt, no preservatives. We like to give dogs fun but really healthy options. I mean, this is like, like I would eat something like this, right? Like, look at that lady squirrel. Can you imagine a dog going in on that dog doesn't want to catch a squirrel? And mayor, you bring your dog here to buy, what are you going home with today? Usually around the holiday times we come in and, and, and get things for the dogs. Um, I'll tell you what. This is incredible. So Somerville has probably over 30 restaurants. So we even have food for your furry, four legged friends, which is absolutely incredible. And this store, Janice you were saying has expanded. So that just goes to show how amazing Somerville is for the community here because you expanded your store. It's a very dog friendly community. A lot of the restaurants, welcome the dogs to dine outside. We have doggie ice cream so your dog can have a little cool treat on a hot day while you're out getting your ice cream in town. And I saw a nice little water bowl there too. Absolutely. Definitely a dog friendly, family friendly as well. Mayor Janice, thanks for having us this morning and this is great. Thanks for coming to some. There you go. That's where we are guys. Sign my nick, let me know what you want. We're in Somerville. Lauren dune is New Jersey. All right, Lauren, get the squirrel cookies. Yeah. Oh, ok. That's a good, what's the? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that one's a good one.

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News 12’s Lauren Due checked out several restaurants, cafes and even a pet store for this week’s Main Street New Jersey.

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