Hamilton PPost ost Hamilton DECEMBER 2025
Community Educa�on and Be�er Health Programs located on page 2
COMMUNITYNEWS.ORG
FREE
Hamilton duo set to open new B-town brewery
FootBaLL
Looming large Steinert linebacker DeFrancis hits foes hard for a player of his stature
BY JOE EMANSKI
BY RICH FISHER Dom DeFrancis has a simple goal when he makes a tackle. “When they’re coming at you the next time, you want to make sure they don’t want to run into you,” he said. That was easier said than done this season, as a plethora of ball carriers unwillingly ran into the junior linebacker. Entering the Thanksgiving game at Hamilton West, DeFrancis’ 90 tackles led Steinert’s defense by a wide margin. He also had 4.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks (despite hardly ever blitzing) and an interception. “Dom did the job exactly the way we envisioned when this role was carved out,” coach Thaddeus Richards said. “He’s done it at a really high level this season. He has benefit of playing behind a great defensive line that eats a lot of blocks, but in his own regard he’s gotta go make the plays and he’s done that at a really high level this year. “He allowed for a lot of defenSee DeFRANCIS, Page 20
Bagel Bazaar owners Dave Salva, Paul Salas and Randy Peltz, with Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin and staff, cut the ribbon on their new Mercerville franchise on Nov. 10, 2025. (Staff photo.)
New restaurants opening across Hamilton Township BY JOE EMANSKI Bagel Bazaar, a New Jerseybased chain, held a grand opening for its new Mercerville location on Nov. 14. This is the 9th location for Bagel Bazaar, with another location in Hillsborough set to open soon. The new Mercerville bagel shop is located in the space formerly occupied by Fred and Pete’s Deli, a legendary local
breakfast-and-lunch spot that closed in 2021. One noteworthy thing about it is the store hours: open every day from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was just one of four restaurants to hold a grand opening celebrations in Hamilton in November. Others included Qdoba, a fast casual Tex-Mex chain akin to Chipotle; Dave’s Hot Chicken, a national chain just starting to move into New Jersey; and El
Leaders in emergency and elective angioplasty
Toro del Fuego, a new concept from local restaurateur Sam Zheng that almost has to be seen to be understood. Bagel Bazaar has bagels — lots of them. And not just run-ofthe-mill bagels, either. There are of course the standard offerings like everything, egg, sesame, wheat, blueberry and onion. But there are other, less common varieties as well, including cookies and cream, See DINING OUT, Page 12
Bordentown is oddly familiar with the concept of a here-todaygone-tomorrow microbrewery. The city’s first microbrewery in the modern era, Common Sense Brewing, opened in late 2017, only to close in 2019. Luckily for local beer lovers, Steinert graduate Dan Pogorzelski and wife Marci Warboys were ready and willing to take over, opening Tindall Road Brewing Company later that summer. Then there was Fox House Brewing. Owners Chris and Abby Campbell opened down the road on Farnsworth Avenue in March, but closed three months later. Yet once again, beer geeks will have the chance to sample locally made ales once again See BREWERY, Page 10
Important Hamilton Township garbage collection info starts on page 26
Academy Dental CHILDREN & ADULTS Complete Dentistry for the Whole Family
rwjbh.org/heart
AcademyDentalNJ.com
Currently Open for Emergency Dental Care See our ad on page 11
RWJ-202 SYSTEM_Cardiac_Tom_2.75x1.5.indd 1
4/15/25 11:56 AM
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID SPRINGFIELD,1179 MA NEWARK, NJ PERMIT NO. 142