West Allendale Avenue in Fall 2026: Downtown Dining and Parking

Allendale's downtown is filling up with places where you sit and stay a while, and the borough has just made stopping at the curb for a minute more expensive. Both changes are landing on the same few blocks of West Allendale Avenue this fall. Each makes more sense once you've seen the other.

The short version: as of October 2, photo devices called "Safety Sticks" watch the No Parking zones on parts of West Allendale Avenue. On October 15, Joe Thai Kitchen is scheduled to open at 99 W. Allendale Ave. Sweetbeanz has been serving gelato flights at No. 76 since late summer. The borough code says where the cars should go instead, and the answer changes by the hour.

The two new tables on the avenue

The quieter of the two arrivals came first. Boozy Burbs reported Sweetbeanz open on August 30, describing a coffee, dessert and gelato bar at 76 West Allendale Ave with pastries and gelato flights on the menu. According to that report, the owner opened it because downtown Allendale had no spot for coffee and dessert. A gelato flight is a sit-down order. Nobody eats one while double-parked.

The second arrival fills a space that sat in limbo for much of the year. Uno Más announced in April that it had sold the restaurant, and its last day of service was Saturday, April 18. Daily Voice covered the closing and noted that the owners did not publicly name the buyer. The Ridgewood Blog later identified 99 W. Allendale Ave, the former Uno Más address, as the future home of Joe Thai Kitchen, from the team behind Wyckoff Thai Cuisine. That item gave a July 26 opening date that came and went. The restaurant's own website now advertises October 15.

The menu is pitched for both kinds of visit. The site describes "street-style favorites" next to "elevated signature dishes" and invites people in for "a quick lunch, a cozy dinner." A quick lunch on West Allendale Avenue means finding a spot near 99 W. Allendale. That gets to the second half of this story.

What the Safety Sticks actually watch

The borough's notice, posted October 5, says the devices were installed in areas of West Allendale Avenue and went live Friday, October 2. They run around the clock and photograph vehicles parked illegally in No Parking zones. Each photo records the date, time and location. Allendale police review and approve the evidence, and then a summons is mailed to the vehicle's registered owner.

The notice is specific about the target. It names vehicles on yellow curbs near crosswalks and intersections, which it says create hazards for pedestrians and drivers. These are the spots people pull into for a two-minute pickup. The borough adds that officers will keep patrolling the business districts for other parking and moving violations.

The rulebook is still being written. The packet for the September 24 Mayor and Council meeting shows an ordinance on parking-control devices being introduced. Its definition covers posts, delineators, cones and signs, and says such a device "may be commonly referred to as a 'Safety Stick.'" The draft puts enforcement under the Allendale Police Department. It doesn't set its own fine. Penalties fall under the borough's existing parking and traffic ordinances. The same packet lists the next Mayor and Council meeting for October 8. The public materials don't give a device count or a vendor name.

Where the code sends you instead

The borough has always had a legal answer to downtown parking. It sits in the train station lots, and Article XI of the borough code spells out who gets which space at which hour. The code text splits the station into a West Side Parking Area next to Park Avenue and an East Side Parking Area across the tracks. All of the West Side is resident commuter parking, and 52 East Side spaces are reserved for residents too. The East Side is where shoppers fit in.

Read the table against the new businesses. On a weekday afternoon, a shopper with no permit has 34 two-hour spaces to work with, plus the paid daily option. The code leaves the daily fee to council resolution and doesn't list the amount. Things open up at 6 p.m., when every general commuter space on the East Side becomes shopper parking. On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays that happens at 6 a.m. A weeknight dinner at Joe Thai Kitchen followed by a walk to Sweetbeanz falls inside the most generous parking window the borough offers. So does almost any weekend visit.

Residents who also ride the train have one more option that ends soon. A September 10 borough update says current 2026 permits stay valid through December 31. Anyone without a 2026 permit can buy a remainder-of-year permit for $60 as a resident or $225 as a nonresident. The borough's train station parking page lists full permit prices of $75 for residents and $300 for nonresidents, sold 24/7 at Police Headquarters, 290 Franklin Turnpike.

The Saturday that puts it all to work

October 17 is the first weekend with all three pieces in place: the cameras are live, Joe Thai Kitchen is two days past its advertised opening, and the borough calendar is packed. It's also the kind of weekend morning when the East Side commuter spaces are already open to shoppers.

1. 9 to 11 a.m.: Cars & Coffee at Borough Hall.
2. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.: Lee Memorial Library Family Day at the Red Barn at Crestwood, with entertainment, games, crafts, a photo booth and food trucks. The Allendale Chamber lists early-bird ticket pricing through October 10.
3. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.: The last weekend of the Fyke Nature Association's Green Way Meadow fall planting, which also runs Sunday the 18th. Volunteers are putting in 15 native species and more than 4,500 plants by the Green Way entrance to the Celery Farm, adding to last fall's planting. Fyke says the only requirement is to show up.
4. Afternoon: Back downtown for Thai at No. 99 or a gelato flight at No. 76.

The calendar stays busy on either side of that weekend. Coffee with the Mayor runs Saturday, October 10, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Community Center. The same weekend is also a Fyke planting weekend. On Friday, October 23, Fyke's monthly Zoom meeting features Wade Wander on native host plants for moths. Registration is required. On October 27 at 7 p.m., Lee Memorial Library hosts "Beat of America: Rhonda Denét, Divas of American Music." That's a Tuesday evening, after the 6 p.m. switch that opens the East Side commuter spaces to shoppers.

A downtown asking for a different kind of trip

Taken together, the fall changes point the same way. The new businesses on West Allendale Avenue are places to sit down. The enforcement is aimed at the short stops on yellow curbs by crosswalks and intersections, which is how many downtown errands have worked until now. The parking-control ordinance was only introduced on September 24, and the council's next listed meeting is October 8, so the rules may get more detail this fall. Until then, the 34 two-hour spaces on the East Side and the 6 p.m. switch are the parts of the code that matter most for a West Allendale Avenue visit.

If you're deciding how close to West Allendale Avenue you want to live, or you're thinking about what a walkable downtown block adds to a home you already own, I'm glad to walk those streets with you and talk it through. Chris Crawford Homes follows Allendale changes like these one block at a time. Request your free market consultation.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.