Delicious Heights Outpost to Replace Bamboo Grille

The Bamboo Grille, which has held the lease to fill the restaurant at the Basking Ridge Country Club for the past 11 years, will leave on Oct. 31, to be replaced afterward by another restaurant, Delicious Heights Outpost, said a partner of Basking Ridge-based Growth Restaurants.

Growth Restaurants owns the Bamboo Grille, said partner Jim Finnegan. He said Growth already is looking at a few spots for a potential new restaurant in Bernardsville, where he said the company still owns a liquor license from the years when it ran The Thirsty Turtle off Route 202 in the borough.


Along with The Thirsty Turtle, Finnegan, with the late Jack Welch owned and operated such well-known area establishments as The Store in Basking Ridge, and Willie's Taverne, which was located in a colonial style inn in Bedminster now occupied by Delicious Heights.

The owners of Delicious Heights, which has a restaurant with that name in Berkeley Heights as well the restaurant in Bedminster, were not available for comment.

However, the restaurant's website already lists Delicious Heights Outpost as one of its three locations.

"Whether you choose to stay indoors or gather on the patio during warmer months, you’ll love the view of the grounds at Basking Ridge Country Club set within 258 private acres of Somerset County," the website said. 

Although the menu is not yet filled out, the website says the restaurant offers a diverse menu, complemented by a full service bar with all major brands of domestic and imported beers, liquors, a full wine list, and signature cocktails.

The Bamboo Grille has served a tropically inspired menu as its theme.

Bamboo Grille's live music drew complaints

The restaurant also held several nights a week of live music, which drew complaints from two neighbors that resulted in a continuing dispute that led to the Bernards Township Committee demanding certain conditions be met by the Bamboo Grille before renewing a liquor license for the premises.

Such conditions included setting a limit on times for music, as well as reducing amplification.

Finnegan said the owner of the Basking Ridge Country Club, not the Bamboo Grille, was responsible for constructing a berm at the edge of a neighbor's property designed to block more of the sound.

Finnegan said he does not know how much the berm cost, and he does not know why the Basking Ridge Country Club owner exercised the right to buy out the Bamboo Grille's lease.

'Not our choice' to leave

"It's not on our choice that we are leaving," Finnegan said on Tuesday. He said the landlord had made the decision regarding the lease. 

The Basking Ridge Country Club's owner or manager were not available for comment on Tuesday afternoon.

Nevertheless, Finnegan added, "The support we have gotten over the years from the community has been outstanding." He said he had received many kind comments from patrons who have learned of the pending departure.

Finnegan said the restaurant will operate for the general public as usual through Oct. 26, and will remain open to golfers through the last day of October.

He said Growth Restaurants already is in the midst of plans to add a craft beer bar alongside the company's other restaurant, The Famished Frog in Morristown.

Finnegan said Growth also owns Meadowood Manor in Randolph and another Thirsty Turtle in Florham Park.