This article was originally published in the July 2017 Princeton Echo.
The proposal to relocate Triumph Brewing from its original location at 138 Nassau Street to the site of the old Palmer Square Post Office on the Nassau Inn green is expected to go before the Planning Board on Thursday, July 13. Last month the California-based developer, David Eichler, appeared before the Site Plan Review Advisory Board (SPRAB).
Eichler, the winning bidder when the Postal Service sold off the 1930s building and relocated its facility to 259 Nassau Street, plans to convert what had been the main lobby of the Post Office into Triumph’s dining room.
The lobby is the home of a mural painted in 1939 as part of the New Deal project to create murals in post offices across the country. Princeton’s, created by Karl Free, is called “Columbia Under the Palm” and will continue to be part of the scene at whatever establishment finally ends up in the old space.
Imminent openings
The curtain should be going up soon at Cargot, the French-inspired brasserie that Jim Nawn’s Fenwick Hospitality Group is opening in the middle of Princeton University’s new arts and transit neighborhood. Cargot will occupy a spot next to the Dinky Bar, also run by Nawn’s group. The projected opening date is shortly after the 4th of July.
A press statement notes that Cargot will offer breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner, and “will combine classic dishes with contemporary interpretations in several distinct dining spaces . . . our cafe room, dining room, private room, or outdoor patio.” The new restaurant will occupy renovated space in what had been the baggage storage building in the old Dinky station, combined with a new addition on the east side. The Dinky Bar makes use of what had been the waiting room.
Fenwick also owns Agricola on Witherspoon Street and Main Street Bistro, which is expected to be relocated from its current space in the Shopping Center.
Marhaba, the sister restaurant to the Middle Eastern restaurant in Lambertville, continues to look ready to open at 182 Nassau Street, as it has for several months now. A staff person at the Lambertville restaurant had a vague response: “They’ve said three or four weeks, but it’s been about that long since they said it.”
There are signs of progress, however. The sign in the window on Nassau Street says “now hiring” and provides a website: www.marhabaprinceton.com.
Bon Appetit kiosk, Spice Grill, Seafood Boil, Diesel and Duke, Kristine’s, Waiters’ Race, and Terra Momo,
