Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

SHREWSBURY AVENUE SPICES UP BANCO ROJO

Nopales, left, and sabila, above, are available at Rincon Latino Supermarket. (Photos by Grace Goldoni. Click to enlarge)

By GRACE GOLDONI

Rich South American hot chocolate in blocks. Subtropical coconuts. Exotic, prickly and tangy vegetables.

We’re not in your typical white-bread American supermarket. Here on Shrewsbury Avenue, the main thoroughfare on Red Bank’s West Side, the striking flavors of fresh and authentic Latin food create a south-of-the-border atmosphere.

In recent decades, this commercial stretch has adopted a strong Latino accent, just like its surrounding neighborhoods. If you’ve never stepped outside your car and visited this street, home to about half a dozen bodegas and small grocers, well, grab a shopping cart…

Dried chili peppers, above, at La Juquila, and fresh fruit and vegetable juices at La Chaparrita, below. (Photos by Grace Goldoni. Click to enlarge)

Nowhere is the avenue’s Spanish flair more obvious than at Rincon Latino Supermarket, at 218 Shrewsbury. Despite its intimate space, Rincon has, by far, the largest selection of exotic and unique fruits and vegetables among the stores redbankgreen visited. Upon walking into the market, a shopper encounters bright colors and unique food combinations, like jarred mangoes paired with chili sauce.

In the produce section, foods such as nopales, sabila, quenepas, and chayote demand attention. The term nopales, or nopalitos, refer to the thickset leaves of a prickly pear cactus, eaten as a vegetable and commonly used as an ingredient in Mexican cuisine.

Sabila – the Spanish term for aloe vera, grown mainly in the Caribbean – is sold not as a gelatinous liquid, but in its full, green plant form at the market. A Rincon store employee noted that many customers believe sabila aids in diabetes prevention. Quenepas, commonly known in Spanish slang as mamones, are a kind of Spanish lime native to South and Central America. Quenepas are slightly larger than the average grape, but look like miniature limes. Cracking the fruit open by pressing the outer shell with a fingernail reveals the edible tender, pale-orange pulp, rich with a sweet and slightly sour flavor. Chayote, commonly known among Hispanics by its slang name cho cho, is a palm-sized, bright lime-green gourd – like melon or squash – with a taste akin to cucumbers.

Down the street at Juanito’s, Shrewsbury Avenue’s largest Latino grocer, the aroma of sizzling onions and spicy peppers welcomes customers. The fragrance comes from the market’s taco station, where a cook hand-makes personal tacos for shoppers on the go. I was also surprised to spot a treat at Juanito’s I had only previously seen on the streets of the Republic of Panama: raspado, the Latino-version of a snow cone, flavored with a choice of fruit syrups and topped with condensed milk, making for a cool and sweet dessert, perfect for a hot day.

Next door to Juanito’s, an authentic Mexican grocery called La Chaparrita offers fresh fruit and vegetable juices using an industrial juicer, and specializes in Mexican carry-out food. If you have time for a sit-down lunch, La Chaparrita also has a charming seating area. Tortas de papa, one of its periodic specials, is simply mouth-watering. Sandwiches with, well, whatever you want, plus potatoes, served on a crusty roll, La Chaparrita’s tortas are characteristically Mexican: served hot, as opposed to cold in other countries, and reminiscent of a Cuban sandwich or panini.

Down the street from La Chaparrita lies a bodega called Tienda La China Poblana. “Tienda” means “store,” and “China Poblana” refers to two parts of Mexican culture: “Poblana,” or the women of the Mexican state of Puebla, and “China,” connoting a slave woman brought to Mexico who, according to legend, created the China dress. “China Poblana” is a broad term that refers to Mexican femininity.

Among the packaged flour for tamales and spices, China Poblana sells beautiful, high-quality coconuts from Mexico. The woman maintaining the store reminded me that the Spanish word “coco” refers to “skull” or “head.” When I asked why, she motioned to the three subtle holes on the coconut, which resemble a human face.

Just around the corner and opposite the train station is La Esquina, or “the corner,” where shoppers can find excellent Mexican carry-out for breakfast as well as lunch.

“What we sell here is tacos and sandwiches,” says owner Elias Junior. “Our style is authentic Mexican food.”

From pig ears to chicharrón, a dish consisting of fried pork rinds, everything on the menu at La Esquina is sure to give your taste buds a wake-up call. Chicharrón is a traditional food throughout Central and South America.

Finally, back on Shrewsbury Avenue, stepping into La Juquila is like entering a spice shop. Smells of exotic herbs and salts as well as dried red-hot chili peppers fill the bodega.  La Juquila also sells every ingredient you need to make tamales in your own kitchen. A traditional Mesoamerican dish, tamales are made out of masa, a starchy corn dough, which is boiled or steamed in a leaf wrapper. Before eating, the leaf wrapper is thrown out. Tamales are usually filled with meat, cheese, fruits, vegetables, chilies, spices, and other food combinations.

 

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
THEY’RE BACK!
Ospreys returned to the skies over Red Bank this week for the first time since they migrated to warmer climes in late fall. With temperature ...
SPRING IS SPRUNG
RED BANK: Spring 2024 arrives on the Greater Red Bank Green with the vernal equinox at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday.
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...
WHAT? NO redbankgreen NEWSLETTER?
Apologies to redbankgreen newsletter subscribers: the daily email hasn’t gone out for two days because of technical issues.
RED BANK: TIRED OF SKEETERS?
RED BANK: Tired of mosquito bites every summer? Monmouth County has a free program to help eliminate skeeter breeding grounds.