History of Blue Moon Mexican Cafe

     Back in 1987, Howard Felixbrod was helping to run one of his father’s Mexican restaurants on Columbus Ave. in Manhattan. They had two highly successful locations three blocks from each other – Anita’s Chili Parlor and The Rocking Horse Mexican Café. When one of these leases ran out Howie decided it was time to move on.

  He rounded up his brother, Gary, and his friend, New York Rangers Hockey Player

George McPhee, and they opened the first Blue Moon Mexican Café in the Chelsea section of New York. The Blue Moon was an instant hit.  Now, everyone wanted in so they

found a second location on the Upper East Side (1^st Ave & 75^th St.). This time along with McPhee, other pro hockey players invested – James Patick, Ron Greschner and his wife, super-model Carol Alt. Again, they had another successful restaurant on their hands.

  It was a fun time with many celebrities hanging out from pro athletes to actor Kevin Costner to Robert Plant of Led Zepplin. The connection with the Rangers made it easy

to succeed but they knew this could easily be a “flash in the pan”. They went about making sure that the Blue Moon would not become another failed “celebrity restaurant”. With a passion for cooking, menu creativity and an excessive dedication to great service they secured Blue Moon’s position as a great neighborhood place that would stand the test of time.

  Howie got married and moved to Bergen County, New Jersey – just a half hour from Manhattan but a totally different world. The hockey players had all retired and sold out their interests. With a group of new investors, Howie and the Blue Moon Mexican Café took a stab at the suburbs. In 1995, Blue Moon Englewood opened its doors. The first

year was better than expected and each year after that was better and better !

     This was a real eye opener. The Blue Moon was an excellent operation in the fastest growing food segment and nobody else was really doing it outside of the city. After a short break to catch their breath Blue Moon was on the move again. In February of 2000 they experimented with a store in a strip mall without a liquor license.

Blue Moon Wyckoff became one the most popular eating establishments in the area doing tremendous take-out business and catering to a large family clientele. In 2011,

Blue Moon Wyckoff expanded to add a bar area and doubled in size. It has been a huge success and just celebrated 25 years! At the same time they expanded their Englewood location to add a much bigger bar area and party rooms.

   After Wyckoff, two more locations opened, one in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey in a free standing building located in the middle of a residential neighborhood and one in Bronxville, New York in a space at the edge of a downtown area.

    After many years in all these locations, Howie decided it was time to slow down. He sold off all locations except his hometown favorite in Wyckoff NJ. 

     Along with a partner, Colleen Grennan, Blue Moon has now concentrated on adding the Blue Moon Catering Marketplace. Not only serving great Mexican food to homes, businesses and doctor's offices but partnering with other local restaurants to offer their clients choices of cuisines including Italian, Deli, Chinese and whatever the customer needs.

  We have left our mark in many neighborhoods and have lots of loyal Mooners' who travel to Wyckoff, NJ to get their Blue Moon Fix !  Today we operate a popular full service location in Wyckoff, NJ and a successful Catering company, Blue Moon Catering Marketplace.