The Morris Proper, a culinary 'love letter to New Jersey,' to open July 9 in Morristown

The Morris Proper, a 12,000-square-foot “love letter to New Jersey,” will open for dining on July 9 in M Station West, the new development between the Morristown Green and the train station.

The restaurant’s kitchen is helmed by David Felton, Food & Wine Magazine’s “People’s Best New Chef” award-winner and the founding executive chef of Ninety Acres, the fancy farm-to-table restaurant in Peapack Gladstone.

The menu of elevated comfort food places a heavy emphasis on locally sourced food.

The bar at The Morris Proper in Morristown.

“‘Unapologetically New Jersey,’ that’s my tag line,” Felton said. “What does that mean? I’m an immigrant, I have a British passport, traveled all over the U.S., and I made a choice after seeing the whole country to move back to New Jersey because we’re an hour from the beach, an hour from the city, an hour from, the mountains… New Jersey is an amazing place.

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R26ekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R46ekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe

“I want [people] to understand we are the Garden State for a reason,” he added. “There’s amazing food, and there’s amazing producer, there’s amazing growers here.”

Inside The Morris Proper

The restaurant, on the ground floor of M Station West, is bright and airy with high ceilings and views of a long open kitchen from the bar and main dining room in one direction, and views of the street outside through floor-to-ceiling windos in the other.

Open bookcases along the edges of the space hold knick-knacks and art pieces either made by New Jersey creators or items within “six-degrees of separation” to New Jersey — from vintage items to pottery to oddities like a miniature Partridge Family bus (actor David Cassidy grew up in New Jersey).

Dining room at The Morris Proper in Morristown.

Beyond the main dining room is a semi-private nook with views of another open kitchen, where Felton said pastries and pastas will continuously be prepared. There’s also a raw bar (which may play host occasionally to local oyster producers to discuss their food) and an enclosed dining room for private events, chef demonstrations, wine dinners and more special events.

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2dekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4dekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe

“It’s a big space, but we didn’t want the space to feel cold,” said Jason Leeds, founder of Chelsea Hospitality Group, which created the Proper. “We wanted to find little nooks throughout the space that you could sit in and be immersed in, while also maybe having a sight line to another space that catches your interest that maybe you want to sit in next time.”

Outside is a wrap-around, tiered dining patio, on which Leeds envisions live music performances in warm seasons.

Notably, there are no TVs at the long, ovate bar; though Leeds said they will pull down a projector for major events like next year’s World Cup.

The food and drinks at Morris Proper

The Morris Proper will serve locally sourced, elevated comfort food.

While Morris Proper will offer special dining events, guest-chef dinners and more, the heart of its food program is in elevated comfort food using locally sourced, excellent ingredients, Felton said.

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2kekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4kekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe

“Great food is great food. It shouldn’t just be for special occasions,” he said. “Why not put all the energy that you would put into a seven-course menu into a hamburger? Comfort and luxury don’t have to be separate; I want them to be together at all times.”

The menu will have signature dishes including handmade pastas, slow-roasted rotisserie meats, vibrant vegetable dishes and seafood sourced from off the New Jersey coast. The beverage program will include cocktails made with house-made cordials and cold-pressed juices, plus local beer and wine, some from producers either in New Jersey or those, again, with six-degrees of separation from here; that is, a Jersey-born vintner in California, for instance.

Leeds said, above all, the plan is to execute the essentials in the bar program.

“We’re very focused on nailing the classics and maybe putting a little bit of a spin on them. You should be able to get a proper martini here,” he said.

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R2qekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R4qekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe

Felton said while The Morris Proper will herald the fruits of local agriculture and is willing to share the gospel of its virtue, they’re not going to hit guests over the head with it.

“If we’re going to do something, let’s think about it,” he said. “It’s not just, ‘Here’s food on a plate.’ There’s a reason someone grew it, and we have all that information, and if you want to hear about it, we’ll talk about it. We’re not going to ram it down anyone’s throat, but we take a lot of pride in what we do.”

The Morris Proper to open July 9

Private dining room at The Morris Proper in Morristown.

Felton and his team are currently running through a soft opening for residents of the M Station community but will officially open to the public on July 9.

It should be a good fit for the evolving Morristown community, Leeds said.

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R31ekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R51ekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe

“There’s incredible history that’s happened here and there’s so much momentum in town too,” he said. “It just felt like an amazing opportunity to contribute to the community’s growth.”

The hope is that Morris Proper will be a place for regulars to patronize often for everyday dining and drinks and occasionally for special events.

“What we’ve been targeting from the very beginning is that this is a place you can see yourself coming to multiple times a month,” he said. “There’s opportunity within this space to have that destination type of experience in the private dining room, but we just want to see the same people coming back again and again.”

Go: The Morristown Proper, open July 9. 100 Morris St., Morristown; themorrisproper.com.

AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R36ekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe AdvertisementAdvertisement#«R56ekkr8lb2m7nfblbH1» iframe

Matt Cortina is a food reporter for NorthJersey.com/The Record. Reach him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: The Morris Proper restaurant opens in Morristown NJ on July 9