Montclair welcomes the crazy dancing goat to the fold

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Three weeks ago, there was a pleasant buzz about the latest coffee shop to open in town. Crazy Mocha, located at 491 Bloomfield Avenue on the ground floor of a 93-year-old bank building, is a Pittsburgh-based chain owned by Ken Zeff.

According to a brief convo with the super-friendly, attractive young baristas, Zeff’s brother lives in Montclair. Having spent a fair amount of time visiting his brother, Zeff decided that Montclair would be a good location for another Crazy Mocha storefront.

Because of its philosophy of locating its stores so as not to cannibalize the business of independent coffee shops (such as Java Love downtown on Church St.), its location on Bloomfield Ave. several blocks north of Trend Coffeehouse, is perfect.



Not only is there plenty of table seating, but there is a lounge communal area near the front windows replete with comfortable large leather shares, tables made for hanging out and other little seating nooks for those who are seeking a more relaxed experience. The wifi is reliable.

So how do you turn an almost 100-year-old bank building into a cozy café? It’s called adaptive reuse---a program that allows historic, unused buildings to be repurposed for contemporary uses. Were it not for the interior brick walls (original) and ornate fixtures, such as a large fireplace near the entrance, as well as other interior design features that ground the space, the high ceilings and large windows, might make a person feel that they are in a vault (the building was previously called Vault491). There is even a deposit slot in the door.


Fortunately, all of those architectural features have been leveraged in the interest of creating a nice coffee shop, while retaining the old Italian Renaissance charm of the original building.

The coffee itself is good—hot and well-priced. I had a latte and it delivered---smooth, bold and sufficiently caffeinated. On the food side, Crazy Mocha has the best selection of biscotti that I have ever seen. Sure, you can get plain, chocolate and hazelnut at Crazy Mocha (and everyplace else), but you can also get salted caramel biscotti, apricot-vanilla biscotti and mocha biscotti---with many other biscotti options available.


Traditionally, the chances that a new eatery or restaurant will make it in Montclair have not been encouraging. In fact, Mountie’s Eatery (which I recently reviewed) has already closed, less than three months after opening. I am sad to see it go. However, when it comes to cafés, the town’s appetite for coffee houses and cafés is strong enough to keep all of these places afloat. Welcome to town, Crazy Mocha. 


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