Chatham downtown is incredibly charming & highly walkable, with a few iconic restaurants such as Scalini Fideli and plenty of other thriving restaurants & shops!
Scalini Fedeli is an iconic Chatham restaurant! For 23 years, it’s been serving amazing Italian food! http://www.scalinifedeli.com/chatham/about-chatham
Originally opened December of 1995, Scalini Chatham is the second restaurant opened by uber-chef Michael Cetrulo. The restaurant was constructed inside of a 260-year-old New Jersey farmhouse. Its interior features high vaulted ceilings, antique pine floors, and a sense of style, which evokes a distinctly Tuscan feel.
The cuisine, modern Italian with a distinct French flare, is some of the best in the country. ZAGAT Survey rates Scalini Fedeli, “#1Italian!” and in 2003 it was rated “#1 favorite in New Jersey overall!”
Chatham Sandwich Shop is also fantastic, and has been for 30 years! https://chathamsandwich.com/
Nearby Madison, NJ, also has terrific restaurants, not to mention nearby Morristown which has a very fun, lively downtown with great restaurants and a terrific scene!
New York Times on the charm of the Chatham Downtown Area
From the New York Times’ article on Chatham entitled “Chatham, N.J.: A Strollable Downtown and Good Schools” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/26/realestate/in-chatham-nj-a-strollable-downtown-and-good-schools.html
What You’ll Find
At only 2.4 square miles, the borough, with an old-fashioned Main Street lined with mom-and-pop shops, is highly walkable. But those venturing downtown on foot may need to say “excuse me” a few times: In good weather, sidewalks are dotted with strollers, including the double-wide variety.
Downtown Chatham’s tree-lined Main Street suggests an earlier, less frantic decade, even though busy Interstate 78 is just a few miles away. That is partly because of its small businesses, many of which have old-fashioned signs. One building that dates to the 18th century is the Jacob Morrell House, at 63 Main Street, now home to Scalini Fedeli, a popular Italian restaurant. Liberty Drug and Surgical, a pharmacy, has an ice cream counter that recalls the 1950s. The sense of nostalgia continues just off Main Street, where front porch swings hang outside the wide front doors of gracious center-hall colonial-style homes, and American flags hang at the entryways of some houses.
