NORTH JERSEY, NJ — Summer has arrived — time to get out and eat outdoors. If you’re interested in trying a new downtown or a new kind of cuisine, there are plenty of options in the region. Here are five restaurants that opened in North Jersey — or unveiled something special — in the last month.

Poké Bowl Hillsborough

Poké Bowl Hillsborough opened on June 21. It offers a variety of poké including build-your-own poké bowls, poké salads, and sushi burritos. Signature bowls, signature burritos, boba teas, brewed teas, and yogurt drinks are also offered. It’s located at 601 Route 206 in Hillsborough. Find out more here.

The Game Bar, East Rutherford

The Game Bar, a new gastro pub, held its soft opening last week as part of Hasbro’s new “Gameroom” in American Dream. The attraction at the retail/entertainment complex has interactive versions of board games, from Trivial Pursuit to Simon. Its restaurant, the Game Bar, is decorated with Scrabble decor and serves up sliders, fries, and other appetizers and dishes. Find out more here (scroll down).

Paris Baguette, Hoboken

It’s got unique pastries, freshly packaged coffee, sandwiches, salads, breads, cakes — and lots of space to work. The newest Paris Baguette opened in Hoboken this month, across from Elysian Park, where “On The Waterfront” was filmed decades ago. Back in 2022, the cafe chain pledged to open 40 new stores around the country by year’s end. Paris Baguette is located at 1000 Maxwell Lane, with an entrance on Sinatra Drive. Find out more here.

Bagels By Jarrett, West Orange

Bagels By Jarrett in West Orange isn’t new, but it unveiled something different last month — five-dollar price cuts on several dishes, part of a national trend of offering affordable meals with sensible portions. The meals are not $5 each, but they are discounted. “Everything I’ve always done has been crazy, so why not lower prices to make more money?” said owner Jarrett Seltzer. Read more here.

Candy Land Shake Bar, East Rutherford

While we’re talking about the new Gameroom by Hasbro, located in American Dream, let’s talk dessert. Besides the gastropub offering food and drinks, the attraction also has a Candy Land Shake Bar serving up classic and crafted shakes. You can grab a cookies and cream, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, or even blueberry shake for $10. But if you want something really special, try a “Crafted Shake” for $18, ranging from the Princess Lolli with strawberry syrup, a block of cheesecake, and sprinkles, to Sloppy Gloppy with brownie chunks, marshmallows, crushed Oreo, and more. Read all about it here. The American Dream is the retail/entertainment complex on Route 3 in East Rutherford.

Are you opening a new restaurant in North Jersey? Let Patch know so we can tell our readers (it’s news, not an ad, so it’s free). Email us here.

Strong thunderstorms that have pelted parts of New Jersey with heavy rain and strong winds have knocked out power to thousands of homes and businesses across the state, with forecasters calling for a threat of additional thunderstorms popping up through late Sunday night.

NJ.com’s Power Outage Tracker, which monitors outage numbers from utility companies in the region, showed about 12,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey without power as of 6 p.m. Sunday.

Forecasters from the National Weather Service had predicted a cold front would move across New Jersey on Sunday, interacting with hot and humid air, which could trigger intense thunderstorms with damaging winds as strong as 60 mph.

Eighteen of the state’s 21 counties are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 7 p.m. Sunday, and three counties — Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland — are under a severe thunderstorm watch through 11 p.m. Sunday. Several thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings have also been posted.

Forecasters say they can’t rule out the possibility of an isolated tornado forming during the intense thunderstorms because of the high humidity and wind shear in the atmosphere.

On Wednesday night, New Jersey was rocked by strong thunderstorms that toppled trees and snapped power lines in numerous towns and cities, knocking out power to more than 100,000 homes and businesses across the state.

Those storms turned out to be deadly, with a large tree falling on a 30-year-old man in East Orange, killing him, according to local police.

Latest power outage numbers

Note: If you are unable to see the outage numbers on your device, click here.

Current weather radar

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Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or on X at @LensReality.

In the aftermath of that debate, Biden flashed more vigor in speeches in North Carolina and New York on Friday, saying he believes with “all my heart and soul” that he can do the job of the presidency.

The Biden campaign said it has raised more than $27 million on Thursday and Friday, including $3 million at a New York City fundraiser focused on the LGBTQ+ community.

Jill Biden told supporters Friday that he said to her after the debate, “You know, Jill, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t feel that great.” The first lady then said she responded to him, “Look, Joe, we are not going to let 90 minutes define the four years that you’ve been president.”

The Democratic president still needs to allay the fears stirred by the debate as it seeped into the public conscience with clips and memes spreading on the internet and public pressure for him to bow out of the race.

Democratic donors across New York, Southern California and Silicon Valley privately expressed deep concerns about the viability of Biden’s campaign in the wake of his debate performance.

In a series of text message chains and private conversations, they discussed the short list of possible replacements, a group that included Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris.

But on Friday, there was no formal push to pressure Biden to step aside and some suspected there never would be given the logistical challenges associated with replacing the presumptive nominee just four months before Election Day.

Some donors noted they were going to pause their personal giving. They said receipts from Biden’s weekend fundraiser would almost certainly be strong because the tickets were sold and paid for before the debate.