I had the pleasure of meeting Matt from I Blog What I Eat last night. I found Matt's blog recently when I was looking for a photo of Bobby Flay's new burger place in Paramus (that's Matt's photo I've borrowed above; my digital camera is on the fritz and I've been procrastinating about getting it fixed) and of the new Whole Foods, which is in the same mall, Bergen Town Center1, in nearby Paramus2. Matt was more impressed with the Bobby Blue Burger than I was, but we both like Five Guys and Danny Meyer's Shake Shack, so there's some overlap in our burger joint preferences.
I was going to use the photos of Bobby's Burger Palace and Whole Foods in a post about local businesses that seem to be doing well during the current recession, but I'll make the point here. Both businesses opened outposts in Paramus within the last month, and both seem to be doing pretty well. Every evening we've been by (usually on our way to Whole Foods), there's been a line out the door of Bobby's Burger Palace. The Whole Foods cafe has been consistently busy as well.
1This mall used to be called the Bergen Mall, and it was the ugly stepchild of malls in Bergen County. Vornado Realty Trust bought it several years ago and spent $171 million renovating it and expanding it.
2I'd remembered reading once that Paramus -- a town of about 25,000 residents -- generated more retail sales than any city in the U.S. aside from Manhattan. Paramus's Wikipedia entry says that, in 2005 Paramus generated more retail sales than any other zip code in the country (which is consistent with what I remembered, since Manhattan has plenty of zip codes, e.g., before the World Trade Center was destroyed, each of the twin towers had its own zip code).
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