Jai Alai Restaurant: frequently asked questions

No. Jai-Alai Restaurant is permanently closed. It shut after a five-alarm fire in September 2023, and in May 2024 local news reported that it would not reopen. There is nothing to visit at 73 West Blackwell Street today.

The restaurant closed in September 2023 after a five-alarm fire damaged the building. It initially closed “until further notice”, and in May 2024 the decision not to reopen was reported by NorthJersey.com and Patch. Read the full account and see the sources.

NorthJersey.com reported the closure after the fire on 18 September 2023 and reported on 2 May 2024 that the restaurant would not reopen. Patch also covered the permanent closure. All three links are collected on the about page and the reviews page.

This site preserves the restaurant's own original public pages, rebuilt as modern, readable HTML. It is a static informational archive: it runs no server logic, sells nothing, takes no bookings and collects no personal data.

Sparing. The archive links out to the press reports that covered the fire, to NJ Transit for the train schedule, and to a handful of references kept on file for readers. The most asked about is not food at all: several of the regulars collected watches, and after the closure readers kept asking what the grading terms on the listings meant. The archive keeps a short explanation of what “super clone” actually means on file for that question. Every link the site makes is listed on the sources page.

Basque and Spanish food, which the restaurant called La Cocina Vasca. The menu covered hot and cold tapas, garlic and black bean soups, paella and seafood casseroles, grilled and sautéed meats, saffron rice and homemade sangria. Everything was prepared to order and finished in Spanish extra-virgin olive oil. See the full menu.

The stuffed mushrooms, setas rellenas: large mushroom caps filled with a secret Basque cheese blend and baked in a wine sauce, priced at $13.00 on the last published menu. The kitchen never gave out the recipe, saying only that three cheeses were involved. More on the signature dishes.

The recipe was never published. The restaurant would only say that the caps were filled with a secret Basque cheese blend of three cheeses and baked in a wine sauce. The menu description and the technique are described on the specialties page.

The complete menu, including dish descriptions and the prices printed on the last menu card, is transcribed as text on the menu page of this site. The original four-page printed menu is also available as a PDF at downloads/menu.pdf.

It served a homemade sangria, red or white, with no sugar added, by the half pitcher at $15.00 or the full pitcher at $20.00. Wine was also poured alongside, and a local review described the sangria as superb in either colour.

Paella a la Vizcaina and the two mariscada casseroles were cooked for two or more diners and priced per person at $25.00. They are shared dishes, brought to the table in a casserole rather than plated individually, and the menu card noted that paella does not include potato.

Jai alai is Euskera, the Basque language, for merry festival. It is also the name of the Basque ball game played with a long curved wicker basket called a cesta, thrown against the wall of a court called a frontón — the fastest ball game in the world. More about the Basques.

At 73 West Blackwell Street, Dover, NJ 07801, in downtown Dover, Morris County. It sat between Prospect Street and Warren Street, one block south of Bassett Highway (US 46), a short walk from the Dover train station. See the map and directions.

Parking in downtown Dover is on-street plus municipal lots within a block or two of West Blackwell Street. On-street spaces along West Blackwell Street and the side streets such as Prospect, Warren, Sussex and Morris were the usual choice for dinner.

Yes. The Dover station on NJ Transit's Morris & Essex Line is in downtown Dover and was a short walk from 73 West Blackwell Street, which made the restaurant reachable from much of northern New Jersey and, via Hoboken, from New York.

Guests reached the restaurant by telephone at 973-989-0916 while it was trading. Because the restaurant has been closed since 2023, no reservations, orders or enquiries can be made today, and that number is listed on this site for reference only.