Kelly McRyan, below, hopes to convert the former auto repair garage above into a takeout seafood restaurant. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Boondocks Fishery may soon have a sibling operation in Sea Bright.
Owner Kelly McRyan is eyeing the former site of Sea Bright Service Station at the foot of the Rumson-Sea Bright Bridge as a second location for her popular riverfront eatery, she tells redbankgreen.
McRyan took her idea to the Sea Bright planning board recently for advisory opinion, and came away with, well, “they pretty much said, ‘Can you open yesterday?'” she recounts.
She still has to submit a formal proposal, which she expects to be heard by the board on May 13.
If OK’d, McRyan – aka Kelly Ryan – would immediately embark on a changeover of the building, at 1006 Ocean Avenue, into “Boondocks 2 Go,” with the aim of opening in July.
McRyan envisions Boondocks 2 Go primarily as a takeout restaurant serving nearby beach clubs and pass-through traffic, much of which enters town via the bridge over the Shrewsbury River just feet away. But she’ll have picnic tables indoors and out for onsite dining, she said.
The service station, which was wiped out by Hurricane Sandy, has been cleared out and “remediated for oil,” she said.
The atmosphere will be “rustic,” similar to the lobster-shack decor of the Red Bank restaurant, though possibly with some reminders of the site’s history as a filling station, McRyan said. And the menu will pretty much replicate that of Boondocks Fishery, but “maybe a little simpler,” she said.
The location isn’t a permanent one, however. The building, which shares space with a Dunkin’ Donuts, is slated for demolition as part of the replacement of the 63-year-old bridge sometime within the next seven years.
