BON JOVI OPENS SOUL KITCHEN
Jon Bon Jovi gives his wife, Dorothea Bongiovi, an attagirl as she prepares a table at the opening of the JBJ Soul Kitchen Wednesday afternoon. The yard outside the restaurant, below, features a vegetable and herb garden. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
With a heavy rain irrigating the vegetable garden behind him and cameras streaming the event live, pop star Jon Bon Jovi inaugurated a pay-what-you-can-or-work-it-off restaurant on Monmouth Street in Red Bank Wednesday afternoon.
Dubbed the JBJ Soul Kitchen, the eatery is “not a soup kitchen,” Bon Jovi told a tent packed with press and local officials. “We hope to empower individuals who just need a hand up, and enable some who just need to lend a hand.”
Jon Bon Jovi, Dorothea Bongiovi, Mayor Pasquale Menna and former Mayer Ed McKenna at Wednesday’s opening. (Click to enlarge)
Two years in development, with kinks worked out nearby at the St. Anthony of Padua Community Center and the Lunch Break food and clothing center, Soul Kitchen features a menu featuring healthy food, including some from the onsite garden.
It also displays no prices. Patrons will be asked to pay what they can afford, and if they can’t afford anything, to volunteer at the restaurant itself or at the Lunch Break, Bon Jovi said.
Backed by his JBJ Soul Foundation, which has helped fund the Parker Family Health Center nearby on Shrewsbury Avenue, the restaurant was fueled by an awareness that one in five Americans households live at or below the poverty level and one in six Americans is “food insecure,” he said.
“We believe this is a time for this restaurant,” he said, gesturing to the adobe-colored structure that was last used as a Volvo repair shop. “This is place based, and built by community by and for this community.”
“This is Anytown, USA,” he said of Red Bank. “This is America. We can fix this problem.”
Bon Jovi referred to the restaurant, where he washes dishes, as a “pilot” venture that could be replicated elsewhere.
“There’s a great need for them, both in urban and suburban environments,” he said, before leading a media pack into the restaurant for a tasting.
Doling out praise and thanks, Bon Jovi called out his wife, Dorothea, and former Mayor Ed McKenna, who he said guided the organizers “in a very New Jersey kind of way” to completion of the project.
The couple have a home in Middletown.
See more photos at redbankgreen‘s Facebook page.
Oct 19, 2011 @ 16:23:36
Thanks Dorthea and Jon for such a project like this. I support this concept and will eat there as a paying customer and definitely will volunteer.I hope your opening is a big success.
Oct 19, 2011 @ 18:11:28
As with Habitat for Humanity, this isn’t a hand out but a helping hand. I hope it is as successful!
Oct 19, 2011 @ 20:52:51
Congratulations on this venture and i truly hope it is successful. It certainly is not a hand out,.. it’s a way for people to get back on their feet and not feel ashamed… so much of that in the world today … I applaud you both for what you have done and everyone who helped JBJ Soul Kitchen get started…..may it be the first of many…. we need to help heal America and her people …..it’s my adopted home land
Oct 19, 2011 @ 21:15:36
Your dream of this has finally happened.Lots of success and fun to you on this venture.
Oct 19, 2011 @ 21:57:54
Congrats and good luck! Will never forget the nightmare on the GSP bon g oh vi caused me getting home on a Friday (after a 7 hour trip from Skowheagen Maine) while he was hosting an Al Gore presidential fund raiser at his estate. 4 hours stopped on the GSP for a soon to be divorced fat trough feeder and son of a racial seperatist. I will wait to see how $ and status trumps low wage earners in the food biz for a meal. This concept seems to befuddle me a bit but I am not in the food and bev biz. If I were I would hate to compete against someone who was giving it away to someone who folded a napkin. Nice thought though in a 3rd world nation.
Oct 19, 2011 @ 22:00:16
huh?
Oct 19, 2011 @ 22:02:01
Shame on us for allowing this and needing the same.
Oct 19, 2011 @ 22:26:17
“Huh” what kevin? Enlighten me please.
Oct 20, 2011 @ 08:16:35
Hats off to you, my fellow Sayreville grads. Your hometown has never been prouder! Way to give back!
– Laura Schneider, SWMHS Class of ’84 (and formerly your neighbor in the green building adjacent to Soul Kitchen’s parking lot)
Oct 20, 2011 @ 14:19:55
@Alex: Huh?, indeed. What’s your beef exactly? You’re still holding a grudge for getting stuck in traffic 8 YEARS AGO? Would it have been OK if the fundraiser was for “your” candidate?
Someone is trying to do something charitable, and you choose THIS news item to express your politics?
C’mon big guy, what’s REALLY bothering you?
Oct 22, 2011 @ 14:25:26
As a restaurant owner in Red Bank, I think this is a great addition to the town. This will not interfere with business for anyone in town, but compliment the restaurants and other busineses and organizations in town.
Thank you for choosing Red Bank as your landmark.
For an organization who could have chosen any destination in the world…
they chose Red Bank.
Do what you can to help this program.
Nov 06, 2011 @ 10:50:50
I went to Soul kitchen last night and had prettydarn good food, with a sensible portion size. It was healthy and delicious! The dessert was a brownie literally from heaven. I thought I was seeing things when I noticed JBJ himself in the kitchen wearing a blue chefs hat doing dishes, handing out drinks and overall hustling in the kitchen. The best part was that nobody gave him a second look and he blended in just like the rest of the soul kitchen crew. The place is not huge but very efficient and the service is great, speedy and efficient. Great job and it was awesome to see the face behind the idea and not only talking about being there but actually doing the job. I will certainly be back!