Tiffany Betts, left, and Gail Doherty preparing meals for customers who showed up minutes after Wednesday’s opening. (Click to enlarge)
The much-anticipated return to Red Bank of vegan restaurateurs Gail Doherty and Tiffany Betts is complete.
Months later than they’d hoped, the pair quietly opened the doors to their new eatery, Good Karma CafĂ©, at 4p Wednesday, and quickly found themselves hustling up orders for a half-dozen hungry customers.
Betts and Doherty, who ran the once highly lauded Down to Earth Café in a basement on Broad Street, had hoped to open two months ago. But the process of getting municipal permits and OKs from safety inspectors for the tiny space at 17 East Front Street — most recently home to the Red Bank Visitors Center — took longer than expected.
“Let’s just say they keep the town nice and safe,” Doherty told redbankgreen with a laugh.
Good Karma carries a meat-free menu that features a wide range of ethnic influences, including Mexican, Indian and Thai. And this being pizza-crazy Red Bank, there’s a “live pizza,” described on the menu as “our house made raw crackers topped with sun dried tomato marinara, cashew nut cheese, marinated dark greens and shredded zucchini. Topped off with walnut sprinkle cheese.”
In addition to the appetizers, soups, entrees (priced $11 to $14) and desserts shown in the online menu, there’s a kids’ menu offering items such as almond butter and jelly sandwiches, baked tofu strips with ketchup, and a quesadilla smeared with peanut butter and mashed banana.