Richard Branson resorts to New Jersey location for cooking school

Hey, Richard Branson is coming to New Jersey and is slated to open a resort, restaurant, cooking and wine school in Peapack-Gladstone, according to the New York Times Diner’s Journal.

This is about the most exciting thing to happen in New Jersey since the last Bruce Springsteen concert. As the song goes, I’m on Fire about this.

“The long unwinding road starts at Natirar,” according to the resort’s website, and we hope Sir Richard will be a frequent dinner guest there.

After all, the resort is only 35 miles from Newark Airport, where some of Branson’s jets land from time to time.

And the resort, named after the local Raritan River, but spelled backwards, is only 27 miles from my apartment, so I am sure I will be dining there often with Sir Richard — unless I somehow have that backwards, as well. Here’s the route I will take to get there.

Natirar sits on a 500-acre property which the Moroccan royal family sold to local government a few years ago, and “embodies the rustic elegance of a time gone by,” according to the website.

And, that’s fine by me. I’m definitely in favor of rustic elegance.

But, if someone sees Sir Richard before our next dinner meeting, please tell him I just hope the resort and restaurant have free Wi-Fi.