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Business & Tech

New Restauranteurs Hope to Heat Up Cranford Cuisine

Two friends decided to leave their careers behind and start a restaurant; Ole Fire Grill opens this week.

Friends Enrique Outeiral and Manuel Martinez have a lot in common. They both are from northern Spain, attended college at Rutgers University (where they met and became friends) and both pursued careers in finance. And, just recently, both realized they weren't exactly happy in their professions.

"I got tired of the daily grind," Outeiral said.

Martinez, meanwhile, was tired of working for other people. He wanted to be his own boss.

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So about a year ago the two decided to do something about it – agreeing to use their savings to open up their own restaurant. They both had experience working in restaurants over the years as waiters and busboys.

They chose downtown Cranford as the place to start their business, and now, after months upon months of paperwork, marketing and construction work (the two did all their own plumbing, electrical and architectural work), their restaurant Ole Fire Grill on South Avenue is opening this week.

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"[We want to] give great food, great service and entertain people and make them have a good time," Martinez said.

The restaurant will specialize in authentic Spanish, Portuguese and Italian cuisine – the type of food Outeiral and Martinez grew up with.  Outeiral said he hopes the cuisine will set their restaurant apart.

"We're trying to take a lot of risk," he said.

The restaurant will have a large charcoal, open flame barbeque pit, living up to the second half of the restaurant's name, Authentic Mediterranean BBQ.  The chef – a friend of Martinez - is directly from Spain. He's cooked all over the world, including Thailand, Greece and Ibiza, Outeiral said.

Outeiral said all of the food will be fresh and the only thing that will be frozen everyday is two types of pasta, which are made on site.

Outeiral said they chose Cranford as the place to open the restaurant because they liked the small town atmosphere and the potential of the downtown district.

"It's the kind of town that's going to bloom," Outeiral said.

He said he hopes that residents enjoy not only the restaurant's unique cuisine but its trendy, yet casual atmosphere.

"We want people to come in have a good time and enjoy themselves without breaking the bank," he said.

Ole Fire Grill is located at 2 South Avenue West. It's BYOB and will also have an extensive take-out service. The hours, which may change based upon customer response, are Mon-Fri 11:00/11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m. (until 10:30 p.m. on Fridays), Sat 1 p.m. - 10:30 p.m. and Sun 11:30 a.m./12 p.m. - 9/9:30 p.m. Phone number: 908-272-4141

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