Kayla Barbuto in her newly opened Lady K’s Bake Shop. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Cakes, tarts, ice-cream and other sweet treats: downtown Red Bank is adding to its dessert menu with the recent opening of a specialty bakery and plans for a new ice cream shop.
Read all about it in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
Coney Waffles & Ice Cream has approvals to open at 13 Broad Street. Below, some of the cupcakes at Lady K’s. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
• Lady K’s Bake Shop, owned by Kayla Barbuto, opened last week at 4B West Front Street. That’s one of the tiny shops that faces straight down Broad Street.
At age 28, Barbuto’s already been in the baking business for seven years, providing custom cakes and other desserts for big occasions like weddings and bar mitzvahs, she told Churn. But this is her first storefront venture.
“This gives me an opportunity to showcase my talent,” she said.
The 550-square-f00t space features a storefront of white stone floors, a tin ceiling that may date to the structure’s origin in 1908, and gleaming glass display cases stocked with colorful and aromatic desserts. In the window is seating for only two customers at a time to sit and enjoy a dessert and coffee.
The space was last occupied by Old World Shaving Parlor, which moved a few doors away, to 12 West Front. The borough planning board approved Barbuto’s plans for the shop 15 months ago.
• Coney Waffles & Ice Cream plans to open at 13 Broad Street, owner Joe D’Esposito tells Churn. Plans for the store were approved by the borough planning and zoning office last week..
The store will be the fourth he’s opened at Shore locations in the last two years, starting with one in Belmar in 2016 and two more last spring in Long Branch’s Pier Village and Asbury Park. A mobile version of the business has been working food festivals since 2014.
The business, though, dates to 1946, when it was founded on Coney Island by D’Esposito’s grandmother, Angelina, and his now-retired father, also named Joe.
The younger D’Esposito wanted to open in Red Bank, he said, because it’s a destination town, and Coney Waffles is “a destination within a destination.” He said the shop is known for its ice-cream-packed waffles, and we thought he was joking when he said they’re patented. He wasn’t. Check out the patent on the “confectionary hinged pocket waffle.”
The shop will serve 35 flavors of ice cream, D’Esposito said, and should be open by the end of March.
